dwmarch

Well he did crack a joke in this episode which is the first evidence so far that he knows what humor is.

I liked that they didn't solve this particular mystery until 90% of the bad guys' plot had unfolded but as much as I like that it makes me wonder: What if they had focused on a different tattoo instead? What were the CDC conspirators waiting for? So to counter that we have Patterson's boyfriend leading her down the path the FBI is supposed to follow. But how does he know exactly which conspiracies are ready for go time and which ones can stand by? How did he know she would bring her work home and leave it laying on the table where he could read it? Or is he actually innocent and just criminally curious with a great sense of timing?

So in episode two we established that the tattoos were meant to lead one to another with the mysteries unfolding in a pre-arranged sequence. I took issue with that because as I said before, how do you get these things to line up in the first place? The writers must have realized the same thing because they've abandoned the one tattoo leading to another idea for the past couple episode and now just have the characters investigating whichever one they randomly figure out. Unless of course Patterson's boyfriend is a bad guy and deliberately led her to this week's conclusion. But this depends on two things: Patterson dating the guy in the first place and Patterson disregarding procedure and bringing classified files home where her boyfriend could peruse them. I loved that they actually called for help from local authorities in this episode. Having the State Troopers intercept the car on the open road was brilliant- because all the action takes place over a loudspeaker they didn't even have to cast anyone to play a County Mountie. They kind of forgot about this idea by the end of the episode however, necessitating Jane jumping to the rescue rather than some CDC bio-commando. I feel like the agents who were bickering about each other's dating habits will end up dating each other. The CIA gets to be the bad guy again. This show, Homeland, Hawaii 5-0... are there any shows out there in which the CIA gets to be the good guy? Even once in a while?

Did Carrie call the guy at the end of the episode Behrooz? And does that mean we finally have an answer to what happened to poor Behrooz on 24? He ended up becoming a Hezbollah lackey? Jack Bauer would be so disappointed. Interesting to see that Windows phones are the phones of choice for terrorists. Hawaii 5-0 does it the other way around because of a deal they have with Microsoft: the hero characters lovingly caress and praise their Microsoft products while the bad guys have to make due with Android or Apple phones. Quinn was being so unsubtle in his mission that I wondered if he was about to blunder into a trap. I'm glad he accomplished his mission (although very indiscreetly, how long will it take for someone to notice a car with the door hanging open and a dead woman laying next to it?) but I am worried he is getting careless. He let a terrorist walk in on him in episode one and in this episode he acts like he's in a live version of Grand Theft Auto. To paraphrase what Hannibal Lecter said to Jack the Ripper in their Epic Rap Battle of History, I don't mind that you're naughty Quinn, I hate that you're sloppy. It occurred to me during this episode that the assassinations are probably only known to Quinn, Dar Adal and Saul. The Berlin Station Chief does not know about them and that is why she will not end up prevailing over Saul. She's bitching about losing two sets of eyes in the Ukraine while Saul is researching and destroying bad guys. And since Dar Adal comes from the black side of the CIA, he's probably much more interested in the work Saul and Quinn are getting done rather than something he would see on the news 24 hours after the CIA guys found out about it. Speaking of the news, I am curious as to why the German spies had the TV on while they were tossing the journalist's apartment. Shouldn't they be focused on what they are doing rather than watching TV? I am looking forward to seeing how the Carrie kill order plot unfolds. Carrie has done two questionable things so far: meeting with the journalist and meeting with Hezbollah. I can't see how those things would result in a kill order though. The report back from the watchers must specify that no one agrees with her and they all treat her like shit. Is Saul really going to read a report on these interactions and say "Your foundation killed my father. Prepare to die!"...?

The dialogue in that scene: Carrie: The Foundation is not "the other side". Saul: During's family made a fortune in World War 2 working prisoners to death in their steel mills. So yeah, maybe he's got some karmic dues to pay. Carrie does have blonde hair and blue eyes. Hmmm...

