S02.E16: Fallout

[thewhiteowl]

Credible evidence of dirty bomb on US soil. Emily approaches Chuck for help.

[marinw]

Mike: “Respectfully sir, if you don’t move your feet right now I’m going to pick you up and carry you.”

I would have liked to see that.

This may have been the episode where TPTB said “F*ck it, let’s just pretend this is 24, seeing how we have three or four cast members on this show anyway.”

I’m glad Jack and Audrey are getting back together.

Now we have war with Madeupistan. Hurray!

[janeta]

Can we please send Lior out to find the bomb?

[Driad]

There are many sources of radioactive material. I used to work in a non-government research lab that could be inspected by several government agencies at any time. We had a small amount of radioactive material, which we kept locked up when it was not being used, and we did frequent inventories to make sure all of it was accounted for.
 
Mike probably could pick Tom up and carry him. Mike may be glad he doesn't work for President Taft.

Why is Tom wearing eyeglasses that are older than he is?

[knitorpurl]

Does Agent Hannah Wells do every job at the FBI? She tracks down spies and bombs, she gives briefings to the president, does cyber security, surveillance and evacuates people from radioactive sites. Lots of overtime on her checks!

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, Driad said:

Why is Tom wearing eyeglasses that are older than he is?

@Driad, I know that you really do know the answer: Tom had to borrow the glasses from Clark Kent so people wouldn't realize that he is actually Jack Bauer bombing the heck out of Madeupistan (marinw™)  without enough time to properly vet the evidence or get Congressional approval because he's still mad as heck about his wife's death (dammit!).

 

5 hours ago, knitorpurl said:

Does Agent Hannah Wells do every job at the FBI? She tracks down spies and bombs, she gives briefings to the president, does cyber security, surveillance and evacuates people from radioactive sites. Lots of overtime on her checks!

I've finally decided that she is just a cardboard standin for any and all FBI agents on the show due to budget constraints.

Edited April 5, 2018 by shapeshifter
Correct autocorrect

[preeya]

Madeupistan, I love it.

[dwmarch]

That was a rare good episode! This show has had an identity crisis since it started but becoming a procedural where the POTUS puts his foot in somebody's ass works for me.

Poor Forrestal! Although I'm a fan of Reed Diamond (Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, what's up!) his character in this show has not been especially sympathetic. And then when I finally start to like him he runs into an exploding building!

This show certainly does suffer from a lack of appreciation for scale. For example, the NSA's Utah Data Center. There's something that wasn't caught there that Audrey caught on her laptop?

[marinw]

7 hours ago, Driad said:

Why is Tom wearing eyeglasses that are older than he is?

If memory serves, those are vintage glasses from the 1950’s or 60’s when there was some sort of enlightened program that gave glasses to anyone who needed a pair. That is why we see so many people from that era wearing similar glasses. Kiefer said in an interview that this is the sort of historical thing Tom would like.

I do maintain that Kiefer is a handsome guy but his hair/glasses are not flattering, Nice suits though! Glad they burned  those season one cardigans.

6 hours ago, knitorpurl said:

Does Agent Hannah Wells do every job at the FBI? She tracks down spies and bombs, she gives briefings to the president, does cyber security, surveillance and evacuates people from radioactive sites. Lots of overtime on her checks!

She's from the Jack Bauer school of counter-terrorism.

45 minutes ago, dwmarch said:

That was a rare good episode!

I thought so too.

6 hours ago, forumfish said:

I never liked Audrey and do not think the actress and Kiefer have "that kind" of chemistry, so I am not happy with the foreshadowed pairing.

She may not live to the end of the season, so.

[UNOSEZ]

Every episode kirkman gets worse and worse... Is this show secretly turning him into a tyrant??... Emily is just running round rationalizing crap... 

The Americans did not look good  this epi... Disrespectful to east hun chiu leadership.   Wrong about everything..  I wouldn't be surprised if maybe they're wrong about kunami... 

They keep finding reasons to bring Dr.  Frost into the fold... Smh talk about forcing it..  

Hannah is still one of two functional FBI agents and must have picked up a new partner at the generic handsome white guy store..  

Ugh

[Guest]

1 hour ago, UNOSEZ said:

  I wouldn't be surprised if maybe they're wrong about kunami...

I think they’re going to be wrong about Kunami. I think I’ll be more surprised if they aren’t.

