The Brave - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Anticipate Here!

[Meredith Quill]

Your Media Topic!

[Mars477]

Man, what's with these The Unit updates?  This one looks a little better, or at least less bad, than the others.  Kind of like a The Activity tv series.

One thing that's pretty neat is that two of the SF operators look to be ambiguously Arab or Muslim (the female operator is played by a half-Lebanese actress, and one of the males is shown praying in a mosque.)  Hopefully this show's treatment of Muslims or Arab Americans doing their part in the war on terror is a bit better than, say, Homeland's.

[Raja]

Looks like Taken before the fired the rest of Bryan Mills' team. Only with a full time female operator

[Drogo]

When American doctor Kimberley Wells gets kidnapped by a group with terrorist ties, Captain Adam Dalton and his heroic Special Ops squad of highly trained undercover specialists must take action and stop at nothing to save her. Across the world, D.I.A. Deputy Director Patricia Campbell and her team of analysts guide Dalton along the way through as the group learns that Wells' disappearance might have ties to something that could be catastrophic.

[Mars477]

I'm hoping that it approximates a "The Activity" tv show.  Loved that comic.

[piequinn35]

Is this like the new show Seal Team or like black ops of CIA?

[Raja]

3 hours ago, piequinn35 said:

Is this like the new show Seal Team or like black ops of CIA?

It looks exactly like Taken from last year to me except this time the parent agency is the real life Defense Intelligence Agency and the lead isn't developing his very particular set of skills. A stand alone small unit and not large unit with qualification courses and with military documentaries written and filmed about it like the US Navy SEALs with its many teams or Delta Force with its many squadrons.

[piequinn35]

^Thanks, I haven't seen Taken the tv show just the movies ?So I watched the trailer, the lady was taken coz they needed a doctor, then Mike's team got her back, please tell me that's not the whole season ?

Also Simon from Quantico is here that's why he looked familiar to me ?

[Drogo]

When a CIA officer is attacked, the team heads to Russia to uncover the truth behind the ambush.

[Drogo]

After receiving intel that a major arms dealer will be visiting Caborca, Mexico, Patricia makes a controversial decision that could lead to a big break through. With Dalton's team on the ground, they must find a weak link in Boothe's men in order to carry out the mission. Meanwhile, Noah learns about Hannah's complicated past in the field.

[Kirsty]

Introducing the male lead by way of a doggie conversation was... I was going to say a dirty trick, but to be honest, I'd like more of that! Pander to me. ;) More gorgeous men having the chats with canine buddies please, Hollywood. Way to win me over in two seconds of screentime. Does that actor remind anyone else of Jamie Dornan?

While it kept me engaged and never bored me, the work of the team in Washington doesn't make for especially great viewing when compared with the exciting action of the Special Forces people in Turkey. In reality, I'm sure that Washington Intelligence work is really important; on tv it looks like they don't do much. It looks like they Google a lot! Sometimes it's a Google image search.

Also, the episode would have been much more compelling and enjoyable had the trailer not spoiled almost every story beat.

But I liked this. I like the two teams of people, and I'd watch it as a kind of Bones-style workplace drama crossed with Homeland. I'll tune in next week. Too bad the ratings were poor. I'm already afraid it won't last a season.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Kirsty

[Anela]

I was only half paying attention to this, but that ending... :( 

[MissLucas]

47 minutes ago, Kirsty said:

Does that actor remind anyone else of Jamie Dornan?

Thank you! He looked so familiar but I couldn't come up with a name for the resemblance.

I liked it - it was pretty packed but that's what pilots are for. I've seen some reviewer complain that all the characters felt flat and had no backstory. Not sure what he watched. Campbell (Anne Heche) has just lost her son in the field, I'm sure we'll get back to that later. Rivera (Sofia Pernas) used to be in the field until something bad happened - another backstory to explore. The field team also lost a member recently, Jaz' best friend and speaking of Jaz she certainly made an impression on me. Loved her little talk with her CO. And then there's Amir who just joined the team and from the little I've seen he and Jaz are not exactly on the best of terms despite both being Muslim. That could be interesting too - so I'm hooked.