I see this show has decided to embrace how ridiculous it can be. A diner with a second walk-in cooler that also functions as a cargo elevator to an illegal money operation run by pudgy Mexicans in their shorts. Sure, why not? I was surprised we didn't get a resolution on the abuser guy at the diner. I seem to recall Lizzie threatening to murder some abuser in a prior episode but if she had done it again this episode it might have amounted to that thing... oh, what's it called? Ah, yes. Characterization. But as a consolation prize we've learned that Lizzie, all of 98lbs wet and wearing boots, can kick a man in the ribs so hard his lung will collapse. An unfortunate dose of realism in the abused woman not being at all appreciative of Red and Lizzie's attempts to help. I don't generally like omnipotent bad guys but I thought it was hilarious that Lizzie's escape plan would have led to her demise less than a day later if Red hadn't saved her. I wonder when Red is going to check in on Dembe. I also wonder why the bad guys gave up their good leverage over him. Threatening his family earned his immediate cooperation. Trying to beat secrets of out him? He was a child soldier in Africa. He's seen worse than a cue ball in a sock. Speaking of balls, line of the episode courtesy of Red: "Over there... behind the ben wa balls."

And they were able to do this because when the CIA moved their equipment downstairs the secret server somehow got connected to the open internet. Apparently if this ever happens all one needs is a brute force attack and the CIA's system will obligingly spew files. Maybe they'll come back to this later because it does seem like quite the coincidence that the porn guys just happened to have tools handy capable of hacking the CIA on a moment's notice. When we first saw the olive-complexioned guy he was introduced with ominous music and wearing a black leather jacket of doom. He could be the mole. If anyone can do it, Quinn can. The idea was to make it look like the terrorist blew himself up.

Well, off to a good start. My only complaint is that there was a little too much watching Carrie try to fall asleep. There's no tension in that at all. Next week on Homeland, will Carrie fall asleep when her head hits the pillow? Or will she toss and turn all night? I also didn't really buy the computer stuff. Some hackers are trolling jihadists and meet cute with the CIA along the way. A few seconds later they're getting a document dump. And the tech explains it as "some cables were missed"? Saul even hangs the lampshade of "they're supposed to be separate!" But if you just plug a cable in, the CIA's secure network will poop like a frightened animal. Getting too far into the intricacies of this would turn this show into 24 and we'd be opening sockets all over the place but I wish they had tried for a more plausible explanation. I like that snarky chick who seems to be Carrie's office nemesis. Because of her snark and carelessness I assume she's going to murdered by jihadists next episode. I wouldn't be surprised if Carrie's boyfriend ends up missing Oktoberfest too.

Well FWIW 5-0 did not spend much time pooping on civil liberties this episode. They actually got a warrant to search a suspect's house! We seem to be heading towards a dilemma as to whether or not Jerry should be an actual member of 5-0. I posted last season that he should be deputized for his actions in one episode in which he anticipated a bad guy's escape and took heroic action to stop it from happening. I think that was the same episode in which Kono rocked a leather skirt. In any case, Jerry would be a valuable addition to the team but he is far from being a cop. I would love to see the show addressing this since McGarrett, Kono and Catherine barely qualify as cops. What exactly does it take to join the Governor's elite crime-fighting task force? Also, Jerry might get an office but Catherine doesn't? I suppose she can share McGarrett's. But if we're going to be deputizing people let's not be stingy here. Cath has been helping the team all along. I am glad that this week's shenanigans did not involve 5-0 being one step behind the villain the whole way. And Kono found both her phone and her gun! The Yakuza plot is interesting but still pretty silly. Adam promised them his worldly wealth. Gabriel jacks it. The Yakuza send goons to Kono's place to let Adam know they're watching him but if they were serious he'd already be dead. And then Gabriel decides to murder the Yakuka lackeys because...? If there is any justice in this universe, 5-0 will find Gabriel dismembered in some horrible manner and the Yakuza at peace with Adam because they know he didn't have any choice in the matter. But knowing this show Adam and Kono will be blamed for the death of the lackeys. So did Randy Couture's character catch up to the bad guy and burn him up by the end of the episode? That was the deal with the jar of ash, right? But all those cops combing the woods fail to notice a plume of smoke rising into the sky? I thought the villain's motive was that Randy Couture had burned up a family member of his or something.

Tech Girl is indeed Ashley Johnson, for whom Joss Whedon has a soft spot. She was the waitress in Avengers and she appeared in Dollhouse as well. She's best known as Chrissy Seaver from Growing Pains. I am not a fan of hers but I like her in this show, probably because she gets snarky when the non-tech people question her competence. Apparently her name on the show is Patterson.

