Been pretty interesting so far. Good enough to stick around; can see it moving off in many, many directions. A somewhat psychotic Claire Danes, a totally unknown Damian Lewis, a naked Morena Baccarin… what’s not to like?? :)
— Alan
I caught up with it last night. I like what we’ve been given thus far.
The opening credits are awful, but I like the show.
oh, yes. You are absolutely right about the credits. Horrible.
They’re covering Brody’s psychic damage pretty well, I think. The bit with the praying in the garage in Arabic was extremely creepy. It was pretty much a “I am a Cylon” moment. Not intrinsically, since it’s just another stupid religious ritual, but because it’s clear in this case that he’s adopted a custom from the people who held him captive and tortured him.
I think it’s telling that they ended the episode right before he started talking. I don’t think he’s playing the hero card in the way they expect him to.
I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about this. I think it’s fantastic - the three major leads are really at the top of their game.
I don’t know about that. I think it’s possible that he may have converted. Note his shock at dinner with “We say grace now?”
If I remember correctly, terrorists tend to try to convert anyone they capture to Islam.
One of the problems I have is that I tend to watch this show shortly after having watched “Strike Back” on Cinemax, it makes me think that the B storyline is going to explode in a clusterfuck of fail.
How is that different than what I said? The scene says he converted to Islam… the religion of the people who tortured him. Whether he’s now “turned” (whatever that means in this context) or not, he bought into the beliefs of his captors at least that much. That is what is creepy.
I don’t see that as related to his conversion. I took it to mean he wasn’t religious before, or at least not religious enough to partake in a custom as obnoxious as saying grace. Given that the question did not surprise his wife, I assume that’s how she remembers things as well.
Whether he’s now “turned” (whatever that means in this context) or not, he bought into the beliefs of his captors at least that much. That is what is creepy.
I guess I don’t see how it’s creepy. It could be that in the chaos of capturing and interpretations, having a schedule set in something could have been a bit of a comfort.
I don't see that as related to his conversion.
Well if his family had turned religious it may have been a point of even more friction to come.
The show is terrific and Claire Danes’ on the edge, verging on a breakdown, obsessive nature is compelling to watch.
I love Damien Lewis, but he does weird things with his mouth. Yeah, that is the best I have as far as criticisms go. Moving to the corner and sitting their all day was brutal. Also, knowing that your wife was banging your friend adds an extra layer to the ways he has been fucked over. His scene confronting his “friend” and telling him to get the hell out was really good.
Patankin is perfect as the fatherly, quietly intense confidant and authority figure.
Watching tis last week directly after my DVR of Person of Interest made me stop recording PoI.
They’re doing the espionage aspects pretty well. As well as any show that I can remember since Rubicon. Which had a lousy main plot, but man, the “background” material on analysis of intelligence was great. It sure does make shows that pretend to be about intelligence such as Covert Affairs look very sad indeed.
It made me think of Rubicon too, in a good way.
I can’t really see how this plot is going to hold up over a whole season, but I hope they pull it off.
I have been thinking about this sentiment as it applies to several shows as I say the same thing about a bunch of crazy show premises. I remember when I and many others said it about 24. I have come to the conclusion that the people making the decent TV shows know 87 times more than me about assembling a story that spans a season and can pull it off most of the time since they probably had to plot a lot of it out to sell it to a network.
Well, 24 was only slated to last 13 episodes in that first season so they had to majorly stretch it when they got their extension.
— Alan
Watched the first episode last night and the wife and I are all in. We liked him in Band, but fell for him in Life. It was a natural thing to see this, and it’s looking like it will be must see tv for us.
The weird fact of the matter is that quite a lot of television writers prefer not to have the entire series run written in stone before they even start the series. It’s one of the complaints I’ve heard on a couple of Nerdist Writers’ Panels. I’m not too terribly worried about where they’re going to go with it.
I am, however, worried about those godawful opening credits. I’m not even sure what that had to do with the show as I understand it.
So, she’s schizophrenic? That’s what I’d guess, anyway. It’s an interesting angle to take, but this seems like something that would have come to light in public during one of her extended trips to Bahrain before she screwed everything up, but maybe that’s me knowing too much about refilling prescriptions around a travel schedule.
The prescriptions she’s getting on the sly from her sister…?
Yes. If she’s getting the drugs for her sister, that means that she has an irregular and unpredictable supply, which would make foreign assignment basically impossible, so if it’s an anti-psychotic or something in that family, you would expect somebody to have noticed.