S03.E13: Patriot Game

[AnimeMania]

After an operative kills all but one of the employees at a marine biology research group, McCall and the team join forces with Colton Fisk when they discover a connection between the murders and a secret CIA program he was involved in.

Premiere Date: SUNDAY, March 26, 2023     8pm     CBS
Next New Episode: April 16, 2023
Donal Logue as Colton Fisk
Armand Schultz as Director Thomas Platt

Margaret Reed as Assistant Director Diana Greene 

[janeta]

Do we know how far behind they’re running?

 

nm; 8:39. 

Edited March 27, 2023 by janeta

[possibilities]

So... Aunt Vi makes it explicit that she thinks Robyn and Marcus should hook up. And Robyn dosn't deny interest, but says things are weird and she doesn't know where she stands. It bothers me that Robyn is somehow too shy to address that directly with Dante. There's no reason to think she'd be meek in a relationship. It's so out of character that I consider it character assassination.

The weekly plots are getting really boring and repetitive, though. I feel like we've seen this exact same story already. Change it up, please! I think it goes better when they take cases with regular people and leave the CIA and other international conspiracies out of it.

Dante was on his own this week, I guess. I find myself surprisingly uninterested in his father. I like Dante, but Id rather see him do something other than brood. I think I'm overdosed on angst these days. 

[kwnyc]

I really DON'T like when we get into super-secret gov't Black Ops; give us little guys being f*cked by the system. And that poor guy who was the sole survivor of the attack...so the next job he goes for, they say, why did you leave your last employer, and he says: well, they were all murdered.

 

 

[AnimeMania]

10 hours ago, kwnyc said:

so the next job he goes for, they say, why did you leave your last employer, and he says: well, they were all murdered.

I won the Hunger Games.

[marceline]

12 hours ago, kwnyc said:

I really DON'T like when we get into super-secret gov't Black Ops; give us little guys being f*cked by the system. And that poor guy who was the sole survivor of the attack...so the next job he goes for, they say, why did you leave your last employer, and he says: well, they were all murdered.

Except nobody knows they were murdered. What happens to the families of all those people gunned down at work? Do they just all get to wonder what happened to their loved ones? There were no cops called (hard to believe), no bodies to be found, and just that one witness. Nothing about this makes sense. I can suspend a lot of disbelief but this is just ridiculous.

Edited March 27, 2023 by marceline

[statsgirl]

And what about the people who were staying at the hotel and happened to walk by the lobby?

There were enough plot holes to drive an entire convoy through but I liked the change of pace. The first time in four episodes that Aunt Vi didn't save the day, Dee was mostly offscreen, and I liked that most of the episode was Robyn working with Mel and Harry. Oh, and there was follow-up to the drug dealer at the boxing gym.

Setting aside how Chris Noth left the show, I like Fisk as a character better than Bishop. He's not just grey, he's dark grey and the audience as well as Robyn don't know if they can trust him at all. And as over the top as it was, Fish showing up with a flame thrower was fun.

14 hours ago, possibilities said:

 It bothers me that Robyn is somehow too shy to address that directly with Dante. There's no reason to think she'd be meek in a relationship. It's so out of character that I consider it character assassination.

I thought that she did address it in the previous episode and he said that he is still conflicted about putting her needs ahead of his own (the bad guy that he had been chasing for a long time). She reached out to him about dessert but he shut her down saying that he had "a situation" with no explanation. I think before that episode, he would have told her about his friend getting shot but now he's pushing her away. She needs to tread lightly if she wants their old relationship back.

[possibilities]

26 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

I thought that she did address it in the previous episode and he said that he is still conflicted about putting her needs ahead of his own (the bad guy that he had been chasing for a long time). She reached out to him about dessert but he shut her down saying that he had "a situation" with no explanation. I think before that episode, he would have told her about his friend getting shot but now he's pushing her away. She needs to tread lightly if she wants their old relationship back.

That's true. I guess I think it would have been better to tell Vi that he was upset with her and freezing her out, rather than be vague and act like she doesn't know what the issue is. But maybe that is TV's way of not taking more time with the scene. Vi would have wanted to know the details and they didn't want to spend time on it, I guess.

[janeta]

So why is Donal Logue (sp?) so unbelievably, inexorably *flat* in this show? They could put a cardboard stand-up of him in most scenes and I don’t think anyone would know the difference. 

[Trini]

SIGH -- Even with extra time, I still didn't get the whole episode. Anything happen with Robyn and/or Dante?

[mythoughtis]

25 minutes ago, Trini said:

SIGH -- Even with extra time, I still didn't get the whole episode. Anything happen with Robyn and/or Dante?