Well it wasn't as silly as this show has been in the past and that's saying something I guess. I would imagine the best way to make use of the Troll Farmer's resources would be to take the authorities on a semi-plausible route instead of having Red and Lizzie pop up everywhere at once. Or by opening up several holes in the perimeter rather than a cluster of them. Then again who would have thought today would be the day the FBI task force would say to themselves "We're being fucked with! Do the opposite of what we are expected to do!"? As magnificent as Red's mourning wood for Lizzie's mom was, I couldn't help but think that blonde hair looked completely unnatural on her. For the past couple of seasons we've been treated to a Lizzie that makes us wonder how she manages to tie her shoes in the morning and now all of a sudden she can parkour into the Russian Embassy? Why did they make Samar such a wimp all of a sudden? I didn't think Ressler would have to rescue her from that tweaker. She even had her hand on the guy's other hand, making me think he was about to get krav maga'd. But instead Ressler has to take a risky shot and leave her feeling all vulnerable. I feel like the Samar we once knew would have insisted Ressler take the shot if the situation called for it but that wouldn't have happened because she would have taken care of it herself. Everyone is still basically on Team Lizzie but no one wants to admit it. Those water cooler talks must be awkward.

Although I enjoyed the series so far, this is my gripe as well. The tattoos are a wall of exposition but there's no particular order to read it in. I think in episode 2 they established that one tattoo leads to the next. I can buy that they left an easy one to be number one. But getting these intricate villain plots to wait until the FBI is ready to investigate? That's just silly. They have a discussion (again in ep. 2 IIRC) about if they are triggering these events. Let's forget about that and figure out how someone got them all to line up in the first place. Another it's not a bug, it's a feature they stole from the Blacklist is that apparently there are only six FBI agents in New York City. There were quite a number of places in which the characters would have been well within their rights and interests to call for some help! Isn't this supposed to be the era of inter-agency cooperation? But instead it's just the four field agents having to ask an amnesiac for advice because there's no one else they can turn to... in New York City.

Great start to the season. Fitz losing it at the end was a powerful scene. The only bit that didn't work for me was how Coulson and Hunter escaped the train. There were so many people guarding them! But one punch, one kick and one tech later they're gone? The plan relied on the ACTU deciding to inventory their gear on the spot? That didn't really work for me. I loved the Ant-Man reference and all the little connections to the greater MCU. I just wish any of the movies would return the favor in any way. As far as I know there has only ever been one indirect reference and that was the device Fury used to escape his SUV in Winter Soldier. The same device was used on the show first. Does Fury's line about "old friends" in Age of Ultron count? Too many degrees of separation there for me. I hope the movie makers don't think we'll be confused by Marvel references in Marvel products. Coulson has a Grumpy Cat mug. And Coulson's severed arm is in a box in the lab. I'm guessing that means by the end of the season he'll be rocking the Grumpy Cat in his original left hand.

The Kono and Adam plot advances because Kono has forgotten how to use a phone. She could have called for help at the beginning rather than wandering into a taser and she could have called the bank at the end rather than rushing there in a sports car. Gabriel wants to steal money that is supposed to be going to the Yakuza. Somehow he assumes that the Yakuza's retaliation will only be against Adam for letting himself be stolen from. Jerry continues to be a fun addition to the team. I thought it was interesting that Danno suggested simply shooting a suspect. Danno was originally the by-the-book cop who actually tried to follow the rules while McGarrett looked for new rules to break. Now we solve our problems by shooting suspects and joking about it.

Apparently season 2 will focus on Daredevil versus the Punisher. This ought to be awesome. I know the previous Punisher movies haven't been met with any critical acclaim but I loved the first one (the Punisher versus leather-clad geishas and random ninjas) and the third one with Jigsaw. We don't necessarily need to see the Punisher's backstory (it was covered in a few lines of dialog in the third movie) since he's a pretty self-explanatory character. Another thing to love about him is that he keeps the show grounded and hardcore. The Punisher isn't a superhero. Like Daredevil, he's relying on body armor and luck (and unlike Daredevil, ruthlessness) to take down the bad guys rather than by using a magical hammer or an iron suit. Source for Daredevil vs The Punisher: http://www.comicvine.com/articles/season-2-of-daredevil-will-be-daredevil-vs-the-pun/1100-152740/

How to escape an FBI black site: enter a 4-digit code (which included a letter. Huh?), walk down the hallway, turn left then right, down the ladder and out the door. The local drunk tank is harder to get out of than that and better guarded too! Is Agent Navabi Iranian or Israeli? If she's Iranian, there's no way she works for Mossad. If she's Israeli there's no way she'd be extradited to Iran. So for all of Red's protesting that Lizzie couldn't handle the truth, she basically shrugged it off when she discovered it. Good thing she got laid I guess. Connolly says they won't know who the next hydra head is. If I were them I'd start with the next smug prick who shows up and starts acting like he owns the place.

