S01.E07: Whatever It Takes

[formerlyfreedom]

While Wes meets with the President of the United States to discuss what his team has discovered about the mysterious rock - and whether or not it should be destroyed - Drill sets his sights on a member of the President's family. Meanwhile, Sean reunites with his family, but the reunion could be short-lived as he faces a possible prison sentence for his collaboration with Drill, and Lena attempts to communicate with Drill, with the help of daughter Minx.

[Chaos Theory]

I like this show. At times it is silly but I think for a silly show it is well thought out. The acting is good too. I am really enjoying Minx and her scary/Sweet behavior. The mystery is interesting enough and I am really enjoying Lily Rabe's performance. This will by no means be the best show of the season but it is an enjoyable thriller. Then again thrillers are my favorite kind of story.

At this point wouldn't it be prudent to lock up all children in black sites. Yeah I know mean and secret governmenty....but still prudent.

Presidents daughter getting Drill the location of the black site......

Also drill phone home?

Edited July 14, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[ottoDbusdriver]

That encounter with Sean and the rock (was the rock flying ?) before they appeared in Mali ... was pretty underwhelming.

 

How the hell did Sean Bennigan get in the same room as President Chip Winters ?  And now Drill is trying to get POTUS's daughter to do some evil shit.

 

Sean gets a choice -- prison or do as your ordered.  Kind of an easy choice, but of course they are going to stretch it out -- he ain't going to prison.  And how is he walking around without an escort ?  Oh, I see, he has a Chekov's electronic ankle monitor.

 

Lena continues Q&A with Drill -- via the patio lighting.  How does Lena know the answers provided by Drill if Minx doesn't always translate ?

FLOTUS can't find her smartphone that she let her daughter borrow -- has she tried calling it ?  Find a Phone app ?  These adults really are stupid. 

 

What exactly was supposed to be flashing in the closet ?  Was there a live wire exposed ?  Because it wasn't the phone.

That conversation between Sean and Henry was just painful to watch.

 

Lena: "What are we supposed to do, lock our daughter in her room and throw away the key."   Yes Lena, that is exactly what you should be doing until the whole Drill thing is resolved.

 

Claire is all pissy about Sean being tested as a guinea pig -- get over it already you hypocrite.  Wes is right -- she had no problem exposing the children to Drill in order to get answers, but because it's her hubby the rules are somehow different.

 

And Sean and Claire are going to McGyver an Anti-Drill weapon/EMP to destroy the rock from his ankle monitor, using the giant magnets, some pliers and electrical tape.  Sure, why not ?  And the security guy shoots the doctor in charge of the project. 

 

And Sean destroys the rock -- but that's probably what Drill wanted all along, so no big whoop.  And of course Drill isn't dead -- he probably uploaded a copy of himself to the cloud just in case.

 

SecDev wants Claire's partner to kidnap Henry -- we knew the SecDev was evil, we just didn't know how evil.  Kidnapping children to coerce the parents is kind of evil.

 

Drill wants to play "Let's make a Deal" with Lena.  Boring.  I hope she takes what's in the box instead of what's behind Curtain # 2. </snark>

Edited July 14, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Free]

 

Also drill phone home?

 

A more evil, convoluted ET.

 

 

Drill wants to play "Let's make a Deal" with Lean.  Boring.  I hope she takes what's in the box instead of what's behind Curtain # 2. </snark>

 

 

She's even dumber than the kids being manipulated.

[Andromeda]

Minx's mother is an idiot. Minx is super creepy.

Pretty rock got destroyed -- did ET manage to place his call?

[shrewd.buddha]

I am liking the fact that the story, such as it is, has progressed. (The bar is pretty low.) 

 

All the angst between Sean, Claire, Wes, and Lena (?)  is barely worthy of eye-rolling. For a supposedly highly trained psychologist, Claire is pretty incompetent when it comes to welcoming her estranged husband back home and trying to ease his concerns about her cheating ways. Maybe more secretive phone calls to Wes will help..

 

If this show does not wrap up in the final episodes, there is no telling how mightily I will shrug my shoulders.  .. Despite this show being a fun distraction, there is no way I would follow this into another season.

[TheRabbi]

Man that Lena is a despicable human being.  I forget the exact quote, but she said something like (paraphrasing) "You take care of your shit, I'll take care of my daughter."  I just had to shake my head.

 

I guess at least the story moved forward this week, though it was quite the 'shocking' revelation that Drill survived the explosion.

 

I wish I cared about the soap opera of the two main couples, but none of the actors are good, and their lines are generally worse.

 

Dumbest scene of the week:  Claire's scene of getting access to her hubby.  "Mrs. Bennigan, I'm going to need you to something for me......" *ULTRA-DRAMATIC PAUSE WITH SCARY MUSIC* "......can you stop in for a debrief after?  That'd be so great kthxbye!"  Oh my god I rolled my eyes so much at that.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Minx's mother is an idiot. Minx is super creepy.

