S01.E10: Collateral Damage

[betsyboo]

OK. Somebody please clear this up for me. Which character was played by Tim Daley's son? (What did he do? Who did he interact with?) Thanks.

Yes, Sam played Daisy's fiancee. For me, it was immediately apparent who he was - even if i saw him on the street! He looks so much like Tim, except with strawberry blonde hair. Voice, facial expressions, mannerisms. <swoon>

[iMonrey]

 

The fact that she is better looking and he kind of looks and acts like a nerd is irrelevant.  If he had a great personality or was charming or had other qualities she saw in him that impressed her, whether or not he was listed in People's Handsomest Man of the Year would make no difference.

 

That's my point. Matt's not terribly attractive, he's not terribly charming, there's nothing we've seen in his personality to indicate he's even that interesting as a person. What does she see in him? They have no chemistry, I'm being given no reason to buy them as a couple. It almost feels like something the writers pulled out of a bag just to give the characters something to do, and I agree with the post upthread that pointed out they're sort of being used as comic relief on this show. But I just don't buy it. We keep getting a helping of this relationship every episode like the writers think it's an integral part of the show, and it isn't working.

[buckboard]

IMonrey wrote: "That's my point. Matt's not terribly attractive, he's not terribly charming, there's nothing we've seen in his personality to indicate he's even that interesting as a person. What does she see in him? They have no chemistry.".

IMonrey, I agree with you that Matt isn't charming and that he doesn't have much of a personality. My point, however, was that a number of people posted not about their lack of chemistry or his lack of charm, but that their ONLY objection to the couple was that Matt wasn't good looking and that she was a looker who wouldn't be interested in him, based only on looks.

[NorCalNut]

Not sure about this show yet.  I've watched five or six episodes and enjoy Tea Leoni's potrtrayal of SOS.  I read some place else that a lot of people feel this show is written to parallel Hillary Clinton.  I don't see it.  I agree with other posters that the Daisy/Matt thing is super annoying and needs to go by the wayside.  As for Stevie, I'm hoping she'll blossom and grow into someone special.  I see a bit of a spark with she and Blake and wonder where that could go (providing he's not gay.)  He seems to dig her.  Love Tim Daly's character and unlike most, I like the NSA stub story.  He plays a likeable character and caring family man.  I hope he stays that way.  The only thing that slightly bugs me, but I can deal, and it isn't her fault, is Tea's voice.  It makes me want to repeatedly clear my throat.

[Netfoot]

To be honest, I don't find either of them attractive.  As has been pointed out earlier by another poster, she looked positively old in this episode, and her makeup was a disaster.  I also thought her hair looked pretty bad as well.  He... well he has a face which, along with six others, should audition for Snow White.  (But as a guy, I don't claim any expertise on the good looks of guys.)

 

None of that matters.  How many times have we said something like "What does she see in him?!??"  No, the problem here is that the two of them have no believable chemistry.  When they're in a clinch, it's patently artificial.  Kennedy kissing Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis would be more credible.  I certainly don't find it at all believable, and apparently no one else does either.

 

It's been suggested that this theme is supposed to be humour, to lighten the mood between scenes of Téa having it out with the evil diplomats of the world.  But where is the humour?  Daisy repeatedly puts the horns on Win by consorting with Matt.  Then she discards Matt for Win.  Matt doesn't take it well and scuppers the deal by blabbing to Win first chance he gets.  The whole affaire is a sticky mess.  No humour that I can see.  It's just a horribly contrived, artificial mess.

 

In fact, I'm going to reverse myself.  I think Stevie and Blake would make a far better love-interest couple than Matt & Daisy.  Stevie could certainly benefit from close exposure to Blake's maturity, and as far as I can tell there's been nothing said so far that would preclude Blake from being interested.  The opportunity for conflict with the Secretary of State (daughter and aide) could add spice to the relationship arc. 

 

ETA:  Oh!  Seems NorCalNut sneaked a post in with the same Stevie/Blake relationship idea.  So, I'm not alone in this!

Edited November 26, 2014 by Netfoot

[myril]

Please, no, no mess-with-the-daughter-of-the-boss story for Blake, or the daughter of the boss messing with him. Different from Matt and Daisy Blake seems to have some good sense, can't see him doing that.

