S05.E03: El Puente

[ottoDbusdriver]

With nations being rapidly occupied, Chandler tries his hand at diplomacy to unite two hostile countries so they can fight a common enemy.

 

Note: 'El Puente' means The Bridge in Spanish.

[ottoDbusdriver]

So, there's a second virus that controls some sort of motor.  Hmmm, now what could that be ?

How come Ensign Cyberattack/Swain isn't in a uniform yet ?  He was sworn in last episode as an ensign.  And he managed to forget standing when the President entered the room.

What happened to the missiles that Tavo's planes fired at Mayport ?  Did they use them all up and are just left with guns ? 
The CGI on the planes was pretty bad, those planes turned on a dime.  And apparently the stern CIWS is still busted from the computer virus.

The bridge blowed up real good !        </Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok>

So who's the mole that gave away the NJ's position ?

Sasha's face was actually dirty during this episode.

Chandler's scene as he passed Miller with the Chandler cutout was amusing.

Granderson's girlfriend, Kelsi, needs a hobby or something to take her mind off of obsessing about Granderson. Does Kelsi really not get what it means to be at war ?

Danny Green seems a little too obsessed about Pablo, and Pablo's untimely demise.  His every decision seems to be WWPD (what would Pablo Do) ?

I guess they ran out of Arleigh Burke-class miniatures for the map for the planning session, because the NJ was represented by what looked like an Iowa-class battleship miniature.

There's still something going on with Tavo's #2 and Tavo's spouse -- and for bonus points, she reads tarot cards.
Funny how she mentions that the tarot cards predicted the red plague, but the cards somehow managed to gloss over the fact that Tom Chandler and the NJ found the cure and shared it with everyone around the world, and then found the cure for the red plant plague and appears to have shared that with everyone around the world, and managed to stave off war in the Far East and the Mediterranean.  But, oh yeah, Tom Chandler is a bad man and must be Tavo's only enemy.

The President seemed to be in a wee bit of a snit all episode.  He's all angsty that Tom Chandler might fail and people will feel bad -- well, they can feel bad all they want under the iron fist rule of Gran Columbia if Tom Chandler fails (I don't think the President thought that all the way through).  Even the Army chief was all worried about Tom Chandler going into the line of fire.

[ChiliCrab]

If Danny and his wife get back together and have another son, his name would probably be Pablo. Something is seriously wrong with Danny though. The promo for next week has him fighting with Wolf.

Yup, it does seem like there must be something going on with Tavo's wife and his right-hand man. Too many shared looks to not be suspicious. Same goes with Granderson's girlfriend. It's understandable to be concerned about a loved one in times of crisis but her behavior was too much of a red flag.

Quality duct tape must be scarce in the South American jungle because the colonel got off the tape binding his wrists with just one bite.

This episode made me laugh more than I expected though and not just for the usual unintentionally funny scenes. Chandler and Slattery meeting Miller carrying Chandler's cardboard cut-out in the p-way was funny. So was Chandler's face during and immediately after the helo ride. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

The NJ was compromised by one or the other diplomats.  It's the only way that attack could have occurred so quickly.  The big misdirection smells like it was Cuba.

How many more screw-ups is Gustavo gonna put up with before he makes an example out of his #1 military dude?  

The firefights were absurd.  Well, unless the canvas of the transport was kevlar, and all the ammo for the Colombians were blanks.  Nobody ever has a grenade, nor explosive of any type of any type, nor bazookas.  The bridge blows.  Then?  The large advance force just sits?  They don't do whatever it takes to go after the rebels?  They are not alerting the mass army to hustle up?  Green and dirty face (hah!) have the order of battle and instead of moving heaven and earth to haul bootay to get it to the good guys, they sit?  

