S01.E05: Blame It On Leo

[Tara Ariano]

Jackson, Jamie and Agent Shaffer search for a chemist in Alabama who has evidence of Reiden Global's role in the growing animal problem. Meanwhile, Chloe, Mitch and Abraham come up against a ruthless drug lord after they fly to Rio de Janeiro in an attempt to delay the local government's plan for a massive bat extermination.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Meanwhile, Chloe, Mitch and Abraham come up against a ruthless drug lord after they fly to Rio de Janeiro in an attempt to delay the local government's plan for a massive bat extermination.

 

In order to stop further bat attacks on Antarctic outposts and radioactive Japanese villages ?

[MissLucas]

Bats again? Where is the killer zebra???

[DEM]

a chemist in Alabama who has evidence of Reiden Global's role

 

Blergh.  I want the opposite of that purely because Jamie is so gosh-darn annoying.

Edited July 27, 2015 by DEM

[alias1]

Better get used to it.  EvilCorp is behind it.

[Ohwell]

I stepped out of my house tis afternoon and a bird swooped past my head and, I swear, thought it was going to attack.  Then I forgot something, went back in the house and came back out, and that same damn bird swooped again.  I don't know what was going on, but I've never had a bird get that close to me.  Only thing I can figure out is that the bird knows I'm watching this show and if it could talk it would say "Die, bitch!".  

[Netfoot]

Local bird (called a Pee Whitler) that gets very antagonistic when nesting.  You walk by the nest, even 20-25 feet away, and that bird dive-bombs you, whizzes past your ears, and zooms away, only to turn and repeat.  Until you walk away from the nesting site.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Blame It On Leo

 

Does the episode title mean that Chloe and Mitch are going to hook up ?  They're in Rio, Mitch is the older man, Chloe is the younger woman.  And since there aren't any lions in South America, is Leo the name of the drug lord ?

 

Jackson, Jamie and Agent Shaffer search for a chemist in Alabama who has evidence of Reiden Global's role in the growing animal problem.

 

I would imagine that the "evidence" this chemist has is as overwhelming as the evidence that Mitch and Jamie presented to the Senator.  So basically nothing.

 

Should we have an over/under on the number of actual animal attacks this episode ?  And should we start a drinking game and have to take a shot every time someone mentions the 'defiant pupil'.

 

I'm still curious why they want to stop this bat extermination -- and why the bats are being exterminated in the first place ?  Have they been attacking other solar panels and killing people ?  Have they been bringing down airliners flying into/out of Rio ?  Have they been fighting with the piranhas in the Amazon over territory ?

[MissLucas]

Maybe the bat survivors from Antarctica were flocking down on Ipanema  beach (can you blame them?) hissing  and giving tourists the defiant pupil? That's bad for the economy. *Dalek sound effect* Exterminate!!!

[Ohwell]

Local bird (called a Pee Whitler) that gets very antagonistic when nesting.  You walk by the nest, even 20-25 feet away, and that bird dive-bombs you, whizzes past your ears, and zooms away, only to turn and repeat.  Until you walk away from the nesting site.

That's interesting.  I don't know much about birds and can't recognize them unless they're obvious ones like cardinals and crows.  In all my 15 years of living where I live, I had never had an incident like that and I'm used to birds chirping all the time.  I don't know if it was a Pee Whitler, but I know that it made an awful, squawking, almost threatening sound.  

[shapeshifter]

That's interesting.  I don't know much about birds and can't recognize them unless they're obvious ones like cardinals and crows.  In all my 15 years of living where I live, I had never had an incident like that and I'm used to birds chirping all the time.  I don't know if it was a Pee Whitler, but I know that it made an awful, squawking, almost threatening sound.

I too was going to suggest nest protection as the reason for the attack. In the Northern California mountains, bluejays used to attack our cat--who was no slouch himself when it came to beheading rabbits and keeping rattle snakes away.

 

 

Does the episode title mean that Chloe and Mitch are going to hook up?

