S03.E06: The Statement

[CooperTV]

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Elizabeth makes a bold move to bring a man who funded a terrorist bombing at an Illinois coffee shop to justice after the Saudi ambassador refuses to take action; and Matt deals with the news that he's linked to the same mosque as the bomber. Elsewhere, Henry tries to help Dmitri, who's having trouble adjusting to his new life in Phoenix.

 

 

Promo pictures

[bros402]

Well that was an episode.

At the start of it, my thoughts were "Oh my god are they really going to have a brown guy be a terrorist? No no no, just have him be a guy having a bad day who happens to be in the place when whatever is going to happen happens.

Well, that happened."

"what the hell is the state department doing having a press conference about a domestic bombing?"

[Dowel Jones]

While I can fully respect the speechwriter's (blanking on names, sorry) anger about having to answer for a radicalized Muslim just because he is also Muslim, it should occur to him that he is not just another man on the street.  He is a high level government employee with a direct effect on foreign policy.  It was also shown that he had contributed money toward the mosque, which, although later shown to be innocent (and I emphasize the word later), was initially taken to be evidence of his guilt by association. As Mark Twain said, a lie travels halfway around the world in the time it takes the truth to put on its pants.  Maybe it would have been better for him to get out in front of the story (voluntarily, screw Russel) and make his points about both the contribution and his character defamation.  Like it or not, silence is not always golden.

Henry has a secret operations room behind a pizza parlor?  Well, at least it's there within 30 minutes. They should have gone with a phone booth.

So many worthwhile points made during the confrontation with the Saudi Ambassador.  Does the US give up the arms sales that create so many jobs, likely in key election states?  How would those employees feel, knowing they are supporting a country that contributed to the murder of 20+ US citizens?  As for oil, Saudi Arabia has more customers than allies outside of the US, I think.  I did like the way Bess wore heels so that she would tower over the Ambassador at the open meeting.

[MerBearHou]

Not one of my favorite episodes.  Seemed kind of dull to me.  I did feel badly for Matt, of course.  The story of Noodle's college essay going from a fashion blog to a beyond-brilliant statement seemed very far-fetched to me but hey, it's a tv show.  This essay will get her into Harvard, Yale and Princeton, no doubt.

I have to admit something very shallow:  until tonight, I had never noticed one of Tea Leoni's eyes doesn't blink at the same rate as the other.  It was quite pronounced in this episode and I found myself so distracted by it.  They shot her from the side or with glasses on quite a bit and I spent too much time trying to figure out if it was due to the slow eye blink. 

I thought the high level secret ops center behind the pizza parlor was very cool!  Loved the reunion with Dimitri and his sister Talia -- very sweet and hard-fought to get to that moment.

Edited November 14, 2016 by MerBearHou

[Netfoot]

4 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

They should have gone with a phone booth.

Then they'd have to issue him with a cape.  Wait!  He's already got one, right?

1 hour ago, MerBearHou said:

 Loved the reunion with Dimitri and his sister Talia -- very sweet and hard-fought to get to that moment.

Well,  Henry completely screwed up his life, so I guess they owed him.   The reunion sort of bugged me though, what with beatific Henry looking on, as if he is the hero of this story and not the villain.  

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

While I can fully respect the speechwriter's (blanking on names, sorry) anger about having to answer for a radicalized Muslim just because he is also Muslim, it should occur to him that he is not just another man on the street.  He is a high level government employee with a direct effect on foreign policy.  It was also shown that he had contributed money toward the mosque, which, although later shown to be innocent (and I emphasize the word later), was initially taken to be evidence of his guilt by association. As Mark Twain said, a lie travels halfway around the world in the time it takes the truth to put on its pants.  Maybe it would have been better for him to get out in front of the story (voluntarily, screw Russel) and make his points about both the contribution and his character defamation.  Like it or not, silence is not always golden.

Henry has a secret operations room behind a pizza parlor?  Well, at least it's there within 30 minutes. They should have gone with a phone booth....

After Matt gathered his office mates to make his case for silence with what was a great speech, I was almost waiting for someone to suggest he give that speech to the public.

