S01.E01: Run

[blackwing]

Forgives if I missed this in an earlier post:

 

If Agent Elder-Morman-pedophile/statutory rapist is dead from a bullet to the head, why on EARTH was his pic on the POI wall at bombing command center?

I think they just had the whole recruiting class up there.  I think I saw Caleb's picture still on that board, and we are led to believe that he left the programme.  Since we know that he is one of the stars of the show listed in the credits, he obviously is going to come back at some point, but on face value, we should have thought it odd that his face was still there.

 

For the same reason that he is in the credits, there's no way that Ryan Booth is dead either.  I would imagine that he is working for Liam and was just faking being dead.

 

I'm confused about the layout of these dorm rooms.  You enter the door to the room.  There appears to be a "left side" and "right side", divided by a wall, with a bed in each.  Then just inside the entrance door, off to the side, somewhere there is a bathroom?  Is there one bathroom for every two rooms?  Is there just one long open inner hallway to the bathroom?  Do men and women share the bathroom?  I thought Ryan Booth was in his room, and seemed to look down towards the bathroom and saw Alex / Taylor Swift.

 

I liked Will from Sense8, too bad he died.  I'm curious as to why we can't have a minority male amongst the main recruits.  We have an Indian woman and a Middle Eastern woman amongst the recruits, and a black woman in an authority position.  

[Trini]

I don't know... maybe this isn't the show for me. There was nothing egregiously bad, but I'm already annoyed at how many things I need to keep track of. I hope they tone down the soapy relationship drama. The most ridiculous thing for me was Secret Twin! Because I really don't think that hiding a whole other person is something that can stay hidden for long, especially in a dorm situation -- at the FBI. But more importantly, WHY??
 
Anyway, I'm giving it a few more episodes (Rick Cosnett!), though I'm not a fan of the flashback/forward structure.

 

Anthony Ruivivar.

He'll always be Tommy to me! (Chuck)

[gibasi]

I heard nothing but good things about this and I was hoping for a Homeland type of show.  The others I was watching with liked it so I guess I am stuck with it for now but I cannot say I was wild about it.  I don't know Cougar Town from anything else but I thought his acting was terrible in this.  Just not convincing at all.  I kept saying the actor reminded me of Billy in Guiding Light-what was that actor's name?  He grew on me but I never considered him particularly good.  Maybe this guy will grow on me but who can say.

 

And I didn't like that whichever agent wannabe it was thought it was okay to humiliate and act like something was wrong with Simon(?) being a virgin.  And who is going to tell someone that over the phone anyway? Oh by the way Random Agent Wannabe this guy I was dating was a virgin!  The horror.  I thought it was mean.

 

I called the twins because I just finished semi watching Big Brother for the first time ever.  Not a fan of that either.  

 

I don't know why this got so much hype from the critics.  It was okay but certainly not anything special.  a C-.

[AlwaysWatching]

The Shonda Rhimes playbook has been enormously successful for ABC and if there is one thing TV shows do, it's imitate what has worked on another show. Statsgirl

 

 

Yes, I see a lot of mentions about the Shonda Rhimes influence.  She is literally ruining TV for me.  I can't really say much about this pilot other than I lasted about 10 minutes and hit the delete button.  It's sad.  This sounded like a great premise for a show. Think "Homeland". Even when that show made some odd decisions with it's characters, it was still very well executed and interesting. 

 

thank god for cable tv

 

on edit

Hey gibasi.  We were thinking about Homeland at the same time.

Edited September 28, 2015 by AlwaysWatching

[saber5055]

Wow, this show is getting a lot of talk here, compared to the one that aired right before it. Everything I thought has been said, especially the Shonda Rimes thing. The Meredith/McDreamy sex in S1/E1 was so ripped off! I also caught a Blacklist vibe. But whatever, I guess. I'll be in this until I can't stand it any more or something better comes on at the same time. Nothing else for me to add, you guys have nailed it!

[angelita100]

I enjoyed the first episode.  Not too deep but it's entertaining with likable characters. 