Not following your rationale, and I thought last week's accidental landing of Chloe on top of Jackson was supposed to be the TV version of foreplay for them.

Edited July 28, 2015 by shapeshifter

[ennui]

Blame it on Leo

 

Leonardo DiCaprio and his efforts for the environment. When he's not flying around in private jets and lounging on yachts.

 

If the bats have rabies or other diseases, maybe there's good reason to exterminate them ... but normally, bats are beneficial, eating insects and all that.

 

I also vote for the bird protecting its nest. I've had it happen to me.

 

Just a note, though, crows can recognize faces, so if you're mean to a crow, they'll remember you. 

[walnutqueen]

I also vote for the bird protecting its nest. I've had it happen to me.

 

Just a note, though, crows can recognize faces, so if you're mean to a crow, they'll remember you. 

 

Not only will crows remember to hate you forever, they will teach their offspring to do the same.

 

Mockingbirds also dive-bomb noisily when protecting their young.

[Ohwell]

Hopefully the birds are gone because I haven't had anything strange happen today.  Or maybe they're lying in wait for me.

[raven]

 

but normally, bats are beneficial, eating insects and all that.

Plus they're cute.

 

Needs more animals attacking  Waaahhhhhhh.

[Neurochick]

I laughed at the fake looking plastic bat.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Neurochick

[ottoDbusdriver]

So, Mitch and Jamie broke into a high school to use the lab -- between classes.  How did they know the lab room would be empty ?

 

Somehow Mason-lite knew Crazy Papa Oz and knows the name of this Leo Butler guy. Sure, why not ?

 

How does Chloe already know about the solar panels in the Antarctic ?  It's only been a day since the last episode.

 

Mitch had some good lines in the episode -- and I'm really liking FBI Agent Pete Hill.

 

Chloe's idea, while valid, is just stupid -- stealing stuff in the realm of a druglord is not a good idea.  People get murdered in Rio at a rate 4 per day.

 

Of course the little girl, Clementine, and her seizure dog are related to Mitch.  And the dog is going to be taking Reiden Global meds -- oh noooesss !!  How does the dog go from needing $3000 worth of medical bills to a leg cast and some pills -- and he appears perfectly fine ?  Not missing any fur, no scrapes -- he was hit by a car !!

 

As soon as Leo and Jamie were hit by another car, I expected them to wake up 2000 years later in a small town in Idaho.  </snark>

 

So was the guy that hit them with the car working for Reiden Global ?  And how would he have known that cell phone belonged to Leo ?  This Leo should have been ultra-paranoid and there's no way that FBI Agent Pete Hill would have cracked his laptop password.  And he would have used a burner phone.

 

Oh no -- the mother cell is in EVERYTHING !!!!

 

The Brazilian gov't is prepared to dose nearly 7 million people with noxious pesticide to kill the bats -- bats that don't appear to be attacking anyone, and appeared to be confining themselves to one section of the city.

 

How are the animals even aware of the concept of technology or electricity -- let alone how to go after it like shorting out power distribution points and attacking cell phones ?  Hivemind hyper-intelligence -- but someone has to be feeding the the information to the hivemind.  Who ?

[shapeshifter]

So they couldn't afford to fix the fence but they can come up with $3000 to fix the dog's leg? As soon as the dog's Reiden brand Tramadol (or is that Clementine's?) grants him the ability to communicate, I expect his first words to be: I really wish you would've just fixed the fence!

[Ellaria]

Chloe and her eyeball acting are here for exposition purposes. Jamie is here to say Reiden Global every five minutes. I would like to dump them from the team and add hunky FBI agent.

This episode wasn't particularly entertaining. Too many side distractions of drug lords in Rio and Mitch's cute daughter in Boston.

The mysterious Leo Butler proved relatively easy to find. First, Jamie gets Intel on him with her Nancy Drew skills and then Manson finds them in the woods. Did they explain why there is a cage in his living room?

Is Manson working for Reiden Global? Or he is the human representative of a cabal of wolves trying to stop RG?