 

Funny thing is, I had that thought, that people might get the idea of Blake and Stevie getting into some romantic mess already in an earlier episode, in 1x04 (Blake came in the morning to the McCords home, asking for a change of clothes for Beth, Beth had pulled a one-nighter to talk with the Japanese, there was some sibling banter, and Henry was working on his opening joke for some speech). And here we are. But doesn't like it and think it wouldn't do the narrative of the show any good. I am very okay that the show is not all political drama and showing the personal dramas of people working in politics, including how it effects eventually families, as well, but there is more than enough romantic drama in it for the moment. If anything let us have more of Nadine and that NASA guy, some mature, adult relationship building and not teenager or young adults angst.

Edited November 26, 2014 by katusch

[izabella]

I think Blake is too smart with his his head screwed-on right to get into a relationship with Stevie.  Why would he be interested in an idiot who is also his boss's daughter?  She's pretty, but a lot of men know to stay away from pretty women who are a mess otherwise and bring nothing but destruction.  Stevie is far too immature for Blake, and he would see her as a child and a danger to his job.  Or at least I'd like to think so.

Edited November 26, 2014 by izabella

[Netfoot]

Blake might be smart enough to stay clear, but Stevie might still pursue relentlessly.  And of course, when she finally corners him and despite his struggles, puts him in a lip-lock, Téa can pick that very moment to walk in on them.  Then Blake can deny his interest which might be disbelieved by MS and could simultaneously drive Stevie into the fury of the scorned.  Or he could cry "Mea maxima culpa!" to save Stevie the embarassment.  Which might cause her to grow up and accept responsibility rather than watch him lose his position.

 

There's literally dozens of potential twists in this plot line, which is more than can be said for the insipid, fake-relationship that is Matt and Daisy.  And in this past episode where Stevie was just a self-serving little bitch with poor Blake trying his best to help her, there was more chemistry between them than in all the Matt/Daisy scenes so far, all put together and multiplied by two.  I don't know if it's that the actors (Erich Bergen & Wallis Currie-Wood) are just better or what, but the more I think about it, the more I can see that a Blake/Stevie connection would offer more watchable television than Matt/daisy ever will.

[shapeshifter]

Blake might be smart enough to stay clear, but Stevie might still pursue relentlessly...

Even if my gaydar is malfunctioning, Blake saying he and his partner would want Stevie's eggs is a way to let her know that although he is being nice and supportive to her, he is in a serious relationship with someone else. And just in case there was any doubt that he might be speaking in hypotheticals, Madam Secretary asks him if he has notified his significant other about the status of the crisis.

So the only possible Blake/Stevie drama I can see is if she does throw herself at him, and then he has to explain to her that not only is he in a relationship, but he is not interested in women in that way--which might be a parallel story to some other eye opening event for her happening at the same time, and, voila, Stevie grows up.

Anyway, I have 3 grown daughters and see Stevie as a composite of all of them, so I don't have a problem with her except that she's sucking up too much of the show time--and yet, I'd rather that than the Matt/Daisy lustless relationship--which might have worked if it had begun half way through the first season--giving us a chance to see some sort of mutual attraction instead of Daisy hating Matt.

[kwnyc]

I've been binge-watching to catch up on the season, and I'm hoping that the annoying stuff (which EVERYONE here is pointing out) is the sort of thing that gets sorted by the end of the first season.

 

To wit:

 

--Stevie's an idiot...send her off to college again, or have her wise up. The boy is also rather insufferable. The middle one actually seems like a believable adolescent, maybe even one who is developing a social conscience. 

 

--Matt/Daisy: yuck. Not the second coming of The West Wing's Josh & Donna.

 

--Bebe Neuwirth. Good stuff. Let's see more of her

 

--Blake: gay.

 

--Tim Daly: awesome. Reminds me a bit of Mary Beth Lacey's husband Harvey, who ALWAYS had her back, and while they had their differences, there was never any real trouble in the marriage. (If Harvey was an ex-Marine fighter pilot/theology professor)

 

--I really hope they don't go with the President (or even his Chief of Staff) being behind Walsh's death, because that would move us into the realm of sci-fi, and I like my sci-fi on Tuesday nights with Person of Interest (though CLEARLY Bess would totally fit in with Team Machine). ;-)

[needschocolate]

Tea Leoni's hair distracts me.  Sometimes it looks like her hair is not all the same length, and not in a good "nice-layering" way.  The top of her head has plenty of hair, but the hair hanging around her neck and shoulders is so thin that you can see through it.  Then, in the next scene, her hair is full all the way to her shoulders.  For example, in the scene right before she walks into the room with the Iraqis, her hair is in clumps (for lack of a better word) and you can see through large spaces, then she walks through the doorway into the room with the Iraqis, and her hair is full and wavy, and not see-through.  It is like she is either wearing wigs part of the time or her stylist is very inconsistent.  