Steven Culp is an excellent choice to play POTUS.  He has not one staffer with him.  Uh huh.  The entire rest of the "free" world has no sat comms, either?  Nothing?  And they are not going bat guano crazy trying to contact each other, POTUS most especially?  Canada?  I did like the egotistical speech at the end.  Never mind it's all over if Chandler fails.  It's all about avoiding blame.  This was the most true aspect of the entire ep.  Culp is a very believable weasel. 

[alvajon]

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Sasha's face was actually dirty during this episode.

Yes, I saw that, finally, and speaking of looks, apparently Chandler has been using a tad bit of “Grecian Formula”...

[mxc90]

I love that wherever you are on the planet, when Gustavo or Chandler speaks ........everyone stops what they are doing, listen intently and the broadcast is crystal clear.

Two missiles fired from the helicopter and three planes taken out in the process. Impressive! Don't fly too close to one another is the lesson learned!

In the preview for next week, it seems Kara and Chandler are going to butt heads. Good! I was fearing that now Chandler and Slattery are onboard the Nathan James she was going to move the background and lose control of her ship to them.

[MissLucas]

I loved the helo crew, wish they got a spin-off :'Huey's Ladies'! But I do have a soft spot for helos (note to Hollywood: where is my Airwolf remake???) Anyway, I think Slattery is agreeing with me judging from his look after the fight in the mess.

Freaked myself out a bit because I knew exactly which tarot card would come next. I must be psychic!

Edited September 24, 2018 by MissLucas

[Netfoot]

And FFS, will someone please explain to Hollywood, that hot-wiring a car isn't like striking a ferrocerium firestarter?  You aren't after a quick spark.  Or any spark at all.  You want a good, solid short to engage the solenoid, and hold it while the engine cranks, until it fires!  Sheesh!

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Forgot to mention...After the Imperial Stormtrooper shooting in the previous firefights, the Colonel is hit with three kill shots out of, at most, five shots fired.  

Serious Q for those who may know - would those Hueys have been rigged with missiles which were developed long after they were retired?  Were those missiles just leftovers from decades ago?  

[Raja]

6 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Forgot to mention...After the Imperial Stormtrooper shooting in the previous firefights, the Colonel is hit with three kill shots out of, at most, five shots fired.  

Serious Q for those who may know - would those Hueys have been rigged with missiles which were developed long after they were retired?  Were those missiles just leftovers from decades ago?  

I haven't seen the episode but the USMC Cobra is basically a special made Huey and the newest versions have been updated to handle the latest weapons. The entire premise of the show makes you wonder why, beyond the real world US Navy redrawing support, that old weapons would be used when entire bases worth of modern weapons with less maintenance hours needed to keep them operating no one to man them should have survived.

[thuganomics85]

Since the colonel was suppose to be a prisoner, I'm not sure why Danny and Sasha didn't just tape up his mouth or something.  Or at least tie up his feet as well.

Chandler would be the one person who could make Mexico and Cuba form an alliance.  But could one of them actually be a mole?

Speaking of which, I really have to believe Granderson's wife is one too, or she's just the world's most obsessed spouse.  Of course, after all of the lovey-dovey talk, they didn't even end things with a kiss but an awkward hug, so they're really not coming off like an actual married couple to me.

The President is already becoming my favorite character this season because Steven Culp is awesome and even more awesome when he's just chewing people out.

So, Gustavo's main reason for everything he does is because of his wife and her tarot cards.  Yeah, that's the kind of reasoning I would expect from an psychotic wannabe dictator!

Hey, Brooke Langton!  Always good seeing her.

With this show, I can totally believe that all of the gags with the cardboard cutout of Chandler is actually leading to the big moment where they use it as a decoy.  Like they have the big "OMG" moment where we're suppose to think a sniper took him out, only to be all "Surprise!  It was his cutout all along!!!" twist.  I would love it if they actually went there. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

40 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Chandler would be the one person who could make Mexico and Cuba form an alliance.  But could one of them actually be a mole?

I think it is more realistic to think somebody in Cuba, or Mexico for that  matter, ratted out the mining operation.   The diplomats could be blameless.

