S04.E07: North to the Future

[CooperTV]

Quote

When a Russian dissident flees to the U.S. after contracting smallpox, Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord and retired U.N. Ambassador Kat Sandoval must work with Russian Foreign Minister Konstantin Avdonin to contain the outbreak.

Promos

 

PS: The US State department fights... the extinct virus of smallpox (the one we have vaccine and solid countermeasures against anyway)?

[shapeshifter]

Quote

[Henry & Bess to Jason]: We need to have a talk.
                                           The thing is--
[Bess]: Sex kills.
[Henry]: Sex kills?

LOL!

ETA after seeing the whole episode:
That line and it's followup was even funnier in context. This may be the first time I found a previewed punch line to be better in the later airing.
And there were at least two or three other LOL lines. I didn't jot them down; hopefully someone else will post them. I know one was Dalton's. 

But selling wooly mammoths as a climate change fix? Oof. Good luck with that.

And what was up with the dried up markers on the white board illustration? They were nearly invisible to me. It seemed like they were trying to sabotage the new kid's presentation. They should've reshot the scene with thicker, fresh markers, IMO.

The dying activist just wanting to see the blue sky was sad.

Edited November 20, 2017 by shapeshifter

[Netfoot]

So, Jason is a sixteen year old boy with a cute girlfriend and he doesn't want to have sex?  Did I miss the episode where he had the double-ballectomy?

Henry is saving the world for America by finding a traitor in the "Congressional Gang of Eight." (Is that a real thing?  Dunno.)  Of course he did, because he had to up-stage Elizabeth, didn't he?  TPTB just can't bear to have a woman be the deserved hero, not even for a single episode!

[Driad]

People who got smallpox vaccinations in the 1970s or earlier are no longer protected. The CDC says protection lasts no more than five years. If there were an outbreak, anyone exposed to the virus would need a new vaccination.

[MerBearHou]

Completely bored for the first time throughout this episode.  At most, the Jason sex talk was amusing and it was nice for Jason to get some story-of-the-week attention.  Sara Ramirez is not my cup of tea on this show.  Way too glib, way too overly-familiar when first meeting everyone, had a touch of the academia arrogance/smarter-than-everyone that I cannot stand.  Who is the mole?

Edited November 20, 2017 by MerBearHou

[bros402]

2 hours ago, Netfoot said:

So, Jason is a sixteen year old boy with a cute girlfriend and he doesn't want to have sex?  Did I miss the episode where he had the double-ballectomy?

Henry is saving the world for America by finding a traitor in the "Congressional Gang of Eight." (Is that a real thing?  Dunno.)  Of course he did, because he had to up-stage Elizabeth, didn't he?  TPTB just can't bear to have a woman be the deserved hero, not even for a single episode!

The Gang of Eight is a real thing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Eight_(intelligence)

[Guest]

I wonder if Jason is on drugs or something. That didn’t seem like normal teenage love talking.

I hated Sara Ramirez’ new character. I hope she improves. I strongly disagree with Bess that a man who gets enraged and throws a chair/table would be seen as passionate, not unhinged.

[TVForever]

1 hour ago, deaja said:

I wonder if Jason is on drugs or something. That didn’t seem like normal teenage love talking.

I hated Sara Ramirez’ new character. I hope she improves.

I thought the same. I actually had to stop and think back to my first teenaged "love affair". Was I that insane? Because Jason was a little scary in that talk with Henry.

[kwnyc]

Quote

I wonder if Jason is on drugs or something

Unfortunately, I think the kid just isn't a very good actor. And that whole "we don't NEED to have sex" is definitely going to be challenged by teen hormones. I sure hope they have all had the "use condoms" talk.

And I LOVED hot butch Sara Ramirez. Dapper! High & tight haircut, necktie, trucker wallet and all. Clearly they are going for the lesbian demographic (and getting it!)  And I loved that she hated the avocado farm. 

Bess's takedown of Matt's use of "hysterical" was well-placed. Bess is NEVER hysterical. Except when talking to her kids about sex.