 

I hope Stevie stays away for a loooong time and only comes home for holidays,. Must be nice to know everything at 19.

 

Stevie's behavior reminded me of this Mark Twain quote: "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

 

I have known plenty of people that were as obnoxious/clueless/self-righteous as Stevie at her age. I found them annoying then, and I find her annoying now, but I don't think her behavior is all that unusual for a 20 year old.   

 

Win is an ass of the highest degree for giving Matt pot without his consent.  I'm for the legalization of pot, but last I checked, it's against the law to drug someone and that's exactly what he did.

 

This annoyed me too.  

 

I have no experience with pot laced gum, but I found that scenario to be ridiculous.  I get it that the writers wanted to have an excuse for Matt spilling the beans (he works for the Secretary of State, he should be able to keep a secret - unless he is somehow "not in his right mind").  I can't imagine that chewing one piece of gum would get him that high, especially considering that he wasn't even still chewing it in the next scene, though he was pretty "giddy" by then.  It would have made more sense for Matt to take a bottle of alcohol out of his desk drawer and they both get drunk - not that that would have made much sense either, but it would have made more sense than the pot gum (heck, them getting wasted gargling mouthwash  or sniffing the glue in post-it notes would have made more sense than what they went with).

 

Matt and his "I would fight for the girl I love".  (Even if she did go behind my back and betray my trust in her.)  On a side note, on their last scene, I don't know if anyone else was as distracted by the light on her lip gloss as I was, but, man, it looked bad.

 

I think they wanted the viewers to think this was so romantic - fighting for the girl you love.  But why would any guy fight another guy for a girl that cheated on him (you may have gotten rid of that guy, but she will likely cheat with another later on).  

 

Then again, I am often amazed at how, when a significant other cheats, the betrayed party points their anger at the one they cheated with, rather on the one that was supposed to be their partner (for example, I have known more than one woman whose husband cheated on her and she had more hatred for the other woman, rather than her husband).  Why should Win punch Matt, Matt didn't cheat on him, Daisy cheated on him (not advocating he should hit Daisy, but she does bug me, so I might be okay with that).

 

Yeah, it's predictable, but the banter is so well written. BTW, Stevie is 20, which means she dropped out of college as a sophomore. The families of cabinet members aren't newsworthy, nobody knows who they are or cares. How many of you college graduates out there remember anyone talking much about THEIR parents, anyway? Nobody really cares.

 

Her mother became Secretary of State because the previous SOS died in a plane crash, so Stevie's mom was the top news story for a day or two.  I can see a lot of "Your last name is McCord? Are you related to that lady that just became Secretary of State or something?" and even some "Psst, see that girl over there?  Her mom is like some big executive in the government." But I can't see the attention lasting more than a week or two.

 

Don't forget he'll be the first person to win the Nobel Peace Prize not only twice but in consecutive years.

 

And the following year they will create Nobel Prize in Theology, just for him. 

 

That's my point. Matt's not terribly attractive, he's not terribly charming, there's nothing we've seen in his personality to indicate he's even that interesting as a person. What does she see in him? They have no chemistry, I'm being given no reason to buy them as a couple. It almost feels like something the writers pulled out of a bag just to give the characters something to do, and I agree with the post upthread that pointed out they're sort of being used as comic relief on this show. But I just don't buy it. We keep getting a helping of this relationship every episode like the writers think it's an integral part of the show, and it isn't working.

 

I would add that there is nothing in her personality that makes her worthy of fighting for.  She isn't witty or charming or the-most-thoughtful-person-on-the-planet (as far as we've seen) .  I don't know that he sees in her.  

 

And, IMO, she is not gorgeous enough to make men swoon or behave irrationally, so I can't buy a romance based on superficiality (wow, no spell check alert on that one - must be a real word!)..  I think both of them fall in to the category of "not a head turner" they don't look so good that people stare, and they don't look so awful that people stare.  They are average.

[dubbel zout]

Matt and Daisy's relationship has been mostly all tell and no show. The little bit we've seen has had them sniping at each other. Why am I supposed to think these two even like each other?

[romantic idiot]

They swipe because they luuuv