According to what was said in the pilot the orders came through a back channel that's only used in the event that Washington DC was wiped out. Since DC was was not wiped out the orders were suspicious.
Other than a requirement that the Vice President be briefed on certain matters and the he gets a seat on the National Security Council, the Vice President has as much say over the executive branch as you and I do, unless the President chooses to give him something to do. In other news: I'm wondering where they'll go with the rapid decline in the crew's morale and acceptance of their current quagmire. Especially now that the COB is out but still not altogether on board Where is the government of this island? If they made that Julius guy the president/generalissimo/governor/mayor/chief I wouldn't even be asking this question. Instead I am just not buying the way they are playing him as the local mafia don in an area where the government no longer exists. I admit that I don't know all that much about Polynesian funeral customs. But I would swear, if I knew better, that instead of doing it right or to make it sound like it wasn't a specific island culture, they just took the words from an All Black Haka* and made it sound more funerary. Please tell me I am wrong. *For the uninitiated, the All Blacks are New Zealand's national rugby team. The Haka is the war dance they perform before each match.
Finally saw the latest episode, and still think the show is working really well. The killing of the hostage was genuinely shocking, and made the whole show suddenly seem much more urgent and real. And I like that we're continuing to see the crew being uneasy with the Captain's orders, and the XO struggling to maintain control (although Patrick's COB is still way too cartoonish and over the top). The only weak link was the ongoing storyline with the Navy Seal and the asian chick. I frankly couldn't care less about her family or backstory, and the way they kept cutting back to that during the episode was annoying as hell.
He has to find a reason to good reason to defend the island. Of course, after she dumps him he can just swim back to America.
I thought I heard part of the haka in there. I just assumed that the "locals" sang something they knew more so than that it was scripted. I still find it appalling that George didn't let any of the Maori Storm Troopers ever do the haka in any of his Star Wars movies.
Finally got around to watching last week's episode. Again, Andre Braugher carries the show through another week. I would follow him to hell and back the way he plays Chaplin. Scott Speedman's XO has a chance to be a great character, but they keep putting cliche lines in his mouth to say: I don't get the Navy Seal/Asian girl thing besides she can't act her way out of a paper bag.
Sigh, the ratings are definitely not looking good. It's infuriating that a good show like this is probably going to be cancelled soon and deemed a "failure", simply because it got put on the completely wrong day and time by the network. Even if they moved it now, it probably wouldn't do any good, since people aren't going to want to jump into the middle of a serial.
They had a line about it only be five or six days since the missile launch...once again making me think this would have worked better as a miniseries. They had a line about stripping the captain and XO of their citizenship (which is impossible) and cutting of the XO's pay (don't know about that one) and cancelling his wife's credit cards (is that possible?)...making me think do the producers have the ability to make the conspiracy anything other than over the top evil or do they just overestimate what the government can do against "TERRORISTS!!" and their wives. Remember they are going after the families and civil rights of people half a world away, not a good way to win friends and influence people. Which leads me back to my miniseries preference. The whole show could have been much better if they sat down, worked out the plot and the conspiracies and an ending and then shot a series that could be aired over a few quick days or, if still hour long episodes, all be pretty much in the can before the show started. Or at least available for a complete DVD.
While the ratings are worrisome, here is a piece of slightly encouraging news: The show has received an order for 2 additional scripts.
Yep, no need for those little things called trials. The government says you are a terrorist than they can kill you. That's not a conspiracy, it's a fact.
No one with any real responsibility was born into that America. The world we all live in is alien to our experience and... Are you watching Major Crimes? The cops have been told that trials are to expensive for the state to burden, so they are having a prosecutor stationed with them who can plea deal on site as the culprits are being apprehended thus circumventing the entire trial process... Which you know what that ultimately reminds me of? Judge Dredd.
Hey, at least they're not using a BS psychological light show thing run by an AI to determine whether or not you're a latent criminal and get the police to either stun you or kill you.
Does anyone think the lines by the Sec of the Navy could indicate that the President has implemented some kind of really far religious-right policies/administration? I can't imagine the Sec of the Navy ending orders talking about the glory of God or whatever it was he said in a normal world.