I wonder if one of the Gang of Eight being the leaker is another red herring. (I still have a problem with Henry briefing them.) I don't see Senator Asshole as the one (too obvious), but maybe it's an assistant to one of the Gang of Eight or a Cabinet member. I actually like seeing Henry back in the classroom, but did it HAVE to be the key link in figuring out there's a high-placed mole? 

I also wonder why, if this is an interagency investigation of a high-placed mole, why Elizabeth hasn't been read in on it? (And why she wasn't read in on the LAST investigation of a high-placed mole, in which Daisy's babydaddy was poisoned.) They need to tell her these things!

ETA: A friend of mine played the Canadian prime minister. Because he's tall and patrician-looking, he often gets cast as judges, businessmen and upper-class twits. I think this is his first head of state!

Edited November 20, 2017 by kwnyc
spelling counts.

[nekilarose]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 10:33 AM, shapeshifter said:

And what was up with the dried up markers on the white board illustration? They were nearly invisible to me. It seemed like they were trying to sabotage the new kid's presentation. They should've reshot the scene with thicker, fresh markers, IMO.

I was thinking the same thing! But then I realized that that was probably the most realistic detail of all!

Count me in on the Sara Ramirez love. I thought she was awesome, and look forward to seeing more of her.

I hadn't seen any previews, so Bess's line about sex kills had me dying! 

7 hours ago, deaja said:

I wonder if Jason is on drugs or something. That didn’t seem like normal teenage love talking.

Absolutely! I kept waiting for Elizabeth or Henry to say it, but they pretty much just glossed over it.

[RemoteControlFreak]

13 hours ago, Netfoot said:

So, Jason is a sixteen year old boy with a cute girlfriend and he doesn't want to have sex?  Did I miss the episode where he had the double-ballectomy?

Jason didn’t say he didn’t want have sex.

He said, “Piper feels that when you have a spiritual connection, like we do, sex isn’t necessary.”

He likely wanted to have sex. His girlfriend said no.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

Kat was immediately a strong, competent character who will make a great addition to the show if her characterization remains this way.

Eh, Jason's always been overdramatic in one way or another.

[mythoughtis]

So Henry has time to teach a class while being a director and giving briefings to the gang of 8.  Along with missions overseas. Impressive and unrealistic.  

Not liking the Sara Ramirez character, and I like Sara.

this show just isn’t doing it for me this season. I think it’s the absence of Bebe. 

Edited November 21, 2017 by mythoughtis

[Dowel Jones]

The only thing that got my attention was Henry's classroom with an actual blackboard, instead of a dryboard.  A little out of date.  As for the rest, I thought the plotline about saving the permafrost was just dumb.

[HurricaneVal]

I thought Tea Leoni had great chemistry with the Russian Foreign Minister.  I thought he was spot on.  I hope we we more of him.  Is it weird to say they have chemistry when their "interaction" is via Skype?  Maybe Tea Leoni is really, really good at Skyping...

I am intrigued by this Kat Sandoval character.  She just seems to have bombastically come out of nowhere, with no buildup.  And imma gonna go out on a limb here and say that Sara's line about whoever had the idea to have Dalton run as an Independent was a genius was very carefully calculated to reach Elizabeth's ears with the maximum flattery effect--she was craftily maneuvering for the policy advisor (or chief of staff) job with that.  Kat's highly manipulative, but I can't figure it it is in a good or bad way.  Kat also seems really intelligent, and has proved to be very good at lateral thinking.  One way or the other, the Kat Sandoval character will be an interesting one.  She's a little, uh, extreme for a lot of the more conservative nations of the world to deal with (including our own) so it will be fun to see how the writers integrate that into the narrative.  I'll cry foul if it isn't addressed...

My favorite thing about the character though?  Kat's gonna tweak Russell Jackson like nobody's business.  I can't wait to see what sort of chemistry Sara Ramirez has with Željko Ivanek.

Edited November 21, 2017 by HurricaneVal
Typo

[CheshireCat]

On ‎20‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 0:24 AM, MerBearHou said:

Sara Ramirez is not my cup of tea on this show.  Way too glib, way too overly-familiar when first meeting everyone, had a touch of the academia arrogance/smarter-than-everyone that I cannot stand.  