[SonofaBiscuit]

How was the Morman guy able to walk around with a real gun without anybody noticing?  The recruits had to turn in their "red handle" to get a gun for target practice.  Then, according the Agent Cougar Town, they would get their red handle back when they returned their gun.  So, after target practice, he never returned his gun and was just walking around with a loaded weapon (and the red handle was still wherever they checked their weapons out from) , and nobody at the FBI noticed?  One of these people is a suspected terrorist, and these things aren't being monitored more closely? Oy.  

Edited September 28, 2015 by SonofaBiscuit

[Artsda]

I liked the pilot. Interested to see where they will go. It's seems really similar storytell wise to the format How to get away with Murder uses.

 

I don't think it's Nimah because it would just be too predictable, watch it be the pretty boy. 

[HalcyonDays]

Pure speculation on my part, Alex father isn't dead, the finale is Alex finally catching him.

That could be one of three reasons:

 

1. He's not really dead. He totally walked off that injury and he'll be around before the finale, duh.

2. The FBI know more than what they lead on; Mormon's death was a test but he's not really dead

 

Oh, I like that speculation. I was thinking this too actually, except wasn't Alex's dad dead on the floor with a slug in his forehead. He had blood coming out of his forehead. And Caleb (the Mormon guy), they showed blood spatter on the window behind him, after he shot himself through the mouth, and the blond guy witnessed it.

 

But I was thinking this. I was also thinking that this is all a ploy to someone get information from Alex, or they think Alex knows something, or something. Or even trying to get info from her, that maybe the FBI thinks the mother told Alex. Why set her up deliberately, so that's why I think it's all to get info - or a physical item - from her, that belonged to dad.

 

Though DrunkenFBI Agent guy it looking pretty shady to me to, especially when A. Ellis character was helping Alex escape.

 

CarSex guy is an agent who was assigned to watch Alex. That's what I gathered. I hope it's a good twist. I could see Simon being the one though. But I am leaning toward ShadyFBI guy, and the fact that they are trying to get information about Alex's dad.

 

It's a good show, entertaining, so I'll watch.

[reggiejax]

This version of the FBI really has the Worst. Screening. Ever. Absolutely everyone has a life-altering secret?

 

Well, I guess the people who screened applicants at CTU had to go somewhere after they got fired, the FBI is as good a place as any.

 

The show is well made, and the cast is quite pretty, but so far there just isn't anything to compel me to continue watching. This type of show has been done ad infinitum in recent years, and either it will get canceled quickly and any investment will have been for nothing, or it will succeed and the writers will screw it up royally, as they always do.

 

A lot of clichés bandied about, which is to be expected. The only one that bothered me was when it was said that FBI training at Quantico is the toughest boot camp combined with the hardest grad school. I have nothing but respect for the FBI, but that first part couldn't possibly be true. I will give them leeway on the second part, but I don't think it is true either, but it is more true than the first part. But mostly I didn't like it because it made it seem as if the creators believe the audience has no idea about the FBI, and they felt they really had to play it up. They felt they had to play up the FBI. The FB motherfucking I!

[cynic]

I'm confused about the layout of these dorm rooms.  You enter the door to the room.  There appears to be a "left side" and "right side", divided by a wall, with a bed in each.  Then just inside the entrance door, off to the side, somewhere there is a bathroom?  Is there one bathroom for every two rooms?  Is there just one long open inner hallway to the bathroom?  Do men and women share the bathroom?  I thought Ryan Booth was in his room, and seemed to look down towards the bathroom and saw Alex / Taylor Swift.

I could not for the life of me figure out that dorm layout. I really want to see a floor plan. It was like the show wanted the drama and intimacy of pod-style dorms, but also the convenience of having the long hallway of doors to have scenes in.

 

 

I liked Will from Sense8, too bad he died.  I'm curious as to why we can't have a minority male amongst the main recruits.  We have an Indian woman and a Middle Eastern woman amongst the recruits, and a black woman in an authority position.

It was kinda odd that the women were racially diverse, but the men were all white. I am happy to see an Indian woman fronting a network drama. I'm less thrilled that, by the looks of it, there will be sexy times had by most, but the black woman will just have a pathetic, possibly shady ex that she's too strong for. I bet she doesn't have any time for love. *eyeroll*

[Free]

the black woman will just have a pathetic, possibly shady ex that she's too strong for. I bet she doesn't have any time for love. *eyeroll*

 

The Miranda Bailey route.

