This show has never been that good, but the first season was marginally entertaining -- because of this, I recorded and then binge-watched it. This season has taken a turn for the worse. This episode encompasses all the things in the show that have made it ready to be removed from my DVR schedule:
1) The character Lyor Boone completely ruins the tone of the show. When there is something serious in the episode, any screen time with Lyor completely squashes that and makes the show feel odd. Is it trying to explore serious issues or is it some comedy? Which is it?
2) The writing has gone down hill. This episode had some truly cringeworthy writing, especially the continued use of the term "SuckerGate" throughout the episode. Ugh.
3) Maggie Q is completely wasted in the show. Her character seems to get side missions (now that they've "eliminated" Patrick Lloyd). I like Maggie Q a lot and she deserves much better than the side missions and some romance with British Clark Kent -- in which there's no onscreen chemistry at all.
4) The overuse of the fix-all-solution: A feel good-speech by Kirkman. It seems that every other episode's problem is solved when Kirkman makes a feel-good speech. It's gotten old.
The show has moved from "so bad, it's good" to just plain "it's so bad".
This season represents a reboot for this series. The series seems to have gone from bland and boring to crazy and off its rocker. A good thing? Maybe, we'll have to see. This season premiere episode had some decent stuff, but it also had some stuff that was just silly beyond belief.
First, the good stuff, the bland team from last season is gone. I was tired of seeing Mills as the lackey in the team, I wanted to see some semblance of Mills from the movies. Second, they kept Clive Standen and Jennifer Beals, both the best things about the show. The show seems to have upped its action game also and that is a welcomed addition.
Now, the bad stuff. It looks likes the new show runner is going from grounded-in-reality to lets-just-do-it-for-excitement. Because there's no reality in this show. Christina Hart was able to see all the source code for a program that can find anyone anywhere on Earth... with a single Polaroid? Uh huh. A quarter master not only shows up at the right time and the right place, but with a Javelin anti-tank missile? Uh huh. A prison full of prisoners with enough gold teeth to melt for a half-foot long gold pick? Uh huh. Tracking a kidnapped girl by tiny little beads dropped every ten minutes? Uh huh. Like I said, this show is not grounded in reality anymore.
Other things, the green screening at the end of the episode? Wow, that was some terrible Hunt for Red October type green screening. I guess they've had some serious budget cuts for this show's production.
I will give this show a few more episodes, but I am not sure I will stick with it. And since it's stuck in a dead-end Friday night slot, I am not sure that it will last much longer anyways. That's too bad, since Standen and Beals are doing their best here. I still would love NBC to transfer Standen over to The Brave so that he can join that team. Then replace Anne Henche at The Brave with Jennifer Beals.
Another disappointing episode, made worse by the fact that there wasn't much action in the mission portion of the episode. The show seems to break the episodes down into three stories each week: The main mission story, the Nate story and the Spencer story. Going by this structure...
The main mission story was actually pretty tame and borderline boring this week. The main conflict between Jason and a long-time rival did not ring true at all. The way that Jason figured out how to complete the mission was also unbelievable. The only part that was good about this track was Ray educating Jason on how much more difficult it is to be a man of color in the Seal team. t was nice to see Sharif Atkins again, he was great on White Collar.
The Nate story finds Jason finding solace in speaking with Nate's hidden woman. After Jason ditches therapy and turns down Ray's offer, it is good that he has found someone to talk to about Nate's death. I hope this wraps up this storyline for good.
The Spencer storyline was decent this week, a little slow, but decent. It has Spencer and Adam going out to deliver the news of Brian's death to his family. What they find is that Brian didn't have much of a real family, but he did have a great number of people that supported and taken care of him -- and those people became his family. Spencer learns a lesson that his team is his family. Again, not bad, but still, a drag on the overall pace of the show.
This show is sitting on a bubble at this point. I almost removed it from my DVR schedule and may do so soon. After an exciting start, the show has really disappointed me. This episode did not improve things -- and at this point, I can't see myself sticking around for the full 22-episode run of the first season. I will give it an episode or two more to see if things change, but I doubt it.
This week's episode was a marked drop in quality over last week's. There are too many extraneous plot lines in this episode that seem to be only there to pad the running time to get it to 43 minutes of airtime. The Clay Spencer arc is boring and the character is unlikeable, making it even harder to watch when he's onscreen. The Nate plot line about the burner phone and Hayes going to investigate... What is going on here? He's a Navy SEAL with enough time to go on a stakeout? C'mon, please.
The best thing this show has going for it is when the team is planning and executing missions. Tonight's mission was great, I love the authenticity of the show during these sequences -- from the way tracer rounds ricochet off metal to the tongue of flame that was coming out of the gatling gun.
The show writers should stop with the silly, unbelievable personal stories like Nate's and ditch Spencer altogether. I am wondering if the Nate thing will lead to something that is not what it seems (gasp!). But, that would come off even worse than if she was Nate's affair. We'll see how it goes. I liked the first two episodes a lot because they had a laser focus on the team working together. This episode was full of distractions and that made it a less likable show.
