Episode Notes: Sentinel "Secret"

Mar 09, 2007 21:52

Having established last week that I have strange taste in episodes (apparently I'm the only one who likes Light My Fire a lot), I'm a little nervous to admit this week that I *really* like this episode. Jim and Blair are separated through the *entire* thing, pretty much, which sucks, but Blair never for even a second stops thinking of Jim. Not for a moment through the entire episode. I *love* that!!

And it's interesting to get a bit more backstory on why things went so badly for Jim and his men in Peru.

Blair with the fishing spear is a delightful little bit of sauce on a satisfying episode.

So bear all that in mind through my comments.

Notes on watching Secret:

--Ooo! And it gets off to a nice start with a super pretty shot of Jim watching the news report about the disappearance of DEA Agent Ben Chavez. (And, may I say that's actually a rather nice little bit of exposition there--no annoying information dump from Joel or Simon. I like how it's done in this ep.)



--Is that Don Haas again?

--Heeee!! Blair with the fishing spear!





--Jim: "And, uh, what pray tell is that thing?" Blair: "Ah, this is a Cree Indian fishing spear. I thought I'd give it a shot." Jim: "Oh, really? Well, you'll be doing it downstream from me, Hiawatha. Because I hate the sound of trout laughing." Heeee!! Love Jim!! Love them together!



--Oh, and I love how instantly them shitting each other is set aside when Jim's hurting and asks Blair for help. ::sigh:: Giving each other crap is good, but not when there's important stuff going on.



--Ah, and then Blair goes slightly nuts because Jim didn't tell him about pain relievers not working. Love love Guide!Blair caring for his Sentinel.

--Jim: "Don't you think you're overreacting a little?" Blair: "No, I don't think I'm overreacting. We've got to do some research. We need to prepare for stuff like this." Jim: "You want to do pain research, you experiment on yourself, all right?"



--Jim's obviously not happy to have gotten a call from this Sam guy. Particularly not one that's about the Colonel. Whoever he is. (I've seen this episode before, but I'm really fuzzy on the details of some of these people.)



--Oooo!! So pretty!!



--3 am, they're leaving on their fishing trip at 3 am?? God, that's brutal! And from what Sam said about it being the "middle of the night" it sounds like they're up pretty late packing. You know, I'd be really tempted to just stay up all night. Or at least I would have been when I was Blair's age. :D

--They don't have the Red Heron poster up yet?? Why not?

--More pretty!



--Wait, wait. So Sam's turning to Jim for help because he's a cop. That's good, smart since he appears to be involved in Bad Things. But to then say that things can't go beyond the two of them is nonsensical. If he's going to Jim as a *cop* then it's official. If he's going to Jim as a buddy, that may be different.

--I do love that Jim's instantly ready to help this old friend, even one who's gotten himself into trouble and gotten involved in Bad Things. He's right there offering help first and asking what's going on second.

--The 12 year old boy in me loves the car driving right out of the parking structure and smashing on the ground upside down. :)



--These guys look like Feds. Are they? (Black suits and the wires in their ears. It's a giveaway.)

--Okay, it's 4 am now, so they've missed their 3 am departure. And apparently Blair did stay up all night.

--Love Joel and Simon chatting together. So cute.

--Blair's so worried, then look at that sweet smile when he thinks Jim's home.



--Of course, that's followed by the huge disappointment of men firing guns at him. Though that does get Simon's attention right quick.

--Why didn't the Fake Feds follow Blair down the fire escape, rather than going back out through the front door? Not getting the logic here.

--So cute!



--The bakery downstairs from their apartment is open at 4am?? Wow! I don't think there's much of anything open at 4 am in my area.

--I suppose this bus driver's seen *everything* and that's why he's not more sympathetic with Blair here. What a meany though. And Blair's not being disruptive exactly, just freaked out. ::hugs Blair::



--How many doors are there in Jim's apartment? The front door, the balcony doors, the fire escape near the bathroom, the one in Blair's room, and then another under the stairs. Wow! That's not a very secure perimeter at all for someone who thinks like a soldier and a cop.

--Love Blair getting himself busted so he can get away from the Fake Feds.

--Poor Blair in the lockup though. That guy who's looking at him like he's a tasty little morsel's a bit creepy.



--I can't believe Simon even is suggesting that the common lockup is the safest place for Blair. ::shakes head::

--And Blair finds out that Jim wasn't the dead guy in the smashed car. So relieved.



--Pretty worried Blair!



