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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

S01.E07: The Power of Euphemism: How Torture Became a Matter of Debate in American Politics

formerlyfreedom

By formerlyfreedom
in BrainDead [V]

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

(edited)
13 hours ago, clarkbar said:

That was one of the scariest things I've seen in a long time.

Indeed. 
It raised the question: What if it was your sister?

I was intrigued by the bugs' reproduction cycle. 
A few minutes after that scene, a bug that looked like the egg layer circled my ceiling and then disappeared.

Extra kudos to the show for definitively quashing the romantic triangle.

Edited by shapeshifter
typo
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SomeTameGazelle

SomeTameGazelle

I would very much like to understand how an aliant sentence whose first part appears to be "walk into a wall" and whose second part appears to be "raise both hands in the air" when put together means "go see Scarlet!". I hope we will find out.

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lucindabelle

lucindabelle

Lol the separate words don't make sense but all worth it for that vote, and then the clip of news stations showing the vote, with red frantically trying to get his arms down. Obviously they aren't just words but kind of commands that can't be disobeyed, or controls. The bit where the insect walked out of reds head and he was affectionate and called her "little lady" grossed me out! In a good way!

 

i do want to know what happened to gustaves cat.

 

this was scary and so less "fun" than last week but every bit as good!

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thuganomics85

thuganomics85

All the stuff involving torturing and wherever or not to use it was disturbing both on screen and just knowing that not only are discussions like that happening in real life, there probably have been people "interrogated" like that, with similar flimsy evidence and excuses like they had on Laurel.  Crazy.  I'm glad Gustav and Rochelle were able to thwart it.  That was a fun little team-up right there.  Also fun seeing Kurt Fuller was the head interrogator or whoever he was.

Oh, Mike the Intern.  I knew Red was setting him up to make it look like his team was being targeted by terrorists, but I still felt bad for the poor guy.  Interesting seeing how the alien bugs repopulate.

I hope we get more detailed explanations over how the aliens communicate and how their language is, because I am wondering how separating the words to simply see Scarlett led to raising your hands and walking into the wall, one the sentence was separated.

Not surprised that Gareth didn't believe Laurel, but I'm glad that he was still helpful, and I do think he is getting more and more suspicious that something funky is going around in Capital Hill.  He might not be fully onboard with bugs yet, but I do think he'll probably start realizing soon that Laurel and the gang are clearly onto something.

So, it looks like Luke and Laurel's dad has been bugged!

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sjohnson

sjohnson

The scifi provided the comedy and reality provided the horror. That's a twist. 

I've never quite managed to force myself to watch a full episode of Veep which seems pretty unimaginative in its satire, such as that is. But equating partisan politics with possession by obscene aliens seems to structure in some serious edge I've never seen in my fragments. The thing about caricatures on HBO and other officially approved trendy TV, is you can't escape a feeling they're secretly writing a Magnificent Bastard they adore whole-heartedly.

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cardigirl

cardigirl

Well, that was interesting.  And terrifying in a number of ways.   The queen bug coming out of Red's ear, ugh.  The poor intern's head exploding.  And then the entire topic of torture, and how "Americans don't like torture" yet we have these extreme ways around it.  Enhanced interrogation my hiney.

Sheesh. 

 

I'm hoping for more information as to the alienants' plans for this world.  But I am loving the dissection of the political process (probably) as it exists today.  And that it's not totally all one party or the other, either.  

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Luckylyn

Luckylyn

This episode managed to be scary and funny too which is a hard combination this show does well.  The stuff with Laurel was so disturbing.  Plus we got to see how wide spread the takeover has been so far.  There was a lot of people in that room responding to Gustav's device.  I wonder if the sound waves can be used as some sort of deterrent.  Like a sound that will keep the aliants from entering a room. 

Gareth has to start believing Laurel now.  He's seen too many weird things not to wonder if her theory is correct.  It was great to see him help Laurel when she needed it.  I wonder why the aliants haven't targeted him for a takeover yet since they are going after everyone in Laurel and Luke's orbit.  I had a feeling they'd go after the dad.  I wonder how Laurel will handle that revelation.

