S01.E13: Spies, part 2

[thewhiteowl]

While Jane investigates Maggie's kidnapping, she shocked when she learns the truth and enlists the team to help.

[Taeolas]

Well, there was our link to the original show. 

 

As for Maggie, part of me hopes she'll stay gone (to be honest, her acting seemed off; don't know her as an actress off hand so don't know if it's a flaw in the actress or the role). But I suspect she'll be brought back for soem reason before the end of the season before being sent away again. 

I am surprised that the N:H crew accepted the story that Bau was her son so easily; especially when they had his blood on hand. A maternity test to confirm or deny the parentage would have been pretty trivial and would've been another story beat (really her son? more drama to decide to keep the mother/child connected vs national security. Not her son? Use that to break her and maybe flip her to be a triple spy). I guess they want to save that revelation for the spring sweeps or something. 

All in all, I'm still trying to decide if I like this or not. It's the first season and it's clearly trying to figure out its position. It feels more China/Asian focused than the others which might be enough to stand out from the other shows. For now, I'm mainly trying to enjoy the location scenery while facing down 50cm of snow this weekend. 

[milkyaqua]

9 minutes ago, Taeolas said:

As for Maggie, part of me hopes she'll stay gone (to be honest, her acting seemed off; don't know her as an actress off hand so don't know if it's a flaw in the actress or the role). But I suspect she'll be brought back for soem reason before the end of the season before being sent away again. 

Julie White played Nadine on Grace Under Fire so some folks might be more familiar in a comedic role.

I do agree it seems to soon in the run of this show to do a storyline like this so I'll hold off on judgement.  I did find it odd that TPTB let Tennant call the shot of not taking Bao/not Bao down.  But I did like that the agent from NZ seemed to at least be following the guy.  I do think that there has to be more of this plot device to come.

[UncleChuck]

I had to chuckle when Jane referred to Leroy Jethro Gibbs (and Tony) as the guy with the military haircut and his snarky sidekick.

[Taeolas]

43 minutes ago, milkyaqua said:

Julie White played Nadine on Grace Under Fire so some folks might be more familiar in a comedic role.

I do agree it seems to soon in the run of this show to do a storyline like this so I'll hold off on judgement.  I did find it odd that TPTB let Tennant call the shot of not taking Bao/not Bao down.  But I did like that the agent from NZ seemed to at least be following the guy.  I do think that there has to be more of this plot device to come.

 

As we found out, the data was already safe at that point, and replaced with a honeypot. So Tennant's decision was more "do we bring Bao/Bao's son in now and close off that threat, or do we basically flip the guy into "our" agent and let the data get out so they could see where it goes. 

 

So in that respect, her read on Maggie was probably what it hedged on. If she let "Bao" go, then Maggie might be more cooperative and the mission can go forward. "Bao" is now known, so his overall power as a spy has been cut down, and bringing back tainted data will further diminish his power, weakening a powerful spy while getting Maggie's knowledge as well. 

If Tennant had decided to take "Bao" out, then Maggie would probably clam up out of grief, and they'd lose the opportunity to taint China's knowledge pool. 

So in that respect, I suspect Tennant's orders were to always let Bao go, but to play it up enough to make sure Maggie also flips. 

Also, in that light, holding back the results of any maternity tests would also play into that, but might also be too much of a wild card to risk in how they want this operation to play out. (Or they're holding it back as an ace up their sleeves in case Maggie starts to get cold feet on what she tells).

 

On a different note, I have no doubt that Maggie knew as soon as she stepped into her home that it had been tossed. She probably even knew full well where the cameras and bugs were planted. But at that point, she was only concerned with Bao, so she kept up the normal show until the signal came in, then passed on the "Run" signal that got her caught. She knew she was burned, so her only goal was to make sure Bao got away, and then she turned herself in. Hell, she knows the N:H team; she probably picked them all out at the market as soon as she stepped in there. 

