S01.E21: Of Whose Uneasy Route

[Trini]

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The FBI is locked down when criminal hackers infiltrate the building, trapping the team inside SIOC. As they fight their way out, the close quarters force Mayfair, Zapata, Reade, and Sarah (guest star Jordana Spiro) to confront personal conflicts.

[bmoore4026]

Well, I certainly hope Jane unleashes the holiest of hells on the people who used her to frame Not CCH Pounder.

Also, I detected some hints of Reb Brown in Kurt's (or should I say "Sourpuss's") acting during the whole "Which wire to pull scene".  Am I alone in this or does anyone else know whom I'm talking about. 

Here's an example of Reb Brown:

[omgsowicked]

Well, now we see what Oscar and his crew were up to. Looking forward to hearing the explanation because I'm scratching my head. Did Mayfair's ex set her up, asking for that money? Or did Oscar's crew intercept the ex, as she is, or was, part of the Daylight project? And was Oscar behind her killing, and all the threatening phone calls? Who are the bad guys here??

I don't see how Mayfair can get out of this, unless Jane confesses. (And aren't her fingerprints all over the pen and GPS tracker?) How did she and whoever she planned this tattoo thing with think this was gonna work? Unless the plan was that Jane would eventually go to jail or off herself in exchange for righting wrongs?

So this ends Oscar/Jane, just in time for Weller/Jane feelz. And I wish Reade had gotten the chance to explain why he'd broken up with her, though her reason for moving is sensible, regardless.

[dwmarch]

Interesting choice of villains, illegal immigrant Mexican laborers who were looking to rip off the government... and the FBI has no choice but to shoot them.

Having said that I would have had a laugh if it turned out the air ducts our heroes were crawling through were so clean because of the dedication of the janitors, the Mexican ones in particular.

I liked the character pairings. Jane and Patterson make sure we've got brains, brawn and beauty on lockdown (or easily escaping from it as the case may be). Weller should have been stuck with the doctor for longer but at least some of his issues were brought forth. Reade and Sarah don't really interest me especially with the soap opera/sitcom ending where he's about to tell her what's what but she cuts him off with some devastating news of her own. However, I liked that they were forced to confront their issues and I found the crazy lawyer charming entirely in spite of herself. Zapata and Mayfair didn't manage to do much as regards figuring out the plot but they were forced to communicate and this show needs a lot more of that.

I'm not sure what is going on with the Carter plot. He's not going to get any more dead so the people who don't want his disappearance investigated should really stop digging him up! The bad guys think they can pin his murder on Mayfair but they are for some reason forgetting that there's a goddamn Navy SEAL on the team and she's not happy that she had a part in making this frame job happen. Maybe if the bad guys had stopped hinting that they were afraid of an investigation into Carter the team would have forgotten all about him by now. But instead let's make sure that this elite FBI team (with a goddamn Navy SEAL!) is constantly being bribed or intimidated or framed for murder and let's make sure Carter's name comes up every time.

And last but not least, in the Blacklist kissing-cousins file we have another FBI facility whose security was designed by a Hollywood writer for dramatics. The air ducts are not only clean but can support multiple people crawling through at a time. The glass in the lab can be broken by the fire extinguisher mounted right beside the window. The fire alarm can be tripped by one garbage can full of common flammables and this will cause all the doors to open but only for a few seconds. And best of all, if you want to get into the evidence room full of guns and a torch that cuts through all the doors in the place you just have to crawl up one floor! The icing on the cake is that the whole place can be hacked by a janitor (who doesn't even speak much English!) using an Ipad. This FBI facility is brought to you by Dafuq Consulting and Don Geevasheet Engineering!

[bmoore4026]

2 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Interesting choice of villains, illegal immigrant Mexican laborers who were looking to rip off the government... and the FBI has no choice but to shoot them.

And last but not least, in the Blacklist kissing-cousins file we have another FBI facility whose security was designed by a Hollywood writer for dramatics. The air ducts are not only clean but can support multiple people crawling through at a time. The glass in the lab can be broken by the fire extinguisher mounted right beside the window. The fire alarm can be tripped by one garbage can full of common flammables and this will cause all the doors to open but only for a few seconds. And best of all, if you want to get into the evidence room full of guns and a torch that cuts through all the doors in the place you just have to crawl up one floor! The icing on the cake is that the whole place can be hacked by a janitor (who doesn't even speak much English!) using an Ipad. This FBI facility is brought to you by Dafuq Consulting and Don Geevasheet Engineering!

