S01.E05: The Bentley Lament

[mxc90]

Quote

First Aired: November 12, 2019

Bentley discovers the truth. Doug goes on a dangerous mission. Tara confronts her past.

[blackwing]

I liked Brian J. Smith in "Sense8" and he seems like a decent actor, but I find myself completely bored with his storyline.  I didn't even know his character's name until I read it in the post just above this one, I had just been calling him "Brian J. Smith" or "Alaska guy".  Can't really put my finger on why I'm so bored by his character.  I think it's because I'm annoyed by the wife who put him into the program and I'm annoyed by his lack of reaction or anger at being put into this program.  Unless I missed it, there's been no real reaction from him... it just seems like "oh you did this to me, no big deal".

So are there actually three Treadstones in present day we have seen?  Doug, Soyun, and the Indian lady?  But now Indian lady is supposed to kill (or maybe not kill) Soyun?  Why would one Treadstone be sent to target another?

[Loandbehold]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

So are there actually three Treadstones in present day we have seen?  Doug, Soyun, and the Indian lady?  But now Indian lady is supposed to kill (or maybe not kill) Soyun?  Why would one Treadstone be sent to target another?

We still don't know enough about the Treadstone program. There might even be more than one. In Ludlum's books, it was a CIA black ops program. But 1973 guy looks like he was "trained" by the Russian lady. So, is he trying to get the protocol back to the CIA? Or is he trying to get it to the CIA for the first time? Post-1973, does Russia share the protocol with North Korea? Do the Russians or US share it with India? I don't believe that the US would have created these specific Treadstone operatives. Especially North Korea given how difficult it is to get someone into that country. But, I guess it's possible that we'll find out that these agents are all there to destabilize world governments for the benefit of whomever leads Treadstone.

[mxc90]

10 hours ago, blackwing said:

I liked Brian J. Smith in "Sense8" and he seems like a decent actor, but I find myself completely bored with his storyline.  I didn't even know his character's name until I read it in the post just above this one, I had just been calling him "Brian J. Smith" or "Alaska guy".  Can't really put my finger on why I'm so bored by his character.  I think it's because I'm annoyed by the wife who put him into the program and I'm annoyed by his lack of reaction or anger at being put into this program.  Unless I missed it, there's been no real reaction from him... it just seems like "oh you did this to me, no big deal".

So are there actually three Treadstones in present day we have seen?  Doug, Soyun, and the Indian lady?  But now Indian lady is supposed to kill (or maybe not kill) Soyun?  Why would one Treadstone be sent to target another?

The fourth is Haynes. He killed the hypnotist and escaped from police custody with Edwards (CIA guy).

The last part was confusing why Soyun was a target.

I only know Brian J. Smith from "Stargate Universe" and from that show and this one, both characters are same: "dry".

[AnimeMania]

I thought this episode was kind of boring, seemed more like a travelogue.

[nuraman00]

8 hours ago, mxc90 said:

The fourth is Haynes. He killed the hypnotist and escaped from police custody with Edwards (CIA guy).

The last part was confusing why Soyun was a target.

I only know Brian J. Smith from "Stargate Universe" and from that show and this one, both characters are same: "dry".

They suspected that she would be upset when she learned that she had transmitted her husband's documents to a stranger.  She would then turn on the Shin and other members of that unsanctioned North Korean group.

Edited November 14, 2019 by nuraman00

[nuraman00]

I usually don't like fight scenes in which the men are always punching, and the women are always kicking.  It's too predictable.

I think this show does a little better job of showing women punching too.

I'm not surprised though that SoYun used her legs to flip behind the soldier during the fight at the beginning of episode 4, or that Nira had a 360 spinning kick in her fight with SoYun.  Since I expect most fight sequences to involve a woman using her legs.

One of the few memorable kick scenes from a man, was when the soldier was fighting SoYun at the beginning of episode 4, and he missed it.  I don't remember too many more prominent kick sequences from a man, so far.  But that could just be me.

