S05.E02: Fog of War

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode Description:

Quote

Thrust back to World War II era military technology, Nathan James must think fast to survive a fight with limited weapons capabilities.

 

Edited September 17, 2018 by ottoDbusdriver

[ottoDbusdriver]

Granderson's significant other seems to be a little ...... needy.  Who knows, maybe she is a mole for Tavo ?

Umm, that's not how satellites work, especially communications satellites that are usually geo-synchronous and about 25000+ miles up.
Scrambling communcations/losing communications with a satellite will not cause it to de-orbit.

Based on Chandler's description, this one computer worm took out everything -- planes, ships, helos, missiles (I'm assuming he was talking about ICBMs), tanks, etc.
Exactly how did this hacker in South America know this code would taking everything out ?  Beware the powerful worm !!

Will Slattery's old uniform even fit any more ?

Slattery: "Looking for sympathy, look in the dictionary between syphillis and shit."

I'm pretty confident that helmsman/Texas hunter Bell is probably a mole for Tavo, or maybe freshly minted Ensign Swain is a mole for Tavo, but there always seems to be a mole somewhere on this show.

Why would the Gran Columbian corvette sink a container ship ?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to hijack it and take the all the goods on it ?
Disrupting trade ? Really ? In a world with scarce resources, that seems pretty stupid.  It's not like the containers were full of rubber ducks or Tamagotchis.

I'm thinking the 'this is as far as I go' guide Marco tipped off the army.  That's why he refused payment from Sasha.
But then for a minute there I thought they had encountered a trophy from a Predator alien, but the guy still had his skin on so probably not.  
And it turned out to be Marco hanging upside down from the tree. So maybe not.

The island where the NJ was dueling with the corvette is a real island at the tip of the Florida Keys -- if the Gran Columbian navy controls the waters that far north, the US Navy is already kind of screwed.

Pablo we hardly knew ye.

Slattery's 'aim for my thumb' line made me laugh -- that's not how that works, since his thumb would turn as the ship turned.

The Mexican Ambassador broke the first rule of assassin's school -- never sit with your back to the door (or the room for that matter).  
And why didn't he have a security details ?  Since it is a time of war.

While everyone else looks grimy and sweaty after the ambush in the jungle, Sasha still looks pristine -- how does that work ?

Edited September 17, 2018 by ottoDbusdriver

[ChiliCrab]

I'd really hate to be Danny Green's friend. I'd also hate to be Danny Green. He's lost a lot of friends since season 1 and he's also watched a few of them die in front of him. He's also lost basically lost command of his team to Sasha. His wife also seems to not care about him anymore.

There has got to be something more to the scenes with Granderson and her girlfriend. Otherwise, they really are pointless.

Kandie is great when she fights and shoots. Then she speaks and it's bad acting all over again.

I'm convinced that Sasha travels with a makeup kit. No one lasts that long in the South American jungle and not have a speck of dirt, dust, grime, and sweat. At least now she doesn't look like she's walking down the runway at fashion week with her hair flying all over her face. 

[Raja]

Granderson is Baltar. Her wife/girlfriend is 6.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Raja

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Only one torpedo.  Only one missile.  

I still think the Panamanian guide did it.  He was an example and expendable like the worm creator.

The firefight on the rebel camp made no sense.  The first salvo was incredibly lethal.  What changed in the seconds thereafter?  They still had complete command and control over the targets.  Did they decide to aim the other way?  Laughable.  

Why kill the Ambassador?  The Mexican president would just have his misgivings affirmed to an outrageous extent.  Then it becomes a calculation as to allying with the USA.  If he believes the USA can prevail, he makes that alliance pronto.  Now Chandler almost instantly has an army on the ground at the fuel depot, if not the Southern border.  Mexico was behaving essentially as Switzerland.  That's all Tavo needed.

Green's reaction to Pablo's death was absurd.  He just acknowledged Pablo's sticking to the POW manual, and seconds later, he flips out like a fool.  He was shocked. after two or three such killings within the previous three minutes?

POTUS declares war and he did not even make a phone call.  Oopsie...TV comms are working fine, but radio are not.  Oopsie - radio comms are working at Chandler HQ.  

I did get the feeling that girlfriend was pumping her Navy lover for intel.  

Is this when our good buddy, the German captain who got blown to smithereens in season one reappears? 

Edited September 17, 2018 by Lonesome Rhodes

[torqy]

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I'm pretty confident that helmsman/Texas hunter Bell is probably a mole for Tavo, or maybe freshly minted Ensign Swain is a mole for Tavo, but there always seems to be a mole somewhere on this show.

 

I am sure that the general/admiral in the white shirt in the war room is a mole, he's just too sketchy. Ensign Swain is also a good possibility. Some of the writers on this show must have worked on 24. There's a mole in CTU!!!

I can't look at Marissa Neitling now without seeing Skyler. (If you also watch Elementary you're already laughing)

Edited September 17, 2018 by torqy

[mxc90]

There was a look between Gustavo's wife and his commander. The wife is up to something.

[MissLucas]

The pandemic and the red rust virus have a lot to answer for. There's only one edition of Moby Dick left in the world!

I would have loved for generic wonderkid to produce this out of his backpack:

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Pablo we hardly knew ye.

Literally. Classic Redshirt.

Do all navy people carry a copy of Moby Dick, or keep one close at hand? Whatever, this making codes from novels is real popular in TV shows all of a sudden. This seems like the third or fourth show I've see use it as a plot device in the past year or so.

[preeya]

14 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Literally. Classic Redshirt.