--So, they just established at the beginning of the ep that pain killers don't work on Jim. Apparently sedatives do, because that one knocked him right out. Must be different formulations or something.

--Pretty!



--So where is this place they're holding Jim? I mean, who would keep a place filled with *stuff* with water dripping through the light fixture like that.

--mmmm!



--Oh, squeee!!! I love Blair! "Simon, I want to help on this one. I know I'm not a cop, but Jim and I, we're a pretty good team. Maybe I could work with you."



--But Simon's insisting on treating him as a protected witness. Which, yeah, but can't he be a protected witness while trying to help?? Poor Blair.

--Does Simon *really* expect that Blair's going to go home and let Joel watch over him like a good little boy? He's been frantic with worry over someone before, he knows that need to do *something*--we saw it when Darryl was a hostage in Siege. Maybe he just has no *clue* how close Jim and Blair are.

--I'm so confused about this. Sometimes they say that Jim was Special Forces (aka a Green Beret) and sometimes they say he was a Ranger. Now you have to go through being a Ranger to get to Special Forces (if I remember my research right)...

--Okay, so wait...I'm confused again. That picture Blair found was supposedly of Jim's unit 7 years ago in Peru. And Sam Holland is part of that unit. Okay. But I thought Jim's entire unit, except himself, died in that chopper crash. Why wasn't Sam there? I suppose it will get explained.

--Poor Simon. The (Fake)Fed stonewall would be *so* exasperating!

--Blair's trying to hard to help and Simon just doesn't want to hear it at all. ::hugs Blair::



--Yay!! Jack Kelso again!! I like him as a guest character and I'd love to have seen them do more with him!

--Why is Jim giving this woman any information? I guess because she's doing a fairly effective damsel in distress routine. But still...sigh! He's trying so hard to get her to trust him that he's giving up trust too quickly himself.

--The light's nice on his skin though. :D



--So how long has it been? They're being very subtle in conveying the passage of time here. It was 4 am, then shortly before sunrise (maybe 5 or 6 am), then late enough that Jack Kelso was in his office, now it's late enough in the day that Blair's feeding Joel chili, so dinnertime maybe? Late lunch. Poor Blair!

--What do you think? Did Blair slip laxatives or something into the chili to give himself a chance to get away from Joel, or did the opportunity arise fortuitously?

--Ostrich is good meat.

--Love the colors in this pic, that burgundy on Blair's *nice*!



--See, and the reaction to Joel's plight--which is to immediately bail out, is what makes me think he might have done it deliberately. But look how pretty and determined he looks!



--Oh, goody, they do explain why Holland wasn't among Jim's men killed in Peru. Yay!!

--Okay, I'm really trying to understand the plots and machinations in this episode. (When I've watched it before, I've just paid attention to pretty, frantic Blair. :D) So Holland left the army and went to work for the CIA, specifically for Col. Oliver, the CIA operative who gave Jim and his team their intelligence in Peru. And Jim fingered Oliver for the screwup when he got rescued. ::nods:: Okay. I'm sure that will all be important later.

--Oooh! I *so* love it when I pause for other reasons and there's something really pretty there!



--Good thinking on Blair's part to get Jack behind the mail drop and on the ground, even if he did dump him out of his chair rather unceremoniously.

--Oh, I love love love that the reason Blair's *giving* for ditching Joel and leaving the loft is because he was worried about Jim. He's not even trying to hide behind something that would sound less slashy personal.



--Yay for Simon standing up to the (Fake)Fed!! ::hugs Simon::



--And Joel too!! Yay!!

--Love Jim when he's concentrating on his senses!! (This time hearing and touch.) But *so* nice!



--Oh, if only those were Blair's hands. :D



--So I do remember from watching this before that Tanya is one of Oliver's agents and, consequently, can't be trusted. But is she telling the truth here or not? I kind of think maybe she is--that Oliver sold out Chavez and Sam found out about it and that's why Sam was killed. I guess they bagged Ellison as a free bonus, since Oliver hates him.

--Oh, that green looks really good as a backdrop for him. I guess that's why they painted the loft that color.



--Pretty! But giving the girl all the information she needs. ::sigh::



--Simon's logic about why they don't need a warrant to look around in Kelso's office is pretty specious. But that's okay, because they don't have time to wait for anything better. :D

--Oh, I love them establishing either that Simon's *not* good with computers or that Blair is. :D



--So how does Blair know this genius hacker who lives in a basement with 15 cats? :D I'd kind of like to meet that character at some point. Has anyone ever written about him?