Pretty rock got destroyed -- did ET manage to place his call?

 

On the plus side, no Harper this week.  But then we get Cassandra as her replacement, who is basically worse. At least she didn't try to kill FLOTUS.

 

Wes: "The rock -- it's not a bomb, it's a phone".  What are the long distance charges to the Sagittarius constellation ?  And unless the rock has faster than light communication capability, it's going to be around 440 years before they get an answer (since it's 220 light years away).  And a lot longer than that before any reinforcements show up. Did Wes even think of that ?  Or does he just assume that the aliens can travel instantaneously ?

 

When they showed that thermal image roaming around the kids last episode, it showed that Drill can travel without electrical wires -- is it just that he can travel faster with electrical wires, but doesn't need them to travel ?  And how does Drill know when to show up when the kids call for it ?  How would Drill even know where the First Daughter was in order to influence her, let alone know which electrical path to take to get to the wires paralleling the car's route ? Is Drill also a precog ?  

 

I'm still trying to figure out why Claire smuggled all that crap she packed into the bulletproof vest into the lab ?  Pliers, electrical tape -- wouldn't they already have that stuff in the lab ?

Edited July 14, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[readster]

 

Wes: "The rock -- it's not a bomb, it's a phone".  What are the long distance charges to the Sagittarius constellation ?  And unless the rock has faster than light communication capability, it's going to be around 440 years before they get an answer (since it's 220 light years away).  And a lot longer than that before any reinforcements show up. Did Wes even think of that ?  Or does he just assume that the aliens can travel instantaneously ?

 

 

  "They want to destroy us sir!" The next think that President Chip should have said: "Why does everything in the universe want to kill us?" 

 

Wes: "Because that's what all sci-fi writers want to believe unless you are George Lucas or Gene Rodenbury." Aliens just hate us because they can.  Probably because we name our children: "Minx" and "Aliana." 

[Happytobehere]

It is extremely troubling that the only character I actually care about is Sean. Everyone else, child and adult, just makes me want to smack them.

This entire episode was disjointed, as much as I care about Sean, there is no way he wouldn't be in an institution or some sort of anti-terrorist compound for the foreseeable future.

Sean again puts his kid (still think he better call Maury to determine whose the baby daddy), first by becoming a human guinea pig to protectHenry, Claire knows this and turns around and does something to endanger Henry. Great move there dipshit for brains, Sean just told you both he and your kid was threatened, and you have just made them both targets.

The more I see of Wes, Lena and Minx, the more I think they truly are perfect for each other because the level of self-serving, duplicitous, stupidity unifies them and let's me know they belong together, if for no other reason than it spears normal people from being subjected to them.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Happytobehere

[iMonrey]

Realistically the show should have ended with this episode. Rock, destroyed. Sean, Claire and Henry, on the run. The end. No good can come from trying to squeeze more blood from this turnip. 

 

A whole hour and all I could think of was: How did Sean's hair grow so fast in only three months? He had a military cut in the flashback when the plane went down, three month's later he's got hippie-length locks. Does he just have super-fast growing hair, or does alien contact somehow make your hair grow? 

 

Yep. That's how underwhelmed I was with this episode, I spent the whole time wondering about Sean's hair.

[ottoDbusdriver]

A whole hour and all I could think of was: How did Sean's hair grow so fast in only three months? He had a military cut in the flashback when the plane went down, three month's later he's got hippie-length locks. Does he just have super-fast growing hair, or does alien contact somehow make your hair grow?

 

Yep. That's how underwhelmed I was with this episode, I spent the whole time wondering about Sean's hair.

 

I'd go with some sort of timey-wimeyness that occurred between the time Sean disappeared in the Arctic and crashed in Mali. Because that was about a year's worth of growth from the military cut that he was showing in this episode.  Or Drill gave him a wig.

[KaveDweller]

 How would Drill even know where the First Daughter was in order to influence her, let alone know which electrical path to take to get to the wires paralleling the car's route ? Is Drill also a precog ?  

 

Maybe he has another "friend" who's father/mother works in the secret service and used them to find the first daughter?  That doesn't really make sense, but neither do a lot of things. Drill must have a directory of important government people or something, because he found all these kids.

 

Wouldn't someone check the limo between when the first lazy and the kid were there and the president got in? Done some kind of scan to make sure no electronics were planted?  Especially if he was going to a top secret location?

[meep.meep]

All I know is that if I don't get some actual whispers soon, I'm going to pitch a fit.

[Free]

All I know is that if I don't get some actual whispers soon, I'm going to pitch a fit.

 

I think the lame lights flickering were supposed to be the 'whispers'.