[Raja]

A lot of clichés bandied about, which is to be expected. The only one that bothered me was when it was said that FBI training at Quantico is the toughest boot camp combined with the hardest grad school. I have nothing but respect for the FBI, but that first part couldn't possibly be true. I will give them leeway on the second part, but I don't think it is true either, but it is more true than the first part. But mostly I didn't like it because it made it seem as if the creators believe the audience has no idea about the FBI, and they felt they really had to play it up. They felt they had to play up the FBI. The FB motherfucking I!

it is so hard each twin is only going through half of the course.

[jaytee1812]

The Miranda Bailey route.

I was just say on the Grey's forum the other day how unlike other show Bailey's had a number of very attractive love interests.

[Free]

I was just say on the Grey's forum the other day how unlike other show Bailey's had a number of very attractive love interests.

 

I'm talking about early "Nazi" Bailey before they changed her character later on.

[jaytee1812]

I'm talking about early "Nazi" Bailey before they changed her character later on.

She was married.

[HalcyonDays]

The only one that bothered me was when it was said that FBI training at Quantico is the toughest boot camp combined with the hardest grad school.

 

I always thought the "order" was something like Special Ops/Navy Seals, Marines, Navy/Army (not sure which order), then Airforce. But these are military branches. Maybe they meant the hardest boot camp for federal police officers, which I could see. Looking it up, apparently Coast Guard is very tough also.

 

I kinda see FBI and CSI similar in terms of requirements. I did always think though that those recruited for the FBI had prior police experience or even detective work. Can one go straight from a university program like Criminal Justice and go straight into the FBI? That I don't know.

[Raja]

I always thought the "order" was something like Special Ops/Navy Seals, Marines, Navy/Army (not sure which order), then Airforce. But these are military branches. Maybe they meant the hardest boot camp for federal police officers, which I could see. Looking it up, apparently Coast Guard is very tough also.

I kinda see FBI and CSI similar in terms of requirements. I did always think though that those recruited for the FBI had prior police experience or even detective work. Can one go straight from a university program like Criminal Justice and go straight into the FBI? That I don't know.

As I understand it you need a special skill set to get into the FBI a lot of. them are lawyers or the CPA one of the characters told us he was. Many agencies, especially those with independent academies give the we are the best. LAPD is famous for saying they are tougher than Marine Corps boot camp. The FBI and a few other agencies have their own independent place and don't attend a joint academy with the NCIS agents, Deputy Marshals and Border Patrol agents

[jackjill89]

The part of the show I thought was really ridiculous, was Alex's catwalk-model walk at the end, when she was trying to blend into the crowd with the FBI hat and uniform on. I know they were probably going for dramatic but the way she was strutting, hair flowing under the cap, just cracked me up. Because who looks like that as they try to run away and officially are a fugitive from the FBI for a charge of terrorism.

…and she was going in the opposite way than all the other FBI agents. If I were an FBI agent, I'd notice the flowy-haired, model-walking agent going the other way.

[Amethyst]

Yes, I see a lot of mentions about the Shonda Rhimes influence.  She is literally ruining TV for me.  I can't really say much about this pilot other than I lasted about 10 minutes and hit the delete button.  It's sad.  This sounded like a great premise for a show. Think "Homeland". Even when that show made some odd decisions with it's characters, it was still very well executed and interesting. 

 

This all day.  I'm not so much bothered by SH's series, but I don't want every drama to be modeled after one of her shows.  The professions are different, but the characters are the same.  There's no real variety.  Obviously her shows make plenty of $$$ for ABC, but they're too ott for my tastes.  ABC might as well call themselves the Shonda Rhimes Network at this point.  

[blackwing]

But Shonda wasn't the first one to create a show like this, where young attractive people in some professional setting bedhop amongst whatever the week's storyline was.  St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, E.R., Chicago Hope etc. all came years before Shonda.  What she did do very successfully, and I think was groundbreaking, was to have minority females (Cristina and Bailey on Grey's Anatomy and Olivia Pope on Scandal and Annalise Keating on Murder) in prominent or lead roles.  So I see the comparison with an Indian woman in the lead here. 