I like Kim Raver’s character but I don’t like how they are being so obvious about it. I feel like they could CGI a blinking arrow above her head that said “new love interest for POTUS” and it would be more subtle.

[TV Diva Queen]

11 hours ago, Driad said:

There are many sources of radioactive material. I used to work in a non-government research lab that could be inspected by several government agencies at any time. We had a small amount of radioactive material, which we kept locked up when it was not being used, and we did frequent inventories to make sure all of it was accounted for.
 
Mike probably could pick Tom up and carry him. Mike may be glad he doesn't work for President Taft.

Why is Tom wearing eyeglasses that are older than he is?

I love his glasses.  I think they're the Rayban Clubmasters.  Very in, very now.  

[paisley]

Designated Survivor is not a great show but I continue to watch because I like Kiefer and I loved '24'. Last night's episode was not good. Of course the bomb in the white van was a decoy. Of course the girlfriend was being held by the bad guys. Of course decent FBI guy makes peace Kirkland and gets blown up. Every time I thought "they're not going to do that , too obvious", it happened anyway. And more Kim and Kiefer that I hated last week? YUCK! Chief of staff woman maneuvering around legal advisor woman with complete disrespect was just nasty.

Madeupistan is brilliant. Too bad this episode wasn't. 

[Driad]

Madeupistan was formerly part of Fakeistan.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Driad said:

Madeupistan was formerly part of Fakeistan.

Oh, yeah. I remember now. Weren't they both formerly part of the Republic of Fantasia?

[Dowel Jones]

Well, Tom, you ain't no chess player.  Even I, a rank amateur, saw that four move checkmate coming, even at the horizontal angle.  It's one that every player learns right off the bat.  King's pawn up (don't remember the correct terminology), King's bishop out to the correct angle to back up the Queen, Queen out in front of the King, and then Queen takes King's pawn on the other side.  Game over.  It's also very easy to stop.

Poor Forrestal, indeed.  Never apologize, dude.  It's always the last step before getting sacrificed on television.  I have to say, though, things aren't looking good for the investigative quals of this Bureau of Investigation.  First, the only two agents in the FBI are standing within 100' of a possible dirty bomb that will spread nuclear waste (not, nukyuler, dammit! Pet peeve) throughout the area.  Then, they blithely walk up to the van after it has supposedly been disarmed, without knowing how much radiation there is left.  And, finally, not one of them (audience excepted) says, "Wait a minute.  Maybe it's a decoy?"

I'm glad they referenced the shaky ground that they were working on to get a case built up against Moss.  Things are not looking good for the Kirkland White House.  Time for a distraction.  Push the button, Frank!  Let's show Longgonistan just who is the big dog in the yard.  We'll make up the evidence later.  Of course, the US isn't the only country in the world with allies.  Oops.

[shapeshifter]

21 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

Longgonistan

Hee. "Longgonistan." Formerly known as Madeupistan.

I miss sweet, kind, Prez Kirkland of the platitudes and sweaters. I quit 24 when it started having torture porn. But I guess it will be revealed that he bombed Longgonistan out of pent up rage at his wife's senseless death. Then he'll have to take a medical leave, at which time DC will get nuked, and he will be asked to serve his country once more [stars and stripes waving in the background].

[thuganomics85]

Should have known Forstell wasn't going to be long for this world, after he apologizes to Kirkman and is forgiven for going after Alex.  Had to make sure that was all taken care of before he dies, and everyone gets sad over it.  Especially Hannah, who pretty much treated him like shit in their last exchange, only to be all sobbing and threatening to go medieval on a suspect, after he died.  Whatever, Hannah.

But Kirkman is totally going to regret going to war with this country I can't even remember the name of, right?  The diplomat clearly seemed stunned over the evidence, so I think it will end up being a set-up, and Kirkman walked right into it.  At this point, I'm really hoping that Moss is behind, because since the show clearly wants to make him the scummiest of scumbags now, I want him to just go full Benedict Arnold, and be responsible for every bad thing that has (and will) happen.

Ha, Darby already seems to be regretting accepting the VP spot.

Emily clearly has what it takes to be a major politician, since she seems quite comfortable with the whole "Yeah, I break the rules from time to time, but I'm doing it for America!" aspect.