[dargosmydaddy]

Ooh boy, hardly anyone has commented... I'm hoping that doesn't mean it got horrible ratings.

I enjoyed it. It wasn't earth-shattering or anything, but I liked all of the Special Ops team. I liked that no one came across as obnoxious, which seems to be a rarity on TV these days. The Washington team didn't seem entirely necessary in terms of plot (I get why they are, in actuality, necessary...), but Tate Ellington was one of the reasons I tuned in, so hopefully they become more compelling.

The dog better be OK!

[Kirsty]

21 minutes ago, dargosmydaddy said:

I liked that no one came across as obnoxious, which seems to be a rarity on TV these days.

Oh, you're right! That's a really good point. No one was a smartass, or an annoying douche. There was no smug asshole with a giant ego in charge of either team. But then this is NBC, not CBS. ;)

[threebluestars]

It's hard to judge a pilot sometimes, because there's such limited time to get to know what is a fairly large cast and set up some of the over-arcing stories, but overall I think they did a decent job, and I'll definitely watch a few more episodes before making a final decision. I did think they did a good job hooking you into watching the next episode with the cliffhanger.

[preeya]

Capt. Adam Dalton = Barbi from Under The Dome

Edited September 28, 2017 by preeya
correction

[piequinn35]

^Barbie ? Oh good the doctor's kidnapping was only 1 episode! So this special forces is a unit of Army. We will definetely watch the season. 

[pasdetrois]

All I could think about was getting that panting dog out of the hot sun. Sitting on the concrete made the heat worse.

[xander874]

5 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

All I could think about was getting that panting dog out of the hot sun. Sitting on the concrete made the heat worse.

I thought the same thing. That poor dog was panting so hard. But, then again, I would forgo water and stand on hot pavement if it meant interacting with Mike Vogel. Yum.

Decent show. Nothing special but has potential. I wonder if the 2 teams will ever interact in person? The ending was cool. Good way to end a pilot if any characters aren't working and you need a change. Wonder if they all made it?

[Mars477]

So I thought this was pretty good.  Took me this long to get around to watching the ep though (on my cable provider's on demand service) so I may be part of the problem.

The field team is pretty interesting.  I like Jaz and Amir, who play the role of token "good Muslims" (although I guess Jaz is nonpracticing) without being tokens. 

The show might have flubbed some of the military stuff somewhat.  Like how Dalton is a Captain, but Jaz calls him "Top", which is slang for a First Sergeant.  Maybe he's a mustang, but it's a hell of a stretch.

Sadly, like many decent TV shows it looks like this underperformed against Scorpion, which is bad, and the fucking Good Doctor.  This is why we can't have nice things.

[Chaos Theory]

This gets a soft yes for now.  At least it's better the CBS's Seal Team which got a hard no.  I like Jaz  and Anne Heche's character.  It's hard to judge a show on a pilot but this at least looks interesting enough to keep it on my DVR for awhile.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[preeya]

5 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

This gets a soft yes for now.  At least it's better the CBS's Seal Team which got a hard no.  I Jaz and Anne Heche's character.  It's hard to judge a show on a pilot but this at least looks interesting enough to keep it on my DVR for awhile.

ITA.  I thought The Brave was much better than Seal Team, especially with Jessica Pare aka "Megan Draper" as one of the lead actors. 

Edited September 28, 2017 by preeya

[jhlipton]

I felt it was slow and unexciting (my wife fell asleep!). I'll give it one more try, but it's on the bubble.

BTW, any American military spotted by a civilian in Syria won't just be a minor problem -- their operation could be seen as an act of war, and anyone captured would be held as a spy.  That bothered me a bit.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Anne Heche & Mike Vogel discuss The Brave

[Mars477]

8 hours ago, jhlipton said:

I felt it was slow and unexciting (my wife fell asleep!). I'll give it one more try, but it's on the bubble.