Do all navy people carry a copy of Moby Dick, or keep one close at hand? Whatever, this making codes from novels is real popular in TV shows all of a sudden. This seems like the third or fourth show I've see use it as a plot device in the past year or so.

So just to clarify. They can't talk over a non-secure line, yet they can say the name of the book, the page, paragraph, and line without anyone knowing what they are talking about. GIVE ME A BREAK.

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, preeya said:

They can't talk over a non-secure line, yet they can say the name of the book.....

They never actually said the name of the book over the radio.  They said "Do you have a copy of your favourite book to hand?" or words to that effect.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I am pretty sure Moby Dick is required reading for all at USNA.  A professional naval officer (and the Colombian ship sure seemed to have one) would likely know of this.  Remember, we were (are) allies and ran many interdictory sea missions together in the war on Escobar and FARC.

So now Tavo knows the NJ is about in the Gulf.  Is it possible he orders those planes of his to stand at the ready to take her out?  Why would he not have sent recon, at a minimum, when he realized she took out his Corvette?   

Now, if the fuel depot is all that and a bag of chips and Tavo absolutely must not get access, why not blow it to smithereens before he gets there?  This is no different than when a retreating army blows bridges behind it to prevent the enemy from an easier advance against them.  

[preeya]

3 hours ago, Netfoot said:

They never actually said the name of the book over the radio.  They said "Do you have a copy of your favourite book to hand?" or words to that effect.

I stand corrected.

[raven]

Aw, remember way back in S1 when our crew had to skulk around an island for monkeys and got into fights?  Those were the days.

Have Chandler's kids been mentioned?  Maybe they're still in Greece.

20 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

While everyone else looks grimy and sweaty after the ambush in the jungle, Sasha still looks pristine -- how does that work ?

 

20 hours ago, ChiliCrab said:

I'm convinced that Sasha travels with a makeup kit,

I almost hate to pile on but yeah, Bridget Regan's makeup really stands out to me.  It's OK, show, to allow her to look dirty and sweaty, really.

I wonder if new nerdy ensign who wrote the paper on the weak cybersecurity is behind the virus, just because I wouldn't put it past the show.  Then again, he's fresh faced and young, ideal sacrificial lamb material.

[preeya]

43 minutes ago, raven said:

I almost hate to pile on but yeah, Bridget Regan's makeup really stands out to me.  It's OK, show, to allow her to look dirty and sweaty, really.

Yeah, but she did manage to get her hand dirty:

[Dowel Jones]

On 9/16/2018 at 8:08 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Slattery: "Looking for sympathy, look in the dictionary between syphillis and shit."

Slattery must be confused about how dictionaries work.  "It's between shit and syphilis", as in alphabetically.

The Darien Gap is actually about 60 miles long.  The rebels must have been working for a long time to get that bridge built, given the lack of materials.  The Wiki article on the Gap is quite interesting; the first two wheel drive vehicles to cross the gap were a pair of "Unsafe at Any Speed" Chevrolet Corvairs.

What would have happened if Chandler had misheard Slattery's directives and turned to the wrong page, only to find some cryptic quote about "My crew is dead, yet I will pursue the beast to the ends of the earth"?

On 9/17/2018 at 11:12 AM, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Now, if the fuel depot is all that and a bag of chips and Tavo absolutely must not get access, why not blow it to smithereens before he gets there?

Not to mention the fact that the fuel depot is up at the north end of the Yucatan Peninsula, and his troops would have to traverse Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and several hundred miles of Mexico to get there.  It's not going to happen next week.

[Raja]

On 9/17/2018 at 10:41 AM, Netfoot said:

They never actually said the name of the book over the radio.  They said "Do you have a copy of your favourite book to hand?" or words to that effect.

Moby Dick might be required reading but for the code to work every copy has to be the same publisher, edition with the same font. It is the bad joke in churches when a pastor gives a page number for those who had not memorized the order of the Bible books 

[thuganomics85]

Hi, Pablo!  Bye, Pablo!  I get that his death is suppose to be a big blow to Danny, but since they only just introduced his character in this episode, it is hard to get that worked up over his death.

Yeah, I'm already getting into "Who is the mole, because someone will clearly be a mole?!" game.  Right now, I think it is either the Admiral that questions Chandler all the time, or Granderson's wife, who seems way too nosy.

So, who is actually in charge of Nathan James, now?  Slattery or Foster?

They weren't lying when they said Gustavo is basically Pablo Escobar.  While Maurice Compte is good in the role, I'm kind of wish they got Wagner Moura instead!

[Raja]

3 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Hi, Pablo!  Bye, Pablo!  I get that his death is suppose to be a big blow to Danny, but since they only just introduced his character in this episode, it is hard to get that worked up over his death.

Yeah, I'm already getting into "Who is the mole, because someone will clearly be a mole?!" game.  Right now, I think it is either the Admiral that questions Chandler all the time, or Granderson's wife, who seems way too nosy.

So, who is actually in charge of Nathan James, now?  Slattery or Foster?

They weren't lying when they said Gustavo is basically Pablo Escobar.  While Maurice Compte is good in the role, I'm kind of wish they got Wagner Moura instead!

Slattery is the fleet Admiral. I guess his only other asset at the moment  is Green's SEAL/CIA team if they can make contact. Meanwhile Green's wife Foster commands Nathan James.

[seacliffsal]

The president does not have the constitutional power to declare war.  Only Congress may do so.  It's such a simple thing to find out.  At first the show's president did say he was going to get Congress to sanction war or something, but the Marine commander later said that the president declared war.  Sigh.

Overall, I'm enjoying this final season.