In the first episode, didn't we see that Jamie's laptop was hacked? Was that ever addressed? Maybe it was the bats who seem to be very capable.

Will Henry turn into Cujo next episode because his meds contain the Mother Cell?

Edited July 29, 2015 by Ellaria Sand

[thuganomics85]

RIP, defiant pupil.  It now sounds like mother cell is going to be the new go-to-word on this show.  If anyone ever dares start a drinking game, they could probably empty out an entire bar by just drinking anytime a character says one of those two words.

 

As soon as it was revealed that the guy in Boston was the "stepfather", I knew that the girl and the woman were going to be Mitch's daughter and ex.  But, of course this show had to drag the damn thing out for so long.  I was honestly laughing at how they kept trying to hid the photo and even had a bright light blinding the audience, in order to make the reveal "epic."  Oh, you stupid, silly show!  Too bad it wasn't Elizabeth Mitchell for pure Revolution nostalgia, but I guess Anastasia Griffith is an acceptable substitution.  But, oh shit!  Their dog is now taking those wacky mother cell pills from Reiden Global!  Oh no!  I guess it's time for Mitch to have to save the day.  I so want to watch Billy Burke fight a dog.

 

OK, another episodes with bats as the heavy, which is kind of disappointing.  There are so many animals, show!  Spread the wealth!  But I did love that one bat terrorizing Chloe and trying to wreck her phone.  Pure hilarity right there.  And Mitch might be a tool, but I agree with him that Chloe really isn't impressing me as the leader of this group.  Only reason they didn't get their asses kicked earlier was because of Abe, and now it's happening again for the big-cliffhanger.  Either the bats will suddenly save them from the gang, or Abe is going to run them over with the truck he just recently Grand Theft Autoed (seriously?  They couldn't rent a truck?  Did the organization cut off their funds after Mitch blew up the coffee pot?)

 

Meanwhile, Jackson drew the short straw and got stuck with Jaime, trying to hunt down Leo Butler.  At least Agent Shaffer returns to keep things entertaining.  Leo is finally convinced (mainly because he has a crush on Jaime, which shows that he really is a bit of a nutjob) to help, and brings Jaime to the mother cell, only for Evan/ Wolf Manson, to run them down and take it.  Hee!

 

I didn't think that it was possible to overact merely saying the "Stay tune for scenes of our next episode!" voice-over, but damn, if Nora Arnezeder didn't somehow do it.  In the past, James Wolf and Nonso Anozie did it and sounded normal, while Billy Burke did it and was a bit sarcastic (sounded like he wanted to add 'suckers' to that line), but not flashy.  But, I swear, she made it come off like "Stay tune or I will cut you!  All of y'all!  Watch these previews, NOW!!!"

 

Fun, but not my favorite.  We need to get back to new animals and more carnage.  And evil cat trees.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Leo is finally convinced (mainly because he has a crush on Jaime, which shows that he really is a bit of a nutjob) to help, and brings Jaime to the mother cell, only for Evan/ Wolf Manson, to run them down and take it.  Hee!

 

That nut that hit Leo and Jamie with a car was Manson-lite ?  Really ? I thought it was just another backwoods dude.  How would Manson-lite even know where they were ?  Did the wolves tell him ?

[wayne67]

The Brazilian gov't is prepared to dose nearly 7 million people with noxious pesticide to kill the bats -- bats that don't appear to be attacking anyone, and appeared to be confining themselves to one section of the city.

 

Yeah I didn't get how they'd go to such an extreme counter measure for people being scared... Poisoning is scarier and more long lasting than seeing some bats flying around the slum part of the city.

 

Are the animals supposed to be menacing ? The Rio government is acting as if the bats are going on a city wide murder spree instead of flying about the slums.

 

This show is neither bringing the hilarity or the horror of an animal apocalypse. It's just a boring show involving boring humans expositioning about the big bad corporation YAWN.

