Sunday, May 25, 2014

Season 9, Live Another Day: 2pm-3pm: Not thinking much



Was it formulaic? Were there any surprises? Was it predictable? Was it worth the hour plus this post? How ‘bout I just say that’s too much thinking.
Yup, Jack gets inside the US embassy OK, takes out a guard humanely (choke hold that takes 20s), gets his garb and his security card, calls Chloe to find out where his guy is, gets there, cold cocks that guard (humanely) before he can answer the phone, convinces the prisoner that Jack believes him (solely because he says so), finds the crooshall missing cirkit [do a search on those 3 words, and maybe you’ll be as surprised as I as to the result; they come from TABBA8D, not the subtlety  found in that link but stenciling on the wall where electrical circuitry sparks soon fly;
[*]
but that’s not what I found in my search], leaves his guy, swipes his badge to escape the building, “d’oh,” mere milliseconds after security locked down the building, sees a wire in the ceiling, recognizes it as a secure comm. line, barricades himself in a comm. room with hostages (3 women fearing for their lives, despite Jack continually reassuring them that he’s not gonna harm them, even while he’s shooting at guards—albeit after checking with Chloe to learn they’re in heavy armor so he shoots only at their chests), starts downloading the circuit to Chloe, “d’oh,” it’s encrypted, “d’oh,” Assange-leader provides a decrypt program, but  it’s slow because of budget cuts—computer at the US embassy has only one processor. So, Jack has no way out, trigger-happy marines outside the door, aching to take him out, sharp-shooter with shoot to kill orders, the phone rings, he’s pissed because he already told the negotiator he won’t negotiate, but he’s the only one surprised to hear it’s from…
You guessed it, the President—Heller. Jack finally gets respect.
Heller finished his big “speech” before parliament. Shouldn’t a got my hopes up. No hecklers this episode to put in their places, no rousing speech (better one last episode while Heller practiced, only to be shot down by Chief of Staff Mark, though Audrey was getting teary-eyed, seeing her pop summon the old pop, the rousing leader), just platitudes and quiet MPs. So much for me ever getting my hopes up again for this show!
Then COSM swishes Heller and Audrey out and tells them Jack’s back, and he’s cornered in the embassy. Both Hellers want to know why COSM didn’t tell them sooner. He mealy mouths an excuse. Pres. Heller wants to talk with Jack, hence the phone call you guessed. Jack tells Heller the story of how drones are about to be commandeered by a really bad terrorist and assassinate him. Audrey believes Jack. COSM doesn’t, and that’s his job.
And COSM gives an explanation to which we all say, “Right.” But here’s the thing: The argument that Jack is feeding a line to them is a good one! That’s exactly what Jack would be doing if he had to get his way. We know it’s the truth, but were we there, COSM’s argument really should win the day—even if Audrey says she knows Jack, her judgment’s not colored by knowing him, rather it’s the most objective. Who knows what Heller thinks, but he gives the marines the go ahead to take Jack out. So stop thinking you’re all that smart when you hear things you know aren’t true but others believe them!
Luckily, DQ is brighter even than you. She knows only Jack’s reputation and label as a terrorist. She’s not seen the intel that clued Jack into the scheme, not seen what you’ve seen of the real terrorist threat. But she starts to figure out what Jack’s up to and thinks it’s worth checking out rather than blowing him away. Though no one else gets it, and they still play the “she didn’t even know her hubby was an enemy spy” card (we better get something more out of this plot line than that), she won’t be dissuaded. She sees Jack shot the marines in the armor and concludes he just might be a red-neck, er, good guy. So she crawls into the ventilation shaft above the marines, drops in on Jack, unarmed, gets him to drop his gun and surrender to him (Assange-leader’s decrypt code was just too slow, and I mean just—only by about 4% or 1 minute!), then just after the marines blast the door, facing the marine with orders to shoot to kill, she declares Jack her prisoner, so they all back down. Good thing I’ve consciously decided to suspend my disbelief! And this episode ends.
But I’ve not covered the terrorist plot! Wifey isn’t quite as stupid as MEH. Wifey spills the beans to Mummy about MEH’s plan to escape her evil clutches before having to pilot the drones of death that’ll give him nightmares and a bad conscious for eternity. Mummy says she’ll do anything to keep MEH from leaving, anything to make him pilot those drones. We all know what that means, and yup, that old devil predictability rears its ugly head. Mummy, wifey, and goons pay MEH a visit. MEH says Mummy can’t do anything to him that will make him pilot those drones. Mummy says she believes him, and has goons chop off a finger—wifey’s, starting with left pinky. How humane, but don’t get your hope up  as she immediately proceeds to the next, the one with the wedding band on it, though no big deal made of that, and MEH succumbs before wifey loses it. Whew, they’re still married. But I’m thinking Mummy has a missing circuit in her head if she thinks giving MEH who doesn’t want to kill innocents control of the drones of death—who might he rather point them at?

[*]In the pink: "FIND THE CROOSHALL MISSING CIRKIT WIN A FREE TRIP TO PLANET TEN" Sphere: Related Content

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