grommit2

Ok... 1) WHERE is Whitney? I NEED my whiny, self-entitled, annoying late-teen. Geez...I need my Whitney! 2) And I miss Furkat...greatest name in all of TV. 2) That school really had to be struggling to find teachers if they hired a man who was jailed for 3 years for unintentional vehicular manslaughter (a felony). 3) Dr. Vic has to be making a jillion in his new job to afford that gorgeous house overlooking Santa Monica. 4) Assuming I have my geography correct, Helen is correct to fear that the house may end up on the PAC101 after an earthquake 5) Remember, they caught the notorious gangster, Whitey Bulger, in Santa Monica. 6) And here's a little bit of extreme potential trivia: Last season, Noah was hospitalized after that knife incident. Treated by an unseen Dr. Quittner. Hmmm...This whole fictional exercise was supposed to be set in New Jersey, specifically in the Florham Park, Livingston area. Investigated by the Livingston police. The town next to Livingston is...West Orange. AND, ready for it, back in the day, there were twins, the Quittners. Good athletes. Now, doesn't that just make your toes tingle.

OK...my 2 cents: Paige was easily influenced by anyone with passion, conviction, and vision: Pastor Tim and her Mom. Now she is totally toast: no money, no American ID, (Canadian passport), no job, no college scholarship, no car...just a bottle of vodka. Hiding out in someone else's house. No Russian contacts to save her. The FBI will nab her, after she wipes out several would be attackers. She will eventually talk. Henry will learn of his parent's duplicity, will hate them, will be a confused/angry/lost soul. Smart, but lost. What could be worse than finding out your parents are criminals...no, spies/murderers for the Evil Empire. No jail time, but no private school either. No college. A life of drugs and crime appears on his horizon. Both Philip and Elizabeth lost their children. Devastating. Also, Elizabeth will be filled with despair realizing that everything she worked so hard for is falling apart. Philip is a bit more adaptable...this glasnost thing is not so bad in his book. But, both of them are double targets: by the coup folks for being spies associated with the old failed regime (ouch), and by the anti-coup folks for just about the same reason. Lots of alcoholic sorrow for both. And Stan...good old Stan...he let THREE Russian spies live across from him and then failed to stop them in the garage (Paige will testify to this). Stan goes to Leavenworth for 20 years. Oleg...your friendly neighborhood Russian spy...he will be traded for an American caught up in spying in Russia. Maybe Carrie from Homeland, eh? Igor Oleg's father...more toast. High-level railroad official, but associated with the old regime. Loses no matter who takes over, unless he can escape to some other country. Claudia (the last spy runner): looks like she scooted out, but did she make it back to Russia? To what? Does she have a place in the new regime? If not, she will probably just find a way to survive, because she has terrific skills and hanging in. Martha...geez. They will leave her alone, maybe. Stuck in Russia, making the most of her time as a language teacher. Will the newer regime keep her on the payroll? Wandering the mostly empty shelves of the grocery store. Gorbachev...wow, what a player in history. Moves his country starkly away from its history, sidelines most of the Politburo. Oops....bad move! Loses his job. But survives.

Oh man...Kikaha...you have really nailed it. Looks like a great "pitch" to producers. Perhaps Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys could be enticed to be the show's producers. Yes, this might be adolescent, but, we are talking about Hollywood, where no one grows old and they all have ocean-front houses in San Diego.