 

I want a flock of thirty parrots explaining to the Moron squad round robin style one word at a time that they're sick of being eaten, castrated, spayed and neutered and generally mistreated by humanity and they won't tolerate any more bullshit. Then when humans continue being assholes. I want guerilla style warfare with rats, pigeons, cats, dogs and lions.

 

I would have preferred a polar Bear attacking the Polar station.

 

At the moment all I'm getting from this show is TALKING about how potentially dangerous this animal apocalypse is but the actors aren't selling a sense of danger and the show isn't SHOWING the animals doing much of anything that's scary. We saw one whimsically nonsensical Wolf Prison Break but nothing really intimidating to the human race.

 

This has all the drama of a Scooby Doo episode and about a tenth of the humor.

 

On the upside I do like the FBI guy if only because he's shooting down some of their nonsense with his presence.

Edited July 29, 2015 by wayne67

[ennui]

Jamie saying that Leo was hiding via a network of PO boxes, and 'with a little more time, I can find him.' Uh, no. It's not that easy to find people who do not want to be found. Ask any child support agency.

[ottoDbusdriver]

This has all the drama of a Scooby Doo episode and about a tenth of the humor.

 

Well put.

[DEM]

I am so annoyed that Reiden Global are indeed the culprits. Curses!

Edited July 29, 2015 by DEM

[Netfoot]

Reiden Global can't be the bad guys.  They are such an obvious scarlet fish!  And I'd just hate for Scoop McClueless to turn out to be right!  At least they didn't fly to Rio in the Twin Comanche...

 

Agent Guy shows up boasting about the cyber-crime unit.  How come they can't catch the guy who sends me 7,000 "F*ck-buddys in your Area!" e-mails a day?  Batz!  Again!  Where are the zebras?

 

I saw what you did there, shooting the seizure so it looked like Doggie was eating the kids face.  Who is she again?  Or is this the first time we've met her?

 

Seems like the bats like to eat sparks.  Or electricity, which might explain why they swarned the solar panels in the antartic.  (But not why they stopped, when the lesbians died.)  But the drug gang members need acting lessons.  And that bat-prop being surgically investigated looks like it was made by a six year old kid.

 

Doggie lost an argument with a Pontiac!  Holy shit!  The bat with the bigger (defiant?) pupils just made me soil my shorts!  I could have told you that wolf-brain-exploding-coffee-pot was brilliant, but now I don't have to because GoodLeo did it for me.

 

Wait, Chloe can't see nor hear that bat right behind her, waiting to pounce?  Wow, so the bat wants to make a call.  Well, if lions can do it...  No, apparently they want to turn us into anchovies.  I knew they wanted to eat the electricity.

 

Is that dirt on Abe's shirt?  Or some sort of obscure decorative pattern?  They want to use technology to attract all the bats.  I suggest iPhones.  Bat-bait is all they're good for, right?

 

So that's who the kid is!  And now, Doggie gets to eat some Reiden Global Mother-wossit.

 

Good idea.  Go mess with the drug gand again.  And I was expecting Scoop's car to be rammed, but not by Wolfie Manson!  Is he an E-Corp/Reiden Global stooge now?  If not, what does he want with the Defiant Mother?

[shapeshifter]

Reiden Global can't be the bad guys.  They are such an obvious scarlet fish!...

And I was expecting Scoop's car to be rammed, but not by Wolfie Manson!  Is he an E-Corp/Reiden Global stooge now?  If not, what does he want with the Defiant Mother?

Sorry, but my best unspoiled guess is that Wolf Manson left Oz Sr. to take a job with Reiden, and, you know, the age old story of the scientist becoming his own experiment. Think of The Fly. I'm sure the writers were.

[wayne67]

I have several questions that this episode left me with...

 

1 Who are the moron gang working for again ?

 

2 Don't they have an expense account to buy things in order to stop the animal apocalypse?

 

3 How the hell did the French Lady know that bats screwed over the Antarctic Lesbians ?

 

4 So do the bats have an agenda against humans or a fetish for electronics ?

 

5 What happened to that injured wolf from the previous episode ?

 

6 Will Manson lite snort or inject the Mother Cell into himself before going skinny dipping into the nearest lake or dam to spread his animal colluding germs with the general public.