I'm starting to get bored with Bentley's 1973 scenes.  I want a more major development with that part of the story.

[JayDub]

Too many story lines and convoluted activity. I'm sticking to watching the Borne DVD's.

[BaskingsharkGTX]

God this is so SLOW.

LOL at Brian J Smith's wife going "Are we OK?" after lying to him their entire marriage and hiding the fact that he is a brainwashed assassin and she knew all along and was part of the whole deal. Like, sure, babe. Maybe we need a few sessions of couples' therapy but we'll be just dandy after that. Just warn the therapist that I might have to skip a meeting or two if I have to get triggered and go off and kill someone else.

[Ottis]

I struggled with this one. There was no reason for John to talk to Katya about his life, when John has no idea who is friend or foe. And the fact the NK smuggler who was never caught suddenly was caught was convenient, and when he was caught he seems to have to cover or any plan to deal with being caught. And the whole prison access with Sebastian and set up was mighty convenient.

I enjoy this show when it’s characters act within logical boundaries given the show’s world. When they are sloppy or poorly prepared or contradictory, it bugs me.

I did enjoy the attack at the beginning and the struggle Doug is going through. His experience seems to be the most logical of the Treadstone assets we have seen so far.

On 11/14/2019 at 4:49 AM, JayDub said:

Too many story lines and convoluted activity. I'm sticking to watching the Borne DVD's.

The many story lines is one reason I’m interested. Not every human reacts the same to what the Treadstone subjects went through, and all of them are still being used. By whom and why vary and I’m curious. 

[mythoughtis]

On 11/14/2019 at 3:25 AM, nuraman00 said:

They suspected that she would be upset when she learned that she had transmitted her husband's documents to a stranger.  She would then turn on the Shin and other members of that unsanctioned North Korean group.

She wouldn’t have found that out unless the envelope was opened in front of her.  Maybe the intended recipient wouldn’t have done so.  We don’t know that the hit on her was sanctioned by the same guy who sent her to deliver the envelope.  We have no way of knowing if the current day operatives are being awoken by ‘ only the good guys’ or ‘only the bad guys’.  Maybe two sides are colliding with these two particular operatives. 

[John Potts]

5 episodes in and I still have trouble telling apart any of the male characters apart (even though some of them are meant to be 40 years in the past). The only one I do find compelling is Soo Yin who they seem to be pilling the tragedy onto, but it seems to be working in making us (or me, at least) actually care about her.

Shouldn't there be some difference between the different supersoldiers given that the North Korean, US and Russian (presumably) aren't working together to produce them? I suppose they could all be secretly linked (or based on the same Nazi super science project) but they seem to all act the same. The only difference we see is that Soo Yin (sp?) seems to always have know she was a super assassin while the others don't (or didn't), but you could have made it clear that they all work in different ways (say, the Korean program supersoldiers are all about hand to hand, US supersoldiers are all about turning anything into a weapon). Especially as there doesn't seem to be any development between the past and the present - given the program has been running for 40+ years, shouldn't there have been some refinement in the whole process?

On 11/13/2019 at 2:41 PM, blackwing said:

Can't really put my finger on why I'm so bored by his character.  I think it's because I'm annoyed by the wife who put him into the program and I'm annoyed by his lack of reaction or anger at being put into this program.  Unless I missed it, there's been no real reaction from him... it just seems like "oh you did this to me, no big deal".

IIRC, she didn't put him in the program, she met him there. Though he does seem remarkably accepting that his "wife" was in fact part of the conspiracy to brainwash him. I guess he just wants one relatively stable point in his life (though I would love it if it turns out she's just manipulating him on a deeper level - she did get him to go on his last mission "because they'll kill us if you don't" - have your evil conspiracy actually be diabolical!).

On 11/15/2019 at 2:58 AM, BaskingsharkGTX said:

Maybe we need a few sessions of couples' therapy but we'll be just dandy after that. Just warn the therapist that I might have to skip a meeting or two if I have to get triggered and go off and kill someone else.

Or kill the therapist, if the last shrink was anything to go by!