 

As for other direct comparisons/complaints, I think any show nowadays with young attractive professionals who sleep around with each other is going to invariably be compared to Grey's Anatomy.  There's also always going to be an older, tough, no-nonsense authority figure.  That's a cliche that isn't limited to just Shonda shows.  And as for the flash forward / flash back comparisons with How to Get Away with Murder, I would point out that HTGAWM isn't technically a Shonda creation.  I believe her company is the production company that pays everybody but other people are in charge of the show.

[GHScorpiosRule]

And Caleb (the Mormon guy), they showed blood spatter on the window behind him, after he shot himself through the mouth, and the blond guy witnessed it.

No, Caleb was the blonde douche, who was taunting the Mormon guy, Eric? and who only got in because both of his parents were/are agents.  

 

It was...okay. I guess I don't understand all this "soapy" language being attached. Is it because Alex and Booth had sex within hours of meeting each other? That doesn't scream "soapy" to me.  Right now there is no "relationship" and as someone who has watched soaps for years, daytime and nighttime, I'm not seeing it. And also, it's only the pilot.

 

Josh Hopkins is the only actor I'm familiar with.  As for Priyanka? Well, I only watch Classic Bollywood meaning, no movies after 1995, heh. I don't care for anyone new or who broke out after that...

 

It's ridiculous. But I have nothing else to do on Sunday nights, so I guess I'll stick around...

[Cara]

As I understand it you need a special skill set to get into the FBI a lot of. them are lawyers or the CPA one of the characters told us he was. Many agencies, especially those with independent academies give the we are the best. LAPD is famous for saying they are tougher than Marine Corps boot camp. The FBI and a few other agencies have their own independent place and don't attend a joint academy with the NCIS agents, Deputy Marshals and Border Patrol agents

Qualifications to be an FBI agent

https://www.fbijobs.gov/explore-careers/sa-eligibility.asp

[Cardie]

ABC might as well call themselves the Shonda Rhimes Network at this point.

 

At one point NBC was the Dick Wolf network and CBS the Jerry Bruckheimer network. To a lesser extent, they still are. When a producer gets hot and has a development deal with a network, their style starts to affect other shows that get picked up. That this show is a preposterous melodrama is a given, so holding it to real-world tests of believability is beside the point. (None of the Shonda shows is the least bit realistic.) So far I like the various plot possibilities but will have to see if the characters develop beyond being its chess pieces. 

[Guest]

At one point NBC was the Dick Wolf network and CBS the Jerry Bruckheimer network. To a lesser extent, they still are. When a producer gets hot and has a development deal with a network, their style starts to affect other shows that get picked up. That this show is a preposterous melodrama is a given, so holding it to real-world tests of believability is beside the point. (None of the Shonda shows is the least bit realistic.) So far I like the various plot possibilities but will have to see if the characters develop beyond being its chess pieces. 

 

I have to agree that Shonda is why this show got picked up on this network.  But the reason the show is the way it is...100% its creator.  We are watching an FBI show from a creator, showrunner, and writer whose only prior credits are Smash and Gossip Girl.  And he totally copped to using Grey's, Desparate Housewives, and Lost as inspiration.

[Netfoot]

A quick google tells me that the FBI is 83.27% white.  Therefore, there are far too many non-white actors cast in this show, if realism is any sort of desirable goal.

[NorthstarATL]

I thought that was pretty fun. I would have watched if the show had just followed the Quantico training for the first season, but the flashforward proved that that wasn't the show I was watching, so I played along with the "mystery", which was actually kind of fun. I thought the Mormon guy from Sense8 would turn out to be the bomber, since the actor's got another gig, and Mormons are safe targets to be the bad guy. Then he went and left early (though proving my point). I figured the blond guy was too much of an asshole to be anything other than a red herring. The Carsex guy was going to be a love/hate thing for the POV character, and was not it. So that left the gay guy and the blonde girl. (I counted out the Muslim girl for the same reasons that the Mormon guy was suspect number 1.) The gay guy was sketchy because of the fake boyfriend photo, in that it set up a backstory for him with his roommates, and being gay isn't something you can ascertain visually, yet it set up a protective shield from questioning and allowed him access to the twins' (didn't actually see that coming until the question  about the opposite pinning) room. Blonde girl DOES have the 9/11 plane backstory, BUT we didn't necessarily find out if it was true, did we? And she's not in a protected minority group, which makes her more likely than Simon as the terrorist.