 

7 Were there any deaths this episode ?

 

8 How is it that Manson Lite can hide from the FBI but Leo Butler cant even though one presumably has millions of dollars at his disposal and the other has no money?

 

9 If Leo Butler was so easy to find how come the Evil Mega Corp couldn't find him and end his blackmail earlier ?

 

10 Why did noone ask about that weird cage in the living room...

 

11 What is up with the telepathic lions at the moment ?

 

Hmmm turns out I had a lot of questions after this episode.

Edited July 29, 2015 by wayne67

[shapeshifter]

1 Who are the moron gang working for again ?

2 Don't they have an expense account to buy things in order to stop the animal apocalypse?...

10 Why did noone ask about that weird cage in the living room...

1: Wanna bet whoever it was is connected to Reiden?

2: Seriously. But to be fair, I guess Abe already gave all the on-hand paper currency. No ATMs in the favela.

10: Seriously!! Chekhov's cage was just a fake-out for ambience and set dressing??

Edited July 29, 2015 by shapeshifter

[Free]

RIP, defiant pupil.  It now sounds like mother cell is going to be the new go-to-word on this show.

 

Yup, the new magic nanites or the new magic goo/dome/egg.

[ottoDbusdriver]

3 How the hell did the French Lady know that bats screwed over the Antarctic Lesbians ?

 

5 What happened to that injured wolf from the previous episode ?

 

7 Were there any deaths this episode ?

 

8 How is it that Manson Lite can hide from the FBI but Leo Butler cant even though one presumably has millions of dollars at his disposal and the other has no money?

 

9 If Leo Butler was so easy to find how come the Evil Mega Corp couldn't find him and end his blackmail earlier ?

 

11 What is up with the telepathic lions at the moment ?

 

3. If the Antarctic Lesbians sent  a message for help and no one responded, and the earliest they could expect anyone to show up was days away, how did Chloe miraculously know about their deaths and the bats covering on the solar panels the next day.  If any rescuers showed up they would have found two people frozen to death, and some dead bats outside but how would they know that the bats specifically covered up the solar panels to kill these people ?

 

5.  They dropped the wolf off in the woods while on the road somewhere between the prison in Mississippi and the high school in Alabama.  Were there no high schools in Mississippi they could use for lab work ?

 

7. Leo looks kind of dead, a couple of bats might have been shot -- why were there no overly aggressive alligators in the swamps ?  Because that should have been a big concern.

 

8. Jamie basically used Google to track some P.O. boxes of shell companies and the FBI did the rest.  And for some reason Jamie's hacker friends can't even be bothered to encrypt stolen documents they send to her so they couldn't be read by the NSA.  Well done assholes.

 

9. Who knows -- usually Evil Megacorps aren't that lazy, and would usually at least hire a P.I. to find him.  Someone with more talent than Scoop McClueless at least (love that nickname).  Leo seemed a little young to have been working for Reiden Global developing evil shit for years (so much so that he is one of the few that even know about the Mother Cell) and has now been on the lam blackmailing RG for years so much so that he has a known reputation for his Robin Hood-like endeavors.

 

Chloe: "Is it possible that the bat was attracted to my phone or to technology.  I mean, is that crazy ?"

Mitch: "Well, crazy seems to be on a sliding scale since I met you guys."

 

I can't believe that Leo Butler has amazing wireless coverage deep in the swamp.  This guy should be so far off the grid to avoid Reiden Global, only going to town to conduct his online activities.

 

Seriously, Chloe needs to lay off the Red Bull or coffee or whatever she's drinking, because her eyes are about to pop out of their sockets.

 

How is Evan Lee Hartley even aware of the Mother Cell ?  If he has been on death row and about to be executed the next day before the wolf attack, that means that he has probably been in prison for at least a decade or more (the average for Mississippi is 12-15 years).  And if the Mother Cell was only discovered 12 years ago, and took a while to develop and determine what it was and what the side effects were, he would have been in prison already.  So when was that photo taken of Manson-lite and Papa Oz ? The dates that have been provided just aren't adding up.  Did the wolves tell him to go looking for it let alone describe what it would look like once he saw it ?