BTW, any American military spotted by a civilian in Syria won't just be a minor problem -- their operation could be seen as an act of war, and anyone captured would be held as a spy.  That bothered me a bit.

It's not like any of them openly identified as US military.

I'm more amused by the idea that US covert operations are targeting Al Nusra Front leaders.  Al Nusra Front is the local Al Qaeda affiliated coalition, but they're fighting the Syrian government, which the US is also opposed to.  It's not wholly unreasonable however, since the US has been more concerned with destroying ISIS instead of seeing the Syrian government toppled for years now.

[jhlipton]

2 hours ago, Mars477 said:

It's not like any of them openly identified as US military.

I'm more amused by the idea that US covert operations are targeting Al Nusra Front leaders.  Al Nusra Front is the local Al Qaeda affiliated coalition, but they're fighting the Syrian government, which the US is also opposed to.  It's not wholly unreasonable however, since the US has been more concerned with destroying ISIS instead of seeing the Syrian government toppled for years now.

No, but they weren't exactly subtle about the trucks, and both Jaz and Amir "got made" by the bad guy, who could have turned them over to the police.

I'm sure glad the bad guy waited to kill the driver until our guys were outside his door, instead of as soon as he got out of the car.

Did anyone else keep thinking that "Big Daddy" would have been better than "Baghdadi"?  Just me????  OK.

[Mars477]

Just now, jhlipton said:

No, but they weren't exactly subtle about the trucks, and both Jaz and Amir "got made" by the bad guy, who could have turned them over to the police.

I'm sure glad the bad guy waited to kill the driver until our guys were outside his door, instead of as soon as he got out of the car.

Did anyone else keep thinking that "Big Daddy" would have been better than "Baghdadi"?  Just me????  OK.

The guy "made" them as people who might be following him, not specifically as US agents.

"Baghdadi" means "Of Baghdad".  It's part of a nom du guerre, and not somebody's real birth name.  It's clearly cribbed from the IRL leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Bagdadi.  Abu Bakr was the first Caliph following the prophet Muhammad's death in the Sunni tradition of Islam, while "al Baghdadi" literally means "of/from Baghdad".

[Raja]

Just as I feared Taken without Bryan Mills and the team seems to work out of the Pentagon instead of a warehouse with three laptops. And when your boss tells you to improvise and rebel then you don't actually come off as a rebel

[Mars477]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

Just as I feared Taken without Bryan Mills and the team seems to work out of the Pentagon instead of a warehouse with three laptops. And when your boss tells you to improvise and rebel then you don't actually come off as a rebel

It's a good thing nobody's being presented as a rebel/loose cannon type, then?

[mandigirl]

This show is the best (so far) of the military-based shows being premiered this season. Never seen Mike Vogel before, but his character was very likeable.  Didn't recognize any of the the actors in the special forces team actually. On a completely shallow note,  this is an extremely good-looking cast.  I don't usually pay that much attention because everyone in Hollywood looks like models, but this cast... geez! THRILLED to see Tate Ellington in there-- had no idea he was in the cast.

On 9/26/2017 at 2:09 PM, Kirsty said:

Introducing the male lead by way of a doggie conversation was... I was going to say a dirty trick, but to be honest, I'd like more of that! Pander to me. ;) More gorgeous men having the chats with canine buddies please, Hollywood. Way to win me over in two seconds of screentime.

Lol-- definitely a good choice of a way to introduce a character. I'm not sure why, but didn't come off as too saccharine either. 

Very surprised that I liked this one.  It's a solid yes and got a permanent add to my DVR. I would have watched for Tate Ellington alone (I watched an entire season of Quantico for him, and this show is already much better) but I was actually pretty entertained. The show moved quickly and as others have said, no one was particularly annoying although they had every opportunity to be.  Interested to see where this show goes for sure.  

