S01.E10: Fathers

[AnimeMania]

With lives at stake, the group tries to stop a nefarious plot before it's too
late. In the aftermath, Peter confronts the past and begins a new chapter.

Premiere Date: March 23, 2023       Netflix        

[minamurray78]

This show was bad, with gusto. 

There was only one character who didn´t grate on you and who was somewhat professional and they killed him. That's how much this show wants you to hate it.

 

[oliverwendell]

I found it engaging, if not terribly sophisticated. 

[Rickster]

We semi binged this in three nights, finished last night. Lots to nitpick in the plot, including the whole crazy rationale for the original Metro bombing. Really disliked the female terrorist and the Chief of Staff, although not sure how much was the acting and how much the writing. Didn’t understand why “fuck” needed to be inserted in every other sentence for certain characters, other than you can’t do that on broadcast TV. 

Still, the plot hooked us and it looks like they’ve left room for a sequel.

[SnapHappy]

So who was the Big Bad?  Just in general......

(I dropped out half-way through episode 4.)

[Slider]

7 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

So who was the Big Bad?  Just in general......

(I dropped out half-way through episode 4.)

There were several.  Spoiler tagging to be safe.

Spoiler

The Vice President, The COS Farr, and the head contractor that worked with the VP, with several secret service agents that were compromised.

 

[SnapHappy]

Thanks Slider.   No surprise, really.  

I'm happy to have saved that 5 1/2 hours of my life.  *LOL*

[susannot]

I really liked it.  Love espionage/political thrillers.

[Raja]

On 3/27/2023 at 6:12 AM, SnapHappy said:

So who was the Big Bad?  Just in general......

(I dropped out half-way through episode 4.)

Since nobody commented on the intermediate episodes I also came to spoil myself. Like Reacher and The Terminal List this joins the list these thriller adaptations where the authors seem to be writing plots. But on air no character is acting like a real person but they do what they do to make their conspiracies and plot points work. A few episodes had a strong enough last scene to roll over to the next but then we got right back into can't suspend my disbelief

[Auntie Anxiety]

The acting was abysmal. The plot had chasm-like holes. I felt like I was watching a Hallmark movie. I don’t think I’d waste my time on a second season.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Auntie Anxiety

[abbyzenn]

I might not have been watching closely -- why did the terrorist couple kill the woman in Racine?

[Rickster]

6 hours ago, abbyzenn said:

I might not have been watching closely -- why did the terrorist couple kill the woman in Racine?

I think the woman in Racine had the nanny cam video of the VP yelling at his daughter. I thought it was funny how the trip to Racine from Washington and back seemed to take a couple of hours in show time.

[Jess14]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:22 PM, abbyzenn said:

I might not have been watching closely -- why did the terrorist couple kill the woman in Racine?

I thought that was one of several things about the assassins that was really unrealistic. Stealing a baby from a mall and then murdering a woman in the suburbs? That’s just begging for attention. It would’ve made way more sense to break in when no one was home or to come up with some ruse about an old gas line and needing to get into the basement, etc. Add on the staying at a home when the owners are on vacation (something neighbors would notice) and getting into shootouts on major roads, and they were pretty bad at being invisible.

Overall, there were a gazillion plot holes and a lot of things that didn’t make sense, but it was an easy binge. I would watch a second season if it was similarly entertaining.

[jackjill89]

I found it entertaining. I'm not a plot nitpicker, so I just went with it. 

[Racj82]

8 hours ago, jackjill89 said:

I found it entertaining. I'm not a plot nitpicker, so I just went with it. 

My kind of people. No one is wrong in terms of their opinion. This is also not groundbreaking tv but I found it entertaining. I was invested enough that I found myself hoping that certain obvious things wouldn't happen. I felt that way because I wanted so and so to just be good or that person not to die.

I loved Rose and our Night Agent together. I was ready for him to be a bland white block of wood but I liked both of them. I also like that he wasn't indestructible. He got hurt a lot and basically stayed that way.

