Final Jeopardy: Groundbreaking Drama (10-3-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (10/3/2025) in the category “Groundbreaking Drama” was:
Act I of this 1879 play opens in a room with “a small sofa”, “a small table” & “a cabinet with china and other small objects”
New champ, TJ Fisher, a marketing specialist from San Francisco, CA, won $15,089 yesterday. In Game 2, he’s up against: Roberto Carabeo, an environmental designer from New York, NY; and Ellie Baker, a lawyer orig. from Louisville, KY.
Round 1 Categories: Monopoly Spaces – Double-Letter Endings – Motto Zone – We Love You, Judy – Brave – The Elements
TJ found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Elements” under the $800 clue on the 9th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $2,800, $1,800 more than Roberto in second place. TJ bet $500 and guessed uranium. That was WRONG.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory predictability has a webpage for this superheavy element, no. 117 on the periodic table show
TJ finished in the lead with $8,100. Roberto was in second place with $1,200 and Ellie was last with $800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Civil War Generals – TV Title Overlaps – Lake Living – Safe Words – Gods & Goddesses – Adjectives & Adverbs
Ellie found the first Daily Double in “Gods & Goddesses” under the $2,000 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $8,100, $4,500 more than Ellie in second place. Ellie bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
The protector deity of Alexandria was Serapis, an amalgam as his name suggests of this ruler of the Dead & Apis show
TJ got the last Daily Double in “Safe Words” under the $1,200 clue on the 9th pick of the round. In second place with $8,900 now, he had $300 less than Ellie’s lead. TJ bet $4,500 and he was RIGHT.
A word meaning safely isolated, it’s the title of Catherine Coldstream’s memoir about her “years as a nun” show
TJ finished in the lead with a runaway $23,800. Ellie was second with $10,000 and Roberto was last with $800. All clues were shown.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS “A DOLL’S HOUSE”?
Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen published the 3-act play he called “A Doll’s House” in November 1879. The objects mentioned in the clue are mentioned in the opening description of the sitting room in the flat where Nora and Torvald Helmer live with their kids. Nora’s life revolves around her husband’s needs and desires and she is happy to play her role until she runs into some legal troubles. When her husband doesn’t have her back, Nora no longer believes Torvald loves her and leaves him. for what he is. Evidently, this was quite scandalous in Europe, maybe more for Nora walking out on her kids since other literary wives had previously been involved in various scandals.
Ibsen denied that he was taking up women’s causes. Actually, he wasn’t. He got the idea for “A Doll’s House” from Laura Petersen, a friend who came to him for help when she found herself in the same predicament as Nora Helmer. Ibsen refused to help her and Petersen’s husband had her committed to a sanitarium. Imagine how she felt when she learned of her “friend’s” betrayal! A current project, Burning the House Down, intends to tell just that.
Roberto got it right. He didn’t bet anything so he finished with $800.
Ellie thought it was “The Glass Menagerie”. She didn’t bet anything either so she finished with $10,000.
TJ came up with “Uncle Vanya”. He made the zero bet unanimous, and won the game with $23,800. TJ’s 2-day total is $38,889.
A triple stumper from each round:
BRAVE ($1000) In “The Wyrd Sisters”, a book in his “Discworld” series, Granny Weatherwax is a witch to be reckoned with
CIVIL WAR GENERALS ($1200) Post-bellum, General Lew Wallace became gov. of the New Mexico Territory & exchanged letters with this 19-year-old outlaw
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “COMPOSERS”
He was given piano lessons by Madame Mauté de Fleurville, the mother-in-law of Paul Verlaine, whose poetry he would later set to music show
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I was 1/3 on DD, because, although I knew it was Tennessee-related, I said “tennesseeium”. Clearly, WRONG!
Final, I got, because of Jeopardy! and you fine folks here, especially VJ! I have never read any Ibsen, but, this was one of those, “Who else could it be”?
And, as virtually always, I concur with my friend Howard. TJ just says too much. Chatty is not good for most people on that stage.
Roberto’s “The Doll’s House” response in final jeopardy would have been counted correct since they do not penalize contestants for changing an article at the beginning of a title.
A very uneven game, to put it mildly. Ellie made a bold move into first, then faded as TJ hit the DD and dominated from there. He is, to be diplomatic, way too over the top and chatty for my liking. And that “Kingston Trio” response made me cringe, as did the one he made in the Judy category (wedding).
I got only the 3rd DD which wasn’t that tough. Final stumped me but once I saw it, I realized it was kinda obvious. They left a few out there that surprised me, especially the young outlaw. The Judy rock trio was pretty knowable, so was the non-inventor of baseball who was a general. The NC fort has been newsworthy because it was restored to its original name not long ago. The 9-letter protection word was a gimme, especially in the current political climate.
The Kingston Trio response was hilarious to me. OMG! I will remember it whenever I need to look ar the February 1st birthday list. The video on there is Bad Man’s Blunder. I always loved that group.
None of those Civil War clues were hard, imo. 3 people on one panel who didn’t know zip about the Civil War. That was what I found cringey
About 3 years ago, during the height of Covid and Black Lives Matter, the name “Civil War” was removed from the longstanding Oregon-Oregon State football game. And now that they’re in separate conferences, they will not meet in 2026.
Well, to be fair, I don’t know zip about football so there’s that.
It was another exciting game, and TJ remained as the Jeopardy champion. What? No one came up with the element at the end of the alphabet? Anyways, I performed above average in the game, but fared poorly in the ‘Monopoly’ category. After all, I haven’t played that 1935 Parker Brothers board game in years. Well maybe I’ll change that as that game tends to come up frequently in Jeopardy. No, I missed the FJ, but I sure have heard of the play.
I believe that this is the first regular play game in which all three players bet 0 in FJ! And we also have our first repeat of the week and the month.