One hour of the condor

[gwyn]

If any of you have been trying to reach me at all for the past, oh, week, my ISP is a totally fucked up mess, and I haven't seen a lot of my mail, nor has my mail apparently reached other people. Some of it seems to go through fine, others, especially those to other people on my ISP, aren't getting through at all. I hate them. But bear with me.


Last night, I told movies_michelle and feochadn after Numbers was over that I wanted to race home so I could post my fury at the craptasticness of the ep. but I decided to give it 24 hours. And I still feel annoyed. I loved all the personal stuff, as usual, but my god, the plotting was execrable. First off, you've got to have some nerve, or stupidity, calling your assassin Condor. Second of all, just in the first couple minutes, they already showed egregious violations of protocols, and just general stupidity that would get them killed in the field. In the past, they've played a little loose with the details but they get enough right that I forgave them, but this ep, not so much. It's apparently too much for David and Colby to actually go to the back and cover the egress. Otherwise, I suppose, they wouldn't get to engage in running about advancing behavior. And then a bunch of other stupid details, but none as bad as the big giant ball of who the fuck wrote this thing: Charlie has to tell the trained field agents that the first person on the scene is usually the suspect. For fuck's sake. CHARLIE has to tell them that, and they all stand around with suprised!face on as if they have never heard this before. And it never occurred to them that gosh, we might want to even just... you know, interview that guy we found with Colombian kid floating in the canal. Because, you know, maybe he could give us information. Never mind that he is probably the assassin. They didn't even question the guy. Honest to god, even Mulder wasn't this stupid in the FBI days. It is no wonder that the 9/11 terrorists were able to get into the country, sign up for flight training, buy huge ticket clusters, and fly airplanes full of people into buildings, because honestly, I don't think that the stupidity of the LA FBI office as represented on Numbers is a lot different than the stupidity of the real FBI we learned about after the attacks.

It's the kind of thing that makes me want to shoot the TV. I hate it when shows I love are idiotic. Yeah, okay, Don should be wearing a helmet or at least an FBI hat when he's out with his body armor and all kitted up, but actors don't like to obscure their faces. I forgive them that. I can't forgive them writing people as this stupid. We were all bellowing in pain when this was going on, and 24 hours hasn't made me any less annoyed. I can't stand it when people say they love a show, and then nitpick and complain about every episode. When I was reviewing the Jossverse shows, I tried to be as evenhanded as I could, but I came it from a place of love, so when I didn't love something, I always tried to back it up with the solid reasons. So, the last thing I want is to start getting cranky with Numbers when it's about my sweeties and I want to like it. Normally, I can speed bump their silliest inanities. The exposition as dialogue, the violation of protocols, the poison crack they smoke to come up with those oddball Charlie's mind on math interstitials. Sometimes I even like it. But this episode was inexcusably written -- it was clear they had everyone being that dumb because otherwise, they wouldn't have had a story, and if that's the case, move on to the next script, and fix the holes in this one before you film it.

But I did love the little flameout Charlie and Don had over the dance, because it led to more let's talk about Don stuff, which I adore. I also love that Don is so exasperated with Charlie over his Amita failures. Because he's right! Charlie is a dumbass. Amita should slap him. Actually, he might like that. Scratch that idea. I don't know, I think they are a cute little math couple, so I hope those two crazy kids can make a go of it. I loved Ravi Nawat on Angel, so I'd like to see her teach Charlie a few things about lurve.

Comments

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Where can I go to learn the proper way for agents to take a room and all that?

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

try googling: Tactical entry procedures

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

You're just funnin' me, right? I mean, I think you are. Based on the knowledge I've seen you mention about things militaryish. But these days, I cannot tell when people are joshing me. I seem to have lost all ability to get what people are thinking since Sis_r died... and I've become very gullible!

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

I know the technology of some things, but not the techniques, and the send-the-partner-to-cover-the-back part I've seen in lots of TV shows, but I don't know if it's really real.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Ah, gotcha. For something like that, where they suspect that the person they're looking for might bolt, and they have an extra team, someone would be deployed to cover any egress routes. When they use an entry team with those battering rams, they have teams at any entry/exit, as well. If they've done the work to get the warrant, have a cop with them to serve, and they don't have a team covering exits, that's just silly.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

I've been missing TV right and left this week. (Without a Trace and Numbers, sigh.) Looks like I didn't miss much. But is Amita the person "stalking" Charlie?