And so we see the shape of future episodes: 1) Axe has his billions, but the kids become strangers to him; his wife leaves him; his rising star, Taylor, departs for another company; his favored traders move on, disillusioned by the empty pursuit of millions, etc. 2) Chuck realizes he really does want to be Governor, not for the title, but for the...power; Wendy leaves him because Chuck becomes a whining wimp; their kids become strangers because their parents are consumed by non-familial issues; Chuck's father disowns him because Chuck skips running for Governor. 3) Wendy...oh Wendy...really does want to be a dominatrix, so she leaves Chuck and opens up a chain of dominatrix stores; Chuck leaves Wendy because, well, Wendy is too busy whipping all sorts of other guys; etc. 4) Lara is totally pissed at Axe, so leaves him (do we notice a pattern here?), but she is disillusioned because all the eligible men picture her as inferior (that is, not a rich, rich, rich individual woman...just a rich woman)...which is too bad because she WAS a successful business woman; the kids are disgruntled with both parents, so they begin acting out, as kids often do; etc 5) And Taylor...my favorite because she is so, so totally bad-ass SMART...she moves on to start her own country, and all the citizens of that country adore and praise her; Taylor is happy and lets Axe, Lara, Chuck, Wendy, and all the kids visit her in her Tower...converted from Trump Tower, into Taylor Tower. Ha...there you go!

Sooo...the mystery continues. This "Goren" or "Goran" or whatever must REALLY be a super-spy because the Homeland cognoscenti cannot identify him, or her, or...in these days of Russian/Chinese/fat-guy in his bedroom...bots! Ah, the plot thickens.

Can you help? I missed something in this episode. Saul did not want to give up "Goren"? And 7 months later at the "Bridge of Spies", the comment was "...that's Goren...I never suspected..." or something like that. So, who is this "Goren"? It was not Yevgeny Gromov and not "Otto During". Is it Imam Rafan Gohar...in 2 episodes back in 2011.

OK...time for a few random observations: 1) Phillip is one spiffy line dancer. But where does one find Texas 2-step line dancing outside Washington, DC? 2) Elizabeth really needs a break. Perhaps a few weeks in sunny Moscow would warm her up. 3) Good old Stan is being set up. His new GF is trying to sweet-talk her way into the FBI so she can steal secrets, etc. 4) Paige? Well, she lost that deer-in-the-headlights stare. But, geez, she's going to mess things up and cause the demise of both her parents. 5) Henry...oh boy, when he finds out his parents are Russian spies, he's going to flip. But, of all of them, he would do well in Russia because he can play hockey. OK...I know that's not a culturally sensitive comment, but, so, sue me! 6) Costa Ronin plays Oleg , the Russian spy, and also plays Yevgeny the Russian spy on Homeland...busy guy! But I wonder if he gets confused about which show he's filming. 7) I wonder how Martha is doing in sunny Russia.

The important issues: 1) Will Axe get to keep the boat? 2) Will Axe get to keep the big Long Island house? 3) Will Spiros get his Porsche repaired, only to have an Axe defender run him off a cliff? 4) Will Taylor eat something and put on some weight? She's my favorite character, but, geez, eat something! 5) Will Axe come to the aid of his new buddy, Chuck, and finance his run for Governor?

Gadzooks...the writers have found an interesting formula: Have Elizabeth kill someone at the end of every episode.

Yes. They move to Atlantic City, New Jersey and take up the defense of a real estate/gambling casino developer. This here developer claims he is being held hostage by the mob, the Jersey politicians, and contractors, all of whom claim that he (our lovable, trusty developer) has refused to bow to the mob, thumbed his nose at the pols, and refused to pay the contractors. They, in turn, have cornered him in one of his partially-completed casinos, wherein he is living on Kentucky Fried chicken and donuts, spending his days watching cable shout shows. No, wait, that is WAY too ridiculous. Nothing about this character could ever be perceived as approaching reality. <<SIGH>>

MONEY!! It is so intoxicating to imagine having stacks and stacks of money. Ferraris, yachts, ocean-front mansions...yes! But what is even more compelling is knowing how to get it; the expertise to figure out (legally and illegally) how to accrue all those bags of cash. Yes, I know this is a fictional TV show, but it sure is "must see TV".

My 2 cents: Ivan paged Saul to tell him that he identified the "new" Russian evil. But, alas, Ivan was taken out. Oh well.