I think that was supposed to be her character. I'm reserving judgement until I see how she is written into the show. If she stays that way, she'll be way too obnoxious and she'll be upstaging Bess/Leoni who is still the star of the show, so I won't like that. But given how they handled Jay's transition, I have hopes that they'll address any potential disrespect for the chain of command and do it well. Jay didn't pace behind Bess' desk in this episode anymore while she was skyping with the Russian foreign minister, for example, and Jay's already put Matt in place for disrespecting the chain of command, so I doubt he'll tolerate it from a newbie.

 

On ‎20‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 11:32 AM, kwnyc said:

Unfortunately, I think the kid just isn't a very good actor.

I was hoping that it was just me and that I would find his whole "I'm so in love, my whole world has changed" more convincing the second time around.

I liked the idea, but Evan Roe didn't make me believe that Jason is convinced of it. It seemed to be delivered rather impassionately and dare I say, Roe seemed uncomfortable? Considering the delivery, Henry took it way too seriously.

 

On ‎20‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 11:32 AM, kwnyc said:

I wonder if one of the Gang of Eight being the leaker is another red herring. (I still have a problem with Henry briefing them.) I don't see Senator Asshole as the one (too obvious),

I had the same thought. That would be way too obvious, as nice as that would be. On the other hand, I can't imagine that he won't play a role in it in some way.

 

On ‎20‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 11:32 AM, kwnyc said:

but maybe it's an assistant to one of the Gang of Eight or a Cabinet member.

I know they'd have to get a lot of actors for it, but I'd love to see a cabinet meeting, actually. No a whole one, obviously, just a snippet of one in which Bess maybe observes them now that she knows there's that possibility.

At the same time, could it really be a cabinet member? Bess wasn't even read in on DOD work her husband did, so I sincerely doubt that the Sec of Education or Transportation or Commerce or Treasury or anyone below Treasury (except for DHS) as a matter of fact would be read in on the details one would have to know to be the mole. AG, SecDef, State and DHS seem to be the only viable options. We don't know who Sec of DHS is and who currently holds the AG position but we know Def and State, so I'd say they're out, too.

 

On ‎20‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 11:32 AM, kwnyc said:

I actually like seeing Henry back in the classroom, but did it HAVE to be the key link in figuring out there's a high-placed mole? 

In this case, it had to be him. It couldn't be Bess and Dalton or Russell seem unlikely, too. Russell, maybe. That could have been interesting. But would he have talked to Bess about it? Probably not at this point since Bess doesn't really deal with any of it. I actually find it rather strange that she knows about basically everything Henry does but I guess, they've got Dalton's permission to talk about it. Otherwise, I don't think she'd be read in.

 

On ‎20‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 11:32 AM, kwnyc said:

I also wonder why, if this is an interagency investigation of a high-placed mole, why Elizabeth hasn't been read in on it?

Why would she be as Secretary of State? I think the better question is, why don't Russell and/or Dalton seem to be aware of it and/or why didn't Dalton as former head of the CIA make the connection when they realized there was a mole a few episodes ago.

 

On ‎21‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 1:41 AM, Dowel Jones said:

The only thing that got my attention was Henry's classroom with an actual blackboard, instead of a dryboard.  A little out of date. 

The War College is a government institution ;-)

 

On ‎21‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 4:42 PM, HurricaneVal said:

I am intrigued by this Kat Sandoval character.  She just seems to have bombastically come out of nowhere, with no buildup.  And imma gonna go out on a limb here and say that Sara's line about whoever had the idea to have Dalton run as an Independent was a genius was very carefully calculated to reach Elizabeth's ears with the maximum flattery effect--she was craftily maneuvering for the policy advisor (or chief of staff) job with that. 

You think? How could she have known that Bess was watching the interview? I don't think that Bess would have been as impressed had she not seen the interview and only been told that Sandoval mentioned it. I also don't think that Bess wanted to speak to her because she mentioned how great an idea suggesting Dalton run as an Independent was but because she was impressed with what she heard. Sandoval could also not have known that Bess would be dealing with an issue that falls into her expertise, unless she was involved, but I doubt that.

Once inside the building though, I think that everything she said, she said with a purpose. At the same time, I think that she was sincere. I think that she meant what she said about Bess and that she should stay in politics for as long as possible.

