S07.E05: Active Measures

[KaveDweller]

15 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 

 

I would never put my purse on the counter or the floor while in a bathroom. *shudder*

Part of it is because of the cooties. Part of it is because I saw this tv movie a million years ago where a girl went into a public bathroom and she had a large bag that she put on the floor (I think she was at the airport and it was a carry on bag). A runaway teenager tried to steal it by grabbing it under stall door and pulling it, but the first girl saw what she was trying to do and grabbed the bag from inside the stall and tried to hang on to her bag. The runaway pulled so hard that the girl inside the stall banged her head really hard on the stall door AND DIED. The runaway then took her bag and stole her identity. Now I know the likelihood of this happening to me in real life is slim to none, but because I saw this tv movie when I was pretty young, it was like LIFE LESSON: YOU WILL DIE IF YOU PUT YOUR BAG ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR.

But there are other women who don't give a shit about cooties. When I was at the ballet last month, I saw a teenage girl come out of the bathroom stall, take off her big fluffy faux fur coat, and throw it on the soaking wet counter so that she could wash her hands. I was like okay, you didn't want to get the bottom of your sleeves wet while you wash your hands but you're okay with the entire back of your coat getting wet from the counter?

My grandmother once heard a story about a thief who stole purses by reaching over the stall door and grabbing it off the hook while the women were sitting on the toilet. So after that she started putting her purse on the floor between her legs. I always pointed out how dirty it was and she thought it was better than getting stolen. But she'd never do that while using the sink.

Was this TV movie on Lifetime?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 3/15/2018 at 4:03 PM, KaveDweller said:

My grandmother once heard a story about a thief who stole purses by reaching over the stall door and grabbing it off the hook while the women were sitting on the toilet. So after that she started putting her purse on the floor between her legs. I always pointed out how dirty it was and she thought it was better than getting stolen. But she'd never do that while using the sink.

Was this TV movie on Lifetime?

Heh, all this talk about purses being stolen or put on the floor definitely makes Carrie's endless supply of crossbody bags seem even more practical!

Yeah, after I re-read the movie description I wrote, it definitely sounds like something that would have been on Lifetime! It was either that or one of those made for tv movies that used to air on network channels. I was trying to remember more about the movie to see if I could find out the title, but the only other detail that came back to me was that the girl in the bathroom stall was a musician leaving for college. She had a scholarship to play the violin or some other stringed instrument. In order to avoid having to reveal that she couldn't actually play, the runaway who stole her identity smashed her own hand.

[LoveLeigh]

I can't with this show. I can't follow these story plot lines. Why does Carrie want that woman to bring $100,000? Did they even give her a reason? 

[Pike Ludwell]

"I can't with this show. I can't follow these story plot lines. Why does Carrie want that woman to bring $100,000? Did they even give her a reason?"

It's a season in which if you blink you miss an important plot point. At one point it was indicated they don't really want the 100K -- that was just a ruse to to distract her so they could get the "bug" in her purse, and also to get her to go to Wellington. Complicating things further, Carrie didn't even need that bug in the purse because she and her CIA friend had bugged Wellington's house. 

Edited March 18, 2018 by riverclown

[LoveLeigh]

1 hour ago, riverclown said:

"I can't with this show. I can't follow these story plot lines. Why does Carrie want that woman to bring $100,000? Did they even give her a reason?"

It's a season in which if you blink you miss an important plot point. At one point it was indicated they don't really want the 100K -- that was just a ruse to to distract her so they could get the "bug" in her purse, and also to get her to go to Wellington. Complicating things further, Carrie didn't even need that bug in the purse because she and her CIA friend had bugged Wellington's house. Given she didn't need to do that with the woman, there is an explanation as to why she did it, but i forget.

It makes no sense if they never told her why they wanted 100 grand. They could have grabbed her and said nothing and put the bug in her handbag. So then at the end, Carrie is all shocked that Simone said nothing to Wellington about the incident? None of this makes any sense. This season is just awful. 

[scrb]

6 hours ago, DakotaLavender said:

I can't with this show. I can't follow these story plot lines. Why does Carrie want that woman to bring $100,000? Did they even give her a reason? 

They wanted to see if she would go to Wellington to demand the money.

But she didn't at all so she's running her own game with someone else, not Wellington.

The bug was for the FBI guy.  Carrie can't tell him yet that Max and she already bugged Wellington's house.

[Pallas]

And if she regains her purse, it's handy that the bug is there, since Wellington is likely not her handler but instead, her mark. Her next port of call may prove more interesting. 

[gallimaufry]

Interesting episode.  I'm not sure I bought the business with Keane and the funeral but I guess it was a nice grace note.  Slightly worrying that Keane only seems to have one advisor around.  O'Keefe seems to be on his way out although I'm interested to see if there's more in his storyline.  And Russia is touted as a link but nothing is conclusively proved.  After its wobble by betting on the wrong candidate last year, the show manages to seem eerily prescient once more.