   No idea why Alex is being set up, except that speculation about her parents makes sense. Revenge resurrected a dead father whose death was the very reason for the show eventually, after all. And they share the time slot.

Edited September 29, 2015 by NorthstarATL

[nutty1]

I keep thinking maybe Alex's dad was really a good guy and her mom was the bad guy.

[Whimsy]

I always thought the "order" was something like Special Ops/Navy Seals, Marines, Navy/Army (not sure which order), then Airforce. But these are military branches. Maybe they meant the hardest boot camp for federal police officers, which I could see. Looking it up, apparently Coast Guard is very tough also.

I kinda see FBI and CSI similar in terms of requirements. I did always think though that those recruited for the FBI had prior police experience or even detective work. Can one go straight from a university program like Criminal Justice and go straight into the FBI? That I don't know.

I can confirm that the Coast Guard is very tough. When I went through boot camp I was told that it was Marines, Coast Guard and then the others as far as level of difficulty. I've heard it's changed (and not for the better). This is excluding all special force training. Obviously they're much harder. I have no idea about the FBI, but I can confirm you can't get on Quantico with a basic military automobile sticker (like you can all other bases- including Top Gun). We tried. They made us turn immediately around and leave. Lol.

[Netfoot]

By the way, does anyone else appreciate the Trinidadian humour in Priyanka Chopra being in the FBI?  

[Trini]

It was...okay. I guess I don't understand all this "soapy" language being attached. Is it because Alex and Booth had sex within hours of meeting each other? That doesn't scream "soapy" to me.  Right now there is no "relationship" and as someone who has watched soaps for years, daytime and nighttime, I'm not seeing it. And also, it's only the pilot.

 

The soapy part for me was Mrs Sam Hanna and Cougar Town having being ex-lovers and now having to work together; also the entire cast being being model-pretty.

 

By the way, does anyone else appreciate the Trinidadian humour in Priyanka Chopra being in the FBI?  

 

I'm a bad Trini. Explain it to me?

[Free]

She was married.

 

But you said she had a number of love interests, she moved on after her previous marriage eventually didn't work out.

 

The point is that character-wise that was Bailey's archetype.

[callie lee 29]

Hell, I enjoyed it. At least I can tell the leads apart (as opposed to Blood & Oil, where 20-something brunette, scruffy male lead #1 looks like 20 something brunette, scruffy male lead #2). And none of the characters outright irritate me.

 

I must be a complete dumb-ass, because I didn't catch the twin thing. Odd. Interesting.

 

I kinda liked the Mormon guy - oh well.

[wanderingstar]

As one who's watched Greys, HTGAWM and everything else in the Shonda stable* I can definitely see Shondaland DNA in this show. Newbies thrown together in a new high-stress job setting (Greys, HTGAWM); random hookup just before a new job (Greys); one of the main characters a suspect in a crime (HTGAWM); flashforwards to post-crime action (HTGAWM)

 

So while watching this, I both appreciated and resented the nods to ShondaCo. Because when done right (S1 of HTGAWM), it can be genuine fun. When it's not (*cough* Scandal *cough), it gets irritating fast.

 

I think I'd agree with nosleepforme: the creators of this show stole from proven hit shows but without adding any of their own flavor to the mix.

 

When CarSex and CougarTown met on the jogging path,

 

I may stick with this show solely for the nicknames bestowed on the characters by folks here.

 

ETA:

 

I kinda liked the Mormon guy - oh well.

 

I did, too. Who played him?

 

 

*except Men in Trees.

Edited September 29, 2015 by Gillian Rosh

[Guest]

I think what has me leery about the show is that they dumped a deep dark  or over the top secret about every character in the pilot.  They could have saved some secrets for later episodes.  Not everyone ended up on the receiving end of an interview, but somehow everyone was exposed.  Have some subtlety and patience show.  With an overarching terrorist plot on top of all these exposed secrets, its just got me nervous over what preposterous nonsense they will reveal next. 

[Senna]

This was fun enough for me to keep tuning in (at least for a while).  The first few minutes were a little bit confusing, but in such a way that I was glued to the screen, trying to catch all the details of the different characters.  (Loved Nimah buying the flag keychain, heh.)