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atomationage

atomationage

Great episode but scarier than funny to me.  The show seems to be getting more serious every week.  Thank goodness for Gustav and Rochelle.  It must be a sci-fi trope that the smartest guy doesn't know something that he could do, so that the other character has to tell him.  

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TheRabbi

TheRabbi

Damn I love this show. This was a bit more serious than last week's (except the bonkers last 5 minutes of course), but it still works for me very well.

Loved the Jack Bauer mention, I now have to look up if he actually was used as an exhibit before

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Texasmom1970

Texasmom1970

Oh my god I was cracking up at Gustav trying to look inconspicuous and act natural during parts of this epidode. When he turned and started inspecting the flag, then leaning nonchalantly later. But the, "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap", had me dying!

I am so glad I decided to watch this show this summer!

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tomh

tomh

I too was thrown by her acceptance of handshake.  I would be seething and seized chance to punch the guy out right there in the car but then that is the beauty of King characters.  They are angry inside but calm on the outside.  This was all through Good Wife and here it is again.  

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

(edited)

So I guess the handshake is sort of a Stockholm Syndrome fakeout by Laurel.

 

17 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I would very much like to understand how an aliant sentence whose first part appears to be "walk into a wall" and whose second part appears to be "raise both hands in the air" when put together means "go see Scarlet!". I hope we will find out.

Well, if we take the word "alien" and separate it into "a" and "lien," we get "a right to keep possession of property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is discharged." There are probably better examples of this.

Edited by shapeshifter
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wendyg

wendyg

(edited)

Wiser not to punch him when you may be seeing him again.

I was ready to give up on this show after episode 5 because the show just wanted jelling at all, but I finally watched 6 and 7 back-to-back today, and they're the best episodes they've done. I think, cautiously, the Kings may finally have found their feet on this, although I still can't see how they would make it a multi-year story.

The best laughs of the week always used to be on THE GOOD WIFE - nice to see the tradition resume.

Edited by wendyg
(missing end of sentence)
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Cthulhudrew

Cthulhudrew

5 hours ago, TheRabbi said:

Loved the Jack Bauer mention, I now have to look up if he actually was used as an exhibit before

I had to do the same and, sadly enough the truism held out that yes, indeed, truth is stranger than fiction. To think I once actually kind of liked Justice Scalia...

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Bobbin

Bobbin

What if the lawyers at Lockhart/Gardner et al were infected by aliants? Or at least their clients and the judges. And Peter, obviously. Hilarity ensues....

Apparently, and not surprisingly, things are easily lost in translation with the aliants language, especially if you try to parse it. Consider the consequences of a misplaced comma in English ("Woman without her man is lost.").

I loved the way they milked the torture preliminaries to heighten the dread. The parting word from the torturer about seeing Laurel again is probably why she catiously, politely accepted his handshake.

Since Red had to goad Mike the Intern into overexerting himself, apparently alient larvae can make your head explode, but not yet control you.

The agent's comment was telling, that not many DC movers and shakers needed to be infested, just a few key people. The mechanisms for political maneuvering and shenanigans were already there to be used by the aliants.

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Free

Free

8 hours ago, atomationage said:

Great episode but scarier than funny to me.  The show seems to be getting more serious every week.  Thank goodness for Gustav and Rochelle.  It must be a sci-fi trope that the smartest guy doesn't know something that he could do, so that the other character has to tell him.  

It makes me miss Limitless, another goofy sci-fi drama that became more serious along the way.

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

1 hour ago, Bobbin said:

...The agent's comment was telling, that not many DC movers and shakers needed to be infested, just a few key people. The mechanisms for political maneuvering and shenanigans were already there to be used by the aliants.

Somehow I couldn't grasp the point of that line — although I was sure there was a point. Thanks for the clarification.

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futurechemist

futurechemist

Well that was a scary episode, and it had nothing to do with the scifi.  I find it all too plausible that government agents who think they're doing the right thing could behave just like those FBI agents - tasering an American citizen without provocation, denying them access to a lawyer, lying about it to family, and threatening to torture them.  And then cheerfully giving them a ride home after.