Surprisingly, the most interesting plot is Carrie's.  Good to see Lee Ashworth off Broadchurch in the mix.  It was a nice bit of spy stuff.  So who's Simone working for?  Russians presumably.  Keane possibly as she tries to keep an eye even on Wellington (who, to be fair, showed himself to be treasonously unreliable not two episodes ago although this seems to have been forgotten already) but this seems a bit arch even for this show.

[John Potts]

I liked the episode - this is the Homeland I want to see. Team Carrie succeeded because they were competent DESPITE the fact that the person (Russian agent?) they were following was also competent. I presume we're going to have Saul & Carrie link up and compare notes. Liked the call back to a previous season with Saul's Russian contact - I guess the CIA pay its defectors better than its own agents, that was a nice house! - and liked that Saul didn't necessarily believe what he was saying (he was an enemy agent, after all).

On ‎12‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 3:19 AM, chocolatine said:

I was still put off that Carrie sicced the violent thugs on her. There must have been a better way to get the intel.

On ‎12‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 5:51 AM, scrb said:

The whole beating her up and bugging her was for show, since Max put a bug and camera in Wellington's home already.

 Not that I like seeing women getting beat up, but it DID serve to remind us that espionage is a dirty business - I don't think it was purely for show. And the rough treatment did serve to prove that she was an agent (she didn't break under interrogation and got rid of TWO bugs), and presumably not working for Wellington/Keane, as they had suspected.

On ‎12‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 1:31 PM, teddysmom said:

How does Carrie wrangle all these men to be on her team and run these ops? She's not CIA any more. Are they just doing it for the sake of friendship?

I presume she "suggested" it was an off book CIA op. Or maybe they're just bored!

On ‎12‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 3:58 PM, crookedjackson44 said:

I found the scenes with the President and the widow and the church scene with the widows to be very moving.

I found that church scene pretty unbelievable. I wouldn't expect the mourners to exactly welcome the FBI widows, but the way they nearly rioted (in a church memorial service as well!) when they turned up seemed OTT. Did like that it was the conflicted widow that welcomed them, though.

On ‎14‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 3:03 AM, PreBabylonia said:

How disgusting is that floor, given that it's in a bar, and a bit of a seedy one at that?

If you think the Ladies is bad, I guarantee you the Gents is 10 times worse!

[teddysmom]

On 3/12/2018 at 11:19 AM, teddysmom said:

On 3/12/2018 at 10:47 AM, attica said:

Due to the low lighting and his new American accent, it took me to the end of his first scene to place the Jarvis of my Heart, James D'Arcy. But what would Peggy say about his scruffy looks now?!?

THANK YOU!!!!! That was the guy living in the trailer?? I knew I recognized him from somewhere. OMG

He hasn't been on before, right? And the way they casually brought up the two of them sleeping together. Good lord Carrie. 

I realized Hulu has Agent Carter so I was watching last night, it is insane to see James D'Arcy as Jarvis while also playing whatever his name is on Homeland, Scruffy Special Ops guy.

Another Agent Carter/Homeland Crossover, Costa Ronin the bearded bad Russian, played Anton Vanko on Agent Carter. 

[Roseanna]

On ‎12‎.‎3‎.‎2018 at 5:58 PM, crookedjackson44 said:

I try to harden myself against film and TV emotional manipulations, but I found the scenes with the President and the widow and the church scene with the widows to be very moving.

I thought that Keane acted the first time like a President by engineering those scenes - and then behaving like they were a surprise to her. 

[Roseanna]

On ‎19‎.‎3‎.‎2018 at 12:29 AM, gallimaufry said:

O'Keefe seems to be on his way out although I'm interested to see if there's more in his storyline. 

He is really contemptible. He lied when he said that he couldn't do anything to prevent the tragedy. He could have surrendered but didn't. He didn't tell that the picture from the hospital was false although Saul asked him. And he continued lying and dividing people in his TV programs to the end.

[Roseanna]

On ‎12‎.‎3‎.‎2018 at 7:17 AM, pfk505 said:

Bringing Ivan Krupin back was an odd choice - wasn't it his operation that made Saul look like a complete incompetent in the first place? I must have missed the part where they became old buddies.

 

On ‎12‎.‎3‎.‎2018 at 7:01 PM, slowpoked said:

Is that the same Ivan who was Allison's Russian handler back in Season 5? Weren't they both caught by the CIA? If that's the same person, when did he become a "happy defector" and since been enjoying protections from the US?

Ivan Krupin was only doing his job, it was Allison who betrayed Saul both as an American and as a lover. 

Acting like "best buddies" is only Saul's professionalism. He dealed with the Iranian intelligence guy who murdered his ex-wife and daughter-in-law. If you put a spy to prison, he is no use to you, so it's better make him to work for you or at least buy a safe haven bty telling all they know. Well, not all but so much you get them tell. 

However, I doubt Saul trusts Ivan. When Saul made Ivan reveal how Allison would be caught, the incident showed that he could betray anyone for his own interests without blinking his eyes.