Television: The Brave: 1.01 Pilot (recap/pic spam/review) Spoilers. I talk about the whole episode
Blurb: When Dr. Kimberly Wells, an ophthalmologist with Doctors Without Borders, is kidnapped by the Al-Nusra Front in Northern Syria, it is up to DIA Special Ops Capt. Adam Dalton and his team of misfits to find the terrorists responsible and bring her home safely.
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Not sure I'd call Dalton's team "misfits", but hey. I've already written a general blurb in my post NBC's The Brave: a new show I'm enjoying and why, but decided I want to do a discussion of each episode in more detail. My recap of the pilot will be the most detailed given that it's the introductory episode.
The episode starts as expected it to with the kidnap of a young white woman. Her name is Dr. Kimberly Wells, an ophthalmologist with Doctors Without Borders working in Northern Syria,
We are then introduced to the US team based in Washington.
Some backstory in the form of a photograph of her son.
"Command" at the Defence Intelligence Agency
Then we meet Hannah Rivera and Noah Morgenthau a little bit but not too much exposition.
Noah: Hannah.Did you find an apartment around here?
Hannah: No, I'm renting downtown. Why?
Noah: 'Cause I live 10 minutes away. I look like this. You live 20 minutes away, and you look like that.
Hannah: I have a go bag.
Noah: Well, you're not in the field anymore. You're an analyst, so you can ditch the go bags and embrace the coffee machines.
A little exposition on Patricia Campbell as we learn that her son died in combat ten days ago, but because there's a crisis, she will of course be on the job.
Flash to Incirlik, Turkey, home base for the Special Operations Group
We get our first glimpse of Dalton
His buddy Patton, a Belgian Malinois who doesn't seem to have a handler but lets him wonder around hanging around with the SOG team.
Dalton's a dog lover. This tells us that he's a Good Guy :)
Within seconds though he's summoned by Campbell who tells him about the mission. I suppose it's a little bit like Mission Impossible except a little bit more plausible and Mike Vogel is extremely likeable, not annoying like Tom Cruise.
Dalton summons his teams. The commentary gets a little bit more Mission Impossible-esque here.
Campbell: We've got no other HUMINT or SIGINT, and not for lack of trying. I don't have to give you a primer on the politics of this one. You'll be going into a non-permissive environment in a state of civil war. And into a city where half the population will shoot you on sight if they figure out who you are. There'll be no support on this one. No cavalry.
Dalton: Right. We are the cavalry.
We meet Preach
Amir. Note - they make it pretty clear he's Muslim.
McG.
I guess the book is supposed to convey to us that he's erudite as well as the team's stud muffin :)
Jaz
There's also a promo video on youtube that introduces the team. It's not bad except that it spells Jaz's surname wrong.
Click to viewWe get some more insight into Dalton's team.
McG: Man, I appreciate the effort, but when are these bleeding hearts gonna learn that it's just too dangerous to try and help people over here, man?
Preach: God gave us two hands for a reason, my brother: One to help ourselves and one to help lift others.
McG: Thank you, Preach.
Jaz: (holdng up her rifle) I got better uses for mine.
Preach: Oh, now.
Amir: Were you raised Muslim, Jaz?
Jaz: (coldly) I was raised a New Yorker.
Dalton explains to Amir, the newbie, that the guy they lost, the guy Amir's replacing was Jaz's best friend - hence her badittude.
The team move out
Meanwhile, poor Dr Wells is still having a very bad time of it.
The team in DC are attempting to make her look well connected as it will keep her alive longer. They think that the kidnapping might be revenge for the fact that the US recently dropped a JDAM on a meeting of Al-Nusra Front principals, killing their leader, Burhan Baghdadi.
And we get the ticking clock as the terrorists drive Dr Wells into the Al-Nusrah controlled part of the city. "Al-Nusrah doesn't ransom Americans; They chop off their heads."
Over in Syria, the team all have their parts to play. Dalton's monitoring and controlling things
Preach and McG are watching from above, presumably because it's not quite so easy for them to blend in.
Amir and Jaz are down on the street
Dalton's calling plays
Although when he recognises Abu Al-Akmuti, Baghdadi's top lieutenant, they have to improvise and end up capturing a prisoner of their own.
As Dalton convers with Campbell about what to do, we learn more about the team. First Jaz:
McG: I thought you were gonna end that guy in the market.
Jaz: They get grabby, I get crabby.
Then McG and Amir as we see Amir praying.
McG: Amir, doesn't it make you a little angry to be sitting in a mosque praying next to a guy who might blow your head off someday? Amir: Makes me angrier than you, as a non-Muslim, could ever understand.
