Finally got around to watching the first episode, so far I really like it considering it’s “summer tv” as lordkosc said.
My only hope is they let it die after the original ten episodes, don’t “under the dome” it and try to make it a regular series.
Second episode was better, mainly because there were fewer opportunities for stupid.
Sure, there were bits that still annoyed me, like the way they treated the outdoors as a magical safe zone. Like SEAL guy coming out of the Hospital of Death and immediately taking off his respirator, because Safe Zone, Virus Can’t Tag Me Here a foot outside the doors. Like the obsession with dials counting down, where everyone had exactly 60 minutes of air, down to the second. Or the trauma stabilization scene, where I felt they were playing a dial game again, only with the blood pressure cuff. That felt like a game where if pressure counts down to zero, you lose!
So there was stupid, it just that the stupid bothered me less.
If it wasn’t as bad, it wasn’t exactly good either. Aside from the destroyer blowing things up, that was good. That, and the warehouse firefight scene made me want to play XCom again.
I’m enjoying it as a guilty summer pleasure despite the logic loopholes and sometimes silly contrivances in the writing. It’s got a decent cast, lots of action, a little mystery and a whole lot of premise to explore. The second episode at Gitmo was just the right mix of mystery and action to stay interesting throughout. I really hope though that the Russian ship they encounter at the end of the episode doesn’t become the crutch on which the show leans every week. “Oh no, Ivan found us again, time to get moving!” I suspect that is exactly what will happen, and the show will regress from tantilizing mystery location of the week to an extended chase scene covering the entire ocean.
I think that’s a fair characterization. Though I did get bored during the on-deck group hug at the start of the episode, where everyone was talking about people who were probably dead. My other worry is that this will turn into Falling Skies.
Jeebus, this show is terrible.
The GITMO episode was terrible. They took all the complexity of private military contractors and ll the complexity of what’s happening at GITMO and reduced it to “Private Military Contractors are super good guys, and everyone at GITMO is a hardcore terrorist who are irrationally violent, can’t be reasoned with, and will plant IEDs on American soil given half the chance.”
Yeah, I can see why the Navy signed up for this; they can’t do anything wrong! Pinpoint, and I mean on the dot, shelling of targets on land? Check. Lots of lovingly close shots of Navy weapons and ships? Check. Bunch of regular sailors going into a confined warehouse filled with Al Queda armed with automatic weapons, and taking them all down without a single loss? Check.
And, yeah, a bunch of PMCs would decide to let a bunch of Al Queda guys completely loose on a Navy base brimming with weapons where everyone else is dead (and where the Al Queda guys outnumber the PMCs 2-1), what the fuck did they think would happen???
Yeah, I love the premise, but from the initial dialog my hopes were dealt a blow and then by the end of the first episode I had decided there are foreign, subtitled series on Netflix that I would enjoy more. As Gus said above, there is a lot of good TV on these days and enough that I just don’t have time for a summer fun show as there as those good shows are premiered year round. Rectify’s second season, for example. The first two episodes were great. The Leftovers, I am not sure all of what is going on, but I love it. The dialog and performances are the very opposite of cliched. I used to be able to shut my brain down and enjoy this type of show, but there is too much of the good stuff thanks to Premium channel serieseseses.
All that running around in the snow with helicopters chasing after the scientists and them being saved by two guys on snowmobiles was nutty. Did any of them even catch a bullet or grazing?
Nope. As I said, the Russian soldiers went to Stomtrooper Marksmanship school. The closest I can come to justifying that is pretending that they didn’t really want to shoot the scientists. Because shooting the scientists they want desperately to capture would be INCREDIBLY STUPID. Unfortunately, it’s pretty clear that the writers wanted us to believe the Russians really were shooting to kill, but just couldn’t manage to aim those gatling guns.
All the good marksmen died as a result of the pandemic, obviously. Those were the cooks…and not Steven Segal-type cooks.