The episode also reminded me of the Sta Trek DS9 episode where the shapeshifters revealed that with only 4 agents on Earth they caused complete chaos that nearly overthrew the Earth government.  1 alien FBI agent got the rest to go along just by appealing to their base instincts.

I'm having trouble understanding the bugs though.  Do they have a hive mind or not?  Early episodes seemed to say that they just exaggerated people's natural personality traits.    Now it seems like they are a hive mind who will listen to other bugs' orders without question, even if it means walking into walls.  Some infected, like Red and Laurel's dad can easily pass for human, while others are obviously not by sharing candy bars.

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

23 minutes ago, futurechemist said:

...I'm having trouble understanding the bugs though.  Do they have a hive mind or not?  Early episodes seemed to say that they just exaggerated people's natural personality traits.    Now it seems like they are a hive mind who will listen to other bugs' orders without question, even if it means walking into walls.  Some infected, like Red and Laurel's dad can easily pass for human, while others are obviously not by sharing candy bars.

I could be wrong, but I don't think we're supposed to know yet if there's a hive mind with a single queen or many queens. Maybe they are leaving that open for a second season. 
But I am pretty sure that the more "human" infected just still have more of their brains left. Luke and Laurel's dad gave a look of sad regret at the end, which I thought meant he had been manipulated into convincing the John McCain guy to not vote publically against torture, which would have caused Laurel to be tortured if not for Gustav and Rochelle.

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wilnil

wilnil

2 hours ago, futurechemist said:

Some infected, like Red and Laurel's dad can easily pass for human, while others are obviously not by sharing candy bars.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but it seems to me that Gustav pointed the candy bar thing out as an example of law enforcement types trying to blend in (and failing) while having to loiter around in public on a surveillance job.

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SomeTameGazelle

SomeTameGazelle

Quote

I'm not 100% sure about this, but it seems to me that Gustav pointed the candy bar thing out as an example of law enforcement types trying to blend in (and failing) while having to loiter around in public on a surveillance job.

That was a fairly early ep, before we found out that the infected are crazy for healthy food (that's why Red had his plate of carrots and brussels sprouts). At the time I assumed that the candy bar thing was supposed to be part of the infection but the healthy food does seem to contradict that idea.

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ShannaB

ShannaB

Finally!!  After all these years I finally know what has been happening in Washington.  Best explanation ever!  Thanks BD.

 

All the actors are great but Tony Shalhoub has found another character to sink his acting teeth into.

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tessaray

tessaray

This episode was seriously creepy, right up until it turned into slapstick.  I'm grateful it saved Laurel though.

So if they ever find a way to kill the bugs will a significant percentage of the Washington elite drop dead? Or will they figure out a way to control them so they end up in a more symbiotic relationship? If they got here accidentally via a meteorite, I'm assuming they don't necessarily have hostile intent. 

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kay1864

kay1864

On 8/8/2016 at 0:50 PM, walnutqueen said:

Americans are lovely individuals, but as a country?  Maybe not so much, eh?  ;-)

From Men in Black (which also featured space bugs!):

Edwards: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it.

Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.

On 8/8/2016 at 3:28 PM, shapeshifter said:

I'm wondering why Laurel accepted the torturer's handshake at the end. Was it just a reflex, or did she think she better not distract him from letting her go, or...?

How many people wanted her to punch out her torturer the way she smacked Anthony?

::raises both hands::

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tessaray

tessaray

(edited)

Maybe she was thrown off by his confession that she was lucky to have escaped. And by his reaction to the memory he had of being waterboarded himself. 

Edited by tessaray
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meep.meep

meep.meep

I cracked up when they kept raising their hands for both votes.  At first I thought that Red just couldn't count.  He has no brain at all.

And the part about how "going to your daughter's dance recital" meant visiting your mistress.

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Luckylyn

Luckylyn

On 8/13/2016 at 4:31 PM, Perfect Xero said:

I wonder if Laurel's dad has a pacemaker or something that might be causing a false positive on Gustav's device.

I hadn't considered a false positive.  Still I think anyone around Luke is in danger.  If they can't get him, anyone close to him is a target. 

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