[blackwing]

I really enjoyed the pilot and am looking forward to the next episode.  Like the cast and the premise.  Although Tate Ellington just has that "I'm a nerd" look, between his role on Quantico and here he seems to be typecast as the operations brain.

[piequinn35]

Wait! What happened after the explosion last ep? How many languages these guys know? 

[Chaos Theory]

4 hours ago, piequinn35 said:

Wait! What happened after the explosion last ep? How many languages these guys know? 

People died but the team was ordered to a secondary location to wait out the investigation.  A couple of the team members weren't happy and the leader said that "going rogue"  to find whoever killed their friends wasn't what real soldiers did.  It wasn't their job their job was to wait their for orders.    It was a moot point a new assignment happened.  

[Whimsy]

I think I missed why the Russians were so intent on killing that FBI agent. 

[Raja]

It felt like the start of Three Days of The Condor, only Robert Redford had battle skills, morphed into the origin story of the newest team member.

[piequinn35]

3 hours ago, Whimsy said:

I think I missed why the Russians were so intent on killing that FBI agent. 

You meant the CIA officer? I think she is the handler of the Russian mole? If she gets caught they will know or if she doesnt talk she's dead anyway.

And who takes care of the dog when they're away?

[Chaos Theory]

1 hour ago, piequinn35 said:

 

And who takes care of the dog when they're away?

It's a stray they feed.  I don't see why they are responsible for it.   They're soldiers.  I doubt making arrangements for the dog is a priority.  

 

"We can't go on the mission to save a CIA operative because we need to make arrangements for the dog"

Edited October 3, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[piequinn35]

Dogs are important, ya know ;)

[Mars477]

Incirlik has a massive US presence (it would be awkward if relations between the US and Turkey deteriorated badly IRL and we got kicked out of the air base), so I'm sure there's an airman or two who knows to keep an eye out for the dog.

[Kirsty]

Lolz at Anne Heche's glasses acting at the start! Just like Kiefer on Designated Survivor. How has she managed to halt the aging process, though? She looks great. Also, the medic in the field is competing with Mike Vogel for Most Sexually Attractive.

I found it very network-tv this week. The sets and lighting didn't look too good in "Ukraine", some of the exposition was clunky, and the absence of profanity from the Special Forces characters' dialogue stretches credibility. That bit at the end about Dalton's father and the importance of doing nothing was cringe-inducing. It all lacks subtlety.

For me, the show has two major issues, though. First, if every mission succeeds with no losses, then there are no stakes. And second, the characters need to have more personality and be less bland.

I dislike the pretty lady in Washington who used to be in the field. I think it's her acting, but maybe I just don't like her face. I really hope the show isn't setting up a romantic relationship between her and Noah who was top of his class, but I fear it's inevitable.

Wouldn't Dalton be a bit weak right after giving blood?

Edited October 4, 2017 by Kirsty

[Raja]

A bit weak but you are still able to function. It is the point of Ranger School and the Delta Force assessment and qualification course in his case. BUDS for SEALS in Preacher's case. I  think the medical was regular Special Forces,  the Green Berets and not Delta Force. 

One big nit pick that I have is calling Dalton "Top". For soldiers that is reserved for the First Sergeant and they keep saying that he was/is a Captain. That is nearly a stolen valour level of breaking traditions. It was okay on The Unit because the Sergeant Major was still an enlisted man and not a commissioned officer 

[dargosmydaddy]

6 hours ago, Kirsty said:

I dislike the pretty lady in Washington who used to be in the field. I think it's her acting, but maybe I just don't like her face.

Ha! I find her the most annoying of the cast as well, though I thought it was just because her character on Jane the Virgin annoyed me. Now I'm beginning to think it's the actress. I still found the control room/ intelligence folks to be a bit of a drag in general.

Meanwhile, the action guys are the more enjoyable group, but can we get a little character development for the people who aren't Jaz and Adam? So far all I know is one is new, one is religious, and one knows what corn hole is. And that they're all attractive.