--Pretty! And I love Blair joking with Simon in the car about the CIA whacking Jim Morrison. :D HEee!





--Oh, I love how quickly Simon came up with a plan for getting the guy who shot at Blair!! Nice!!

--Oh, Blair, Simon told you to stay down for a reason!! As soon as he spotted you, Red-Shirt Bad Guy started shooting. I guess he was on Blair killing duty or something.

--Oh, Jim!! Letting your guard down with Tanya just because she looked like a distressed damsel. ::shakes head:: And this is what it gets you!



--What made Jim think to hang on to the nail? I guess he figured it was something he could hide on his person that might come in useful. No reason *not* to grab it.

--Mussed and grubby Jim is *so* pretty!



--Yay!! Serena Chang!! I *love* Serena! Though she really doesn't deserve Simon woofing at her like this. Blair knows it too!



--And he's such a sweet talker! Buttering her up. But someone needs to tell Simon that Good Cop/Bad Cop is for the suspects, not the staff.

--Oh, God, Blair can't even make himself *say* that Jim might be dead!! He wants to know what Simon thinks, but he doesn't want to vocalize it at all. ::hugs Blair::





--Love Blair working on figuring out the information on the map!! (And OMG that mouth!!)





--Ooo!! I love Simon having Joel put together a team to work on the map. "Sandburg, you're with me." Eee!

--Yay!! And then they learn that the guy who was pretending to be Cameron really wasn't. Yay!!

--And Serena found out that their Fake Fed was Oliver. Yay Serena!



--Okay, Jim's getting all stubbly here. (Which, yumm!) Has it been another whole day you think?



--Oh so pretty! (And I love the nice detail of the bruise on his neck where he got shot by the dart.)



--Bad guys with southern accents...such a classic combo. :D

--So pretty!





--Chavez fingered rogue CIA agents in the Cali Cartel. So Chavez had his cover blown by Oliver. But if Chavez fingered Oliver, surely he's already in some serious trouble. Even if he kills Chavez that doesn't automatically go away does it?

--Pretty bruised and grubby Jim!!



--So Oliver set Jim and his men up to keep the drug pipeline going? Man, what a skeezer!

--I'm amazed they let Chavez come in on a commercial flight with the Cali Cartel after him.

--Don't know why I think that's a pretty piccie, but I do.



--So did Oliver seriously think that the local authorities are just sitting on their asses and not doing anything to find Jim?? I mean, he's got to know better than that. He's met Simon.

--Are sniper rifles really revolvers?? Huh.

--Yay!! Jim was faking being sedated!! So hot!

--They have Chavez in the *window* of the car?!!? D'oh!! I'm not a pro at this and I know tinted windows and protected dude in the *middle* seat. Sigh!!

--Jim's obviously somewhat messed up by the drugs, because his vision's swimming in and out.

--Jim: "I always wondered why I survived the jungle, and now I know." I bet he did wonder, poor Jim. Survivor guilt is a *bitch*!

--Oh, I wish I could make this screencap clearer!



--That must have been quite the surprise for the folks in the getaway car--their boss's corpse just landed on the hood. Very clear evidence that the plan's gone pear shaped.

--So pretty!



--OMG! How much do I love Sentinel Jim taking the sight off the sniper rifle, because he can aim better without it!! ::Squeal::



--Oh, and I lovelove that Simon's there threatening Tanya to find out where Jim is but Blair's spotted him by some sort of instinct. So nice!



--So pretty!





--Love the tag with Simon and Blair!! And Blair's in red, which is so nice. Chipper Simon is so cute!



--Joel: "You should have seen these guys in action. They made a great team." Jim: "Does this mean I should be looking for a new partner?" Blair and Simon: "No!"





--Blair: "He wasn't all that bad once he started to use a little finesse in his police work." Oh, dear, I don't think Simon was supposed to hear that that.



--Heee!! And Jim stopping the squabbling! And then bailing *out*! Hee!



--Except that he stops at the door and watches to make sure that they work things out. :D Heee!!



All screencaps are my own. Feel free to use them however you like. Unless you like to use screencaps by hotlinking, which isn't nice. Please don't do that.

Sentinel Episode Notes

Switchman
Siege
Killers
The Debt
Cypher
Night Train
Rogue
Love and Guns
Attraction
Vow of Silence
Flight
Out of the Past
Deep Water
Reunion
Payback
True Crime
Iceman
The Rig
Spare Parts
Second Chance
Black Or White
Blind Man's Bluff
Hear No Evil
Light My Fire

screencaps, sentinel, episode notes

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