[Dowel Jones]

I have a feeling that the Huey's crew chief pounding on Chekov's rotorshaft is coming back to haunt them.  Even if the actual rotorshaft is located about 6' behind them.

I'm glad the Colonel was able to channel Sgt. Elias in his moment of fiery glory there on the bridge.

Since Granderson's wife made a big deal of bringing her a bag of clothes, I wonder if there was a bug in there to listen in on the proceedings.  Or maybe it's the President himself.

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

So, Gustavo's main reason for everything he does is because of his wife and her tarot cards.  Yeah, that's the kind of reasoning I would expect from an psychotic wannabe dictator!

Yeah, imagine the US having a President whose wife consulted a tarot reader to advise her husband.  How absurd is that?  Heh.  Heh. 

So Chandler hears noises while on the bridge.  Shades of Run Silent, Run Deep.

Since the computers went down on all Navy ships, it might have been a good idea back in port to mount a few more heavy machine guns on deck instead of throwing in with the the rapid fire computer controlled magic of their original armament.  Just my thoughts.

ETA because I forgot about it:  When Chandler was giving his soliloquy to Gustavo, he used the term "dirt hole".  I wonder if the writers were laying in an almost subtle hint there.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Dowel Jones

[Ray Adverb]

I'm a little confused on how extensive Tavo's conquest plans are.  We know he hates the United States.  We know he wants to rule all the Latin American countries, up as far north as Cuba and Mexico.  Does he plan to invade parts of the United States too?

[ottoDbusdriver]

14 hours ago, Ray Adverb said:

I'm a little confused on how extensive Tavo's conquest plans are.  We know he hates the United States.  We know he wants to rule all the Latin American countries, up as far north as Cuba and Mexico.  Does he plan to invade parts of the United States too?

And open a chain of Los Pollos Hermanos chicken restaurants -- whoops !!  Wrong show. </sarcasm>

With such a reduced population to draw from, it will take many, many soldiers to occupy all of this territory.  Where are they all coming from ?

The US Army chief is sending 800 men down from Texas to defend the oil terminal.   Based on what we have seen of Tavo's army so far, it's not much larger than what the US has.

[Dowel Jones]

He claims he has 40,000 men, although 39,000 are probably on the south side of the bridge.  Which brings to mind the other problem of expeditionary forces.  You have to take along enough food and material to supply that amount of people, or forage along the way.  Either method puts a severe strain on a depleted countryside, and is liable to create huge resentment and anger in the populations.

[Leatherndevil]

1) I think that Tavo’s wife and his second-in-command are going or are having an affair.

2) Tavo’s wife reads Tarot cards and Reagan’s wife had seances.

3) Commander Granderson’s partner is probably some sort of spy. She may have his a listening device or tracker inside of her clothes and iPhone. Definitely don’t trust needle, clingy people like that. She is probably jealous of all the time that Granderson spends at work and thinks that if there was less conflict she would be home more. In a future episode it seems that the commander center gets shot up.

4) The Army General I get a feeling may also be working with Tavo? He was against almost all the action taken by Nathan James and would also know there location His motivation would be an isolationist.

 

i will say that those “Colombian” men looked like a snack. Ay Papi!!!

Edited September 26, 2018 by Leatherndevil

[raven]

On 9/24/2018 at 11:01 AM, MissLucas said:

I loved the helo crew, wish they got a spin-off :'Huey's Ladies'!

Me too!  They were having fun and making Chandler a wee bit nervous, hee.  More helo ladies please.

Green does seem a bit angry.

I would watch a show with just Wolf and Azima going on covert missions; they seem to work well together and they both look great.  They could have the helo ladies fly them to their mission locations.

So will we see any big deaths this season?  Chandler or Slattery ?  I'm going with no, I think the show will want to end leaving us with the major characters still kicking.

[Ebau]

I gotta admit, this was one of the show's better episodes, in terms of action and keeping the viewer engaged. Hope they can keep this up throughout the remainder of the series.