[TV Diva Queen]

stumbled upon this Saturday night and finished it yesterday.  Yes it was stupid and filled with ridiculousness but I enjoyed it.

[HerkyJerky]

I wonder what the real Diane Farr (actress in Numb3rs and currently in Fire Country) thinks of an evil character in a Netflix show being named after her?

[Johnny Dollar]

I hope the Rose character is in the second season. The male lead is kind of a dud. She was constantly saving his bacon. 

[Paloma]

On 3/31/2023 at 6:38 AM, Rickster said:

On 3/31/2023 at 12:22 AM, abbyzenn said:

I might not have been watching closely -- why did the terrorist couple kill the woman in Racine?

I think the woman in Racine had the nanny cam video of the VP yelling at his daughter.

I agree that is probably why they killed her, but (like so much else in this series) it didn't make sense. Who was she and why would she have that video? Was she actually the nanny of the VP's daughter and then kept the video when she left the job? How did the assassins or their boss know where the video was, all these years later? (The incriminating video seemed to have been taken when Maddie was a young teen.)

Overall I thought the last couple of episodes were much better than the preceding ones, at least in terms of tension. But I probably won't be in for a second season.

[Real4real]

6 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

I hope the Rose character is in the second season. The male lead is kind of a dud. She was constantly saving his bacon. 

I felt very concerned when he got on the plane without Rose!  She was the only reason he made it to the end!

I enjoyed it overall!  The action and political intrigue were entertaining and I liked the two leads.

[methodwriter85]

On 3/29/2023 at 3:58 PM, WatcherUatl10 said:

I found it fun. it felt a bit like "The Recruit" at first, but the pacing and plot were better for me, as well as the protaganists.

I had a leftover hate for Laura Haddock for Davinci's Demons and that carried over to the Recruit. Realizing that the she was essentially the female lead of The Recruit was sad.

I think this worked for me because they kept the story "small", so to speak. 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 4/6/2023 at 1:47 AM, Real4real said:

I felt very concerned when he got on the plane without Rose!  She was the only reason he made it to the end!

I enjoyed it overall!  The action and political intrigue were entertaining and I liked the two leads.

 

On 4/5/2023 at 7:26 PM, Johnny Dollar said:

I hope the Rose character is in the second season. The male lead is kind of a dud. She was constantly saving his bacon. 

I think they’re setting it up for her to be some kind of agent as well. She has the computer skills and she had natural aptitude for fighting back. They’d have to give her formal training. 

[Sailorgirl26]

Wow. That was just...something. posting here so as not to inadvertently spoil.

Predictable, cheesy, bad acting, plot holes, the list goes on. 

Out of many ridiculous moments, I have to say one of the worst "are you fucking kidding me" scenes was when the VP's daughter was being held inside the shipping container, the drywall was thin enough that she could essentially punch through it with her hands and see the hole to the container number but the hook holding her chain was attached so strongly she couldn't pull it out? One good yank would have torn it right out. 

The ONLY good thing was SS Agent Amenadiel (DB Woodside from Lucifer!!) but as soon as we got the "just trying to get to see my kid again" trope, I knew he was a goner. Either an estranged kid or a day from retirement--kiss of death. 

Don't even get me started on Rose being the smart, sassy plucky cyber woman who is smarter than entire trained counter-intelligence agencies; the Americans-wanna-be assassins; the monotone chief of staff whose only job seems to be saying fuck and worrying about the lead guy or scheming with the other two dudes....the list goes on. And on. 

Oh and nothing screams "secret agent sneaking into unknown countries to do super secret spy stuff" like arriving in a US military Gulfstream PJ. Yeah. You blend. 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Sailorgirl26

[munchiewoman]

I can handwave a lot of this but I cannot handwave getting into Camp David at any time, much less when the President is expected, riding in the fucking trunk.  With the tried and true "Do you know who I am?" and "I'm going to go to your superior!" tropes.  Which might work for a mall cop but not Camp David soldiers.  If anything, that kind of anger should have tipped them off.  They have to be well-trained enough not to fall for that nonsense.