 

In any case, I'm pretty sure this story arc isn't complete yet. Maggie is sure to return, and we'll find out about Bao more I'm sure as well. But I suspect ultimately this is setting up one of the main N:H themes for the first seasons; focusing on Chinese/Pacific Ocean spy games, on top of the "normal" Naval Crime Investigations. 

[Crs97]

I liked that Tennant had a female mentor on the island so losing Maggie was a bummer.  I thought the actress was fine except that she always seemed to speak much louder than anyone else.  Are we getting Pentagon guy back, or was the actor leaving for a reason?

"Bao was her son" took the group way too long to figure out.  When the jeep showed up to the safehouse, I had originally thought the twist would be that Maggie's lover hadn't died either and was the actual Bao picking up their son or killing him.

I can't believe that I like Whistler, but I now think I might like her more than Lucy.  Lucy is a little too giggly for me to buy as a top-notch agent.

So the big question left for me is whether the sister and her family got out of China.

[Maverick]

Each of the NCIS shows seem to have their primary recurring global thread with the original focusing on the Middle East/Israelis, LA with the Russians and now Hawai'i with the Chinese (NOLA was more focused on domestic plots).  It might be an interesting different take.

 Maggie will totally be back, as will Bao and the Kiwi agent.   Maggie may even be used for several seasons; I can see her dynamic being similar to the crappy The Enemy Within show a few years ago.  It will be a constant game of "is she really helping or is this part of her master plan."  

 So Gibbs recruited Tenant after being on a mission with her in...season 8?  I'm assuming and off screen mission, and Ziva or McGee weren't along.  We won't be getting a flashback of that origin story.

 Could we write in some sort of plot twist where we exchange Kai for the Kiwi agent?   He remains the most boring character.  At least the other characters have shown some signs of improvement.

 

[Taeolas]

One thing I'm a little impressed is that they avoided the Triple Agent play (so far) with Maggie. They didn't have her revealed to actually be on a deep deep deep cover CIA mission against the Chinese by being a "Chinese double agent". Or at least they didn't reveal that yet; they could always use that to explain her return. But at least they avoided the "Tennant and Maggie are 'alone' in Interrogation so Maggie spills the beans that she's on a CIA Deep cover mission to expose Bao's network; or something like that. Really for experienced agents, that sort of reveal would ring false regardless; Maggie should be well aware that Interrogation is NEVER truly isolated, and Tennant should be aware that would be a classic cover story/excuse story to just believe without proof.

[MissLucas]

Agreed that it took the team way too long to figure out why Maggie had protected 'Bao'. Taken on its own merits it was a good plot overall, it's not the show's fault that the mentor-traitor thing has been done already in various other shared universe shows. I liked all the background info we got on Tennant. Somehow I had thought that her kids had been born on Hawaii. And she looked cute with the bangs.

On a side note: Lucy's attitude when Whistler showed up (and brought coffee she hadn't spilled) had me roll my eyes. I get it that she's angry but that was unprofessional and rude. It was Tennant's house and she had invited Whistler, it was not up to Lucy bark at Whistler about her shoes. Whistler is not just her ex (for the time being) but also someone the team is working with on a regular basis. Just like Sola Lucy needs to leave the attitude.

8 hours ago, Taeolas said:

One thing I'm a little impressed is that they avoided the Triple Agent play (so far) with Maggie. They didn't have her revealed to actually be on a deep deep deep cover CIA mission against the Chinese by being a "Chinese double agent". Or at least they didn't reveal that yet; they could always use that to explain her return. 

Yeah, after part one I was also expecting something along those lines. 

I liked the last scene - Alex remains one of the better written teens on tv .

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by MissLucas

[mythoughtis]

I liked Maggie and I hate that they did this to the character. 

As to maternity, Maggie said that a test had been done when he first showed back up in her life. 

loved Alex in that final scene 

 

[Taeolas]

6 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I liked Maggie and I hate that they did this to the character. 