After going on IMBD to confirm that the CIA officer was also the OBGYN from Saving Hope, I also realized the guy who plays Preach had a reoccurring role on Justified (I knew he looked familiar, just couldn't place from where).

[mandigirl]

Another good episode-- it held my attention well which is about as much as I can ask from a procedural. I liked the female CIA agent, but there was a little too much ' You go Gurl!'  in the episode, to the point where it was condescending. She's awesome at her job-- one compliment is good, but no need to break out the confetti. 

2 hours ago, dargosmydaddy said:

Meanwhile, the action guys are the more enjoyable group, but can we get a little character development for the people who aren't Jaz and Adam? So far all I know is one is new, one is religious, and one knows what corn hole is. And that they're all attractive.

I'm enjoying the little tidbits of info we're getting on the characters so far. Still you're right, some more character development would be nice. I think the medic is by far the least drawn out character.  I liking the intelligence room folks a lot. Anne Heche can be pretty hit or miss for me, but she's nailing this role. Her acting choices are just enough, not over the top. Continue to love Tate Ellington on this show. The third "control room" woman seems a bit miscast, but it looks like next week the character's going to get more of a backstory.

8 hours ago, Kirsty said:

I really hope the show isn't setting up a romantic relationship between her and Noah who was top of his class, but I fear it's inevitable.

I'm not particularly thrilled with this either, but I could warm up to it. I'm much more concerned about them setting up a ship between Jaz and Adam. Not on board with that at all and hope they don't go there. For one thing, I was digging their mentor/mentee vibe in the pilot. For another thing I just don't see any chemistry between them. Mike Vogel could probably have chemistry with a bag of crushed potato chips, but I just don't see it here.

Edited October 4, 2017 by mandigirl

[preeya]

I'm liking it. I'll stick with it for awhile. Wasn't Noah one of the recruits in Quantico?

[Misslindsey]

Quote

After going on IMBD to confirm that the CIA officer was also the OBGYN from Saving Hope, I also realized the guy who plays Preach had a reoccurring role on Justified (I knew he looked familiar, just couldn't place from where).

Hee! I recognized the CIA woman as Ellie from Degrassi The Next Generation. 

[NorthstarATL]

10 hours ago, Kirsty said:

Lolz at Ann Heche's glasses acting at the start! Just like Kiefer on Designated Survivor. How has she managed to halt the aging process, though? She looks great. Also, the medic in the field is competing with Mike Vogel for Most Sexually Attractive.

I remember when she started on Another World a lifetime ago and she played twins. The previous actress changed the hairstyle of the twins, but had the roles down perfectly. Heche had to wear a wig as one twin in order to be convincing as two separate characters. She improved over time and became really good. I actually like her on this, which surprised me. (Maybe it's also because in the same week I saw Ashley Judd do an AWFUL version on Berlin Station of a similar role!)  The medic is Noah Mills, whose acting credits are pretty decent, but who is a stunningly attractive male model! Google him.

   I was surprised they just tossed off last week's cliffhanger! I guess the contracts were negotiated based upon the fact that any of them might reasonably not survived. I don't know much about spycraft, or being a redhead, but I would think the FIRST thing I would do if I were on the run and a ginger would be to hide my hair. I like the field team, but they need to have Jaz obscured by the larger guys in group shots. She slouches a bit.

[blackwing]

1 hour ago, preeya said:

I'm liking it. I'll stick with it for awhile. Wasn't Noah one of the recruits in Quantico?

Yes.  His agent should have thought twice before letting him take this role because he is forever going to get typecast as the brainy nerd who has a military/spy desk job.

Another good episode.  Suspenseful and filled with action.   Really like what they have done here.  Good balance of field team and support team back home.  

The two non-blond field guys look too much alike.   I know one is supposed to be Middle Eastern and the other one judging from his nickname of McG is probably of Irish descent, but they look too similar to me.  Can't tell them apart.

[threebluestars]

Took me half the episode to realize the CIA officer was Ellie from Degrassi TNG.