Overall slight and not that great, but I liked Peter better than most of you.  It was entertaining.  I wouldn't want to be anyone who knew Rose or Peter, because talking to them just got you killed.

Anyone else have Jack and Rose flashbacks every time Peter said her name?

[Artsda]

I finished it, kinda reminded me of Jack Ryan on Prime. Very action and political based also kept attention to keep watching to the end.  

Lots of plot holes but it was entertaining.

It taught me never trust anyone in politics. lol 

[methodwriter85]

1 hour ago, munchiewoman said:

Overall slight and not that great, but I liked Peter better than most of you. 

He reminds me of that nice jock from high school that you mildly crushed on. Not your A-crush (Colin/Mattheo is the guy I would have been absolutely obsessed with) but the nice pleasant if somewhat boring dude you have positive memories of and you would have said yes if he asked you to Homecoming. (Although you knew you weren't going to give it up because you were still saving it for Colin.)

Edited April 11, 2023 by methodwriter85

[CarpeFelis]

On 4/5/2023 at 7:13 PM, Paloma said:

I agree that is probably why they killed her, but (like so much else in this series) it didn't make sense. Who was she and why would she have that video? Was she actually the nanny of the VP's daughter and then kept the video when she left the job? How did the assassins or their boss know where the video was, all these years later? (The incriminating video seemed to have been taken when Maddie was a young teen.)

Overall I thought the last couple of episodes were much better than the preceding ones, at least in terms of tension. But I probably won't be in for a second season.

They killed her because she was in their way and had seen their faces. And because they were psychos. I don’t think they knew about the video specifically but tore the entire house apart to see what they could find. If they were looking for the nanny cam (which  it seemed the VP didn’t know about, so he couldn’t have told them to look for it) they would have to have gotten that info somehow from Maddie. No idea how they would’ve done that because it didn’t seem like she’d told anyone about it.

[Slider]

11 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

If they were looking for the nanny cam (which  it seemed the VP didn’t know about, so he couldn’t have told them to look for it) they would have to have gotten that info somehow from Maddie. No idea how they would’ve done that because it didn’t seem like she’d told anyone about it.

Maddie told her therapist about it, and Wick found out from the therapist.  He had a convo with the VP explaining that Maddie had dirt on the VP/her dad, and that she could release it.

I agree with the poster above, the getting into Camp David plot hole bothered me, but other than that and a few regarding the Secret Service, I don't remember many from earlier episodes.

[CarpeFelis]

4 hours ago, Slider said:

Maddie told her therapist about it, and Wick found out from the therapist.  He had a convo with the VP explaining that Maddie had dirt on the VP/her dad, and that she could release it.

Thanks! I’d completely forgotten that.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:36 AM, Sailorgirl26 said:

Oh and nothing screams "secret agent sneaking into unknown countries to do super secret spy stuff" like arriving in a US military Gulfstream PJ. Yeah. You blend. 

And a known agent because of the conspiracy theorists that think he bombed the Metro.  Unless they change his face, he's easily recognizable. 

On 4/10/2023 at 4:13 PM, munchiewoman said:

Anyone else have Jack and Rose flashbacks every time Peter said her name?

Every. Single. Time.  Perhaps they should have gotten separated and ran around calling out, "Pete", "Rose".  And now I am thinking about baseball's Pete Rose.  I need to have my mind defragged. 

[Calvada]

Ten episodes and I didn't get the satisfaction of someone blowing away that snake of a VP?  That sweaty weasel needed to take a bullet in a knee or his groin.  The last straw was taking his injured, limping daughter on what seemed like a 5K walk to the basement room without ever offering a helping hand.  

