![]() With all respect for Richard Jenkins’ skills as an actor, I really hope Steven won’t be back for season 2. And honestly - a CIA station chief of Steven’s seniority feels betrayed by a friend in this situation? I don’t find this conceivable, either. Or maybe there are a lot of closet Joschka Fischer appointees left in German government. out (which would never happen - the diplomats would be sent home but there would still be a CIA presence in the BRD). But that a German official would allow a mass shooting that resulted in the deaths of German citizens to occur in his country as a way of responding to it? Essentially this scene makes it sound like Hans wanted those people to be killed just to kick the U.S. That German-American relations are clouded by this issue, as you know, I agree is a fact. Two reactions to this: first, this is a great insight about the balance of power games that powerful states play with each other and it should have been articulated much earlier in the series, by episode three or so. Steven doesn’t know why Thomas Shaw all of a sudden focused on Berlin (as opposed to other areas he had targeted earlier). Steven doesn’t see how he was arrested that quickly Hans makes a stale joke about German efficiency. Hans points out that what happened at the mall isn’t normal in Germany (yes! yes!). ATTENTION: IF YOU DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THE PLOT UP UNTIL NOW, STEVEN WILL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU! Steven’s had time to think he doesn’t understand why Daniel didn’t turn Shaw over, or why Hans didn’t let him out of the country quietly. As Valerie can hold the “treason” threat over his head, she tells him they’re going to do it her way.Ĭut to Steven in jail. Robert sells Valerie on cooperation by pointing out it is the only way to figure out what Clay Williams is doing and shed light on why Claire was killed (actually, that was pretty clear to me, already) and maybe save Steven. She feels like she’s the giver in the relationship and she sets up a meeting with him. She wants a “chief of station overview” in return (which apparently would tell her who everyone is - their real identities). He’s using the phone to call Golda to prove to Valerie that he’s running Mossad and not the other way around. Next, Robert is in his apartment, pouring out a bowl of cereal when he discovers a cell phone in the canister! Valerie is there - I thought she’d left but I guess not. They are apparently intending to keep him a man of near-total mystery.Īlso: pretty night shot of Berlin, from the Teufelsberg looking east (the tower is the Fernsehturn / Alexanderplatz)ĭaniel calls home and tells them “I need to be brought in” and that he has a civilian with him. She’s got good questions - that he doesn’t answer (Hint: opportunity for characterization gone missing here). Patricia is obviously not thrilled about discovering what Daniel really does and Daniel is evasive. You can read about its history here.Įpisode opens with Daniel Miller reading a confession from “Thomas Shaw.” He’s tried to make the CIA more accountable.Ĭut to Daniel and Patricia, apparently at a car at the base of the Teufelsberg in the dark. It’s one of the many symbols of the reunited Berlin. Here’s the (controversial) Potsdamer Platz, where Daniel gets shot in episodes 1 (in preview) and (in real time) 10. I was wrong.Īnd: Looks like Daniel Miller will be back for season 2. In fact someone said that to me about two months ago and I defended the show. Some people would call this Muslim baiting. Particularly if you center it on the issue of alleged Muslim terrorism and child brides. That’s what I call opportunistic storytelling. Don’t create a character that you halfway flesh out (Claire), only to kill her off in a really cheap, Perils of Pauline sort of way, and then tell me that it was all for nothing anyway. You want morality? I’ll give you a sermon. This latter point - the preachiness - sticks in my craw particularly because the episode reveals that the major multi-episode plotline around the Iosavas was a CIA fake. This goes for overly convoluted plots as well as any moral dimension that we’re being asked to accept. I really can’t say enough: the story must tell itself. Many things are still implausible plot lines and characters were more or less dropped (why the hell were they even in Panama? Why show a picture of Gerald and Joker if they weren’t coming back? Daniel’s parents’ past what happened to Patricia?) and the sermon that we get at the end about whistleblowing - all I can say is - if that is the point of the show, then you need to show it to us all the way through the show rather than dropping a moralistic and blatantly partisan exhortation about it at the end. TL DR summary - this was one of the better episodes in some ways, and I wish we’d seen more such visceral exchanges between the characters and open expressions of emotion and effective characterization throughout the series.
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