And the phone booth is bigger on the inside, right?

[Netfoot]

41 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

And the phone booth is bigger on the inside, right?

He should enter by sliding down a pole!  And he should change into his cape and tights on the way down!

[kwnyc]

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This essay will get her into Harvard, Yale and Princeton, no doubt.

Or, that imaginary small private college where she was welcomed with a marching band, shut down a frat guy and bonded with the son of a politician. ;-)

[MaryHedwig]

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While I can fully respect the speechwriter's (blanking on names, sorry) anger about having to answer for a radicalized Muslim just because he is also Muslim, it should occur to him that he is not just another man on the street.  He is a high level government employee with a direct effect on foreign policy. 

I agree with you. I understand Matt's sentiment and I loved his speech to Bess' staff, but in the end he is a high ranking public servant paid to do uncomfortable things for the good of the country.  The Bible verse "render to Caesar" came to mind.

Still it was a great statement and made for some good television.

I loved how the last scene in which Matt takes his mother to the mosque. I loved how we only saw them from afar, if the family scene was too intimate for a close up.

Edited November 15, 2016 by MaryHedwig

[gazebo]

I've always felt so bad for Dimitry who sacrificed so much and ended up with nothing.  Well at least he did get to live in exile.  I was so happy that they bought his sister to be with him.  The joy on both their faces felt very gratifying to me as it reminded me why Dimitry became a spy for the U.S. government.  This was a bright spot in this otherwise very depressing episode.  I don't know, I still felt that guy should've spoken to the press about being innocent.  I liked seeing him take his mom to the mosque like a good son.

[VinceW]

#whatsgoingon with Dmitri still bitter towards Henry after he risked his marriage pushing Elizabeth and the State Department to get him released from Russian captivity. Dalton made the decision to abandon him with Elizabeth’s concurrence even though he was a valuable CIA asset.

#whatsgoingon with Elizabeth not working a final connection between Dmitri and his sister Talia after the spy exchange.  Dmitri knows his sister is alive, but he can’t communicate with her while in witness protection and Talia thinks her brother was tortured and killed by the Russians. Elizabeth had no problem getting Talia a temporary visa from immigration in order to finish the connection, yet gave Henry grief from the beginning for going to Phoenix to meet Dmitri.

#whatsgoingon with Nadine standing there with Matt and letting Russell verbally abuse her subordinate by implying that Matt was a jihadist for keeping silent about the mosque donation which was none of his business.

Edited November 16, 2016 by VinceW

[rur]

1 hour ago, VinceW said:

#whatsgoingon with Nadine standing there with Matt and letting Russell verbally abuse her subordinate by implying that Matt was a jihadist for keeping silent about the mosque donation which was none of his business.

I suspect Nadine will be able to use his calling out Matt at some point in the future, especially since we've seen Russell lose it in three successive episodes now. 

Edited November 16, 2016 by rur

[kwnyc]

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I suspect Nadine will be able to use his calling out Matt at some point in the future, especially since we've seen Russell lose it in three successive episodes now. 

Nadine for Conrad's Chief of Staff...though Bess would be hard-pressed to let her go. Nadine really has that town (and the international diplomatic world) wired.

I also realized that at one point Russell said: you know I have a heart condition, don't you? I sure hope that's not going to explode on us this season.

Edited November 23, 2016 by kwnyc
additional info

[johntfs]

On 11/14/2016 at 2:00 AM, Dowel Jones said:

While I can fully respect the speechwriter's (blanking on names, sorry) anger about having to answer for a radicalized Muslim just because he is also Muslim, it should occur to him that he is not just another man on the street.  He is a high level government employee with a direct effect on foreign policy.  It was also shown that he had contributed money toward the mosque, which, although later shown to be innocent (and I emphasize the word later), was initially taken to be evidence of his guilt by association. As Mark Twain said, a lie travels halfway around the world in the time it takes the truth to put on its pants.  Maybe it would have been better for him to get out in front of the story (voluntarily, screw Russel) and make his points about both the contribution and his character defamation.  Like it or not, silence is not always golden.