I've posted on some of the episode threads about the ridiculous things that made me laugh.  Some I didn't mention previously:  how Rose could stitch up Peter's wound with the neatness of a 20-year veteran surgeon.  The meeting in the Deep Throat Memorial Parking Garage with the VP, Farr and someone else - Wick?  And how Peter and Rose had so many conversations about the plot/investigation in public places.  The invisible cone of silence they seemed to carry with them from location to location was amazing.  They must have loaned it to Maddie and Chelsea when they were on the golf cart at Camp David, when Chelsea (apparently having full trust in the agent driving it and the other one sitting next to the driver) tells Maddie very clearly to tell the president she's in danger. 

One thing that surprised me is the male assassin didn't die twice - the trope of "he's dead Peter! Stop hitting him!" to seconds later suddenly regaining the ability to fight, and then Rose killing him again, until he was most sincerely dead. 

[magdalene]

Speaking of the male assassin, I was kind of disappointed they killed him off before the final episode.  I found him one of the more interesting characters in the show.  I couldn't predict his every reaction and the guy who played him is a good actor. I wanted his psycho partner to go first, ha,ha.

This was diverting enough but I certainly don't need a second season.

[SlovakPrincess]

Silly, implausible… but I kinda enjoyed it.  I liked Peter, Rose and Monks throughout.  Maddie and Chelsea annoyed the crap out of me until the last few episodes, when they finally started being smart and likeable characters, and then I loved them.  Diane and the VP made interesting villains.  I was glad when Peter found out the truth about his dad it was not a cliched happy ending on all fronts for him.

The show starts out strong, drags, then gets interesting again when Maddie is kidnapped.

However, it cannot be overstated what an annoying drag on the show the assassin couple turned out to be.  Good. Grief.  Why was I subjected to scenes of two remorseless serial killers talking about whether they should settle down together?  No. One. Cares.  I was so very glad when Rose killed the lady assassin, who was just the most ill conceived character.  

Edited May 4, 2023 by SlovakPrincess

[Pike Ludwell]

I found it kind of weird the way the good guys rarely if ever killed anyone with a gun. There were scenes with one firing a gun in a gunfight, but always missing. And one time Sutherland fired a flare. LOL But nearly every take down of a bad guy was with hitting them on the head with a rock or limb or stabbing them in the leg with a knife -- things like that.

And a couple of really sharp people (Nora and also that old army buddy of Pete's) got killed because they didn't have guns. And why didn't Pete give Rose a gun early on?

Are the writers strongly anti-gun, or do they believe viewers will not like seeing heroes effectively using guns? Just seemed like there was some really odd thinking in the writing. And they let the bad guys have too many far fetched (to me) wins.

And the fight scenes were ridiculous. Sutherland wouldn't fight effectively. Or they'd knock a bad guy down and not follow through with bashing his head in. Therefore he could get back up. Lost of very frustrating scenes where I was screaming at their stupidity. But overall it was a pretty good show.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Pike Ludwell

[Hedgehog2022]

On 4/3/2023 at 2:32 AM, Racj82 said:

My kind of people. No one is wrong in terms of their opinion. This is also not groundbreaking tv but I found it entertaining. I was invested enough that I found myself hoping that certain obvious things wouldn't happen. I felt that way because I wanted so and so to just be good or that person not to die.

I loved Rose and our Night Agent together. I was ready for him to be a bland white block of wood but I liked both of them. I also like that he wasn't indestructible. He got hurt a lot and basically stayed that way.

Maybe because I grew up in the late 50's and 60's and watched a lot of black and white crappy TV that somehow people are nostalgic for these days, I really enjoyed this show. Sure...it had flaws and took a lot of liberties with what might happen in real life but it was suspenseful and reminded me a bit of House of Cards. Living in DC area and I always wonder about some of my neighbors who work in the State Department, FBI and Secret Service...then again, maybe ignorance is bliss!