S01.E05: Full Battle Rattle

[Drogo]

Gallo puts himself in danger for the sake of the mission when the team scrabbles to form a new plan; Nora makes a decision that surprises and angers Gallo; Ian clashes with CIA deputy director Magnus; Thea realizes she has a lot to prove.

[Adira]

I think I missed it - did anyone see the message Jimmy scrawled on the floor?

[sweetandsour]

I think it was "small pearl" and below that "tokyo" (I'm positive about pearl and tokyo, less so about small). Tokyo was a message to his wife, and she was supposed to understand that it meant hope. Or maybe both were a message to his wife, I'm not sure.

I really only came here to comment that this show's production values and sensibilities (if you can call them that) are so CW in a BAD way. Non-teen shows can have CW vibes and appearance and still be quite enjoyable (like the hospital in "Emily Owens MD") but here, it's just.  Yikes.  Thea is already requiring extreme suspension of disbelief, and then when you have her on her first field mission, barking out orders and surreptitiously carrying out secondary missions while wearing tons of mascara, I'm like, "okay, this is just straight up nonsense and I can't make any excuse for this." Those are just really dumb choices, not limits on production or budget, and it's just that much more embarrassing because of the other military shows this season.

[Adira]

I meant, did any of the operators see it?

I'm with you on the production value.  I like a LOT of the CW shows: Arrow, Legends, Supergirl, Jane the Virgin, The 100, but this one is just not clicking for me.  And Thea is TERRIBLE.  I'm only still watching this because I have time, haha.  As soon as more of my shows come back on, this one is getting dropped.

[sweetandsour]

Yes, someone saw it. After the operators cleared the room Jimmy had been in, Thea saw the fabric on the ground, swept it aside with her foot, read the message, and said, "they were here."

Thea is what makes the "people" side of the show the most CW. I'm sure the actress is fine when she's correctly cast, but saying things in a certain tone of voice does not make one a CIA officer. I think Melissa Roxburgh is like, 24 in real life. I can barely believe she's in the CIA as a newbie, let alone that she's running anything or trusted with anything. The know-it-all way she talks and carries herself -you'd think that Thea was the one with the senator mother and an easy pass, not Porter.

I'm only still watching this bc I was like, "no way is this getting a back-nine order" (I didn't even think CW had room on the schedule for that, until Dynasty just got a full season), so hey, I can hang with this for 13 episodes. I'm going to see that through, and I assume the showrunners know at this point renewal is very unlikely, so hopefully they wrap up storylines and plant seeds for a second season vs. leave big things unresolved and cliffhanger-y.