 

I currently suspect Simon the most of the terrorist attack.  The Gaza vist may or may not be a red herring, but the fake boyfriend picture at the beginning is really, really suspicious.  Is he pretending to be gay?  Does he have an actual boyfriend that he doesn't want other people knowing about?  Does he need a "boyfriend" as a cover for talking to/meeting up with someone shady?  Of course, the fact that I'm so suspicious of him means it's probably not him ...

 

I was disappointed when the Mormon turned out to be a pedophile/hypocrite and went nuts; they could've done a lot more with his character than that.  I'm also not really that fond of shocking!! deaths!! that aren't really necessary.

 

Agent Carsex (hee) is definitely alive in the present; no one even explicitly said he was dead, just that he was shot by Alex's gun.

[Sandman]

You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool!

:-)

 

Inconthievable!!

[mandigirl]

 

Grey's Academy would probably have been a much more fun show to watch.

Indeed. With the show being called Quantico, I kinda thought the show would be about... you know.. Quantico. The 'How to Get Away with Murder' part they added to this Shonda Rhimes Frankenstein just doesn't work for me. I wanted to see their training and their interactions. Now having Alex on the run at the end? Just not interested.

 

I currently suspect Simon the most of the terrorist attack.  The Gaza vist may or may not be a red herring, but the fake boyfriend picture at the beginning is really, really suspicious.  Is he pretending to be gay?

ITA. Between the fake boyfriend, him being a 'virgin' and him showing a distinctly heterosexual interest in Nimah, it seems like Simon is faking being gay. Since he said he was gay while on the polygraph and it didn't catch it, that means he's an expert liar. I hope he's not the terrorist, because Simon was by far the most interesting of the guys once they got rid of Mormon guy.  

[blackwing]

I did, too. Who played him?

Mormon Eric was played by Brian J. Smith. He plays Will, a Chicago cop, on the Netflix series Sense8.

[Netfoot]

I'm a bad Trini. Explain it to me?

 

There is a large east-Indian population in Trinidad, and any such person who looks good is referred to as a Fine-Boned* Indian or, colloquially, an FBI.

 

Therefore, Priyanka Chopra is an FBI in the FBI....

 

*  Fine-Boned meaning slim, attractive.

[betsyboo]

Well, I guess the people who screened applicants at CTU had to go somewhere after they got fired, the FBI is as good a place as any.

 

TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Gold star for you!

[Sandman]

I don't see see Simon's interest in Nimah as even remotely sexual. I don't think he's faking being gay.

[Trini]

I definitely think that his interest in Nimah/s is for some shady(?) purpose -- not romantic/sexual. However, he's trying way too hard to convince everyone he's gay.

[henripootel]

…and she was going in the opposite way than all the other FBI agents. If I were an FBI agent, I'd notice the flowy-haired, model-walking agent going the other way.

 

Why was she walking away at all?  I mean at the mere implication that somebody thought she was guilty of something, she got all weepy and hysterical, completely losing her bottle.  Minutes later somebody busts her out and she just agrees to flee, which is sure to make her look super-guilty and take precious attention away from hunting the actual terrorist?  She knows she's innocent but surely somebody who's just been to FBI school would have some faith that FBI protocol would eventually prove her innocence, her alternative being to commit an actual crime (fleeing custody) and, arguably, tying up resources that'll be used to find her that might permit the terrorists to act again.  No matter how weepy she feels at being wrongly accused or confused by the FBI lady helping to bust her out, her best bet is not to go all Richard Kimble and just wait in the van for her chance to prove her innocence.

Caleb was the blonde douche, who was taunting the Mormon guy, Eric? and who only got in because both of his parents were/are agents.

So Quantico is only for the best and brightest, or the ne're-do-well legacy of previous agents?  Is this the FBI or Delta Tau Chi?

 

And why didn't Eric just quit if he didn't want his pedophilia exposed, if he thought it was about to be?  Indeed, why'd he join the FBI in the first place - he must have had some reason to expect the routine background check could turn up something.  If he was so certain that nobody could possibly know then why suddenly lose his shit thinking Caleb found something out?  Guilt, sure, fine, but why in the world would he think some half-assed recruit could finger him by making a few phone calls when Eric's mission president and his missionary companion (who must have been there) didn't, nor did the investigators who cleared Eric for FBI school.  