I love you

[Free]

3 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Interesting choice of villains, illegal immigrant Mexican laborers who were looking to rip off the government... and the FBI has no choice but to shoot them.

Having said that I would have had a laugh if it turned out the air ducts our heroes were crawling through were so clean because of the dedication of the janitors, the Mexican ones in particular.

I liked the character pairings. Jane and Patterson make sure we've got brains, brawn and beauty on lockdown (or easily escaping from it as the case may be). Weller should have been stuck with the doctor for longer but at least some of his issues were brought forth. Reade and Sarah don't really interest me especially with the soap opera/sitcom ending where he's about to tell her what's what but she cuts him off with some devastating news of her own. However, I liked that they were forced to confront their issues and I found the crazy lawyer charming entirely in spite of herself. Zapata and Mayfair didn't manage to do much as regards figuring out the plot but they were forced to communicate and this show needs a lot more of that.

I'm not sure what is going on with the Carter plot. He's not going to get any more dead so the people who don't want his disappearance investigated should really stop digging him up! The bad guys think they can pin his murder on Mayfair but they are for some reason forgetting that there's a goddamn Navy SEAL on the team and she's not happy that she had a part in making this frame job happen. Maybe if the bad guys had stopped hinting that they were afraid of an investigation into Carter the team would have forgotten all about him by now. But instead let's make sure that this elite FBI team (with a goddamn Navy SEAL!) is constantly being bribed or intimidated or framed for murder and let's make sure Carter's name comes up every time.

And last but not least, in the Blacklist kissing-cousins file we have another FBI facility whose security was designed by a Hollywood writer for dramatics. The air ducts are not only clean but can support multiple people crawling through at a time. The glass in the lab can be broken by the fire extinguisher mounted right beside the window. The fire alarm can be tripped by one garbage can full of common flammables and this will cause all the doors to open but only for a few seconds. And best of all, if you want to get into the evidence room full of guns and a torch that cuts through all the doors in the place you just have to crawl up one floor! The icing on the cake is that the whole place can be hacked by a janitor (who doesn't even speak much English!) using an Ipad. This FBI facility is brought to you by Dafuq Consulting and Don Geevasheet Engineering!

Wait, you made it sound more interesting.

[Kelda Feegle]

So it takes 15 minutes of being locked in a hallway for an FBI agent to breakdown and fess up to some crappy manipulation scheme, heaven help them if they are ever tortured for like realz!

[blackwing]

I did not really enjoy this episode at all... but I think part of the issue is that we had a huge storm so my satellite would freeze occasionally.  I missed what the motivation of the two cleaning staff people was... are they working with Tree Tattoo Guy or are they just pissed off at the world?

So Weller's sister is moving to Seattle.  I am sad for Kurt because I do think he needs her in his life and she helped ease some of the burden of taking care of their dad.  But I'm not sorry at all that her creepy little boy is leaving.  

I'm also unclear as to why Mayfair is being framed by Tree Tattoo Guy.  Although I did love Jane's shock at realising that she has helped him to do it.  Maybe she will have a change of heart by the end of the season... I'm really tired of the "mystery" surrounding him.

Lastly... there were at least five other elevators that had people in them.  Did I miss a mention of what happened?  They couldn't override the command and I can only assume that all five of them fell like Reade's fell, and that all of those people died.  There could have at least been an expression of remorse from some of the team.

[MissLucas]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

I did not really enjoy this episode at all... but I think part of the issue is that we had a huge storm so my satellite would freeze occasionally.  I missed what the motivation of the two cleaning staff people was... are they working with Tree Tattoo Guy or are they just pissed off at the world?

So Weller's sister is moving to Seattle.  I am sad for Kurt because I do think he needs her in his life and she helped ease some of the burden of taking care of their dad.  But I'm not sorry at all that her creepy little boy is leaving.  

I'm also unclear as to why Mayfair is being framed by Tree Tattoo Guy.  Although I did love Jane's shock at realising that she has helped him to do it.  Maybe she will have a change of heart by the end of the season... I'm really tired of the "mystery" surrounding him.

