S01.E02: Public Secrets

[Trini]

Helen gets her first official Omega Sector assignment - going undercover with Harry and the team at an academic conference in Madrid to stop a bioweapon terrorist attack. During the mission, Harry does his best to keep his history with Ximena, a sexy cryptographer they must work with to complete the mission, away from his wife.

Airdate: March 8, 2023

[AnimeMania]

Angelica Celaya as Ximena

Edited March 9, 2023 by AnimeMania

[shapeshifter]

So far so good.
I liked that I could "watch" it while doing other stuff on my computer and yet not lose track of either.

And it had plenty of lighthearted stuff, and light romance.

Having been a mother of 3 teenage daughters in the 90s and early 00s, hopefully:

• the guy in the muscle car just has rich parents
• the daughter doesn't find the surveillance drive

[Halting Hex]

Gotta love that "Madrid" is clearly still just Los Angeles.  (As seen by the "One Way" and "Stop" signs in the picture above.)

I guess I traveled farther than I thought when I would go downtown.  Huh.  

[AnimeMania]

The show seems like it is half way between a network spy show and a Nickelodeon Kids Spy show. Gibs is still talking way too much, I don't see how they can concentrate on what they doing with Gibs excitedly yelling, asking them to describe every single thing that is going on. The Husband and Wife are still bickering too much, they should try to be a little more professional. It was kind of funny that every photo they showed of Harry and Ximena's meeting was very seductive.

Harry stole somebody's motorcycle and blew it up.

Edited March 9, 2023 by AnimeMania

[Chaos Theory]

The funniest part of the show is that Harry and Hellen interrupt classified missions to get intel on what their teenage daughter is doing.

I also kinda liked the scene where Harry rescued Hellen’s ex and he found out why they broke up.  
 

 

[FormerMod-a1]

It's weird flipping from Reba to this. :P  I will say Steve Howie has aged quite well.  

[Chaos Theory]

4 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

It's weird flipping from Reba to this. :P  I will say Steve Howie has aged quite well.  

I guess you didnt watch Shameless.   Steve Howie played the “awe shucks” tough guy loyal to a fault very well.

[FormerMod-a1]

Oh no, I knew he was in that.  But I still watch Reba daily.  It's in syndication on a couple of networks and I use it as some of my background noise.  So I really, literally, did flip from Reba to this.  That's a 20 year difference.

[seacliffsal]

I never really understood why they had Helen attend the conference when everyone else attended as computer salespeople.  Oh well, still fun.

[iMonrey]

Ginger Gonzaga is still not working for me as Helen. It's an odd casting choice. I'm so distracted by how much eye makeup she's wearing. Even while combat training, she's got the smoky eye and heavy mascara. She's just way too glammed up/exotic for this role. I get that they want diversity in casting but maybe cast someone else as the husband, because the wife in this story is supposed to be the everywoman, not the hot, bad-ass supermodel.

This especially didn't work because she was supposed to be jealous of Ximena. Well, honey, you're way hotter than Ximena, she's a plain Jane compared to you.

The show is also leaning too hard into the spy and action tropes and taking itself too seriously. I've never seen the movie so I don't know if it was like that too.

Quote

It was kind of funny that every photo they showed of Harry and Ximena's meeting was very seductive.

Which made no sense, why was there a security camera in that back room with the fan in the wall?

[Artsda]

This show is fun, enjoying the capers and the espionage. The secret bath room that is a safe room scene was great. 

Budget must be good.  

[MaryMitch]

That fight between Helen and Ximena was great, but Helen should have had some bruises or something!

I like that they have the neighbor checking up on the kids.  I'm enjoying this show - it's ridiculous, but so is most TV.

[Halting Hex]

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

This especially didn't work because she was supposed to be jealous of Ximena. Well, honey, you're way hotter than Ximena, she's a plain Jane compared to you.

If you don't want Ximena (well, Angelica Celaya, anyhow), send her over here, please.

I mean, your general point about Helen being far too glammed up is true, and Ginger Gonzaga is certainly attractive, but if we're taking a vote, I'm marking my choice with an "X" for Ximena.   JMX.

[Trini]

This wasn't bad, but it was a whole lot of things I've seen already and done better. This might be better if they made it even more of a comedy?

I'll give this one more episode.

[LisaM]

I got part way through this episode and stopped. I like Steve Howey but I am not feeling the wife or the operative who does not shut up. 

I agree with the comment above about the wife wearing too much eye makeup and looking too glamorous. 

I did like the neighbor continuing to spy on the children. 

[Raja]

On 3/11/2023 at 9:18 AM, iMonrey said:

Ginger Gonzaga is still not working for me as Helen. It's an odd casting choice. I'm so distracted by how much eye makeup she's wearing. Even while combat training, she's got the smoky eye and heavy mascara. She's just way too glammed up/exotic for this role. I get that they want diversity in casting but maybe cast someone else as the husband, because the wife in this story is supposed to be the everywoman, not the hot, bad-ass supermodel.

This especially didn't work because she was supposed to be jealous of Ximena. Well, honey, you're way hotter than Ximena, she's a plain Jane compared to you.

The show is also leaning too hard into the spy and action tropes and taking itself too seriously. I've never seen the movie so I don't know if it was like that too.

A decade into interracial relationships being an unmentioned thing on regular TV it is still mostly the white man with the  woman of color pairing among lead characters on networks. But in this case while Helen is a short supermodel Ximena comes of as the sexy Maxim model. My partner was making the Harold to Harry comparisons, but poor Harold is most likely a one off after he signs the NDA offscreen..

Going all in to the old school spies with gadgets goes counter to the latest Bond offerings where Q snarks at the gadgets. Everything seems traditional action comedy with a lack of serious  consequences.