Looks like this show is a winner, the ratings are outrageous!
I just watched the second episode and it was far better than the first, a few stooopid plot niggles here and there, but the action scenes more than made up for it.
Looking forward to episode 3.
I thought he was going to say they executed the prisoners, that would have made sense to me. You really only have three choices in that situation, let them die of thirst or hunger in their cells, let them go, or execute them. I wouldn’t let them go, for obvious reasons. Of the other two choices a quick death seems to be the most humane.
I’m enjoying the show for what it is, a fast paced “Star Trek on a navy ship” adventure. But that guy saying they released the prisoners…my jaw dropped. Why? What crazy kind of scenario did that guy have going on in his mind where he thought that would work out well?
Maybe the writers are secretly trying to reform the public’s opinion of PMC’s, while at the some time demonstrating that prisoners in Gitmo are there because they are definitely all radicals.
Even if they aren’t radicals, or weren’t in the first place, they aren’t likely to trust you or be happy with you after being stuck in prison all of that time.
In the event of deadly virus apocalypse, i probably would not release prisoners. The chances of it turning bad are way too high. At most, if able, i’d simple place some of that large food supply in their cells.
I’m just waiting for them to gun down some american civilians. Realistically, if anyone is left alive, and they go back to land, they are going to run in to civilians, and if they do, it is probably going to lead to a conflict as panicked (and potentially hostile), infected people try to rush them. I’d be kind of surprised if they do something so controversial though.
Given that it is American prime-time network television, if they end up in conflict with US citizens who are NOT armed criminals (i.e. the classic “bad guys”) then the writers will probably hand wave a non-lethal response like guns that fire electronic stun bullets or tranquilizer darts or some such nonsense.
Yeah, this is a Michael Bay prodution. No way ever are Navy gonna gun down 'Muricans. And I doubt the Navy would have gone with it.
As long as they are rapist-cannibals who enslave children to work in the mines without safety gear, you can have the US Navy kill those Americans.
I simply do not believe the suicide-boat pilot and copilot could reasonably get away. Unless the destroyer has a transporter. Oh, hell, I simply don’t believe they survived the hydrostatic shock, never mind that they can swim 20+ miles in minutes.
Did not believe the tinfoil decoy either.
PMC guy apparently thinks Bradleys are tanks.
Still, this episode contained the least amount of stupid so far. It had stupid, but not as much as earlier episodes.
I thought that was a well edited and exciting episode. I guess the suicide crew just sort of swims for a bit, then gets picked up by a small rescue boat under cover of darkness. The Russians choose not to go after them, which makes sense since the Russians still have a card to play but mostly because now the US ship has all the advantages. Kill the suicide boaters and you get destroyed, it’s not worth it. Repair and chase after the Americans later, that’s their game.
The part that bugged me is the couple. He came across as mostly stupid. I get that he cares about her but come on. Until that mission is a success, she’s no safer on the ship than on the mission itself. Not to mention that everyone on that ship is all they have, everyone is going to have to get their hands dirty at some time or another. Meanwhile, she comes across as wimpy. She didn’t volunteer after all, she was picked by the boss. Maybe she could have reminded him of that and stand up for herself a little better. She did needle him about his poor performance, which was cool.
There are some interesting ethical issues hinted at, I hope they have the guts to follow through on them. Does the US leader try to rescue the traitor’s wife and kid? If not, why keep him around? He can’t be trusted and you don’t really need to be lugging around prisoners…
I really like the episode as well.
I agree the aluminum foil was dumb, since even if you could make it reflect radar, that doesn’t make their actual ship invisible. As far as rescuing the suicide boat crew, I figured they had pre-positioned the Navy SEALS underwater somewhere relatively close to go grab them and get them to safety. Although I suppose if you can get the SEAL team close enough to rescue the boat crew, why bother with the boat, just have the SEALS stick explosives under the enemy cruiser. It would have made more sense if the boat ha been packed to the gills with explosives.