Doug Wallen
Senior HTF Member
Nice Civics lesson, Adam.
The show has been basically telegraphing that message every scene she is in.I've assumed that blondie is a spy for someone since the first time I saw her. Don't ask me why, but, there it is.
One thing that frustrated me with Sunday's episode is that Takehaya was able to get his hostage video stateside in flawless high definition. Given that he is now invested in the Nathan James's success, it seems like they would have asked him how he evaded the signal interference that is plaguing the American government. Perhaps he had the footage manually recorded onto physical media and manually delivered to the United States by boat or plane. But if so, they needed a line of dialog to explain why he can't solve their video problem.So, no news on the suicide, but the president's former inner circle has grown smaller. Someone there must be working with Peng - getting information out.
I was really gratified that: a) we finally understand the stakes of the international conflict; b) the virus hasn't mutated, but the Chinese green mist can prevent the cure from working on people who haven't already been vaccinated; and c) people who've already been vaccinated aren't susceptible to the green mist. It means that all of the progress they've made so far isn't for nothing; the green mist is just an (admittedly massive) obstacle in the way of spreading the cure to the populations that it hasn't already reached. As a viewer, I really needed the progress of the first two seasons not to have been invalidated.Meanwhile, they finally discover the green mist and we know why the cure isn't working, but they don't have a way to counter the effects of the green mist yet. It seems all out war with Peng is coming soon.
Given that USA Network is an NBC Universal channel, I figured they'd be broadcasting Olympics coverage. But their schedule shows a Law & Order: SVU marathon, so I'm guessing you're right.I guess TNT is taking a break next Sunday for the Olympics?
Edit: Checked the schedule and it looks like they are repeating this week's episode next Sunday. Presumably they don't want to put up original programming against the Olympics.
Due to the closing of the ranks, it does seem like there might be a conspiracy or at the least, a mole. Wonder if the President was assainated???
The show has been basically telegraphing that message every scene she is in.
Renewed for a fourth season, to air next summer
Regarding Sunday's episode.
The arrival of "President" Oliver reminded me of a speech Tony Kushner put into the mouth of America's 16th president in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln:
"I decided that the Constitution gives me war powers, but no one knows just exactly what those powers are. Some say they don't exist. I don't know. I decided I needed them to exist to uphold my oath to protect the Constitution, which I decided meant that I could take the rebel's slaves from them as property confiscated in war. That might recommend to suspicion that I agree with the rebs that their slaves are property in the first place. Of course I don't, never have, I'm glad to see any man free, and if calling a man property, or war contraband, does the trick... Why I caught at the opportunity. Now here's where it gets truly slippery. I use the law allowing for the seizure of property in a war knowing it applies only to the property of governments and citizens of belligerent nations. But the South ain't a nation, that's why I can't negotiate with'em. If in fact the Negroes are property according to law, have I the right to take the rebels' property from 'em, if I insist they're rebels only, and not citizens of a belligerent country? And slipperier still: I maintain it ain't our actual Southern states in rebellion but only the rebels living in those states, the laws of which states remain in force. The laws of which states remain in force. That means, that since it's states' laws that determine whether Negroes can be sold as slaves, as property - the Federal government doesn't have a say in that, least not yet then Negroes in those states are slaves, hence property, hence my war powers allow me to confiscate'em as such. So I confiscated 'em. But if I'm a respecter of states' laws, how then can I legally free'em with my Proclamation, as I done, unless I'm cancelling states' laws? I felt the war demanded it; my oath demanded it; I felt right with myself; and I hoped it was legal to do it, I'm hoping still."
Under the U.S. system of government, you become president if you're elected to that office, or ascend to that office if you're the vice president and the president dies, resigns or is removed from office. Those are the only two options. You become vice president if you're elected on a ticket with the president (either through a majority of the electoral college or, failing that, by the U.S. Senate), or -- if a vacancy should arise -- you're nominated by the sitting president and confirmed by both house of Congress. Again, there are only two options. If both offices are vacant, Congress provides for who shall act as president.
Under that scheme, and under the terms Congress set out in 1947, Michener was empowered to act as president. He had the weight of history and the law underpinning his claim. He evidently chose to interpret that mandate to not just act as president, but actually assume the presidency. The text of the Constitution would argue against that interpretation, but this situation has never been tested. Much like John Tyler in 1841, his interpretation carried the day because no effective opposition stymied his interpretation.
Having been accepted as president rather than acting president, he apparently nominated Mr. Oliver, the mayor of St. Louis during the outbreak, as his vice president. To be confirmed, he should have received a majority vote in both houses of Congress. And to conduct business, a quorum must be present in each house. But in this case, most of Congress is dead. According to current practice, vacant seats don't count when calculating a quorum. Taken to the extreme conclusion, if 99 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate are vacant, the remaining surviving Senator qualifies as a quorum. Presumably one or more representatives also survived to establish a quorum in the House. This is all highly irregular, and would be subject to a legal challenge. But again, given the extreme circumstances, the theory carries the day because no one has put a stop to it.
The regional leaders have no constitutional basis for their power whatsoever. They filled a power vacuum and made their regions function. Michener accepted their authority as legitimate because, in the absence of functioning state governments, they were partners he could work with to implement his agenda and get America back on the road to recovery.