As to maternity, Maggie said that a test had been done when he first showed back up in her life. 

loved Alex in that final scene 

 

 

That makes me doubt the story even more, to be honest. If the Chinese were planning to turn Maggie, then they'd make sure the maternity test would give the results they wanted to, and it was in a situation where she couldn't give Langley full information about what she's looking for. And once she was on the hook, she'd be too invested to want to doubt the story to check later. 

An impromptu test with a blood sample they know comes from him would be almost impossible to be messed with. And with the situation the N:H team was in, it is a natural test to do with the pieces they had on hand. 

[Raja]

It really was too on the nose of McGarrett's mom and Wo Fat. Only in this case we expect Bao won't be able to do much without mom and how long will it be before China catches on to New Zealand/USA planted false information on them.

I wasn't expected a Janey origin story for part 2 but I guess Navy cop and part time spy is a way to ease out of the game. Now I wonder if the Navy is putting Tennant through advanced education so she can retire with a doctorate 

[blackwing]

Count me in among those who were surprised that they actually made Maggie a traitor.  I was waiting for the reveal that she was a triple agent, but nope, they went with her being a straight out traitor.  

Agree that the team was way too slow on the uptake.  As soon as they found the videos of a little boy, it was obvious to me that Bao was her son.  Also, Jane said that Maggie was the best female operative the CIA ever had, so why would she expect to be able to search Maggie's house and plant bugs without Maggie being aware of it?

Maggie said that she is Bao, not her son, which is kind of true, because without her, he wouldn't have had any information.  But he was the one that did the actual acts and killings.  Now that she is locked up, he has lost his only source of information.  What is he supposed to do now?  He thinks he retrieved all of her stuff from the safe shack and is going to bring it back to China.  It's apparently all faked and is going to infect the MSS system with a virus?  

I quit watching Hawaii 5-0 after the show fired Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, so I wasn't familiar with the New Zealand agent.  But I like him in this role.  I hope we see Sola again.

[Maren]

On 1/25/2022 at 7:34 PM, mythoughtis said:

I liked Maggie and I hate that they did this to the character.  

 

Me too. She was actually the character I like the most. And it was nice to see an older woman in the business and being mentor to a younger woman. We have so many examples of those in male/male relationships, it was nice to see a female/female one. And then they make her bad :-/ Honestly really ticked me off and is kind of turning me off the show. There was just no reason to make the lone older female spy character bad. 

[SnarkShark]

None of these NCIS shows are very good, but this got pretty conclusively stinky.  Wow.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

Did they ever mention before what Tennant's ethnic background was supposed to be?  It seems like this was the first time the mentioned she was at least part Filipino. 

The decision regarding letting Bao go was already put into place from the start.  If they took the time to swap the data and everything, no reason not to let Bao go.  The whole will they/won't they was to leverage Maggie to cooperate.  It was a semi-cold to play on a mother's emotions but Tennant showed at the end that she was at that point with Maggie when she had no interest in reading the letter.

It is funny how Sola was giving grief to Kai about being a "jarhead" since his character in H-50 was a Seal like McGarrett.  Hope he comes back as an ancillary asset.

I also hope they followed through with getting the sister and husband out.

[blackwing]

1 hour ago, HawaiiTVGuy said:

Did they ever mention before what Tennant's ethnic background was supposed to be?  It seems like this was the first time the mentioned she was at least part Filipino. 

The decision regarding letting Bao go was already put into place from the start.  If they took the time to swap the data and everything, no reason not to let Bao go.  The whole will they/won't they was to leverage Maggie to cooperate.  It was a semi-cold to play on a mother's emotions but Tennant showed at the end that she was at that point with Maggie when she had no interest in reading the letter.

It was no less than Maggie deserved, she was a top CIA agent and she has been betraying her country and lying to her friend for years.  Vanessa Lachey deserves kudos for her acting in this episode, the pain was evident when she said to Maggie "you broke my heart".  Maggie was Jane's mother figure and mentor and they had been best friends for 20 years.  I was proud of Jane for not caving and letting emotion guide her actions.  She did what she had to do.