[Texasmom1970]

 

Yep. That's how underwhelmed I was with this episode, I spent the whole time wondering about Sean's hair.

Me, I am shallow I spent the episode thinking Claire is an idiot for cheating on Sean. After seeing him strip down before he hit the couch all I could say is damn woman you are stupid!

[readster]

Me, I am shallow I spent the episode thinking Claire is an idiot for cheating on Sean. After seeing him strip down before he hit the couch all I could say is damn woman you are stupid!

 

 Of course she is, all TV affairs are contrive and make no sense or are forced to either make you go: "I would have cheated too." Or "You are so selfish I hope you get it in the end." I also agree on fast growing hair, the beard you can believe. I know someone who grew a Duck Dynasty type in just over a month but head of hair, that's amazing.

[wayne67]

Sean gets a choice -- prison or do as your ordered.  Kind of an easy choice, but of course they are going to stretch it out -- he ain't going to prison.  And how is he walking around without an escort ?  Oh, I see, he has a Chekov's electronic ankle monitor.

That conversation between Sean and Henry was just painful to watch.

 

Lena: "What are we supposed to do, lock our daughter in her room and throw away the key."   Yes Lena, that is exactly what you should be doing until the whole Drill thing is resolved.

 

Claire is all pissy about Sean being tested as a guinea pig -- get over it already you hypocrite.  Wes is right -- she had no problem exposing the children to Drill in order to get answers, but because it's her hubby the rules are somehow different.

 

And Sean and Claire are going to McGyver an Anti-Drill weapon/EMP to destroy the rock from his ankle monitor, using the giant magnets, some pliers and electrical tape.  Sure, why not ?  And the security guy shoots the doctor in charge of the project. 

 

And Sean destroys the rock -- but that's probably what Drill wanted all along, so no big whoop.  And of course Drill isn't dead -- he probably uploaded a copy of himself to the cloud just in case.

 

SecDev wants Claire's partner to kidnap Henry -- we knew the SecDev was evil, we just didn't know how evil.  Kidnapping children to coerce the parents is kind of evil.

 

Drill wants to play "Let's make a Deal" with Lena.  Boring.  I hope she takes what's in the box instead of what's behind Curtain # 2. </snark>

 

I'm really starting to hate Claire. It's her tone that bothers me. It's whiney and entitled especially when it comes to Wes. It comes off as "HOW DARE YOU INCONVENIENCE MY FAMILY TO PROTECT THE WORLD FROM ALIENS."  Wes doesn't need to tell you anything about alien rocks, have you heard of things called professionalism, secrecy or being compromised.

 

As for kidnapping Henry. His parents just abandoned him to commit what could be considered treason against the US government. They'd both be in Gitmo. As for Wes he really should stop letting his ex mistress guilt him into giving up classified information and allowing her access to her husband who is repeatedly a suspect in the whole alien invasion problem.

 

 

Maybe he has another "friend" who's father/mother works in the secret service and used them to find the first daughter?  That doesn't really make sense, but neither do a lot of things. Drill must have a directory of important government people or something, because he found all these kids.

 

Wouldn't someone check the limo between when the first lazy and the kid were there and the president got in? Done some kind of scan to make sure no electronics were planted?  Especially if he was going to a top secret location?

 

I thought Sean's whole, the alien Drill was in my mind tearing through my thoughts explained his lack of memories and how Drill is so well informed about Earth and the movers and shakers. Sean effectively helped provide targets for Drill to use and or manipulate. He'd only need to use one child with NSA parents to update on the best plan of action.

 

Me, I am shallow I spent the episode thinking Claire is an idiot for cheating on Sean. After seeing him strip down before he hit the couch all I could say is damn woman you are stupid!

 

Yeah since Claire keeps using her past relationship with Wes to get info and access to the alien threat, it'd be nice to know why exactly Claire cheated on Sean, how long it lasted and whether it ended before her husband was presumed dead or afterwards. I found Claire whinging about not having a conversation with her husband tiresome. Where is her sense of priorities. The world is in danger and it's all so highschool. Also she's a lacklustre parent, destroying a one of a kind alien gizmo/meteor without having any kind of discussion with your kid or mother about the possibilities of government agents seeking retribution or monitoring the house for their return.

 

So far I don't think I like anyone on this show which is a problem.

[AudienceofOne]

The. Rock. Is. A. Phone.

Yes they said that and the other stuff happened too. And at no point has any parent involved sat down and tried to have a real conversation with their kid about Drill. Like... Drill is evil. Drill has killed people. But then Lena sets about being useful by talking to Drill and getting some intelligence in him and then... lies about it instead of passing it on. *sigh*

Also, whoever wrote every line that came out of the president's mouth should be shot. Now. Before they can do any more televisual damage.

Edited October 6, 2015 by AudienceofOne