I adore Three Days of the Condor, too. Damn stupid inappropriate referencing!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

They haven't said who's stalking Charlie yet. But they've shown the eps all out of order so far, so it's hard to tell. This was originally supposd to be first, I think, or at least, it was written that way. It wasn't that they were refereincing the book/movie, really, that gets me. It's that there really was an Operation Condor in the '70s that the US was possibly behind, that was essentially a kind of assassination program in South America. There's a big time disconnect there, most of all, but I just thought it was either ballsy or stupid to create your own Operation Condor that sounds a lot like the real one, but have it be about someone/something else.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

But they've shown the eps all out of order so far, so it's hard to tell.

Out of curiosity, how do you know when a show/network is airing eps out of order?

It's that there really was an Operation Condor in the '70s that the US was possibly behind

Ah, I getcha.

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

As soon as Day of the Condor became popular, government association between Condors and assassins should've ended.

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. See, okay, I've got this whole tragic condition where I never quite know what emails I actually sent and which I only think I sent, but I think I sent you a vid LoC during that period. If I sent it, I've still got a copy, so if you didn't get it, let me know.

Jesus Christ. That made no sense at all. I'm writing like a crazy person here.

And apparently, based on the rest of your post, that qualifies me for a big career writing Numb3rs. If they call me ("Hi! We heard you're writing like you had your brain surgically removed but you're trying not to let it interfere with your output - want a job?"), you will be the first person I turn to for advice. ("Um. Quick question - which one is Don and which is Charlie? And also Larry? And...is there anything else I need to know for my first day?")

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

All you have to know is some math, and you can make up the FBI stuff, apparently. so apply! Don is the FBI agent formerly known as Joel Fleischman, doctor in Cicely, Alaska in Northern Exposure, and Charlie is also known as Mr. Universe in Serenity. Larry is sadly well known from Ally MacBeal. Don't hold it against him, but, since he keeps turning up the preciousness these days, I may have to.

I did get your mail because sensibly, you sent it to the gmail account. My home account is the one that appears to be blown.

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

I know math! I have a semi-reliable source for some of the FBI stuff! And I know how to use Google!

Shit. I may be over-qualified. Perhaps they'll let me PA for it, though.

Side Note of Shame: I had to ask Best Beloved for help decoding your descriptions. All of them. ("Cicely, Alaska is not a TV show. Northern Exposure is the TV show. It's about a doctor. And eccentric villagers. You know, because it's Alaska. [quote to do with a Game Boy] [anecdote explaining quote] And Ally McBeal was...a TV show. Um. You know what, let's just leave it there.") And even BB couldn't catch the Mr. Universe reference.

I...I lose at fandom.

*slumps off in sadness*

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

I prefer knowing Larry used to slay dragons and get the girl in a previous life.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Or, even better, that he wanted to offer up Sigourney Weaver's baby to an evil deity in a painting.

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Which makes being chief lawyer for a big-money Chicago hospital small potatoes....

[umbo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed with this episode as well.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I'm all for bringing in real history, and I get the desire to TVify the real life tactical stuff, but... they used real history but messed it up, and then did all the tactical stuff wrong.

[barkley.livejournal.com]

I didn't mind that they called the assassin Condor because it most likely didn't come from Three/Six Days of the Condor, but instead from this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor

And the part where Charlie explains to them about the first person on the scene? Oh, that was just eye rolling. I have to ffwd over that on the rewatch because it's too damn stupid. They've done that before on stuff in the first season that I've chosen to erase from my mind where Charlie comes in and explains things patiently to the stupid FBI agents. But I come out overall with a good feeling from this episode mostly because everyone talks about Don and I am v. v. easy. *g*

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

No, I know!! that's what I was thinking of -- it seems to me either really ballsy or really retardo to take something that is actually history, manipulate it into your story to be about something else (reminding me, in a way, of that quaint habit they had in the '60s and '70s on TV of making up country names that were thinly disguised countries in real life like "he's the king of Molzania" and then the IMF team would have to despose him by making him think his dead daughter was trying to kill him from beyond the grave or something), and then messing it up timelineswise! I just though, man, if you're going to bring in something like Condor or the assassin schools or something like that, at least try to do it better, more creatively. And Don was so surprised by everything Elizabeth Pena said, as if he's never heard of any of this political stuff!! Arg. Head go boom.

I am usually easy, too, when it comes to my woobies, but they just did it once too often this time. They should spread the dumbess around a little .