With the appearance of Joaquim de Almeida, the actor who played Nunez, who’s been in a lot of film and TV productions but who I’ll always remember as Ramon Salazar from 24, and Kim Raver (Julia), who of course was Audrey Rains on 24, and Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet on Lost), this felt like “This Week in Television: 2000’s” for me. My two favorite shows from that decade.
In Mexico, both Miles and Rachel proved pretty inept at breaking Monroe out of captivity from a gang of Mexican thugs, by getting captured themselves. In Oklahoma, Aaron and his wife Priscilla got reacquainted as they discovered they have a son they had never realized they had. The son of course is the newly awakened AI that we learn from Grace, got its brain from computer code Aaron, Priscilla, and a friend had written while at MIT. In Texas, Charlie struggled to keep Gene out of Patriot hands but in the end failed. But it all worked out. Gene’s medical skills are needed by the Patriots for typhus outbreak it seems. And elsewhere, Tom and Julia continued their bickering and scheming while their son Jason did something unexpected. He tried to do the right thing by digging into Doyle’s plans for other reprogramming camps like the one that had messed with Jason’s head. Kids today. Always messing up your plans by trying to help people.High Points
Although I’m really tempted to give this category to the Mexican party – who doesn’t love a good party? – I’m going to give it to the ending scene with Monroe and Connor. Connor’s acceptance of Monroe’s plan was absolutely chilling, as was Monroe’s ominous, “You stick with me. We’re just getting started.” Other nice parts were Miles getting locked in the same cell with Monroe - it was snark city in there, and more bonding and old-people jokes between Charlie and Gramps.Low Points
I hated watching Connor whipping Monroe. Yes, Monroe more than deserved it, but I still didn’t want to see it.Hottest Action
Team Monroe, Connor, Miles, and Rachel fight it out with Mexican thugs in the kitchen of the Mexican villa where they had been held. What made the scene were the exhibition of Rachel’s prowess in using cooking pots as weapons, and Monroe taking the time to admire Connor’s ability to handle himself in a brawl.Best Quotes
Monroe: “Wow, your boss has really nice taste. It’s like Donald Trump threw up on Scarface.”Jason: “Pretty much the guy who screwed me is screwing mom.”
Monroe: “What was I supposed to do, he’s my son.”
Miles: “Oh shut up. You’ve been his dad for five minutes. Now all of a sudden you’re Cliff Huxtable?”
Miles: “I can not believe the first selfless act of your life is the one that screws me too. Thank you.”
Grace: “There are more nanites than there are neurons in a brain. In a million brains. So if they learn to network …” Aaron: “That’s a big ass brain.”
Grace: “Like anybody, it just wants to know who its parents are.”
Grace: “Try wrapping your head around this. This thing is everywhere. And apparently it’s got a mind of its own.”
Aaron: “Yeah.”
Grace: “Aaron, how’s that any different from God?”
Connor: “You know who obsesses about weakness? Weak people.”
Tom: “This poker face is my face.”
Great Review! I like where the second half of the season is going and the past two episodes have been really good.
ReplyDeleteNice review. My thoughts are basically the same as last week. Without the Miles/Monroe dialogue this show would not entertain me in the slightest any more. I'm a little disappointed that the quotes didn't include the Miles one "You're a dick." I must say the second that Connor mentioned a Mexican being his effective foster father, I just KNEW it would be Ramon Salazar. Basically every powerful Mexican in every TV or film ever is him. And he is epic.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing about the "Ramon Salazar" casting. That guy is everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know he would be in it until 30 seconds before he appeared when I guessed it. Odd that I didn't pick up on his appearance beforehand or in the guest credits which I usually look out for names I recognise.
ReplyDeleteI have to say the snarky back-and-forth between Miles and Monroe is one of the highlights for me, and does will in filling up these reviews. ;-) I paused on the dick one, but it felt a little too generic. Maybe if he says something like that again ... Agree about the actor who played Salazar being everywhere. He's good though!
ReplyDeleteI think with that quote it was a combination of Miles saying it, the situation, the look on Monroe's face and the look on Miles's face. It was brilliant. Yeah, he is. Just over 10 years ago (10/28/03) he made his first 24 appearance. I'm pretty sure he hasn't actually changed at all since then.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I had trouble staying with this show last season, but it really pulled me in this year - due in a large part to the shift in Monroe and his integration into the group. The nanobots, or whatever they're called, are interesting to me too. That storyline has real potential to go somewhere and give the show some direction.
ReplyDeleteThe delivery is usually a factor in what I include. The "You stick with me. We're just getting started" quote almost made the cut for that same reason, but I decided to leave it out because I had referenced it earlier.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember that one. Maybe it's because it was I hated the story surrounding that conversation.
ReplyDeleteIt was at the end. It was the say he said, "we're just getting started."
ReplyDeleteYeah, I vaguely remember it from your comment about it in the review. Like I said, the whole Monroe militia storyline is a big no no for me.
ReplyDelete"Connor’s acceptance of Monroe’s plan was absolutely chilling, as was Monroe’s ominous, “You stick with me. We’re just getting started.”
ReplyDeleteExactly my thoughts. So far I think they have done a nice job at making Conner look pretty contradictory and feed into the disloyalty equally coming from both Nature (Monroe) verses Nurture (Nunez) aspects of who Conner "could" be, but that question of the Monroe Republic really showed some conceit and I think it will be interesting to see where Conner's over all motivations lie and/or if those motivations can change due to other influences!
I'm still really wondering about Aaron's experience about it's "corporealness". I had thought before that maybe that the nanites are "astral projecting" Grace and/or Priscilla, but this episode may have given my suspicions some support with the character named "Loyd Welliver" (may play Walt Loyd and MIB/Smoke Monster [played by Titus Welliver] on LOST). I think this "Peter" will be an important player too (I suspect Fringe reference here, with both Fireflies and 'Peter and the Machine(s)' allusions, but we'll see)
"In Mexico, both Miles and Rachel proved pretty inept at breaking Monroe out of captivity from a gang of Mexican thugs,"
I def thought this was interesting writing, as it seems fairly obvious that Nunez will reel his head some point later in the season, which is promising for Conner's own potential character arc.
I also am wondering if Nunez will have a relationship with the Patriots, as we know they have been hiding out in Cuba for the last 15 years. I can't help to think that there meant be a correlation there!?
For me this episode was a good set-up episode, I'm looking forward to see how these different stories will all converge and where everyone will end up again at the end of the season!!
Thanks again for another nice review, Chris! :)
Connor is being set up to potentially be a very interesting character. I agree with you that it will be interesting to see where he goes from here. Good catch on the Welliver name. You're good at catching those connections! Agree with you that the reference of Peter wasn't a throwaway line. That struck me as I was watching the show. He'll be introduced and play an important role before this is over, I'm sure. It hadn't occurred to me that Nunez would be back again, but you're probably right. We can never have enough bad guys, it seems!
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