Henry has a secret operations room behind a pizza parlor?  Well, at least it's there within 30 minutes. They should have gone with a phone booth.

So many worthwhile points made during the confrontation with the Saudi Ambassador.  Does the US give up the arms sales that create so many jobs, likely in key election states?  How would those employees feel, knowing they are supporting a country that contributed to the murder of 20+ US citizens?  As for oil, Saudi Arabia has more customers than allies outside of the US, I think.  I did like the way Bess wore heels so that she would tower over the Ambassador at the open meeting.

And yet, the speechwriter is still right.  We didn't expect the many, many white people in high level government positions to condemn the SC church shooter because he was a white guy who murdered black people because they were black.

Arms sales don't really create job.  The weapons made would still have been made and stored with all the other spare weapons, etc in supply depots.  We sell arms to various other countries in order to arm them against enemies who oppose our interests.  The money made from those sales is trivial compared to that.

Remember, only 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers were from our friend and ally, Saudi Arabia.  One big reason to get behind "clean" energy is so we don't give money to people who want us dead.

[sinkwriter]

I liked Nadine having talks with Matt and showing concern for him - it calls back to him staying at her place after the bombing in season 2, and how they seemed to bond during that episode. Her maternal side doesn't come out very often because she's reserved (and a marvelously sarcastic badass), but when it does come out, seeing that protective side is pretty lovely. 

[CheshireCat]

On ‎26‎.‎11‎.‎2016 at 7:31 PM, johntfs said:

And yet, the speechwriter is still right.  We didn't expect the many, many white people in high level government positions to condemn the SC church shooter because he was a white guy who murdered black people because they were black.

We don't have to. In the Western world, leaders are usually white and/or Christian. So, when a (white) Christian commits an act of terror, leaders usually issue statements condemning the action. So, no one has to ask them because they're already doing it anyway. And since they are an elected leader, they are representitive of the people/nation. It is the same for Muslim leaders in a country with a Muslim majority.

If Matt were a private citizen, I'd have totally agreed with him. Even if he had just been Matt, the speechwriter I would have agreed with him because in that case, expecting a statement would have been expecting it simply because of his faith. But by tying him to the Mosque (when it is known that Mosques are used for radicalization and, in my city, have been shut down due to it) and the town, they made it a lot more specific and personal and not just about faith. I get the point they wanted to make, I'm just not sure they picked a good way to do it and they made it a lot more complex and ambivalent than it had to be.

 

On ‎14‎.‎11‎.‎2016 at 2:41 AM, bros402 said:

"what the hell is the state department doing having a press conference about a domestic bombing?"

They didn't have a press conference about the bombing. Daisy said that she'd take a couple of questions regarding the bombing and then said they'd now move on. I think it was simply the State Department's daily briefing.

 

It was an odd episode for me. I thought that the Matt and Henry stories fell a bit flat - although I did like the scenes between Nadine and Matt and that we got to see Dimitri again.

I liked the Bess part of the episode. I loved the wrangling between her and Russell and the wrangling of campaign vs "we can't let them off the hook" and Bess' "relationship" with the conference in Montreal. I like how she's been consistent ever since the pilot about things which she considers a waste of money because they're nothing but an expensive photo op and how she liked to use the "optics" she usually hates to her advantage.

I find it interesting how the children keep seeing her as this perfect human being. Henry, I'd understand, Bess, on the other hand seems deeply flawed. She's great, no doubt about it, and certainly someone I think is aspirational. Still, she has flaws and she isn't perfect.

I don't think that Noodle's essay was such a stretch considering the character. She seems to be a pretty self-reflecting character - in S2, after this Facebook post she hadn't written, she thought she wasn't worthy enough to meet Bess' key note speaker. I can totally see Noodle realizing how meaningless the topic of likes on YouTube is on the surface once she sits down to write about it and then turns it around into something meaningful.

Bess' rant to Henry was totally cute. I'm still not quite sure what exactly it was all about but I'm not sure Henry knows either ;-) And I really appreciated that Henry was sane when he asked Bess about Dimitri and intelligence work.

And, of course, the resolution of the Saudi conflict was classic Bess out-of-the-box thinking!