Berlin Station double bill
Dec. 19th, 2018 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessWatched on catch-up – All4 kept advertising 90210, which seems a strange choice – I’m not all caught up, still. (Christmas-related activity and superhero movies to see.)
Berlin Station 1.6 Just Decisions
At least Hector wasn’t in the room to plan the mission, but could Daniel and Esther be any more obvious? Well, Valerie took Esther’s caution as her similar to her own. But then it turned out Esther’s boss was indeed behind her cultivating Daniel, so Daniel had been right to be paranoid. I laughed at him being described as a low-level officer. (It’s also obvious that they do actually fancy each other under the spying/paranoia/fraught working relationship.)
So what’s the nature of Valerie’s relationship with Claire? It seemed a little more than mentor-protégé.
Ha, the Israelis did know what was motivating Robert, or rather eventually work it out.
The reporter and Daniel were an appropriate level of paranoid this episode.
I wasn’t sure whether Stephen going for the promotion or Hector/Claire was the least secret secret in Berlin for a while. We’re started getting more glimpses of Hector’s motivations and Claire’s backstory. His bad behaviour could be attributed to loving her.
Daniel’s question about why Thomas Shaw reached out to the reporter was a good one.
Stephen totally deserved Sandra pricking his bubble of self-importance.
The big operation ramped up in tension, and more and more things started going slightly awry, with Ruth turning up all confident, and though Claire was good, she’d been made (not enough Iranian-American officers in Berlin?) and it all went wrong very quickly. (Of course Hector had a gun when he shouldn’t have, but then he shouldn’t have been there.)
So, who took Ivosova? It seemed like it wasn’t the Israelis or the US – it could be the Germans, but they paid a huge price if it was, or a new player.
Anyway, we had a proper car chase, which was an even bigger injection of adrenaline than I was expecting on this show, with lots of VOWS about Claire. And for all her standing up for herself, she isn’t going to get out of the situation she’s in without help.
Ooh er.
1.7 Proof of Life
Fallout: Ruth further proving she’s one dangerous lady, Washington swearing it wasn’t them, it was the Romanians, but not before Esther started theorising it was them/Steven and being told to prove it. Hector getting his marching orders out of the station, with Danny sensibly going along with him (but I howled at the lack of gloves as they gave the van a look over and found a clue German forensics…didn’t. Well, it’s a show about American spies, not German forensics departments.)
There were all sorts of deals being done. With Claire missing, Valerie wasn’t going to go soft on Bora, even if he had just got shot. Sandra was very capable. Danny bossed Steven – although being around Hector at his most Hectory ought to give a trained observer food for thought.
The line about the 80s made me laugh. (Women wrote this episode, so there was a strong throughline of ‘Don’t mess with the ladies’. Best of all was Claire fighting back, although if the show was going fully action-adventure, she might have used the sky light as a weapon? (I blame the TV I watch for the fact my mind went there.)
I suspected Langley was lying when Berlin Station’s finest didn’t (although I then went ‘palm trees? Was it the Israelis?’ so I liked being vindicated on that.
Hector had hallucinations because of all the torture he was inflicting.
As Hector and Daniel approached the sound of gunshots, I thought it was 50:50 that Claire would make it. She didn’t. (With hindsight, I didn't remember her in the flashforward of the first episode.) It then became about whether Ruth would make it, with potentially useful info vs. Hector’s rage. Very clever progression in that scene.
Valerie, while absolutely grieving for Claire, did not break. Future boss for Daniel?
Steven being arrested and the fall guy (who was his competition for the promotion anyway?) was a nice twist.
Through the power of montage, Daniel put two and two together about Shaw’s identity, which is good, or he’d have looked beyond stupid. But the visual of the poster of Hector’s face was effective, and because we’ve had dream sequences and hallucinations, acceptable.
Berlin Station 1.6 Just Decisions
At least Hector wasn’t in the room to plan the mission, but could Daniel and Esther be any more obvious? Well, Valerie took Esther’s caution as her similar to her own. But then it turned out Esther’s boss was indeed behind her cultivating Daniel, so Daniel had been right to be paranoid. I laughed at him being described as a low-level officer. (It’s also obvious that they do actually fancy each other under the spying/paranoia/fraught working relationship.)
So what’s the nature of Valerie’s relationship with Claire? It seemed a little more than mentor-protégé.
Ha, the Israelis did know what was motivating Robert, or rather eventually work it out.
The reporter and Daniel were an appropriate level of paranoid this episode.
I wasn’t sure whether Stephen going for the promotion or Hector/Claire was the least secret secret in Berlin for a while. We’re started getting more glimpses of Hector’s motivations and Claire’s backstory. His bad behaviour could be attributed to loving her.
Daniel’s question about why Thomas Shaw reached out to the reporter was a good one.
Stephen totally deserved Sandra pricking his bubble of self-importance.
The big operation ramped up in tension, and more and more things started going slightly awry, with Ruth turning up all confident, and though Claire was good, she’d been made (not enough Iranian-American officers in Berlin?) and it all went wrong very quickly. (Of course Hector had a gun when he shouldn’t have, but then he shouldn’t have been there.)
So, who took Ivosova? It seemed like it wasn’t the Israelis or the US – it could be the Germans, but they paid a huge price if it was, or a new player.
Anyway, we had a proper car chase, which was an even bigger injection of adrenaline than I was expecting on this show, with lots of VOWS about Claire. And for all her standing up for herself, she isn’t going to get out of the situation she’s in without help.
Ooh er.
1.7 Proof of Life
Fallout: Ruth further proving she’s one dangerous lady, Washington swearing it wasn’t them, it was the Romanians, but not before Esther started theorising it was them/Steven and being told to prove it. Hector getting his marching orders out of the station, with Danny sensibly going along with him (but I howled at the lack of gloves as they gave the van a look over and found a clue German forensics…didn’t. Well, it’s a show about American spies, not German forensics departments.)
There were all sorts of deals being done. With Claire missing, Valerie wasn’t going to go soft on Bora, even if he had just got shot. Sandra was very capable. Danny bossed Steven – although being around Hector at his most Hectory ought to give a trained observer food for thought.
The line about the 80s made me laugh. (Women wrote this episode, so there was a strong throughline of ‘Don’t mess with the ladies’. Best of all was Claire fighting back, although if the show was going fully action-adventure, she might have used the sky light as a weapon? (I blame the TV I watch for the fact my mind went there.)
I suspected Langley was lying when Berlin Station’s finest didn’t (although I then went ‘palm trees? Was it the Israelis?’ so I liked being vindicated on that.
Hector had hallucinations because of all the torture he was inflicting.
As Hector and Daniel approached the sound of gunshots, I thought it was 50:50 that Claire would make it. She didn’t. (With hindsight, I didn't remember her in the flashforward of the first episode.) It then became about whether Ruth would make it, with potentially useful info vs. Hector’s rage. Very clever progression in that scene.
Valerie, while absolutely grieving for Claire, did not break. Future boss for Daniel?
Steven being arrested and the fall guy (who was his competition for the promotion anyway?) was a nice twist.
Through the power of montage, Daniel put two and two together about Shaw’s identity, which is good, or he’d have looked beyond stupid. But the visual of the poster of Hector’s face was effective, and because we’ve had dream sequences and hallucinations, acceptable.
