S01.E04: Ghosts of Christmas Future

[Drogo]

Jason and the SEAL Team refuse to abort a mission to capture a dangerous war criminal after it goes sideways. Meanwhile, Clay's controversial father, Ash Spenser, comes to town on his book tour and it's a chilly reunion.

[Irishmaple]

You know, Cerberus might have been useful in this episode when it came time to chase people down the alleyway. Quarantine issues kept him home, I guess.

 I'm thinking that CIA guy is sleeping just fine, despite massaging his intel. A lot. He got a war criminal to The Hague. As long as his evidence stands up to legal scrutiny, he did good. Stop pouting, CIA lady whose name I still can't remember. I'm happy the Polish guy decided to bail on his employer. He seemed like he was a stand up guy but I would have been fine if someone decided they needed to shoot him if he kept protecting the war criminal.

The SEAL Team seems to have some ballast. There's Jason. Ray. The guy who says what he thinks. And two or three other guys who barely get any lines. I'm assuming these are the guys whose tragic deaths or unfortunate missteps create a space for Clay and (hopefully) the other candidate I like better.

Clay and Stella. What is that? They hook up three times and it's such a serious thing she wants to meet his father? Is that not clingy on an epic level? Do these two have no boundaries? Was that C Thomas Howell as Clay's dad? The exSEAL. Or are SEALS like Marines, where you're never an ex but always a Marine? 

Nate gets interesting! Boreanez is like a dog with a bone. Anybody want to bet he's about to step into something above his pay grade?

[piequinn35]

^Nate's spot is the spot for Clay. 

Boring ep. When can we see Cerberus again? 

[sigmaforce86]

9 hours ago, Irishmaple said:

Was that C Thomas Howell as Clay's dad?

Yes!  At first I thought it was John Schneider but he didn't look right so looked up the cast and yes it was him.  Holy crap did he age....I mean sure he's 50 not a teen heartthrob anymore  but he looks much older than his age.

For the rest of the show - not much has changed.  Clay's story was a little more interesting since he got something to do other than mope around a bar or the team break room;  the personal lives continue to be uninteresting except for maybe the stereotypical and irritating teacher (counselor?) at the school with his big words and give peace a chance attitude which was alternately funny and annoying.  The rescues are still the best part of the show; I know it can't be all rescues and action for a full hour but if the writers would just back off on the soap opera type plots and balance the "down time" stories and people a little better they might have something.  

[CooperTV]

Clay, his daddy issues and his love life continue to drag. None of it is compelling enough to pay any attention to, and Clay is an ass.

The CIA agents manipulating the intel was intriguing. The entire conflict between The Old CIA guy and the CIA Lady was interesting, the show needs more of that kind of stuff.

The SEAL Team writers, unlike the dummies at NBC's The Brave, at least attempted to point out that Ray would be way too noticeable in the overwhelmingly white Tallin. Good for them. Then again, this team didn't attempt to blow up a helicopter in the middle of a street and they actually made a covert op happened.

[Raja]

1 hour ago, CooperTV said:

Clay, his daddy issues and his love life continue to drag. None of it is compelling enough to pay any attention to, and Clay is an ass.

The CIA agents manipulating the intel was intriguing. The entire conflict between The Old CIA guy and the CIA Lady was interesting, the show needs more of that kind of stuff.

The SEAL Team writers, unlike the dummies at NBC's The Brave, at least attempted to point out that Ray would be way too noticeable in the overwhelmingly white Tallin. Good for them. Then again, this team didn't attempt to blow up a helicopter in the middle of a street and they actually made a covert op happened.

The one thing I noticed was the only men wearing beards in Estonia were the soldiers. Going undercover should have meant a shave and haircut on this mission 

[CooperTV]

40 minutes ago, Raja said:

Going undercover should have meant a shave and haircut on this mission 

To be fair, the two rednecks looked really inconspicuous in a crowd withe their messy beards and greasy hair. Unlike, for example, two-meters-tall Jason with his manly, GQ-approved stubble.

[Ohmo]

12 hours ago, CooperTV said:

The SEAL Team writers, unlike the dummies at NBC's The Brave, at least attempted to point out that Ray would be way too noticeable in the overwhelmingly white Tallin. Good for them.

I thought that line was hilarious!  "You're not low-vis."  I love Jason and that guy, but I can't for the life of me remember the guy's name.  The only character names that we hear consistently are Jason, Clay, and Nate.  The writers really need to change that and use the other team member's names more often.

Alana ticked me off this episode.  She's busy telling Jason that he wasn't there even when he was there, and he didn't come back in the same way that he used to.  Ummm, Alana, not only is Jason in the military, he's a SEAL, which you obviously know.  He's not sent places just for the heck of it.  He's seen all manner of crap.  I was floored that she actually seemed surprised that he wasn't the same.  Somehow, that's news to her?  And I know that there's psychological counseling and all that, but honestly, I think that will only go so far when someone does what Jason does for a living.  Even if he were to do to psychological counseling regularly, I'd still think he'd suffer some psychological damage that would change him as a person.  It seems inevitable and not like it should be a surprise to someone who chooses to get involved with a significant other who is in elite military ops.

Still don't care about Clay or any drama regarding Clay.