 

If the Mother Cell turns out to be alien, I'm out.

 

ETA: Plus, if this Mother Cell is to blame for all the animal shenanigans because it has intruded into the environment everywhere (along the lines of DDT or lead way back in the 70s), it completely invalidates Papa Oz's theory about the natural evolution of the 'Defiant Pupil', even though the defiant pupil was somehow accelerated in horses by radiation from Fukushima.  This is all no longer making any sense.

Edited July 29, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[shrewd.buddha]

Eh, the story seems to be chugging along at a not-exactly-irritating pace. But, more carnage, please. 

 

When Frenchie was on the balcony talking to McHunky on the phone, I wasn't really riveted with fear by the bat hanging near her head. It wasn't as if the bats had rabies -- or have they established that the defiant pupil thing is a virus than can be transferred to humans ? 

Edited July 29, 2015 by shrewd.buddha

[jay741982]

I too was going to suggest nest protection as the reason for the attack. In the Northern California mountains, bluejays used to attack our cat--who was no slouch himself when it came to beheading rabbits and keeping rattle snakes away.

 

 

Not following your rationale, and I thought last week's accidental landing of Chloe on top of Jackson was supposed to be the TV version of foreplay for them.

James Wolk has said that "Romantic sparks wil fly between them" Jackson and Chloe I mean hehe

[wayne67]

If the Mother Cell turns out to be alien, I'm out.

 

ETA: Plus, if this Mother Cell is to blame for all the animal shenanigans because it has intruded into the environment everywhere (along the lines of DDT or lead way back in the 70s), it completely invalidates Papa Oz's theory about the natural evolution of the 'Defiant Pupil', even though the defiant pupil was somehow accelerated in horses by radiation from Fukushima.  This is all no longer making any sense.

 

My current headcanon is that Papa Oz had a theory based on horses acting crazy because of radiation some period of time ago and was laughed out of the scientific community because of it. Reiden noticed animals with the same symptoms and concluded that Papa Oz's theory about radiation or evolution of the animal kingdom had been brought to fruition with the MOTHER CELL... (That term doesn't sound ominous it just makes me think of a knitting circle in a cloister with mothers... ) Leo Butler was either the person that figured out that the Mother Cell was responsible and was kicked out of Reiden and given a steady supply of Hush money because Reiden could neither fix the problem or announce their negligence without being bankrupted.

 

I'll probably end up being wrong but I'm still hoping that Monkeys will show up and will outline their plan for world domination with sign language and a Jamaican guy will translate because that would be hilarious.

 

I don't know why Moron Gang figured it was a good idea to steal from armed thugs instead of either using SOMEONE'S CREDIT CARD... or calling their superiors for access to a larger bank account or calling that woman from RIO's intelligence agency and asking for a loan of equipment to solve their bat problem.

 

That said did all these people quit their actual day jobs ? Has Chloe bailed on her job? Has Pathologist guy ?

 

I wonder if Oz junior? James Wolk is at all concerned about his mother still being in a place with lions that are bleeding people to death in slow agonising ways for funsies ? I mean really you'd think he'd be slightly more concerned about that.

 

This show reminds me of Under the Dome. Interesting premise, confusing mythology and acting ranging from mediocre to absurd (along with their characters). In both shows I'm supposed to be worried about the strange situations our heroes find themselves in every other day/week but all it prompts is "REALLY that's your plan ?"

[JTMacc99]

Hmph. I guess we had some character development and moved along the plot this week.  I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm kind of in this for less traditional reasons.

 

I'm also sad that the poor yellow lab is going to go defiant pupil.

 

3 How the hell did the French Lady know that bats screwed over the Antarctic Lesbians ?

She watched that episode on her iPhone.