Lastly... there were at least five other elevators that had people in them.  Did I miss a mention of what happened?  They couldn't override the command and I can only assume that all five of them fell like Reade's fell, and that all of those people died.  There could have at least been an expression of remorse from some of the team.

The janitors/hackers with deplorable language skills wanted to sell the stolen FBI files to Mexican drug cartels. They had pulled the same stunt on the Mexican Secret Service before. They must have been a pretty greedy bunch.

No idea why tattoo cabal wants to frame Mayfair. Maybe they're simply pissed about her involvement in project NotNorthernLights.

There were even more elevators (30). Patterson managed to get control over all of them except the one with Reade, Sarah and best-secondary-character-of-this-episode because that one was on a secure circuit (presumably because it's the SIOC elevator).

[blackwing]

59 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

The janitors/hackers with deplorable language skills wanted to sell the stolen FBI files to Mexican drug cartels. They had pulled the same stunt on the Mexican Secret Service before. They must have been a pretty greedy bunch.

No idea why tattoo cabal wants to frame Mayfair. Maybe they're simply pissed about her involvement in project NotNorthernLights.

There were even more elevators (30). Patterson managed to get control over all of them except the one with Reade, Sarah and best-secondary-character-of-this-episode because that one was on a secure circuit (presumably because it's the SIOC elevator).

Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification on the elevators... I must have missed Patterson saying she got control over all of them except Reade and Sarah's.  Glad to hear that nobody died, except for female janitor (janitress?).

[Traveller519]

I'm pretty sure Mayfair's team is racking up kills faster than any law enforcement agency since the first year of the 5-0 Task Force out in Hawaii.

I'm not sure what the public would be more outraged about. The sheer number of thwarted near terrorist attacks or the fact that there's an FBI team out of New York killing people by the morgue-full

[Texasmom1970]

11 hours ago, Kelda Feegle said:

So it takes 15 minutes of being locked in a hallway for an FBI agent to breakdown and fess up to some crappy manipulation scheme, heaven help them if they are ever tortured for like realz!

This is why I could never be interrogated I would fold faster than a cheap suit!

Glad Reade is okay he us one of the few characters I like.

[Dowel Jones]

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The fire alarm can be tripped by one garbage can full of common flammables and this will cause all the doors to open but only for a few seconds.

But, just in case, the entire room is filled with carbon dioxide, making it impossible to breathe if you happen to be injured and can't evacuate.

I loved those WWII radios that Patterson had squirreled away.  I wonder what frequency they operate on, besides the generic "shortwave".

Weller is going to be on Oxy for the rest of the week, after essentially doing dead lifts with his back by pulling those Reade and Co. straight up out of the elevator.

So, the team gets together for a debrief, and the question is raised, what tattoo should have pointed us to this?  They scan the printouts, and finally arrive at one tat that shows a pitcher pouring a liquid into a glass.  Aha, they exclaim in unison, that's it.  It's just filler.

[Trini]

For a show that is routinely ridiculous, the exposition-y info dump about how Mayfair is framed for murder, etc. might be the most ridiculous thing yet.

I couldn't take the elevator threat seriously at all, because I know that high-rise elevators are specifically designed NOT to free fall.

Despite all this, I'm still sticking it out.  :-/

Edited May 13, 2016 by Trini

[jhlipton]

On 5/10/2016 at 0:12 PM, blackwing said:

Glad to hear that nobody died, except for female janitor (janitress?).

Both janitors died.  But they were both "illegals" and thus deserved to die.

On 5/11/2016 at 0:01 AM, Dowel Jones said:

But, just in case, the entire room is filled with carbon dioxide, making it impossible to breathe if you happen to be injured and can't evacuate.

I think that a lot of computer rooms get filled with halogen gas, which is impossible to breathe. Cutting off oxygen is one way to kill all types of fires.

[thuganomics85]

Way late for this episode and I honestly almost forgot about it since I usually watch this live, but now that Person of Interest is back, this is easily regulated to On Demand status.  And to think this was one of my most anticipated new shows last year...