 

On ‎21‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 4:42 PM, HurricaneVal said:

My favorite thing about the character though?  Kat's gonna tweak Russell Jackson like nobody's business.  I can't wait to see what sort of chemistry Sara Ramirez has with Željko Ivanek.

Yes. I didn't think about that. But that'll be interesting to see.

 

Overall, I liked the episode. I thought the subject was interesting.

The only thing I didn't like was Henry briefing the Gang of Eight. In the past seven episodes, we've seen him interact with members of Congress almost more than we've seen Bess interact with them in 3 seasons.

It was nice to see Henry back in the classroom, although, I have to admit, I was completely surprised. I did not think that he was still teaching and I wonder how he has time for that. If teaching is still a cover then he cannot have a full-time job at the CIA. If he only has a part-time job, I doubt he'd be overseeing a whole unit and brief Congress. The latter two means a lot of paperwork and responsibility, and I doubt that that would leave him any time to teach. (On the other hand, we've only seen him interact with Dmitri and the other guy, even though there are several other CIA employees in the building. I'd say, they haven't done a good job of establishing what exactly he is doing and I'm not sure that they even know other than that he needs to be doing what he's doing for one reason or another). And he was doing an Afghanistan report at home and not preparing class. Since they put him back into the classroom, I think it would have been a lot better if he had told Bess that he's preparing a class since he's started teaching again or whatever.

I did like that he shared his suspicion with Bess! Reminiscent of S1 when Bess shared her suspicion that Marsh was murdered with Henry. Hopefully, we'll get some shared investigating like we did in S1, too.

How long was Bess' WH meeting since it caused her to miss an entire dinner? I thought, the extent of the meeting was what we saw.

Meeting Piper was kind of a cute scene. For a moment, I wondered if they'd make Piper being interested in Jason because of his mother a plot point as Piper seemed to be rather impressed with Bess.

Bess and Henry having "the talk" with Jason or trying to was hilarious! I loved how it was filmed and written. I did roll my eyes at the "spiritual connection" and also wondered why Bess and Henry didn't pick up on the utter ridiculousness of that statement. But I guess, they were too relieved that Jason didn't plan to have sex to notice.

Bess trying to have that talk with her son right before leaving and then seeking out Kat, too, was cute, too. It kind of fit with Bess' overall difficulty to get straight out the door and her ability to always find more things she needs to take care of before she leaves when she's going somewhere.

Oh, and an avocado farm is a cool farm and a horse farm isn't? Okay then. I guess, Bess will put her beloved horses in between the avodados then ;-) (Have they sold the farm by now?)

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

Meeting Piper was kind of a cute scene. For a moment, I wondered if they'd make Piper being interested in Jason because of his mother a plot point as Piper seemed to be rather impressed with Bess.

Bess and Henry having "the talk" with Jason or trying to was hilarious! I loved how it was filmed and written. I did roll my eyes at the "spiritual connection" and also wondered why Bess and Henry didn't pick up on the utter ridiculousness of that statement. But I guess, they were too relieved that Jason didn't plan to have sex to notice.

So much more organic and plot worthy than the unbelieveable First Son's girlfriend that that Designated Survivor writers threw into (and then immediately under the bus on) that show! Madam Sec. writers wouldn't dare create Jason's first girlfriend for the purpose of being a young teen spy!  
—would they? 
Nah. They've still got Dimitri to kick around.

[betsyboo]

I am still bitter that something we all called last year is actually coming to fruition - Dmitri & Stevie. BLECH. (I say this without knowing any spoilers, just guessing from all the anvils falling on the street and whatnot.) (Oh wait, was that last week? Oooops)

I heart the McCord family and all of its attendant dysfunction. 

[needschocolate]

The permafrost plot confused me -

Problem: We need to stop the permafrost from thawing so dormant viruses won't create a pandemic.  

Solution: Since the snow on top warms the permafrost, work on cloning wholly mammoths and, meanwhile, let other large animals walk on snow to so the cold air can contact the ground.

Problem: The Russians want to drill and drilling is easier if the permafrost isn't as frozen.  - Why wasn't this an issue the first time the subject was brought up?