[Chaos Theory]

Is that true about humans only being a 2.2 on the Apex Predator scale? It sound like something that would be true but it also sounds like made up science.

It's always EvilCorp. Still I like the story. It is interesting.

[Netfoot]

But if the Mother-Lode makes the animals get a Defiant Eyeball which in turn makes them lust for electronic emissions from iPhones, pole-transformers, aircraft avionics and solar panels, why are the lions killing tourists?  Why did the Jack Russell lead the other tourists to their death?  Why were the cats up in the tree?  Why did the wolves attack the prison?  

[shapeshifter]

But if the Mother-Lode makes the animals get a Defiant Eyeball which in turn makes them lust for electronic emissions from iPhones, pole-transformers, aircraft avionics and solar panels, why are the lions killing tourists?  Why did the Jack Russell lead the other tourists to their death?  Why were the cats up in the tree?  Why did the wolves attack the prison?  

Because the writers grew up with Choose Your Own Adventure books, and they think that's how writing works?

And the tourists had too much technology on their persons?

[maczero]

Blergh.  I want the opposite of that purely because Jamie is so gosh-darn annoying.

I expected her to say "In your face!", "Suck it bitches!" and do a few pelvic thrusts when she found out that there was a connection to evil corporation.

 

I too was going to suggest nest protection as the reason for the attack. In the Northern California mountains, bluejays used to attack our cat--who was no slouch himself when it came to beheading rabbits and keeping rattle snakes away.

That sounds like a pretty badass cat.

 

 

Yeah I didn't get how they'd go to such an extreme counter measure for people being scared... Poisoning is scarier and more long lasting than seeing some bats flying around the slum part of the city.

 

Are the animals supposed to be menacing ? The Rio government is acting as if the bats are going on a city wide murder spree instead of flying about the slums.

I'm going with ignorance and a general dislike of an animal that many people consider to be nothing more than a flying rat.  

I would have preferred a polar Bear attacking the Polar station.

Wrong pole.  There are no polar bears in the Antarctic.

Eh, the story seems to be chugging along at a not-exactly-irritating pace. But, more carnage, please. 

Yeah, if the show wants to keep me invested then I expect to see at least one mauling per episode.

 

I admit I wasn't totally invested in this ep so I missed a couple of things.  What happened in the first five minutes?  How did they rope the FBI guy into this nonsense?  I thought he was suspicious of their group last episode.

Edited July 29, 2015 by maczero

[pezgirl7]

Here's an interesting article about the trophic level of humans. It seems to me that a lot of it has to do with what we eat, and not just how powerful we are. Countries like China and India bring the average level for humans down because they eat less meat. "Food chains start at trophic level 1 with primary producers such as plants, move to herbivores at level 2, predators at level 3 and typically finish with carnivores or apex predators at level 4 or 5."

 

I kept getting dive-bombed by a red-winged blackbird at work (probably protecting a nest), and ended up changing where I parked. It's actually gotten me a bit skittish around birds now. :(

[shapeshifter]

In the Northern California mountains, bluejays used to attack our cat--who was no slouch himself when it came to beheading rabbits and keeping rattle snakes away.

That sounds like a pretty badass cat.

Yes, he wasn't good at sharing with other animals--no hive mind for Casper! (So named because was white and fluffy, like Casper the Friendly Ghost.)

 

Speaking of the hive mind, I'm guessing the Mother Cells (or "daughter cells"?) all communicate--and they use electricity to do it.

Edited July 29, 2015 by shapeshifter

[Chaos Theory]

It seems to me if you put humans (without our technology like guns, bows and knives ) against a good number of predictors we would be at a distinct disadvantage. Like Mitch said it is our ability to reason and our tech that puts us higher. Take those away and we would actually be pretty low on the scale.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Ellaria]

Yes, lots of questions arose in this episode that probably should not come up...

 

I don't know why Moron Gang figured it was a good idea to steal from armed thugs instead of either using SOMEONE'S CREDIT CARD... or calling their superiors for access to a larger bank account or calling that woman from RIO's intelligence agency and asking for a loan of equipment to solve their bat problem.

