Capsule Review: Threshold 1.6
I’ve been down on this series lately, largely because of my own impressions of where the concept would logically progress. Granted, that’s fairly arrogant, and it would be easy for me to say that it’s all a matter of preference and my own particular tastes. But then the writers dropped this episode into the schedule, and suddenly, they’re doing things the way I had hoped they would.
One thing I liked about the series from the beginning was the conflict between the needs of the Threshold Protocol and the individual rights of the team members and/or the general populace. In essence, I was under the impression that Threshold could pretty much do whatever they wanted, with impunity, to get the job done. Granted, there is a certain value in the inter-agency give and take that could happen instead, but the premise itself is geared towards abuse of power, not frustrations over lack of authority.
That’s why this episode is such a good example of what this series can and should accomplish, and why I think the writers are still trying to strike the right balance. In the previous episode, it was all they could do to get minimal support. In fact, in some instances, the back-up was woefully non-existent. This episode is in stark contrast: instead of having inter-agency issues, vast resources are at the fingertips of the Red Team, right down to a secret EMP bomb.
Using such an extreme measure against an entire city like Miami is the kind of thing that should be status quo for this series. The threat is that vast, after all, and they apparently have the authority to pose as agents of other government agencies without penalty. They can immediately and without penalty revoke individual civil rights. They can bring about public and private financial ruin at the drop of a dime, and they’ll get full support in doing so. That’s very different from the circumstances of the previous episode.
And logically, at least from my point of view, any agency with such responsibility would need that kind of authority to get the job done. Caffrey and the Red Team would take stock of a situation, determine the scope, and mobilize local, regional, and national resources to resolve the issue, and move on. In other words, as the contingency expert, Caffrey should be focusing on the big picture. She’s far too hands-on, and in this episode, at least, we get to see the consequences.
Karen wasn’t the most memorable or sympathetic character in the world, but it definitely put Caffrey in a particular bind. Caffrey wants to believe (and really needs to believe) that the alien bio-forming can be reversed. That’s important because if it’s not possible, the stakes are greatly magnified with every marginal success. If it’s all or nothing, then Threshold must take extreme measures early to prevent mass infection.
That’s the logic driving this episode, and that’s why I enjoyed it. The Red Team should be struggling, like Caffrey in this episode, with the knowledge that they need to do terrible and calamitous things in the name of saving humanity. Over time, it should weigh on them. Caffrey’s just the beginning, and over time, it should be interesting to see if she hardens her response to the point of being harsh with members of her team who haven’t gotten to that point.
I also like the idea of the alien signal being like a computer virus, to a certain extent, though it raises a rather interesting continuity question. If that’s the case, the signal probably should have been propagating before this point. Still, it could make sense that this is the first mass broadcast of the signal, which would explain why this is the first time the signal has imprinted itself everywhere.
We also now know that once the process of bio-forming begins in a biologically adult human, male or female, the process cannot be stopped. However, studying the process from inception to complete conversion is an important step in learning how to counter it. I see the Red Team coming to terms with the fact that the infected will be lab rats and little else, because they really don’t have a choice. If the writers stick with this kind of extreme circumstance, they could get into the character exploration more deeply, and that would be a good thing.
One last point. The reason why I think this “big picture” response is so critical is the nature of the series itself. The circumstances from episode to episode shift and change. Consequences seem to be left aside for the moment. For instance, the decision to drop the EMP bomb on Miami wasn’t the start of a long-term containment battle. It was done, the casualties were light, and the team moved on. If the series keeps that wide scope going, then the Red Team should also be dealing with a wide scope of authority and resources. Episodes like this are the perfect example.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10