As for her ethnic background, they have never mentioned it before.  Her ethnicity was only alluded to once before, when her son said he was proud of her being the first Asian-American head of NCIS Pearl Harbor during the WW2 impostor episode.  I have always assumed that Jane is half-Filipino, half-white like Vanessa Lachey.  I also thought that Tennant was her maiden name and that her dad is white and mom is Filipino.  But we learned that Tennant is the name of her husband, who looks apparently 100% Filipino.

[Raja]

25 minutes ago, blackwing said:

 

As for her ethnic background, they have never mentioned it before.  Her ethnicity was only alluded to once before, when her son said he was proud of her being the first Asian-American head of NCIS Pearl Harbor during the WW2 impostor episode.  I have always assumed that Jane is half-Filipino, half-white like Vanessa Lachey.  I also thought that Tennant was her maiden name and that her dad is white and mom is Filipino.  But we learned that Tennant is the name of her husband, who looks apparently 100% Filipino.

I don't know about his character but Anthony Ruvivar's mother is white.

[Crs97]

The look on her face when she said she was done talking about Maggie?  Kudos to Vanessa for this episode.

[jabRI]

Sorry, I got distracted during the episode, and missed the big reveal as to Maggie's motivation.  I know it couldn't have been just for her son,right?

[dwmarch]

On 1/26/2022 at 6:47 AM, blackwing said:

I quit watching Hawaii 5-0 after the show fired Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, so I wasn't familiar with the New Zealand agent.

Good news! This show is Hawaii 5-0 2.0! I don't know how similar this show is to other NCIS shows (the only ones I have seen are the 5-0 crossover episodes) but it is identical to Hawaii 5-0. I consider this a bug and a feature. I really wish they had shouted out 5-0 in this episode though to say Sola looked just like a guy from the task force.

On 1/25/2022 at 7:11 PM, Maverick said:

 Maggie will totally be back, as will Bao and the Kiwi agent.   Maggie may even be used for several seasons; I can see her dynamic being similar to the crappy The Enemy Within show a few years ago.  It will be a constant game of "is she really helping or is this part of her master plan." 

Yes, exactly except they don't even need to reach that far back. Since this seems to be from the "audience must have forgotten this Hawaii 5-0 plot by now" pile, there will inevitably be a case where they need to go to Maggie for help, she'll seem really remorseful and eager to catch the bad guys but it will all be a setup to break herself out of jail. Cue recurring villain until Tenant tearfully has to put her down.

[blackwing]

13 hours ago, jabRI said:

Sorry, I got distracted during the episode, and missed the big reveal as to Maggie's motivation.  I know it couldn't have been just for her son,right?

It was pretty much purely for her son.  She had thought that her son had died all those years ago.  Then she got contact from him.  It was clear that they only reason why she gave up the state secrets is because it was the only way that China/Bao would allow her to keep seeing her son.  She was being used, she knew it, and she did it anyways because her relationship with her son trumped everything.

[Raja]

20 minutes ago, dwmarch said:

Good news! This show is Hawaii 5-0 2.0! I don't know how similar this show is to other NCIS shows (the only ones I have seen are the 5-0 crossover episodes) but it is identical to Hawaii 5-0. I consider this a bug and a feature. I really wish they had shouted out 5-0 in this episode though to say Sola looked just like a guy from the task force.

Yes, exactly except they don't even need to reach that far back. Since this seems to be from the "audience must have forgotten this Hawaii 5-0 plot by now" pile, there will inevitably be a case where they need to go to Maggie for help, she'll seem really remorseful and eager to catch the bad guys but it will all be a setup to break herself out of jail. Cue recurring villain until Tenant tearfully has to put her down.

Lets see as a NCIS show the SAC seems to have a lot more power and influence than someone running a minor Federal Law Enforcement office should have, check. The quirky tech guy, check.  The new guy and older experienced office members, check. The transfer from a more famous agency to become NCIS, check. The military veteran, New Orleans only got theirs's in the last year, check. The mothership featured the foreign liaison officers working with NCIS and we have had a New Zealander introduced very early in this series and at least on this site seems liked.

