S02.E03: X

[Affogato]

Episode thread

[paigow]

Adios Omar! Parwana / Angela has a connected cousin who likely graduated from a fancy Euro-University. 

[Affogato]

I do not quite understand Emily/Parwana’s motivation.  I get that Abby was controlling, secretive and probably narcissistic. I understand that Emily/parwana was blocked from having really close relationships with everyone, including Chase, growing up. Still, she is an FBI agent. She was kidnapped. Hamzad’s folk are not a pile of puppies, even if he is her sperm donor. She should have some doubts. why is she all in with these people?  
 

I get the harem was nice to her. Women do not need mother figures that badly. 
 

i do get that now she can’t leave until they are safe, but she was in before. 
 

 

[paigow]

50 minutes ago, Affogato said:

i do get that now she can’t leave until they are safe

They have to leave because Morgan Bote will crush Team Hamzad economically if they stay. Chase and Harper have to kill an even older man...

[paigow]

Farouk got his mother killed... if there is a time jump, he will be running CIA ops against the Taliban

[meira.hand]

20 hours ago, Affogato said:

even if he is her sperm donor

She was not take as a baby but as a young child that had already formed a loving relationship with him, even if she forgot. I think her turning/breaking point was seeing the old home movie projection with Hamzad singing to her as a child. It was such a simple, deep and authentic fatherly love that she may have missed from her quite cold mother. The fact that they chose to show her this film instead of trying to explain the circumstances of her original abduction reduced the complexity of ideological/political background story into basic human emotion. This was confirmed when she burst in uncontrollable crying watching it.

[Affogato]

Just now, meira.hand said:

She was not take as a baby but as a young child that had already formed a loving relationship with him, even if she forgot. I think her turning/breaking point was seeing the old home movie projection with Hamzad singing to her as a child. It was such a simple, deep and authentic fatherly love that she may have missed from her quite cold mother. The fact that they chose to show her this film instead of trying to explain the circumstances of her original abduction reduced the complexity of ideological/political background story into basic human emotion. This was confirmed when she burst in uncontrollable crying watching it.

Well, yes, of course. I still think it is a bit extreme. 

[aghst]

Even if she feels an emotional bond to Hamzad and his people, she has to know the escalation will put them in danger.

She has to know some geopolitics, the US will not get involved and two old men and her aren't going to hold off the Taliban.

Hell that helicopter strafe was very unlikely.  They'd have to be near a border for the copter to even fly into Afghan airspace.

Then again, they're making it sound like Bote has all kinds of powers.  Is he still in the CIA?  Because there is no way  the CIA would be authorized to do the extraction they initially planned and now attacking the Taliban.

Though to be honest, if the US decided to bomb them, there's very little the Taliban could do about it.  They don't seem to have too many friends these days.

Also doubtful Bote alone could freeze all their assets.  That is done at a very high level, not at the level of some unknown CIA boss.

The only safety for Hamzad's people is to get exfiltrated but approving dozens or hundreds of them would be a long process.

[paigow]

36 minutes ago, aghst said:

Then again, they're making it sound like Bote has all kinds of powers.

He has all kinds of people in his pocket. Covert mercs hidden from the CIA. Shady bank bosses. Any number of key Senators, Cabinet members etc....

[Affogato]

I find it hard to comment because I can’t teally follow all of the political stuff. I also think the money is a mess. We don’t have much information. 

[aghst]

11 minutes ago, paigow said:

He has all kinds of people in his pocket. Covert mercs hidden from the CIA. Shady bank bosses. Any number of key Senators, Cabinet members etc....

I think those are contrivances, for the purpose of making these plot arcs possible in the story.

Just not likely in the real world.

In TV and film, you can have fighters having dogfights, without it escalating.  In the real world, it would be a big deal.

[iMonrey]

On 9/21/2024 at 10:18 AM, aghst said:

Then again, they're making it sound like Bote has all kinds of powers.  Is he still in the CIA?  

Was he in the CIA? Angela, Chase and Harper are FBI.

[paigow]

Chase never was FBI.

Harper quit the CIA to join the FBI after Johnny bailed on killing Hamzad

Bote was their CIA boss 

[Ottis]

On 9/20/2024 at 12:05 PM, Affogato said:

I do not quite understand Emily/Parwana’s motivation.  I get that Abby was controlling, secretive and probably narcissistic. I understand that Emily/parwana was blocked from having really close relationships with everyone, including Chase, growing up. Still, she is an FBI agent. She was kidnapped. Hamzad’s folk are not a pile of puppies, even if he is her sperm donor. She should have some doubts. why is she all in with these people?

I agree. This show reminds me a lot of the cancelled Tyrant. Someone who was part of a Middle Eastern family who returns to their roots. The difference is, Tyrant took longer for the subject to get there. On The Old Man, this seems to have happened really fast.

On 9/21/2024 at 12:05 PM, Affogato said:

I find it hard to comment because I can’t teally follow all of the political stuff. I also think the money is a mess. We don’t have much information. 

Yes, this show started out as a "retired CIA guy has to return" story that was interesting in a small world way, including the woman he "kidnapped" last season. Now it has become some sort of regional conflict in the Middle East, with factions and money and an returning leader. I'm losing sight of the point.

I also struggle a bit with Shawkat's acting. Maybe I am so used to her demeanor in Arrested Development that I can't see anything but snark just behind her eyes. She is trying really hard to show emotion as she confronts a life she would have had if she hadn't been kidnapped, but it feels like a lot of effort.

[Mr. R0b0t]

On 10/18/2024 at 7:24 AM, Ottis said:

I also struggle a bit with Shawkat's acting. Maybe I am so used to her demeanor in Arrested Development that I can't see anything but snark just behind her eyes. She is trying really hard to show emotion as she confronts a life she would have had if she hadn't been kidnapped, but it feels like a lot of effort.

The writing is doing her no favors.  perhaps my mom was a ghost of memories or whatever was a tough monologue for anyone to pull off.

[Affogato]

28 minutes ago, Mr. R0b0t said:

The writing is doing her no favors.  perhaps my mom was a ghost of memories or whatever was a tough monologue for anyone to pull off.

I think she has done ok, I just feel a disconnect. She seems to have a warm relationship with Chase. She didn’t with Abbey, who gave her the life Abbey wanted, basically, but didn’t tell her where she came from. Maybe when she turned 18 she should have gotten some of that information. Of course when she went to the FBI she cut all ties with any past friends or locations. I get she wants to belong, but I think she was offered belonging by Chase and Harper. And took it. It isn’t as if she has never had warmth before. Just maybe not from Mom.