No interaction at all.  Dante was  with the boxing gym owner and then picked up his dad when he was released from prison  

I really miss Bishop.  Fisk just seems flat to me.   

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by mythoughtis

[ribboninthesky1]

I was confused by Robyn's double hoodie situation early in the episode. Didn't seem to be cold enough for that. 

The flamethrower was random and hilarious. 

Marcus and Manny talking about their fathers was the most interesting part of the episode for me.  

 

[Court]

I've started recording NCIS every week so I can get both full episodes of this and East New York

[Daff]

10 hours ago, Trini said:

SIGH -- Even with extra time, I still didn't get the whole episode. Anything happen with Robyn and/or Dante?

If you can increase recording time by a full hour, that should work for Sunday network offerings. I always delete these after viewing to save space on the DVR.

[MicheleinPhilly]

I finally just changed my DVR recording to go 90 minutes over so I don't have to rely on On-Demand and their annoying commercials that you can't fast forward. 

While I did like this episode more than the last couple, I was still thoroughly confused by certain plot points. Or holes, as others have pointed out. 

I feel like the writers think they're smarter than they actually are. 

[possibilities]

I love the show that comes on right after this one, so when I set my DVR to catch this show + an hour or two, I never miss either of them. I do find it annoying, but sports over-runs are not going away any time soon, so I'm resigned to it.

[Daff]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I love the show that comes on right after this one, so when I set my DVR to catch this show + an hour or two, I never miss either of them. I do find it annoying, but sports over-runs are not going away any time soon, so I'm resigned to it.

Yep, an extra hour for each one. That’s why I dump them right away (4 hrs of real estate per week). I hate when shows I like land on Sunday (almost as much as football fans hate Heidi). Luckily, I don’t have to toggle times, though. It’s a couple clicks in a drop down menu. Gets really tricky when PBS airs two shows I like.

[howiveaddict]

15 hours ago, Daff said:

If you can increase recording time by a full hour, that should work for Sunday network offerings. I always delete these after viewing to save space on the DVR.

That is what I do.  Saturday night also for 48 hours.

[andromeda331]

17 hours ago, Daff said:

If you can increase recording time by a full hour, that should work for Sunday network offerings. I always delete these after viewing to save space on the DVR.

I love that function. I use it every time I record college gymnastics. It almost always goes over.

[Stevie Nicks]

I just wait til Monday and watch it with no commercials on Paramount plus. Don't have a dvr and won't have one. This episode felt like filler a bit. I did love Robins red and black sweater. And her earrings. Queen Latifah always looks so good. I love how the dress her and her hair. Fire. 

[andromeda331]

13 hours ago, Stevie Nicks said:

I just wait til Monday and watch it with no commercials on Paramount plus. Don't have a dvr and won't have one. This episode felt like filler a bit. I did love Robins red and black sweater. And her earrings. Queen Latifah always looks so good. I love how the dress her and her hair. Fire. 

So do I. She always looks so great.

[jabRI]

On 3/27/2023 at 7:19 PM, janeta said:

So why is Donal Logue (sp?) so unbelievably, inexorably *flat* in this show? They could put a cardboard stand-up of him in most scenes and I don’t think anyone would know the difference. 

I watched this on my phone, and my jaw dropped when I saw him in the credits.  He is one of my favorite actors, he could read a phone book and I'd watch.  First, I didn't recognize him like at all.  He may be healthier, but he doesn't look it.  And his acting was way off. he's a scene stealer if there ever was one, I don't get it at all.

[blackwing]

I really didn't care for this episode.  So the CIA director was in on this plan to have a rogue unit (secretly operating under the CIA) kill Americans and give the CIA an excuse to invade Nicaragua?  Um ok.  So why the pointless deaths?  Why the need to kill every single person in that thinktank office?  They cleaned it up like it didn't happen.  So if nobody knew about it, how does this advance their goals?  They wanted the public outrage, but the public wasn't even going to know about the office massacre?  Wouldn't it have been enough to just kill the general?

Don't understand why there was such a need to overcomplicate things.  Or the purpose of Fisk's role in all this and his relationship with Robyn.  Why does he call her "Mall Cop"?  I get that she's no longer in the CIA, but she's far more competent and experienced than Paul Blart Mall Cop.  I did like that she just ignores the insult.

So Marcus and the boxing gym owner from New York Undercover are like brothers, their fathers were best friends and they both have troubled relationships with their fathers.  When Robyn called him and wanted to go get dinner, why couldn't he have just told her his friend had been shot and he was in the hospital?  Instead of brushing her off with "I'm too busy".  Stupid.

I wish Dee and Vi had identified the dish that Vi made from one of Trish's recipes.  Especially since it appears to have been one of the best things that Vi has ever cooked.