My favorite bit had to be May's quick thinking in getting Ward to shoot his own girlfriend a bunch of times. It was brutal and it was the highlight of the episodes. Is Jiaying actually dead? She was cut into small pieces by Whitehall, which I presume meant more damage to her body than Cal could do with a bear hug. Did Whitehall not at some point sever her neck or spine? For what it's worth, I thought Skye would explode her from within, which almost happened. Is Deathlok still in the shop? Or did he get the signal to stand down? Fitz has been watching Breaking Bad? The terragen crystals are basically blue meth... I am assuming the intricacies laid out in this episode and the series so far is a setup for the Inhumans movie. But at the same time, I have my doubts that Chloe Bennett will be invited to play on the big screen. Is it actually possible that a plot for a movie will be laid out on the show and that it will work? There were a lot of references in the show to Age of Ultron but the movie did not return the favor. For the Inhumans, will their story be carried on from this show's plotlines or will it be something altogether different with a line or two that ties it back to the small screen?

Lots of nuclear silliness in this episode. First and foremost a W-80 does not leak radiation all over the place! Second, they do not have giant red LED timers on the side. Third, two people could not lift one and carry it around like it was a bag of wet sand. They weigh 300lbs! Fourth, permissive action links cannot be removed. Doing so will destroy the weapon internally and not in a mushroom cloud fashion. And I am not a rocket scientist or even in the military. I just read Tom Clancy novels and look stuff up on Wikipedia! A bit of exposition was shaved off for action's sake. So there's this hardware store manager who was rejected by the Marines back in the day. He happens to live near the place where man-portable nuclear bombs are driven around at night for amusement value. He gets two giant military trucks, rigs up a not particularly clever trap (I bet they've never thought of that one before!) and hustles the nukes to a private airfield so he can sell them to an Islamic terrorist in Hawaii. What? Let me say that again: WHAT?!?! No part of that plot works! The US military and intelligence apparatus can't find this most-wanted terrorist (on US soil no less) but Joe from Podunk Hardware not only tracks him down but offers to sell him a nuke? And the guy goes for it? And the US military moves this hardware around in Chevy Suburbans? Not an MRAP or a tank or an APC. An off the lot SUV with a bush bumper on it for extra protection. And they drive them at insane enough speeds that if one of them gets in trouble, they all get it. The effect of the wire cutting into the vehicle was cool and all but I have to call bullshit on this one. There were what, six vehicles in that convoy? The hijacked private jet deviates from the flight plan and heads for Hawaii instead, crossing every air defense zone in the US. But somehow the pilot never manages to switch his transponder to the hijacked setting (7500 if you're wondering). The pilot doesn't ditch in the Pacific. He just obediently waits to die and never tells anyone. Last but not least, the US military has helicopters but apparently not fast ones so Kamekona's tour chopper is the best bet for getting a nuke off the island? And since 5-0 found the nuke they immediately have custody of it? The team alluded to every intelligence organization being involved but we didn't see any of it. There weren't even NEST guys there. The spacesuit dudes that cleared the plane had Fire Department shirts on. No FBI, CIA, Homeland, military, et cetera. They all just stood back while 5-0 handled it. Maybe Dog the Bounty Hunter told them it was cool, 5-0's got this. Not much to say for the rest of the episode. I am a little disappointed that the drama over Adam's possible ongoing gangster adventures turned out to be "it's complicated." The Yakuza obayun demanded a price and that price was all of Adam's worldly wealth! So what? Kono's place is cozy and she's got a bunch of kinky outfits. Adam will find some way of amusing himself. And then there's Gabriel, who has the ninja-like talent of being able to show up anywhere there's hundreds of cops standing around but escaping unscathed every time. But it turns out he's just a perversion of a good guy. He feels for Chin and how he's always getting accused of corruption. He's willing to cut him in on it if Chin just leaves him alone. And I thought the show might actually have the guts to go for it but Chin tells Gabriel to pound sand, setting up the intricacies of season 6.

