S03E01: Soldier's Heart

[mledawn]

Quote

Tensions are high as tragedy strikes in Kingstown. Meanwhile, a new face of the Russian mob sets up shop in the city.

 

[mledawn]

Not sure how I felt about this episode - obviously a lot of placesetting for the coming season. Sorry about Miriam, just as she was getting interesting. Glad to see Rebecca, Tracey, and Evelyn all made an appearance to up the women factor, but then negative one for Tatiana. Iris is a wash.

Mike coordinating the KPD is obviously absurd but Robert just pitching up with a rocket launcher to fry everyone was next level.

I immensely enjoyed the prison being called Millhaven because that's an actual prison that was built west of Kingston, ON (the somewhat inspiration for the show) to eventually replace the realllly old Kingston Penitentiary. As reflected in Mayor of Kingstown, there was a riot in Kingston Pen in the early 70s that forced the early transfer of inmates to Millhaven before it was ready.

Millhaven is known among most Canadians because of a popular song by Kingston band The Tragically Hip called "38 Years Old". Also, serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo was housed there for a time (another "notorious" Canadian).

Basically that was the highlight of this week's show for me, so hopefully things pick up.

Edited June 2 by mledawn
Fix link

[Orbert]

I'm glad the show is back, though I wouldn't be surprised to find that not many people are still watching it.  In a way, I feel kinda sorry for Jeremy Renner.  Obviously he's had a rough year, and it's great that he's back and apparently recovered.  But the show IMO took a pretty serious quality dive in Season 2, and I feel like he deserves better than this.  Season 1 started off seeming to promise more than what we've gotten.

I was counting on the "Previously on..." to help me remember what all the different storylines were, but each clip was maybe a second or two, I'd see a face and go "Okay, that's..." and they're already on to something else.  So the recap was mostly useless and then the episode apparently picked up right where we left off.  Well, a few days later, since it was Mariam's funeral.  Whatever.  Just dive in and pretend everybody doesn't look a year older instead of three days.

Oh yeah, the episode itself.  As mledawn said, mostly just setting things up for the coming season.  A bunch of alpha males swearing at each other, a lot, and occasionally shooting people or blowing them up.  Also various females trying to fit themselves into the lives of these ridiculous guys.  Evelyn seems to know what she's doing, or at least she thinks she does.  Rebecca is like many "assistants" in the professional world -- the one actually running the business.  The others, I don't know.  It feels like they include the "home" life to provide some kind of balance to all the testosterone and violence that makes up the other 95% of the show, and instead there's not enough there to be meaningful.  Kyle even asked Mike, why is Iris still there?  Mike doesn't even know, but at least the show acknowledged it.

They also acknowledged what Bunny went through last season, laughing it off over a few beers.  Okay, not the resolution I would've predicted, and the amazing arsenal Bunny's guys had acquired I guess just becomes a plot point that they decided not to run with.

Overall, an odd episode, but let's see what Season 3 brings us.

[KittyQ]

They could have done a lot better with the "previously"! As commented, they went too quickly through everything, and I could barely figure out who was who and what exactly happened. I didn't go back to watch a couple of the season 2 episodes before watching this one, so perhaps if I had done that, things would have been clearer.

Overall, it was an ok episode, setting up threads for the season. I did wonder, though, how using a big explosive on the Aryans (?) would play with real world entities like the news, police, and the public. Where I live, even car chases get coverage (followed by criticism), so how is it that all major news organizations weren't flocking to town, asking questions? 

It did seem clear that Mike and Iris are no longer a "thing", so it might be time for her to move on. 

Also, what was with Kyle dropping his wife off to have the baby and then returning home for the hospital bag? He just left her there? Why not just call home to have Mike or Iris look for the bag and bring it to them? That was a puzzler for me. 

[Orbert]

I think the idea was that Kyle is kinda useless.  They had the bag ready to go for exactly this purpose, but he doesn't remember where they'd put it (ours was always right by the front door).  When Mike and Iris tried to help look for it, all he could tell them was that it was a backpack, black maybe.  Him leaving his wife at the hospital to go home and get the bag was just an example of what an airhead he is.  Was Emma Laird (Iris) listed in the main cast credits before?  I don't remember.  Maybe it was just a way to have another scene with her and Mike in it.

On the other hand, the house is still being fixed up, being that it's a recent war zone and all, so I guess it's easy to imagine that it got moved or buried or something.

[CrystalBlue]

9 hours ago, Orbert said:

Was Emma Laird (Iris) listed in the main cast credits before?  I don't remember.

Yes, she's been in the credits all along.  Emma as Iris stands facing the camera then turns to her left, our right, in the frame.