 

That said did all these people quit their actual day jobs ? Has Chloe bailed on her job? Has Pathologist guy ?

 

I was thinking the same thing about the funding for this top-secret mission:

• It looks like they flew in business class to Rio but while in Biloxi they were doubling up in the hotel rooms.
• If you want the mission to remain a secret, stealing the truck may not have been a good idea. Rental cars aren't that expensive.

 

At this point, I think Mitch is the only one that has a day job. Chloe is the field agent without field experience on this mission. Jamie was fired. Safari guides are probably not in great demand since the lions ate the last group of tourists so Abe and Jackson have time to spare.

 

 

But if the Mother-Lode makes the animals get a Defiant Eyeball which in turn makes them lust for electronic emissions from iPhones, pole-transformers, aircraft avionics and solar panels, why are the lions killing tourists?  Why did the Jack Russell lead the other tourists to their death?  Why were the cats up in the tree?  Why did the wolves attack the prison?  

 

I, too, am interested in the motivation behind these vengeful creatures. Are we to assume that ALL of these vengeful creatures have ingested the Mother Cell: African lions, Brentwood house cats, Mississippi wolves, and a Jack Russel from Slovenia? And, of course, the worldwide population of bats. Guess its because the Mother Cell is everywhere...whatever that means. Do the animals have a end game that they are working towards?

 

I am mostly entertained when the animals are on screen rather than the actual humans.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Ellaria Sand

[LydiaMoon1]

This show is neither bringing the hilarity or the horror of an animal apocalypse. It's just a boring show involving boring humans expositioning about the big bad corporation YAWN.

Co-sign.  I enjoyed the first three shows, but the show has already forgotten what made the first few so entertaining.  At this point, I'm just bored.

[JTMacc99]

Wrong pole.  There are no polar bears in the Antarctic.

Meh. The bats don't seem to care about basic geography. Why should the polar bears?

 

Yeah, if the show wants to keep me invested.  I expect to see at least one mauling per episode.

Absolutely! And if I can't get a good mauling, how about at least one instance where it appears the team traveled 11,000 miles in two hours?

[Primetimer]

Defiant bats make favelas even less habitable in the latest episode; Dave and Tara discuss!

Read the story

[JTMacc99]

Yeah. I forgot about Agent Grown-up wearing a suit into the swamp. That annoyed me.  It was HIS boat. He KNEW they were going deep into the swamp. Put on the standard black pants, blue shirt with FBI in yellow outfit.  Jeez.

[Ohwell]

I kept getting dive-bombed by a red-winged blackbird at work (probably protecting a nest), and ended up changing where I parked. It's actually gotten me a bit skittish around birds now. :(

 

I've been dive-bombed.  You've been dive-bombed.  I'm beginning to think that even the birds know this show is crap. 

 

In the beginning I had such high hopes, but I'm so disappointed now.  The only people of interest to me are Abe and FBI guy and that's only because they're likeable, not because of any great acting.  

 

Frenchie's eyeballs rolling around in her head are annoying as hell.

[Free]

This show is neither bringing the hilarity or the horror of an animal apocalypse. It's just a boring show involving boring humans expositioning about the big bad corporation YAWN.

 

 

Co-sign.  I enjoyed the first three shows, but the show has already forgotten what made the first few so entertaining.  At this point, I'm just bored.

 

Exactly, just get to the animal attacks because the convoluted evil corporation, the 'mother cell', and the Charles Manson-look a like aren't cutting it.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Free

[ottoDbusdriver]

I was thinking the same thing about the funding for this top-secret mission:

It looks like they flew in business class to Rio but while in Biloxi they were doubling up in the hotel rooms.
If you want the mission to remain a secret, stealing the truck may not have been a good idea. Rental cars aren't that expensive.

 

That's the really stupid part -- they already had a rental car.  When they met Gabriela and her crew in Rio in the parking garage, they was a gray car right behind them that they obviously drove there.  Since it was the only car on the entire level.