Chuck continues to be the unsung hero of the show.  They'd be hopeless without him.

[queenanne]

20 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Should have known Forstell wasn't going to be long for this world, after he apologizes to Kirkman and is forgiven for going after Alex.  Had to make sure that was all taken care of before he dies, and everyone gets sad over it.  Especially Hannah, who pretty much treated him like shit in their last exchange, only to be all sobbing and threatening to go medieval on a suspect, after he died.  Whatever, Hannah.

But Kirkman is totally going to regret going to war with this country I can't even remember the name of, right?  The diplomat clearly seemed stunned over the evidence, so I think it will end up being a set-up, and Kirkman walked right into it.  At this point, I'm really hoping that Moss is behind, because since the show clearly wants to make him the scummiest of scumbags now, I want him to just go full Benedict Arnold, and be responsible for every bad thing that has (and will) happen.

Ha, Darby already seems to be regretting accepting the VP spot.

Emily clearly has what it takes to be a major politician, since she seems quite comfortable with the whole "Yeah, I break the rules from time to time, but I'm doing it for America!" aspect.

Chuck continues to be the unsung hero of the show.  They'd be hopeless without him.

I'm happy to see that someone's finally blaming Moss, because I've been saying "Why does everybody like and trust him so unquestionably?" since his first appearance!

As for Emily, if Breaking Bad has taught me anything, it's that either these are "learning curve mistakes", or precursors to her being revealed as an eventual downward-spiral baddie as well, because we've been having a relatively awful lot of them lately for a good character, I think.

[Dowel Jones]

I had to stifle a laugh when Kirkman, in his post-explosion appearance, rather glossed over the fact that it was a nuclear dirty bomb in the subway by saying "The Metro station will be closed for the foreseeable future".  As in, decades, maybe?  And don't forget the fact that there's stations on either side of Metro that will be impacted because you can't just run the subway through the hot zone and stop on the other side.  All of which should lead the press, if they're doing their job (rather doubtful on the show so far), to raise the question, in no uncertain terms, as to why no one thought to examine the possibility of a decoy.  The answer being, of course, is "Our only FBI agent was otherwise occupied."

[paigow]

Next summit meeting - East Fakeistan vs. South Madeupistan vs. NorthWest Genericstan

[marinw]

4 hours ago, paigow said:

Next summit meeting - East Fakeistan vs. South Madeupistan vs. NorthWest Genericstan

Don't forget the Democratic Republic of Darfaux.

[Driad]

And the table must be in the shape of a tesseract.

[jhlipton]

I was referring to East Madeupistan and West Madeupistan last week!

A dirty bomb went off, but it only affected those in the 50 square feet of that one stop?  Yeah, right!

On 4/5/2018 at 4:19 AM, UNOSEZ said:

The Americans did not look good  this epi... Disrespectful to east hun chiu leadership.

Disrespectful????  They kidnapped a head of state.  He would ahve been totally in his right to call an ally or three and threaten war if they didn't let him go.  And they never did apologize.

On 4/6/2018 at 1:23 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Emily clearly has what it takes to be a major politician, since she seems quite comfortable with the whole "Yeah, I break the rules from time to time, but I'm doing it for America!" aspect.

You misspelled 'Murica!

[mookster]

This show is so badly written, and yet I still watch! I think I do it just to read everyone's comments here.

Lior - or whatever his name is - can go anytime. I really can't stand him - he adds nothing.

The press secretary needs to get a poker face. Loved his "DOH!" look when he ran into the reporter on the way to the bunker.

So "Tell me dammit!" is the ultimate confession producer? Duly noted. Hannah is just exhausting.

Audrey coyly asking Tom why he asked her to come to the WH while tracking down a nuclear bomb was just too ridiculous. As was her stupid system zeroing in on every clue in record time. I know, I know, it's a show.

What was the diner photo op all about? That was all they got? Aside from allowing them to trout out the tired Beautiful Skinny Woman Who Loves Cheeseburgers and Milk Shakes! trope.

And am I imagining it or did I detect some romantic motive behind Emily's leaky shenanigans: "I - we - have to do everything to help him"?

[Driad]

On 4/5/2018 at 6:11 AM, marinw said:

If memory serves, those are vintage glasses from the 1950’s or 60’s

And Les Nessman from WKRP gave Tom Kirkman his spare pair.