[Chaos Theory]

As a fan of anything not reality tv having to do with prison dramas on tv (I like a few documentaries) I was really hoping to like this show more then I do.  It had alot of potential and it still does but there is just something missing that I can't put my finger on.   Maybe I just don't care about any of the characters including Mike.  Normally that isn't a problem.  I have actually enjoyed shows with characters I didn't care about.  I watched OITNB and never really cared about anyone on the show but they were still fun to watch.   This is different.   Maybe it would have been different if it focused on the prison and not on Jeremy Rinner's character who I have never really got a feel for.     Or maybe the entire plot just makes zero sense.    Not sure I am going to keep up with it at least on a weekly.  I will likely check up on it when I remember.

Edited June 8 by Chaos Theory

[mledawn]

31 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

Or maybe the entire plot just makes zero sense. 

This is the likely culprit. It all seems quite convoluted to me, but I watch for the small gems in each episode.

For example, the scene in the diner when Stevie, Ian, Kyle, and Mike are talking and Robert walks in has a lot of solid elements. Stevie with the deadpan "It's a gesture", the looks exchanged between Mike and Ian and Stevie when Robert sits down, Ian's retort to Mike saying bombs aren't in Bunny's vocabulary, "Come on Mike, he could've Rosetta Stone'd that shit"...

Another solid scene for me was with Evelyn and Mike, and Mike grills her on why she dropped her security detail. He says she needs a gun, she says she has a gun, he says "nobody cares about your fucking gun, alright?"

I just hope Tracey's missing hospital bag that looks like an airport carryon isn't going to be used as a plot device, like the bearer bonds were in the same type of bag and were switched out or something.

[dwmarch]

2 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

there is just something missing that I can't put my finger on.

I enjoy this show myself but I also find that these are not sympathetic characters at all. They are either villains, enablers or people who don't belong but who aren't smart enough to leave. I like Bunny but he is a murderer and a thug and I'm pretty sure he was both of those things before he was Mike's beer buddy. It's a show about bad people making bad decisions with the effect of making a bad situation exponentially worse. I'm glad it's only on once a week, this would be a rough show to binge.

1 hour ago, mledawn said:

I just hope Tracey's missing hospital bag that looks like an airport carryon isn't going to be used as a plot device, like the bearer bonds were in the same type of bag and were switched out or something.

I think Milo got away with the bearer bonds last season. Mike blew his boat up but there was a later scene that suggested he escaped unharmed. Tatiana was trying to get in touch with him and the new Russian mob boss killed her so she couldn't help him I guess.

With Kyle, I think he's got PTSD from shooting his own mother and this is manifesting in him being unable to protect his family.

On 6/6/2024 at 2:02 PM, KittyQ said:

I did wonder, though, how using a big explosive on the Aryans (?) would play with real world entities like the news, police, and the public. Where I live, even car chases get coverage (followed by criticism), so how is it that all major news organizations weren't flocking to town, asking questions? 

I feel like "meth lab run by white supremacist assholes blows up, kills a bunch of them" would be page six news in Kingstown and wouldn't even make the news outside of the area (with the disclaimer that Kingstown seems to exist in an ultra-violent universe where such things are unfortunately common). But the one that I found myself questioning was the bomb at the funeral for Mike and Kyle's mom. Someone blew up a funeral that all those cops were at and the Feds haven't rolled in yet? But maybe that's why the Kingstown PD were in such a hurry to find someone to take down. The FBI isn't going to just fire incendiaries into meth labs like it ain't no thing.

On 6/2/2024 at 7:06 AM, mledawn said:

Millhaven is known among most Canadians because of a popular song by Kingston band The Tragically Hip

When I saw Millhaven on the screen, I heard Gord Downie's voice singing that line. I really hope it was an intentional reference. How could it not be?

[Dowel Jones]

11 hours ago, dwmarch said:

 I feel like "meth lab run by white supremacist assholes blows up, kills a bunch of them" would be page six news in Kingstown and wouldn't even make the news outside of the area (with the disclaimer that Kingstown seems to exist in an ultra-violent universe where such things are unfortunately common)

One wonders who in the world actually lives in Kingtown, other than the PD, the assorted bad guys, the prison guards, and the ones who feed off all those elements.  I'd be gone in a heartbeat, even to Chicago or Detroit.

[jabRI]

Yeah, I'm not sure I'll be watching this season.   Could not remember most of the story lines, so episode 1 is still unfinished.  And I don't care about anyone now that Miriam is gone.  How did she die? I missed that.

[mledawn]

45 minutes ago, jabRI said:

Yeah, I'm not sure I'll be watching this season.   Could not remember most of the story lines, so episode 1 is still unfinished.  And I don't care about anyone now that Miriam is gone.  How did she die? I missed that.

Sadly, Kyle shot her. She was caught in the crossfire during the house shootout.