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Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:
A militaristic general in a "middle European" country plans to attack a neighboring country under the guise of military exercises, aka war games. He has a bent toward astrology, so Shannon pretends to be a royal astrologist and gets him to admit where the missiles are kept. As Max and Nicholas defuse the missiles, Grant hacks into the war games computer system and overrides the attack.
Memorable Quote:
Missed a couple of bumps back there. ~Max
Highlight:
Max's capture and escape in the trunk was dramatic and compelling. Always interesting when something goes wrong with the initial plan and the team has to adapt.
Missed a couple of bumps back there. ~Max
Highlight:
Max's capture and escape in the trunk was dramatic and compelling. Always interesting when something goes wrong with the initial plan and the team has to adapt.
Lowlight:
It's silly at the end how much latitude the team has to move around the base. Once the general starts flipping out, Grant climbs down unnoticed from behind the map and leaves the bunker with Nicholas and Jim. Then they meet Max and Shannon in a car out front without a word from the many soldiers in the area.
Final Analysis:
Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:
- At first I thought the chauffeur who Jim exchanges coded phrases with in the beginning was the soldier who MacGyver spares in To Be a Man, but I checked IMDB and that's not the case.
- Our third straight episode involving an overly ambitious military leader!
- You'd think the general would be suspicious of Jim and Nicholas (pretending to be UN representatives) considering that his men captured a spy (Max) on the same day that they showed up. Wouldn't he at least ask to see some papers? And it's surprising that the rogue general would spend time accommodating the UN to begin with.
- And how does Shannon sell herself as a member of the royal family that no one's ever heard of? Perhaps this spycraft thing is easier than we think.
- I like how Grant hides behind the giant map, even if it's unclear how he is able to hack so easily into the controls.
- How did the country's leader get to the base so fast after seeing the news report?
Final Analysis:
Like the last two episodes, this one was not spectacular but better than most of Season 1. The general was a little too goofy for my liking, but there were some good moments and I wasn't pining for it to be over (there's a ringing endorsement!). I'm ranking it 7 out of 24, right in the same area as the other Season 2 episodes thus far.
I couldn't get into this episode too much but there were a few moments I enjoyed. The search of Grant's truck after Max climbed in was exciting as you pointed out. Some of Shannon's mind games with the general over astrology was amusing, particularly when she likened his prior readings to junk astrology and asked him if he was "about to meet a dark, handsome strategy". Also, I busted this show's chops pretty severely for the awful blue screen effects on the bridge scene in "The Golden Serpent", so I gotta give them credit where credit is due with the effects on the scene where Max was hanging under the military truck. It was very convincing.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, despite a clever story idea, I had a hard time staying interested as the story played out. I'll rate it in the bottom half between "Submarine" and "The Fixer".