There's some pure exposition as learn that while Amir might be new to the team, he spent three years undercover with ISIS, Dalton vetted him and trusts him. We also learn that Hannah had an experience in the field where she was carved up and left for dead.
The Campbell-Dalton-Hanah discussion is much more expository. I preferred the subtley in the Amir-McG discussion. McG makes a comment, Amir doesn't get angry but replies calmly. McG doesn't push it, listens and accepts - as do the other two. They could easily have made McG into an Islamophobic bigot, but they didn't. He's clearly just making comments to see where Amir sits on the issue and it's a fair enough question in many ways. They didn't have Jaz or Preach leaping in to defend Amir because clearly they want to learn more about Amir's beliefs, too.
Amir goes in undercover and pretends to be a prisoner like Akmuti so that they can orchestrate an escapge that will result in Akmuti taking the team to where Dr Wells is being held prisoner.
Jaz and Dalton wait in the car outside and this scene is mildly expository but still very well executed and acted. I really enjoyed it and I think it gave us some fascinating insights into both their characters and their relationship.
gifset by gargoyles42
I couldn't help myself, chain of command be damned, I started shipping them. Also, from what I can see, the team seem to be on pretty casual, easy terms and I'm guessing that because it's not a traditional military team. Dalton, McG and Jaz are from the Army, Preach is Navy and Amir is from Intelligence (civilian and non-military). Whatever the reasons for their informality, I don't care. I ship 'em.
The plan goes awry when Akmuti comes to the car as planned but then he holds up broken glass to Amir's throat.
Jaz: You still think I can make that shot?
(silence)
Jaz: That's what I thought.
Dalton drives while Jaz hangs out the window
Amir plays it surprisingly cool
The road is bumpy and throws up some challenges to Jaz who is attempting to shoot Akmuti while not taking Amir's head off. The way Dalton looks at her tells me has absolutely no doubt about her ability to execute.
Jaz takes out Akmuti with a headshot
Amir is ridiculously chill when Akmuti's head explodes and the man slumps over towards Amir. He just reaches up, calmly pushes Akmuti back to the passenger-side and says: "Target's down," in the most unrattled of voices ever. It's quite intriguing as I was expecting Amir as the newbie to be a bit rattled.
When they all pull over to regroup, Jaz is a bit smug :)
Amir: Good job.
Jaz: You're welcome.
Command tell them that Dr Wells has been transported into a city hospital
They watch as the terrified doctor is propelled inside
I love the look Amir and Jaz give one another when Dalton starts giving his instructions.
Dalton: Amir, Jaz, I want you two to couple up. You should have no problem getting inside.
Jaz: What are you gonna do?
Dalton: Wing it.
Amir and Jaz couple up as ordered and get inside the hospital
Dalton's winging it
An ID on the woman who kidnapped discloses that she is Amara Baghdadi - Burhan Baghdadi's wife
Meaning that he's not dead, but injured and Dr Wells has been brought to the hospital to operate on him.
This changes everything and DC has a moment of angst. It took seven years to find Baghdadi. Letting him escape so he can rebuild his terror network is not considered an option. Campbell is told to retask Dalton's team and everyone gets a chance to say something.
Noah: We can't do this. You can't do this.
Campbell: Burhan Baghdadi's alive. If he gets away, there's no telling how many more innocents he will kill.
Noah: Which is why we hit him with a drone strike when he leaves the hospital. What we do not do is sacrifice Kimberly Wells so that we can get Baghdadi instead.
Hannah: If Dalton goes after Wells, it'll tip Baghdadi off that we're on to him. He'll slip out of that hospital, disappear into the city You don't know that for sure.
Campbell: Nobody wants to save Kimberly Wells more than I do. But we are fighting people that want to wipe us off the planet. That means we have to be as ruthless as they are.
Campbell and Hannah aren't particularly convincing in their delivery but Noah impressed me with his earnestness, although he kind of flips to the other side in episode 1.03 The Greater Good but I'll deal with that later.
Campbell gives her orders to Dalton. He gets a resigned look to him.
Campbell: If you cannot eliminate Baghdadi, you are to withdraw without engagement so as to not tip his people off that we are on to him.
Jaz: So Wells is dead.
Dalton holds up his hand to stop her.
But fortunately, there's a nice and unexpected twist. It looks ike Campbell's prepared to give Dalton some latitude and trust his judgment.
Campbell: Adam, our target is Baghdadi. But as far as I'm concerned, how you get him is at your discretion. Is that clear? Dalton: Acknowledged. Stand by.