Nice explanation of how quickly fake news gets replicated on the web ("species jump"). Nice twist on who Simone Martin really is working for...and how they trap Wellington with their social media charade. And it appears that FBI Dante is a bad guy...geez, it is really difficult to tell the bad guys without their uniforms. And, alas, I still miss Quinn...HE would unravel this and save the day. SIGH

Finally, an episode that made sense. Now I understand what is going on. Geez...that took a long time. And, yes, Quayle was an idiot for not keeping the secret.

Yes, yes. I wondered about that also. So, I had to rewind the sequence several times, again and again. Just to be sure what was going on (or off, as the case may be). All in the spirit of helping us understand this scene. Yes, that's what I told my wife...I was studying film. Yup. ;>

Someone referred to CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc as "cable shout shows". Wow...how true. Many of the hosts just talks over the guest, talk on and on.... Matthews, Hannity, (O'Reilly), Carlson, etc all practice this technique. I believe there is a gold mine idea buried here: start a cable network that deals with calmly examined FACTS, addresses opinions in a professional manner. Gee...I would tune in to that network.

Gads...the Carrie cry-face, manic, freakin-out behavior is really annoying. Writers...please find another way to craft these scenes.

Agreed...but apparently the writers needed to amp up the storyline, so they did what Hollywood does...take the woman's clothes off. Now, what was really good was Carrie beating the crap out of the hacker. I've managed web sites that were hacked by idiots and I desperately wanted to hunt them down. Alas, no such luck. But, Carrie really got the bad guy. Now, if they would bring back Quinn for some "wet work", then the show would take off again.

Oh boy...season 7 begins. The "Bannon" character is back... And the President is royally annoyed that a General tried to assassinate her. But, in a really important development: it appears that we may have a whiny, disgruntled teen to bring reality to this show. What would really, really be great is if they brought back Quinn...oh well.

Here's some questions about several season 5 story lines: 1) a shadowy group was flooding the internet with fake news attacks. 2) the newly elected president wants to gut the CIA. These story lines were hatched BEFORE they actually happened in real life. So, how did the writers know this in advance?

So, that's what they mean by "blood bath"? Hmmm...I thought it actually referred to something completely different. But, I like this portrayal a whole lot better. And Ian certainly found the scene...ummm...exciting? For a woman that would have to be about 45 or so, she is in really good shape.

Question: Aaron appeared on camera, but said nothing. Just stood there, "nodding knowingly". What is that all about? Did I miss something here?

Finally...the show has added the secret ingredient, the magic actor...that it needed all along...a whiny, entitled, annoying teen! The show has followed the brilliant lead of The Affair which has the reigning star of whiny teens...Whitney. The Prez's son has a long way to go, but there is a lot of room for him to act like an idiot and spread headaches all over the script.

I continue to watch this show because: 1) the story lines are straightforward. 2) you KNOW that the Prez is going to come up with THE solution, no matter what twists the plot takes. 3) the President is good, honest, really smart, well-spoken, knows how to navigate the federal government, and and did I mention he is honest? We sure could use that now, eh? SIGH 4) the AMERICANS are the good guys...clearly and unmistakenly, and aside from a few nefarious congress critters, they are all good and honest. Geez...what a country! 5) the Brits are cooperating with Bond-ish expertise. 6) we have drastically cut the FBI budget, so that now there are only three members (Hanna Wells, the boss, and the computer guy)...and they always get the bad guys. 7) Kal Penn is always good, especially since he co-starred in Harald & Kumar Go to White Castle (a "restaurant" you MUST visit if ever possible), AND he was born in New Jersey (hooray!)

Oh boy...Avi is alive! Now, lets team him up with a resurrected Quinn from Homeland. And Lena from Ray Donovan. And the prison guard from The Affair. Maybe add the FBI guy from The Americans Throw in Axe from Billions (you always need funding for these teams). Jamie from Highlander And Michone and Daryl from The Walking Dead. Now, THAT would be a TEAM!