S01.E19: Takedown

[CooperTV]

Quote

The SEAL Team sends Ray undercover in a busy spice market to make a high-stakes money swap, and Jason attempts to take down a terrorist known to wear a suicide belt. Also, Ray realizes the devastating consequences of his decisions.

Promo pictures

[sigmaforce86]

Are we supposed to understand what's going on with the info Jason got and why or how the other Seal would have had it?  Or is it like his friends phone in the first few episodes, a needlessly complicated plot that comes to nothing?  Or maybe I'm missing  a few plot points because I zone out when Jason and his new lady love have scenes together. 

Don't me wrong I like the show but it's middle ground mindless entertainment for me and I usually watch while multi-tasking, playing a card game or messing around on Pinterest.  Unless Sonny or the dog are on then they get my full attention.  

[Ohmo]

5 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

Are we supposed to understand what's going on with the info Jason got and why or how the other Seal would have had it?  Or is it like his friends phone in the first few episodes, a needlessly complicated plot that comes to nothing?  Or maybe I'm missing  a few plot points because I zone out when Jason and his new lady love have scenes together. 

Don't me wrong I like the show but it's middle ground mindless entertainment for me and I usually watch while multi-tasking, playing a card game or messing around on Pinterest.  Unless Sonny or the dog are on then they get my full attention.  

This is my understanding of that storyline (which I think is sort of interesting, not the usual "Afghanistan is all about terrorism" plot.  It's about money.  I think Jason believes that lady love might have set up Echo team to be killed.  Afghanistan is siting on trillions of dollars of that rare earth metal.  Lady love said that she had Steve's drill tested, and it came up as plain old dirt.  Jason knows that's a lie because of the testing he had done.  Lady love was in possession of Steve's drill, and she works for a company that would greatly benefit if it were involved in the mining of that metal.  I think Jason now suspects that Steve knew that Lady love was b.s. ing him about the drill because her company was trying to figure out how to get in on the action.  Steve might have told Lady love he was going to blow the whistle, threatening the potential of a huge payday for Lady love's company.  Thus, she (and the company) are somehow involved in sending Echo into that building to their deaths---using the terror threat to cover the company's tracks and actual motives.  Jason made a comment about money being worth the lives of six operators.  I think that was an extremely intentional remark.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Ohmo

[mojoween]

Jessica is still the weak link on this show.  She is at her worst when she is trying to be a badass.

Ray now has an excuse about his shoulder (he could say it was injured when he flipped the table), except for the issue that he already poorly threw the grenade and Jason knows he was supposed to get the MRI.

Edited April 27, 2018 by mojoween

[CooperTV]

8 hours ago, mojoween said:

Jessica is still the week link on this show.

Did you mean "Amanda"? Because Amanda seems like she's so try-hard fake instead of like a hardened CIA analytic. The actress is not just very good.

I liked Ray's arc this episode. The entire character-based episode is so rare for this show (if you're not Jason or Clay and their love lives), I was glad to see something different.

More Sonny with the actual lines related to the plot and not his comedic relief status is always good thing for me. I need more his and Davis but eh, the show clearly wants us to care more about Clay and Davis's friendship. I'd say the writers have no idea about their strong points (like Sonny, the dog, Ray, and even Jason/Mandy). They're just too in love with their own (really boring) vision of the characters for me to be invested in any of it.

Glad the plot is going... nowhere? I don't even know what's happening anymore.

[piequinn35]

Why would lady love give the drill to Jason if she was a traitor?

Maybe she doesn't know, only her bosses know.

[Ohmo]

9 hours ago, CooperTV said:

Because Amanda seems like she's so try-hard fake instead of like a hardened CIA analytic. The actress is not just very good.

I completely agree.  Does anyone also watch SWAT?  While not perfect, the actress who plays Captain Cortez does a much better job of commanding the room.  You know she's in charge.  The actress who plays Amanda does not project authority or even competence all that well.  You need someone like Davis )although I like Davis exactly where she is.)  Davis commands a room better than Amanda does, and Davis is support personnel.

David is really trying to sell it as Jason, but I don't buy that someone like Jason would really take someone like Amanda seriously as Amanda is currently portrayed.  I also don't believe the reporter would be as impressed with her as we're told he is.

As annoying as Clay was at the beginning, I think they've toned him down a bit.  Amanda's still annoying.  I would not be said if the team got a new analyst for Season 2.

Edited April 27, 2018 by Ohmo

[mojoween]

Is Amanda supposed to be an in charge type of person?  It doesn’t come across that way.  She always feels like an add-on to me.

I know part of it is because of my feelings about Meghan Draper and I should give Jessica Pare a chance in something else, but it’s really hard.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I have not seen any eps after this one.

It feels to me that the real villain is that über dude lady love answers to.  Even if she is ignorant of the scheme, her protestations were super duper lame.  Some might say, they, of themselves, were ignorant.   She would never, ever, ever have a job like that if she could not grasp complicated internecine goings on.  She could not put herself in her SEAL lover's position for two seconds?  If I were innocent, I would first fully acknowledge how bad it looks and affirm my significant other's suspicions.  They are plain as day and it looks really bad.  Instead, she takes umbrage.  That's just malfeasance by the writers.

How in Hades did Ray's bad throw not get FULLY examined as part of the AAR (After Action Report)?????!!!!!   Sloppiness like that is what gets real SEALS in real situations, killed.  This unit has become far too lax and far too invested in persons, as opposed to their interest in mission success and survival.   I know.  It's TV.  

I also could not overcome the laxity by the bad guy who came out to pay off the assassin.  I did enjoy the faked raids and other disinformation the good guys pulled to get him to believe.  

Now...can someone direct me to the wood that could withstand that ordnance which was fired at Ray at point-blank range?  I need some for my nuclear bomb blast shelter.  ;)

[Chas411]

Jessica Pare is a brutal actress. She's not strong enough to carry any of the material they're pushing on her. There's zero chemistry with Boreanaz either so she doesn't have that ship to make her look good. 

She is the weakest link of the cast and none of the writers/directors seem to be able to see that.