The second one. The whole plot is (hopefully) outrageous, so Jumping the shark would just cause a "why did I watch this long" reaction.
Owrite there are more of them then i would think and there is probably more demand for them then ever considering how state institutions poll.
I'll agree on the writing of characters. XO Kendal and the Shepherd character need a shot in the arm or something because they are bland and bland. The French NATO girl, I'm still confused by her presence besides being a "War is bad" person. The XO is married, Chaplin has at least 25 years on her, special forces guy has the bar maiden, so she isn't a romantic subplot in waiting. So what is her point now? Hopefully it's not to just blithely come to agree with the crew. I really hope this show does not go the route of Lost in the long run, becoming so burdened with mystery and it's own mythology that it becomes crushed under it. They need to solve some mysteries while adding intrigue later on.
If this was on cable you'd probably get that. But on one of the big networks...it's highly doubtful. They're too conservative (not politically but in the sense that they're afraid of being too edgy) for that.
^ At the very least I would hope that it's not the entire government who's in on this shit. Let there be at least some of them who are truly good. The President, for example? Ooh! I like that idea.
It's obviously a faction of individuals inside the government, not the entire government, at fault. Whether the President is involved is one interesting question, but keep in mind that the President benefited the most from the fake story that the Colorado was sunk by Pakistan. He was facing an impeachment vote during "Captain," and by "Blue on Blue" that's likely completely off the table as everyone would have rallied around the President in wartime.
^ Perhaps the conspirators are counting on that, to deflect suspicion ONTO the President who may not be really at fault...
The conspirators would not risk the president calling for an investigation or saying on TV that there are traitors within his government plotting against him.
It certainly has similar elements to BSG--the ship separated from its home, the charismatic commanding officer who has lost a son, a female officer who is hated by some of the crew, etc. But I also see some elements of "24" with all the ticking clocks, political conspiracies, last minute escapes, etc. Maybe it's just the way it's edited, but I kind of getting the feeling that they're going for a similar vibe. At least they're not doing the four screens in one.
The PD's on this show made a horrible decision casting an Australian guy to play an American navy seal and then having his love interest and the person he spends 99% of his time around be Australian. Dude just *CAN NOT* maintain the American accent at all. There were times in this last episode when he was just saying half of his words with an Australian accent and it was pretty noticeable and made you think "Why's this guy sound Australian?" The one thing I don't get about the aim/goal of the Captain and the crew. They tried to act like the original orders and attack to them were some type of violation of normal because they went through a back channel and didn't use the official network to be broadcast... but then this episode they're talking like the President is the one behind things. And indeed the first episode says something like because of the President's policy members of the Joint Chiefs had resigned from his administration...but the thing is he's the PRESIDENT. Even if the orders are something you disagree with isn't there still a chain of command here? What's the end-game? Are you going to have a military coup try to force him out? Assassinate him? What?
Presidents can't declare war without congressonal approval. There's some like a 22 period of grace, where he's allowed to get approval after the fact. Although there's a huge difference between declaring war officially and an act of war. What's the benefit for America, or perhaps just the Office of the President, to fuck some country up and not officially declare war on it?