Solution: Put peat on the ground. First - why wasn't this the original solution before cloning wholly mammoths? Second - The peat will keep it from thawing, so the drilling will still be tougher.  This doesn't solve the problem.

Revised solution: Put peat where you don't plan to drill. But the permafrost will thaw where there is no peat and the viruses can still be unleashed on the world.

On 11/20/2017 at 6:19 PM, mythoughtis said:

So Henry has time to teach a class while being a director and giving briefings to the gang of 8.  Along with missions overseas. Impressive and unrealistic.  

And don't forget that he has to handle all the home stuff too, while Elizabeth is traveling or staying late for meetings.

[CheshireCat]

5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

So much more organic and plot worthy than the unbelieveable First Son's girlfriend that that Designated Survivor writers threw into (and then immediately under the bus on) that show! Madam Sec. writers wouldn't dare create Jason's first girlfriend for the purpose of being a young teen spy!  
—would they? 
 

I doubt that. I think (and meant) that she came across as merely being impressed by being in the presence of Bess/the Sec of State. I was under the impression that she considers Bess/the fact that she's Sec of State interesting.

 

2 hours ago, needschocolate said:

Problem: The Russians want to drill and drilling is easier if the permafrost isn't as frozen.  - Why wasn't this an issue the first time the subject was brought up?

Solution: Put peat on the ground. First - why wasn't this the original solution before cloning wholly mammoths? Second - The peat will keep it from thawing, so the drilling will still be tougher.  This doesn't solve the Problem.

My interpretation was that they were throwing crazy ideas around the first time the issue was brought up and then they did research on the subject and looked into feasability and doing that, unearthed the problem of Russia's oil drilling.

Same for the second question. Kat only presented what scientist are doing, so, just the crazy idea. From what I gathered, they are going with Moose and Reindeer in other regions but they needed an alternative for Russia once they realized that there's the drilling problem. They needed to find something that is win-win-win for Russia. Moose and Reindeer wouldn't have been that. Peat was/is.

 

2 hours ago, needschocolate said:

Revised solution: Put peat where you don't plan to drill. But the permafrost will thaw where there is no peat and the viruses can still be unleashed on the world.

I would think that they have excavated and would excavate everything that is in the ground at drill sights, so I would further think that there is less of a risk. Generally, I believe that this was a compromise. After they didn't send the dissident back to Russia but were prepared to grant him asylum, Russia wasn't willing to cooperate, so they needed to give Russia a big bag of candy. Yes, it wasn't perfect and there are still risks but it was the best they could do and it was a lot better to get Russia on board in a limited way instead of not at all.

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, needschocolate said:

Revised solution: Put peat where you don't plan to drill. But the permafrost will thaw where there is no peat and the viruses can still be unleashed on the world.

Yeah, that part was kind of glossed over.

 

9 hours ago, needschocolate said:

wholly mammoths

Heh, that should be "wooly mammoths," as in "wool," although they would also be "wholly," as in "entirely," which would be pronounced, however, like "holy," so I momentarily was reading your autocorrected spelling as "holy mammoths," which would be more up Henry's religious alley. Never mind.

[needschocolate]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Yeah, that part was kind of glossed over.

 

Heh, that should be "wooly mammoths," as in "wool," although they would also be "wholly," as in "entirely," which would be pronounced, however, like "holy," so I momentarily was reading your autocorrected spelling as "holy mammoths," which would be more up Henry's religious alley. Never mind.

Ah, spellcheck, mixed with chubby fingers on a too small phone keypad, did me in. Probably would have helped if I would have worn my glasses, too. 

[roughing it]

On 11/23/2017 at 3:06 PM, tvaddict44 said:

I just knew that Kat Sandoval had to be some relation to Tyne and Tim Daly.  The voice, the delivery of the lines, the expressive eyes - just the whole person reminded me so much of Tyne (whom I miss having on my TV)

What, what and what??!!!  Sara Ramirez, Tim Daly and Tyne Daly are all related??  Now that you mention it, Sara does resemble Tyne...

[sinkwriter]

According to wikipedia, she was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, in the northwestern coast of the Pacific coast of Mexico. Her father is Mexican and her mother is of Mexican and Irish-American descent. No relation to Tim and Tyne.