Now Michener is dead, of an apparent suicide. That leaves us with a potentially illegal vice president who has assumed the presidency, a chief of staff and foreign affairs adviser with equally dubious claims to their positions, and a half-dozen unelected leaders with no basis for their power except that nobody has stopped them.
When Kara opposed their agenda, they froze her out. But what's the basis for her authority? She is an American hero, part of the crew of the famed Nathan James that brought the cure to America. Across the country, families are safe because of what that ship did. If they make the American people choose between them and her, they might not like how they fare.
Even more so for Chandler. Second perhaps only to Dr. Scott, he's the face of the Cure. He's Washington, Grant and Eisenhower all rolled into one. President Oliver is the commander-in-chief because Chandler as the de facto head of the American military recognizes him as such. But if Oliver gives Chandler a command he cannot or will not obey, then Oliver ceases to be the commander-in-chief because nobody's listening to him. Likewise with the devolution of the National Guard into regional militias under the command of the regional leaders. If those militia members are forced to choose between listening to the regional leader or listening to Chandler, my guess is that they're going to side with the man who brought them the cure.
All of which is a long way of saying that the current government has gotten a long way through chutzpah and sheer force of will. But their authority is built on a house of cards, and they've neglected to pay sufficient attention to the other players around the table with better hands.
One thing that frustrated me with Sunday's episode is that Takehaya was able to get his hostage video stateside in flawless high definition. Given that he is now invested in the Nathan James's success, it seems like they would have asked him how he evaded the signal interference that is plaguing the American government. Perhaps he had the footage manually recorded onto physical media and manually delivered to the United States by boat or plane. But if so, they needed a line of dialog to explain why he can't solve their video problem.
I was really gratified that: a) we finally understand the stakes of the international conflict; b) the virus hasn't mutated, but the Chinese green mist can prevent the cure from working on people who haven't already been vaccinated; and c) people who've already been vaccinated aren't susceptible to the green mist. It means that all of the progress they've made so far isn't for nothing; the green mist is just an (admittedly massive) obstacle in the way of spreading the cure to the populations that it hasn't already reached. As a viewer, I really needed the progress of the first two seasons not to have been invalidated.
Given that USA Network is an NBC Universal channel, I figured they'd be broadcasting Olympics coverage. But their schedule shows a Law & Order: SVU marathon, so I'm guessing you're right.
I definitely think he was assassinated. The show making such a show of dredging up his past instability feels like a red herring to make the reveal shocking. Given the stakes, I just don't see him throwing in the towel like that. And given the regional leaders' increasing unhappiness with him, it sure seems like they used the vulnerability exposed by the revelation of his screw up in Florida to make their move.
Absolutely. Either Elisabeth Rohm is a worse actress than I thought, or her character is supposed to ooze insincerity.
And then she will likely start gathering together people with guns who know how to fire them.
I was wondering that too. Was he intentionally undermining the president as part of the conspiracy, or was the president being undermined just the consequence of his tenacious journalism? If the later is true, he might prove to be an ally in the battle to shut down the conspiracy.No sign of the reporter this episode, I wonder how he will play a role in the upcoming developments.
I was frustrated by this as well, since his efforts to freeze her out of the new inner circle went a long way toward establishing him as the probable traitor. If it's just meant to be accepted as a red herring, that will be disappointing. A line of dialogue where he thought she was in on the conspiracy or something would have gone a long way toward clarifying his actions.The big question in the recent episodes is why Rivera was playing so cagey. Did he think he was helping Kara by locking her out?
I was frustrated by this as well, since his efforts to freeze her out of the new inner circle went a long way toward establishing him as the probable traitor. If it's just meant to be accepted as a red herring, that will be disappointing. A line of dialogue where he thought she was in on the conspiracy or something would have gone a long way toward clarifying his actions.
I definitely think you're right. The frustrating thing is that he first started freezing her out and limiting her influence when she spoke out in favor of Michener's agenda in front of the president and the regional leaders. Now he might have been doing that to protect her, but it would have been nice for the show to find a way of clarifying that.I thought when he was in her office he was trying to let her know that he was on her side (at least that passed through my head) in a very roundabout way.
Yeah, they've definitely been playing a long game for months now. Their problem is that they haven't reacted well when things didn't go according to plan. When Chandler didn't die in the plane explosion, things started to go off course for them. Instead of considering other means to neutralize him, they stuck to their original plan of killing him, with increasingly brazen methods that resulted in increasingly unacceptable collateral damage. Taking out Chandler's plane made a ruthless sort of sense. Sacrificing the entire Pacific fleet to take out Chandler was always going to be a pyrrhic victory for them at best, with any benefits gained by taking out the popularly beloved adversary far outweighed by the loss of an effective means to defend the western ocean border.Remember, Adam, The regional "Leaders" have been at this for a while. The whole reason they sent the NJ, and the CNO to China was for Peng to kill him, and they DID kill the President, I suspect because his family was already dead, and thus not as malleable as they needed.
Yes, the fast pacing of the last couple episodes is the pacing the first two seasons set, which I always found to be one of the strengths of the show. The two-part season premiere covered a ton of plot in an exciting and satisfying way, but then episodes 3 through 8 dragged as it took forever to reach and rescue the hostages and then reestablish contact with St. Louis. It does look like we're in for a sprint to the finish, though.I was glad that the reporter was brought right into it. I was a bit disappointed that he didn't try to use his resources to get some word out before he was named a fugitive at the end. Of course, things were going by quickly.