Revenge

If you're a big fan, you already knew what was coming in the season finale. But it didn't make it any easier -- or less heartbreaking -- to watch. The majority of the Season 3 "Downton" finale, or the "Christmas special" as its called in the U.K., took place in Scotland, where the whole family (minus Branson) visits the Highlands home of the Dowager's niece, Susan, and her husband, Shrimpy. Most of the trip included bagpipes, hunting, more bagpipes and Scottish reel dancing. But more on that later (and more on O'Brien meeting her Scottish lady's maid doppelganger)

Many of us believe that capital punishment, first used in the Province of Maryland in 1638, should have been relegated to the trash heap long ago. Politicians in Annapolis had overwhelming evidence of its costly and debilitating flaws for many years, but too many refused to attach their names to repeal. Even in a state where they outnumbered Republicans 2-1, numerous Democrats feared being labeled soft on crime if they voted to end state executions. Indeed, the longtime president of the Senate, a Democrat, offered to personally inject poison into a convicted killer.

I woke up this morning with one thought -- The night is finally here! Well, maybe not quite, but I know I don't speak only for myself when I say that I've been waiting for this episode since it was first teased in the series opener. Whenever"Revenge" is discussed, at some point the question arises: “Do you think Daniel is really dead?!” Now we know the answer: Nope! I think most knew it was unlikely that Daniel would actually be killed off the show, but we have also learned that nothing is predictable on "Revenge.

COLLEGE PARK - Any game against Duke is enough to elevate emotions for the members of the eighth-ranked Maryland women's basketball team. Then consider how badly the Terps lost to their bitter rival several weeks ago and a handful of provocative tweets recently from Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie, and today's showdown at Comcast Center has another layer of animosity thrown into the contentious history between the schools. Maryland players remember vividly what transpired at Cameron Indoor Arena the night of Feb. 11. Led by junior guard Chelsea Gray's career-high 28 points that included 13 of 14 from the free-throw line, the fifth-ranked Blue Devils pulled away for a 71-56 victory in which Terps coach Brenda Frese was ejected for the first time in her career.

Talk to any scientist about losing all that power and they may agree. It just could be that mother nature is fighting back. What have we done to earn her trust? Not much, I'm afraid. The Indians knew how, but most of them are gone. For starters, lets take better care of what we do have. We can't afford another power outage. We rely on mother nature so much yet look at how much we take her for granted. Maryanne T. Nobile, Gwynn Oaks

This week's episode of "Revenge" was a much needed reminder of why I love this show. Just the right amount of mystery, plotting, surprise turns and catty back stabbing to make me excited for the twists and turns that seem to be in store for the next three weeks. One of the biggest turns of this episode was Daniel backing up his father. Throughout the whole series what kept him respectable was that he actually seemed horrified by much of his parent's manipulating, even attempting to embark on his own career outside of Grayson Enterprises.

"We got him, justice is done. " Really? We seem to be overjoyed by the idea that Osama bin Laden's death is some sort of compensation for all the suffering and lives he annihilated. I suppose it's human nature that revenge is a joy. But now our revenge must be avenged. Perhaps our joy should just be geared to the fact that at least bin Laden will no longer plan additional harm. George B. Wroe, Glyndon

If the crime rate spikes in Howard County, blame Shakespeare. The Bard's most violent play, "Titus Andronicus," is being staged by the Laurel-based theater company Rude Mechanicals at the Howard County Center for the Arts in Ellicott City. This production follows close on the bloody heels of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's outdoor staging of the same play at the Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park in 2010. Considering that "Titus Andronicus" is rarely staged anywhere, it's really unusual that local audiences have had two opportunities to be appalled by a play with such a high body count.

Tom Poti thought he had finally pushed the painful memory of the Washington Capitals' Game 7 collapse against the Pittsburgh Penguins into the deep recesses of his mind. But about three weeks later, the defenseman discovered he had not buried it deep enough. "Just when you're starting to get over it, you see them hoisting the Cup," Poti said Monday, eight months after Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and his teammates beat the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals. "You start thinking, 'Could that have been us?

Well it seems as though the writers of heard my whining here in Baltimore, because for the second week in a row "Revenge" reminded me of the show I fell in love with in the fall. The plotting and suspense is back in full force, and the previews for the next two weeks have me believing this season will certainly be ending on a high note.  This week "Revenge" took a step back in time - New Years 2002 - to give us some more background on the tangled web of Hamptonites backstabbing.

Saturday's matchup between No. 1 Loyola and No. 3 Maryland is easily the biggest game of the early stages of the season. It's a rematch of last year's NCAA tournament final in which the Greyhounds won, 9-3, and took home the university's first Division I national championship. Despite the link to last season's national title game, several Terps players insisted this week that their goal is not to avenge the loss to Loyola. “We try not to look at it in that sense,” senior midfielder John Haus said.

This week's episode was one of the more dramatic of the season, with the build up beginning in the season opener showing the Amanda at the bottom of the ocean. When we saw that there was a man on board it was hard not to assume it was Jack that had gone down with his beloved ship, but our wishes were answered when it turned out to be Nate, because he really was the worst. The Grayson's managed to put two targets on Amanda's back - with Nate as well as the Initiative. It will be interesting to see if it is obvious that Nate was the reason for Amanda's death, and if the Initiative will find it all too convenient that the Grayson's scape goat happened to disappear.

When I was putting together my story on Earl Weaver after his death Friday night I knew I wanted to talk to Jim Henneman, the former Sun baseball beat writer and current Orioles official scorer who is our unofficial beat historian. All of us Sun writers look up to Henny and love hearing the stories of the Orioles' glory days. Henneman first met Weaver back in 1959 in Georgia at the Orioles' minor league camp. He covered Weaver throughout the Hall of Famer's big league managerial career.

From extending inside linebacker Ray Lewis' last hurrah to getting to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2001 to beating a rival in the New England Patriots, the Ravens have plenty of motivation heading into Sunday's AFC championship game. But, according to the players, revenge is not one of them. Yes, the memory of last year's 23-20 loss to the Patriots in the AFC championship still lingers around town, but strong safety Bernard Pollard did not mince any words when asked if the team has some “unfinished business” to complete in Foxborough, Mass.

Our favorite Hamptonites return from winter break, though it is summer in the Hamptons now, which is just rubbing it in because most of us were watching this wearing a sweatshirt and covered in a blanket. But they came back in grand style. The magic "X" red marker returned, as did a lip lock with an ex, a drug bust and some good old fashioned black mail. Emily reminded me why I loved this show to start with - the targets that she took down, one by one. Tonight's target was Judge Barnes, who you may have recognized as Joe Biden's doppelganger.

Asking John Carroll senior George Weber about his possible matchup Friday with McDonogh junior Jack Clark, the 2012 National Prep champion at 145 pounds, is a "sensitive" subject, Patriots coach Keith Watson said. Weber has lost to Clark in every match between the two wrestlers, including two state championship bouts and once already this season. But the matches have mostly been close, some of them painfully so. What separates the Maryland State Wrestling Association's No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers in the 145-pound weight class is not easily discerned by the coaches who have seen them both numerous times.

This week's episode certainly gave us a lot to talk about -- and yet again ended in a cliff hanger! The show seems to be pulling itself together -- finally getting rid of a few characters and unnecessary storylines -- and even though Declan hasn't been written off, his screen time was pretty minimal. My first sighting of him wasn't until halfway through -- and that was for the #GiftofRevenge miniseries! Of course a collaboration between Target and Neiman Marcus has me interested -- and managing to tie in "Revenge" just sealed the deal.