Breaking general NCIS/JAG tropes Agents Tennant and Boone's minor children was only sort of in play with Sam Hanna in Los Angeles. There doesn't seem to be any chance at any intraoffice flirting to go on unless you count the DIA officer or the HPD Detective, if they move up in billing status

After the aborted SEAL reunion leading to a Danny and Chin Ho episode because Alex O'Loughlin's work injury and rehab the Hawaii 5-0/NCIS shared universe seems to have been divorced. As  it is the JAG/NCIS never really protected such shared universe things after their first season crossovers to introduce the younger  series. We only get an she is  talking about Jethro Gibbs Easter  egg rather than say NCIS Director Vance on a video call from Washington so far on this series. Just as New Orleans seemed to avoid interference from NCIS even if the local and Washington FBI would be all over them.

[Taeolas]

As far as show interconnections go, N:H seems to be on par with N:LA so far. NOLA and NCIS felt a lot more interconnected, with a lot more character crossover than LA has ever had. When N:H and NCIS have their first characters interacting (and not just namedropped), I think NH will officially move up to the 3rd most connected NCIS show, leapfrogging over NLA. 

[Raja]

16 minutes ago, Taeolas said:

As far as show interconnections go, N:H seems to be on par with N:LA so far. NOLA and NCIS felt a lot more interconnected, with a lot more character crossover than LA has ever had. When N:H and NCIS have their first characters interacting (and not just namedropped), I think NH will officially move up to the 3rd most connected NCIS show, leapfrogging over NLA. 

Of course the Hawai'i filming location and pandemic protocols could have  a lot to do with the avoidance of the initial cameo to introduce the new team. But for a franchise that features their high tech communication rooms you think they could have made a video presence. I guess someone like Sean Murray/McGee has been on the NCIS cast for so long that it is seen as too expensive.

[Taeolas]

The NH stories haven't really felt like they needed to call DC much yet; though they did send a character back to DC in the early eps. 

McGee, while the senior agent left on the Gibbs team now (long road from Probie), wouldn't be calling Hawaii or vice versa. As someone noted above, the video call would probably be to Vance who might call in a Gibbs Teammember for more details. (And Vance's guest star cost should be easily in the budget). COVID and story arc plotting seem to have derailed that idea, but I think there are still plans for some cross-character visiting with the elder sibling show. (I won't say original because Jag still holds the parentage :) )

 

That said, practically speaking, NH should be interacting more with the N:LA team, just due to proximity (if you can call the Pacific "approximate"). But it seems NH is focusing more on Asian/Pacific rim issues, while N:LA is focusing on both Mexican and Russian issues, so there probably won't be much overlap there. 

[Daff]

On 1/25/2022 at 2:27 PM, Taeolas said:

Bao" is now known, so his overall power as a spy has been cut down, and bringing back tainted data will further diminish his power, weakening a powerful spy while getting Maggie's knowledge as well. 

I think his usefulness as a spy is over, as Maggie admitted that he could not have accomplished those missions without her contacts, experience, and information. After she admitted that, I just figured he was the muscle. Besides, with the amount of cash in the bag, he’ll probably just disappear to avoid being “eliminated”. He can’t help them anymore, but he has probably seen too much to be left alive. 

[Maverick]

 Has there been anything released about the season finale?  I assume it will be a follow up to this episode.

[StarBrand]

I didn't like Maggie being all "yes, my son has done horrible things, BUT YOU CAN'T SHOOT AND/OR ARREST HIM BECAUSE HE'S MY SON!" Um, yes, that's what your organizations do...arrest people who have done bad things.  You don't get a free pass because he's your son, or you're very good friends with NCIS.  I was almost expecting her to say something eye-rolling, like "he's really, really, a good kid", but thankfully, that didn't happen.

Maggie can stay gone.  Never liked her "I'm not a spy anymore, but I kinda am" schtick.