So, this was basically one of those classic lockdown episodes, but at least it leads to the big picture, I guess.  Basically, this mysterious group's big mission was to take down Mayfair, and all of those assignments Jane was doing, ended up setting her up for the murders of Carter, Guerrero, and her new potential girlfriend.  And since that money she gave to Sophie played a part, I'm guessing Sophie is part of this entire thing too.

Reade and Sarah get stuck in an elevator with an annoying lawyer (since when does the FBI just let their agents conduct personal, non-FBI related legal matters at the base?), and barely get out alive.  Reade almost tells Sarah the truth, but she tells him she's planning on skipping town, so he's sad.

Zapata tells Mayfair the truth at least, even though this has probably fractured whatever relationship they had.  It's hard, since this show really has focused much on people's relationships, outside of Kurt and Jane.

No surprise that Patterson would have some old-timey radios, and basically be the main reason they get out of this in one piece.  What would they do without her?

[ZoqFotPik]

On 5/13/2016 at 11:42 PM, jhlipton said:

On 5/10/2016 at 0:12 PM, blackwing said:

Glad to hear that nobody died, except for female janitor (janitress?).

Both janitors died.  But they were both "illegals" and thus deserved to die.

Also the red shirt agent, Morales?, died in the server room.

On 5/11/2016 at 5:27 PM, Traveller519 said:

I'm pretty sure Mayfair's team is racking up kills faster than any law enforcement agency since the first year of the 5-0 Task Force out in Hawaii.

I haven't watched in years, but NCIS: Los Angeles team would rack up massive body counts too.

On 5/10/2016 at 9:41 AM, blackwing said:

So Weller's sister is moving to Seattle.

Portland.

So apparently the FBI keeps loaded weapons and a cutting torch fueled in the evidence room.

[John Potts]

If Patterson wasn't already my favourite character, she would be after this episode. Gotta love a girl who goes "Stop talking and get pulling wires!" when trying to instruct somebody on hacking their way through an electronic lock because she was 100% right there (I'll even forgive TPTB leaving a few seconds of "dead air" over the radio to build tension). Yes, it was a bit convenient that the Evidence Room had loads of guns & ammo in it (though they did actually show Jane & Stubbly loading up and odds are there WOULD be both guns & ammo in evidence) and having a cutting torch fully gassed up was a LITTLE hard to believe.

Also loved the way that those mysterious little things Tree Tat Guy asked Jane to do turned out to royally screw Mayfair. Though she really brought it on herself for doing the WRONG thing by not invoking her right to silence - as a popular Internet article says "NEVER TALK TO COPS" (essentially, there is nothing you can say that will help your case and plenty of ways you can damage your defence). You see it all the time that the first thing the lawyer does is tell their client to SHUT UP and try to shut down the questioning completely, because frequently the cops will imply the suspect has to talk to them when they're under no such compulsion. And while Mayfair should know that, she wouldn't be the first to think she knows better.

The least believable thing was actually the Evil Hacker Plot. So these guys had got free access to the FBI - and they decide the best way to access the Database is to cause a massive incident!? Why not download all the info they want at 3am when there's nobody around to notice? Depending how good their e-security is, they might notice next morning, but I assume they were planning to run as soon as they'd got the stuff they wanted - which they have, so I guess they would've been two janitors who didn't turn up to work next day. But why do what's sensible when you can get shot!

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blackwing there were at least five other elevators that had people in them.  Did I miss a mention of what happened?  They couldn't override the command and I can only assume that all five of them fell like Reade's fell

 "If a lift crashes with no named character in it, does anyone die?" (I think they actually said they'd regained control of all the lifts but one - the one with Reade in it). Though why exactly was that meeting taking place at the FBI anyway? Neither the lawyer nor Stubbly's sister are agents so would have to be signed into the building - wouldn't a real world meeting take place at a neutral location like the lawyer's office or a nearby coffee shop? Couldn't Stubbly have said "I need to take half an hour to sign a few documents?"
 

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dwmarch Maybe if the bad guys had stopped hinting that they were afraid of an investigation into Carter the team would have forgotten all about him by now.

 

 

But Bad Guys(TM) are just completely incapable of doing that. I remember Linda sending the Neo-Nazis after Skylar in Breaking Bad insisting that she forget about Linda, only for her to go "WTF is that!?"