 

Also like to know how they eventually figured out Eric's secret - did he leave a journal detailing his crime?  Eric's suicide (after shooting another agent) probably made the news and all but who's gonna come forward afterward and say "Oh yeah, I know his secret - he was fucking a 14-year-old.  Why didn't I come forward at the time?  Uh, well ..."

Edited September 29, 2015 by henripootel

[Minneapple]

Okay so I finally watched and yeah, I get the Shondaland comparisons. Or...Pretty Little Liars: FBI (after all, How To Get Away With Murder is basically Pretty Little Lawyers), with all the secrets and the hidden twin and the relationship angst.

Priyanka wasn't as horrible as I remember her being in several Bollywood movies. Mostly I just kept envying her hair the whole time. The woman is a walking shampoo commercial.

Honestly, overall I think they did a decent job setting up the season. Not the best, but far from the worst. Solid guilty pleasure as long as it's not canceled.

[Trini]

It's doing pretty good for ABC in its timeslot; I figure we'll at least get one whole season.

[Just Here]

Coming in with low expectations, I've seen enough to stick around for a second episode, with the Nimah twin twist helping to seal the deal.

 

Regarding the dorm layout, it looked like each pair of rooms had a shared jack-and-jill bathroom, which is fairly common, especially in more recent university residence halls (though large apartment-style suites are also quite common). But, regarding Nimah's single, at least with her (and her twin's!) last scene, the room's door looked to be a double fire/emergency door, and there appeared to a lighted "Exit" sign above it.

 

Also, regarding Brian J. Smith's character and the Malawi girl, the general age of consent in Malawi is only 14,* so based on what I heard in the pilot (Miranda only mentioned "slept with"), there doesn't seem to be enough to call that part of his backstory statutory rape.

[henripootel]

Also, regarding Brian J. Smith's character and the Malawi girl, the general age of consent in Malawi is only 14,* so based on what I heard in the pilot (Miranda only mentioned "slept with"), there doesn't seem to be enough to call that part of his backstory statutory rape.

Interesting to know but pretty sure the local legality of the issue isn't what drove him to suicide.  One wonders if Eric would have felt so bad were it a 30-year-old divorcee (who subsequently died) but I'm guessing not.  I presumed that the girl's death weighed heavily on his conscience but that her extremely young age was the part that he found truly shameful, and (I think) should.  Hard to argue that he wasn't taking advantage, nor that the girl died as a result of him trying to cover up his involvement to spare his own bright future.  Odd that they included the girl's age but I think they really wanted us to dislike Eric. 

[Neurochick]

They say it's too confused, the plot is unrealistic, there is too much that is hard to believe.

 

They say it is too Shonda Rhimes.  Too Grey's Anatomy.

 

I say it's the best pilot I've seen in the last week, leaving Blindspot, Minority Report, Limitless, Rosewood, Heroes Reborn, and The Player in it's dust for entertainment potential, and looking like my favourite new show for the season.  Is there potential for them to fsck() it up?  Sure.  But if they go on the way they've begun, I will watch and enjoy.  I'll still be watching the others as well (except Rosewood which is the stinkiest poo that was ever pooed) but this is the one that - at least so far - is the best of the bunch.

 

I have to agree with you there.  Sure it's unrealistic, but it's TV, not a documentary, not supposed to be real life.  I also like that the cast is attractive; if I want to look at average people, I'll go outside.  TV=fantasy for me.  

 

And I agree with what you said about Rosewood, that show just sucked.  

[truthaboutluv]

I definitely think that his interest in Nimah/s is for some shady(?) purpose -- not romantic/sexual. However, he's trying way too hard to convince everyone he's gay.

 

Yeah. I definitely didn't see anything romantic or sexual between him and Nimah but his continued interest in her is a little suspect. And he did seem to like mentioning that he was gay for whatever reason. Whether or not his sexuality is a lie, I definitely think the awkward, nerdy thing is kind of a put on. I thought it was interesting how his entire body language and physical demeanor changed when Nimah brought up his Israel trip and I notice in the season long promo, in the present scene with him and Alex, he's not wearing his glasses.