Indeed. I like how this show manages to both take its time to develop the characters, while at the same time keeps the plot moving along at a sufficient pace.
She won’t dare move against him until she knows if anybody else knows. Because if someone else knows? She’s dead; or worse, they’ll capture her and they will break her. Suicide is the only way out.
The best option she has available until she knows who else knows is to go double-agent and make him believe she can be used as a weapon.
Their best option is to get Claire’s baby away form her and sprit that kid off across the Atlantic to a safe house in Boise. If she is human, her entire plan must have been that when she goes down, she can get away with her child - either through the passage to the other side, or at the least, somewhere else.
OR, she is psychopathic and damaged enough that she truly doesn’t care about her own child. If she’s that crazy, they’re fucked.
She killed herself without a moment of hesitation. I think she IS that crazy and they are fucked.
In other, more generally laudable words, the show is brilliant. It is an unlooked for breath of originality and writing and acting at its best.
This really is the Golden Age of TV.
Good episode.
Here’s the thing that’s bugging me at the moment: everyone is tracked at “customs” on both sides of the passage. It should be a massive red flag when someone doesn’t go back through to the other side at their appointed time. And while this hasn’t been specifically stated, I find it very hard to believe any “Unlimited” visas exist.
This is totally something they could explain away with a line or two of dialogue, but as far as I recall, they haven’t.
You have a point. It should have raised eyebrows within the agency on our side at least. OTOH, the customs people go through are part of the respective secret agencies on both sides, not regular customs, so any effort to find “over-stayers” has to be very discreet. And now that we know that the ambassador is part of the rogue terrorist cabal it’s not like you’re going to get a lot of cooperation from the other side’s embassy.
That’s fair, I’d just like to see it acknowledged or addressed in some way, even if only to say it has been taken care of.
I guess somehow you have to drug the original and ship them back across the border. It is interesting they only use polaroids, so you can’t do any facial-recognition or whatever we’d do here. “hey lets just see which of our employees have doubles that came across the border, no more moles.”
I believe Claire, but that’s because I am a sucker for pretty faces.
Tough to do when they no longer have a heartbeat. Just sayin.
Hey, that’s exactly how voodoo zombies worked. Drugs!
Ugh, I’ve just begun watching tonight’s show and I’m really afraid that Pope’s true believers are going to have all those kids at the secret school murdered, aren’t they, now that the jig is up. Too many witnesses otherwise.
Later: Goddammit.
And OMG the scene between our two principals!
As for the scene between the two Howards, I thought it was interesting that A) Beta Howard lied concerning the wife’s health and B), more generally, lost the exchange between them. Howard Prime “won” that confrontation.
Who are you referring to as Howard Prime? OurSide Howard (who’s temporarily on the other side) or the other one? I’d say that the OurSide Howard won it when he admitted he’d known all along about his Emily’s work and affairs.
BTW, regarding “Baldwin’s” little adventure this episode: was the guy she murdered one of the crossover dudes or the hapless guy on our side that the crossover dude was going to replace? I’m thinking the latter (because she’s fulfilling the original mission). But at first it seemed that it could have been that she had gone rogue out of revenge for the attempt to kill her.
Also, OMG is Quayle a lying snake.
I believe the guy Baldwin killed is our side dude and she’s fulfilling her contracts to earn the money she was supposed to be paid. Of course, if other side dude had already killed and replaced him then there’d be no way for her to know.
Great face-off between the two Howards.
Also tonight showed clearly what happens when you arm teachers.
I love this show, but am not a fan of the cinematography. Specifically. I find it super dark, and I’m not sure if it’s my eyes, an actual effect, or an illusion, but it seems like there’s frequently a dark halo around the edge of the screen, and it makes me feel claustrophobic. Anyone else seeing the same thing?
That effect is called “vignetting” I think (at least to go by the photo modes in games like Shadow of Mordor and Mad Max). I haven’t noticed it specifically but I’ll be watching out for it. Doesn’t bug me but I could see that being an artistic choice to achieve precisely the effect you describe.
I originally thought it was the sleeper agent, but he was staying with the two others and there’s no way he’d just be whistling along oblivious while putting away groceries. Has to be the local version.
The most interesting part of that was her facial expressions. I didn’t get “cold-blooded killer” at all – she seems to be questioning everything now. Add to that her relationship with the bartender, and her arc could go someplace unexpected.
This is a terrific show. I expected JK Simmons to be great in it, because he’s always great. I didn’t expect pretty much everyone to be great in it.
Latest episode, No Man’s Land Pt 1 seemed to go in several unlooked for directions. I attribute this plot-within-plots and a few twists thrown in to writing undertaken with a longer view than one season in mind.
Which is fine by me, I can’t imagine the show will remain this good over even the medium run; but for now? Impressive.
Next week’s Episode, No Man’s Land Pt 2 marks the end of Season one, by the way. A second season of ten episodes has already been ordered.
Damn, that episode was intense.
But unless Quayle was driving that SUV at more than 50 mph into a concrete wall, there were going to be survivors.
Yeah, but I was really annoyed about the very end. Really? After what just happened, you’re going to let THAT stop you?