Why did Danny lie to Amber (Melissa?)? She knows he has an ex-wife. She's met his daughter and knows she wasn't delivered by stork. Would it really bother her that much that they have ongoing custody issues? And has Rachel's name never come up? I am not looking forward to the inevitable you lied to me and now I can't trust you anymore conversation Amber is going to have with Danny. Again with the professional courtesy to Dog the Bounty Hunter! I have a feeling he is not so highly regarded in real law enforcement circles. So Catherine comes back and is immediately called upon for favors and by the end of the episode is driving a car with lights and a siren on it. Welcome home, Cath. It also would have been nice to have a line about her adventures in Afghanistan. As I recall she was looking for a specific someone, a kid who had been taken by the Taliban. Did she find him? Did she put her search on hold while taking a vacation for Kono's wedding? And although a Windows Phone is great at picking up Wi-Fi signals I doubt she's getting full bars in the tribal areas!

Has anyone ever made a chart or something that tracks the intricacies of this plot? I can't think of a specific point at which it gets too complicated but it seems to me like there were way too many spots in this very episode in which it all could have fallen apart if things didn't go exactly according to plan. I think the most interesting thing in this episode was finding out that Reddington's friend from the DMV is actually one of his torture lackeys. Figures he'd be good at it since he already does it for a living.

First and foremost, I'd appreciate it if Kono could wear that rubber top all the time. Particularly if she pairs it with the beautiful leather skirt she wore mid-season. Agreed about the bad aging makeup on Kono's mom. It just looked wrong somehow. However, the makeup used for Kono's disintegration on her journey was fantastic. What is the lesson of this episode? Kono sometimes makes terrible decisions that leave her at the mercy of fate and her teammates have to do everything they can to try to rescue her? Interesting that this would be what is revealed to us right before her wedding to Adam. Steve had a Navy SEAL fail. As a Navy SEAL he would know all about the weather and would be more worried about it than Chin. And Steve can pilot helicopters in bad weather now? I feel like they might have shown him flying in the past but it reeked of plot-enabled ability to me. I'm glad the Coast Guard turned him down. I was somewhat expecting him to call the governor. Too bad Microsoft doesn't make sat phones. Kono would have benefited greatly from being able to say "Cortana, this is some bullshit."

I was sad to see Wesley go because my name is Wesley. I thought he was a great henchman and I would have loved to see more from him. I noticed he has two holes in his left ear indicating previous piercings. I wonder if that is part of this story or just something from the actor that wasn't covered up with makeup. I also noticed that he is formally James Wesley but Kingpin just calls him Wesley. I would like to think he has a last name that he doesn't use and that Wesley is his middle name, as it is with me. The bullet holes in Wesley's torso do not match with the exploding wood of the chair. Other than that, I haven't found much to nitpick in this series.

My thoughts exactly. That Fulcrum is some bullshit. Newspaper articles, archived in every library across the continent, digitized and searchable on Google? That's your blackmail material? As an actor once said, if you have enough footage of Santa Claus you can cut it to make him look like an asshole. Doesn't equal blackmail material by any stretch. The Snowden leaks aren't that damaging and that was a guy who had administrator-level access to everything the NSA had!

I suppose Mr. Vargas feeds the cat too? That flat didn't look too lived in, feline company excluded. This blackmail file is going to be pretty obsolete if it's all thirty year old secrets. Guess what, back in 1980-something the CIA did shitty stuff. We know this already! What could be worse than what happened in real life? The CIA provided weapons and training to the Afghan mujahideen who ended up becoming the taliban. That lead directly to 9/11. But the Fulcrum has something worse in it? I did like that Mr. Kaplan had a big greasy revolver and $500k in cash on standby for just such an occasion. Lizzie's ex-fiancee was awkwardly shoehorned in though. Red has this whole medical team on standby but only one surgeon? Cooper gets carte blanche from the Attorney General to do whatever it takes in this situation but has to go to Mossad for intel? I guess it works because the CIA is part of the team of bad guys here but it seems like the only reason for this plot point was to give Samar something to do. Tom can't quit. He was fired.

Foggy had some great lines. "It's a shithole... but it's our shithole!" "How many fingers am I holding up?!"