Jaz: Top?
Dalton: Yeah, ju- ... all right. (covers his face) Officially, we have been retasked to get Baghdadi. But Director Campbell's given us some latitude as to how we do that. We're outmanned. We're outgunned. And even if we could get into that OR, we can't fire a shot 'cause we're stuck inside of a damn hospital. We got one thing going for us. That's that she doesn't know who we are.
Jaz nods
Dalton: All right, I got a plan. It's risky, but far as I'm concerned, we didn't come this far to leave Kimberly Wells behind.
The team springs into action like a well-oiled machine. Dalton gets himself captured and wish Jaz's help, knocks out Baghdadi's men and then tricks Amara Baghdadi into coming to him. Again with Jaz's help, he persuades her to release Dr Wells. He knocks Amara Baghdadi out and pulls out packets containing strange orange material - presumably explosives.
Poor Kimberly Wells has got to be thinking that this next walk is her last one. She approaches Jaz and Amir - coupled up again. They take out her two guards and deliver her to Dalton.
Who's waiting at the end of the hall
Meanwhile, Amara Baghdadi has woken up and is whisking Baghdadi out of the hospital. The first time I saw it, I wondered why Dalton and Jaz hadn't tied her up!
Dalton and his team seem unfazed though and watch them leave
Noah and Hannah are having a quiet freak out about the fact that Baghdadi's getting away.
Campbell looks inexplicably serene. What does she know that we don't know? Or is that she just trusts Dalton implicitly.
Dalton raises his hand and we see that he's holding a detonator.
Baghdadi's blabbing on about how great things are gonna be now that he's out and they're gonna do so many bad things together and he doesn't notice that Amara's ignoring him and looking down at the butt of her rifle ...
That Dalton's stuffed with explosives ...
I now understand why Dalton didn't tie her up or kill her ...
*boom*
No more He Baghdadi or She Baghdadi plus Dr Wells is safe now. Two missions accomplished and everyone's happy.
Campbell uses a drone to spy on the team while they relax back in Turkey at Karatas Beach
Alas the episode does not end well when both Hannah and Dalton notice a vehicle careening towards the beach .... and exploding ...
So overall I thought it was a very strong pilot. Pilots are never easy - creating a world and introducing us to a range of characters without relying on painfully explository "CV Moments" and clunky dialogue. For the most part, The Brave succeeded. I enjoyed the team dyanmic. I like that they didn't have to rely upon too many tropes, stereotypes and clichés to introduce us to the characters. The team are likeable, layered and the crumbs they threw out to us are intriguing rather than eye-rollworthy.
I enjoy military dramas but loathe jingoistic, exaggeratedly patriotic shows. I also grow weary of endless angsty shows like Homeland where everyone is unlikeable because they're so 'realistic' with their fifty shades of unsympathetic grey. The military personnel I know have always been very task oriented. It's the bureaucrats and politicians with their hidden goals, scheming and plotting. The "tip of the spear" on deployment or mission is usually pretty straightforward.
Yes sometimes Dalton's team do bad things or borderline bad things, but they do them for what they truly believe are good reasons. From what I can tell, no on in the team is a mole, in it for himself/herself ... dark, hiding a horrible, destabilising secret. They all have issues and a past, but none of those issues makes us not like them.
Amir isn't made out to look holier than though in a "politically correct" attempt to portray the Pacific Muslim. He's the same as the rest of the team. A killer. A warrior. A soldier. On what we believe to be the correct side though. So it's a nuanced and interesting portrayal that I found myself enjoying He also wasn't the typical newbie - young, wet behind the ears and naïve. Quite the contrary. He's intelligent, sophisticated, experienced and thinks on his feet, even if he's new to Dalton's team.
I've read a lot of criticism about the fact that Dalton is called "Top" when he's an officer and how jarring and ghastly this is from a military accuracy perspective. Not being military, I can hand-wave that way in the same way you have to do a lot of hand waving when you watch police, legal and medical dramas. It's not a documentary, I can deal with it as long as the acting is good and the storylines are good.
Things I wasn't crazy about ... The DC team is definitely the weakest link so far. I can't quite buy Anne Heche as the hard-nosed, badass, almost omniscient, prescient controller back in DC. She has potential and I don't dislike her character - I'm just not sure I believe in her yet. The Hannah Rivera character comes across as a little bland but has potential and Noah's character reminds me of Xander from Buffy so I'll give him a pass for the time being.
Anyway - I loved it. My post ep-fic "Harder For You" is here, being an shipper's take on the conversation in the car.