I didn't think the episode was boring.  This op was my favorite so far.  I loved how they practiced it in the hanger, and I wouldn't mind if the Polish special ops guy that knew the team became a recurring character.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Ohmo

[Raja]

23 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

Yes!  At first I thought it was John Schneider but he didn't look right so looked up the cast and yes it was him.  Holy crap did he age....I mean sure he's 50 not a teen heartthrob anymore  but he looks much older than his age.

For the rest of the show - not much has changed.  Clay's story was a little more interesting since he got something to do other than mope around a bar or the team break room;  the personal lives continue to be uninteresting except for maybe the stereotypical and irritating teacher (counselor?) at the school with his big words and give peace a chance attitude which was alternately funny and annoying.  The rescues are still the best part of the show; I know it can't be all rescues and action for a full hour but if the writers would just back off on the soap opera type plots and balance the "down time" stories and people a little better they might have something.  

Why can't it be just work up the plan, rehearse and rescue, because it hasn't been done since Combat in the 60s? Over on The Brave that is more their set up. SEAL Team does remind me of the intermission grind to a stop act of of old war movies when the hero remembers the wife back home before going into the final battle scene.

The way the counselor and principal were going on I was thinking this can't be an on base school. I guess his actual unit would be secret like on The Unit if he wasn't always in his beard. Maybe being a sailor is secret. 

[rove4]

On ‎10‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 10:19 PM, Irishmaple said:

Clay and Stella. What is that? They hook up three times and it's such a serious thing she wants to meet his father? Is that not clingy on an epic level?

Yeah, their so-called relationship feels ludicrous.  It started for me when other-candidate-dude was giving Clay advice and told him that Stella would be able to keep him in line and would be good for him.  At that time Clay and Stella had two very brief conversations that lasted probably 10 minutes combined.  My eyes started rolling right then.  Her pushing to meet Clay's dad when he clearly didn't want to see the man himself was just intrusive IMO.  I don't like her at all.  I did finally realize where I knew the actress from though...Meg on Veronica Mars.

[mojoween]

Your name is Ash...and you name your son Clay.  Oooooookay.

It didn’t make me feel at ALL old to see my teen heartthrob crush playing the father of a 20 or 30 something year old kid.  What?  It DIDN’T.  I mean it.

With all that said, I still don’t care about Clay or the annoying Stella.

[webruce]

I was thinking that Stella is after something, be it prestige or something deeper like information or something from dating Clay Spenser. Could be totally off on this. (Other-candidate-dude)Brain was missed on this episode. I do like him and think he should have a bigger role. But I also think("The Unit" guy) Adam needs more exposure also.

Didn't recognize who Clay's dad was until I peeked in IMDB. It kind of seems like they both are trying a little to reconcile. Why else would Clay go and See Ash do his talk? Stella could have gone alone. And he had heard of her too, I believe before today. It does seem odd that Clay's fellow Soldiers would harass him over a dad writing about being a Seal.

I thought the school talk that Jason Hayes took his protest for hitting the bully a bit far. And the Principle Mr. Langston and Guidance Councilor Keith Fizano(sp) ( I keep notes of names etc.)went over board the other way. Also to if it was any other detective show (NCIS, Criminal Minds, H50, Elementary, CSI, etc.) I would have suspected the Councilor for something. But I have never liked that in today's world the parents seem to blame the school and not their child(like in my day, mostly) for doing something wrong. I did think Alana Hayes was a little to harsh on her assessment of Jason. I would think wife's of military would know if they cared about the psyches. Also am not sure if a Seal team is secret on it's members. 

I did like Jason telling Ray Perry that he would stand out on this op. Also haven't heard any more on his wife Maima, and their baby really. Couldn't at first remember where I had seen Sonny Quinn before, and today figured out he was Adam Ross on CSI:NY. I do agree that it is hard to remember all the men and women's names on the team. To many beards maybe? Lt Col. Eric Blackburn, Lisa Davis and Mandy Ellis are others on team. Brock was third guy that Jakob knew from the past.

Did like the drive through on the grab, but the Nissan window was already broke when they went for time trial number 2. The dump truck and shipping truck take down was nice, Glad no one was hurt on the team. Did like Jason's talk to Polish friend Jakob Kowel. Worried it would go wrong when the team had him and Luka Baljic cornered. I to wouldn't mind them working with him again. Also liked the illusion that they flew away on the plane. The luggage carrier and Jason's fist bump was nice. Also the payoff was nice, lol.

Did think CIA Agent Oliver Carter would do something stupid. The actor usually plays jerks and bad guys. He was over zealous and did I hear he made Baljic sound worse then he really was? Other CIA Agent wasn't happy.

[webruce]

To add to my previous message about to many with beards. Richard Marchinko's book "Rogue Warrior" tells about him setting up Seal team Six in the 1980s. One thing they did was to be allowed to grow their hair longer, and facial hair. Thicker the better he said. This allowed them to blend in with the crowd easier on stake outs and grabs. Clean cut soldier likes would stand out.

[Raja]

14 minutes ago, webruce said:

To add to my previous message about to many with beards. Richard Marchinko's book "Rogue Warrior" tells about him setting up Seal team Six in the 1980s. One thing they did was to be allowed to grow their hair longer, and facial hair. Thicker the better he said. This allowed them to blend in with the crowd easier on stake outs and grabs. Clean cut soldier likes would stand out.

In some places. In other places only special operations soldiers and baseball players on a playoffs run have beards.

In Somalia during Black Hawks Down Delta Force shaved as their cover was to be regular soldiers 

Edited November 6, 2017 by Raja