Now that Tina is officially leaving us for greener pastures, each remaining episode of Topic A is an event, a journey into poignancy. Especially when Christopher Hitchens wears brown loafers and white socks! Henry the Intern's heartfelt review (only three more to go, sniff) after the jump.

Last night's "Topic A" clearly marked the beginning of the end. Indeed, this, the fourth to last episode, left only bittersweet feelings.

First, Tina assembled an intelligent roundtable to explain British Prime Minister Tony Blair's weak election performance. Vanity Fair's Christopher Hitchens, sporting a beard and wearing white socks with brown shoes, said Brits "don't like him because he seems righteous." Warren Hoge, former New York Times London bureau chief, said Blair will now turn his attention to domestic issues and, though Blair "genuinely likes" President Bush, "he's going to play down that side." Nancy Collins, of Harper's Bazaar, thinks Blair's wife will keep him from resigning too soon. She said Blair and Bush are both very lucky. Hitchens agreed: Blair "was incredibly lucky that Princess Diana was killed" early in his tenure, thus allowing him to rub elbows with the royal family. "I remember thinking, 'Boy, what an amazing break,'" Hitchens recalled. Congressional Quarterly columnist Craig Crawford noted Blair copied election strategies deployed in the U.S.

The panel dispersed and the subject turned to the authenticity of Pat O'Brien's very public, very prime-time venting session with Dr. Phil. Christina Hoff Sommers and Sally Satel, authors of One Nation Under Therapy, were offended. Said Sommers, "We have replaced ethics with psycho-babble." Satel said Dr. Phil's self- interests "distorts the situation even more."

Next, Tina tried to have a high-brow O'Reilly-style debate about teaching evolution in Kansas public schools, but after she introduced Kenneth Miller, Brown University professor of biology, and Stephen Meyer, of the Discovery Institute, I stopped listening. I couldn't stop thinking about Christopher Hitchens' white socks. Tina was into it, though: "I think it's going to be the most fascinating debate."

Then former Solicitor General Ted Olson educated Tina about the legal battles facing Judith Miller and Matt Cooper. Olson is representing Cooper. He explained, "The prosecutor felt he did need information from Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller," but not from Robert Novak. The issue from the prosecutor's perspective, he said, is not whether Miller printed the story of the CIA operative, but if she witnessed an illegal activity. For the reporters, he said, "the principle is much broader than this case." Tina called the case "insane," an "'Alice in Wonderland' crime."

Thankfully, the roundtable returned to share their thoughts on Lyndie England, the soldier best-known for posing with a pyramid of naked Iraqi detainees. Tina and Hitchens thought they should have torn down the Abu Ghraib prison and built a university. Hitchens remarked, "They weren't even pretending to get information out of them. It was recreational white-trash torture."

Hot picks
Hitchens: Bidoun magazine, from the Middle East
Crawford: Attack the Messenger by Craig Crawford. Tina: "You are shameless."
Collins: "The Best Little Secrets are Kept" by Louis XIV
Hoge: "Glengarry Glen Ross" on Broadway. Tina: "I love it, I love it."
Tina: The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades by Jonathan Riley-Smith.

Closing quote by Calvin Trillin: "The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found."

Only three more hours with Tina remaining. Deep breaths, deep breaths.