Condor

Condor is a reimagining of the movie Three Days of the Condor. The movie is an excellent spy thriller and the TV show might turn out to be even better. If you like that genre, you'll love this show. I'm only three episodes in but as of this point I'm giving it top marks, 10/10.

"Three Days of the Condor" is one of my favorite films of the '70's so I'm looking forward to checking this out.

Big John wrote:

Condor is a reimagining of the movie Three Days of the Condor. The movie is an excellent spy thriller and the TV show might turn out to be even better. If you like that genre, you'll love this show. I'm only three episodes in but as of this point I'm giving it top marks, 10/10.

I missed the premiere! But, I'm in luck as all the aired episodes will be repeated late night on July 4th. So, I've set my recorder and with a 10/10 review -- I'm definitely looking forward to this one. Thanks BJ!

I'm looking forward to your analysis. In other words, I basically need you to tell me wtf is really going on.

Since this is a conspiracy show and BJ indicated confusion on what's really going on, I'm paying more attention when I watch then I normally would.  And I started with the premise of trusting no one except Joe, our hero.  As of this post, I've only seen the pilot episode.

What's going on?  I think there is a conspiracy to use biological warfare against nations that support and fund terrorism.  I don't know if the top layer in the conspiracy goes up to the White House or not.  It could or it could stop at someone beneath the President or someone between the president and the Director of the CIA or it could start with the upper level of the CIA.  

IMO, someone high up in the CIA is running the show.  It remains to be seen if the other people involved in the conspiracy know if it is a sanctioned operation or not.  For example:  Sam Barber is involved in the conspiracy, but does he think it's a conspiracy or is he following orders as usual?  The answer to that could be different for each member in the conspiracy.

It looks like Nathan Fowler (Brendan Fraser) is calling the shots, but I don't believe he's the head of the conspiracy.  I think he's going to wind up being the patsy -- you know, the one everyone else can point a finger at and blame if things go south.

One thing that stood out to me was the decision to kill Ammar Nazari immediately.  The guy had his empty hands up and his backpack was on the ground.   I would want to capture him alive, if possible, to find out if he was acting alone or in concert with others.  Turns out he was an innocent man -- a "false flag".  

If you recall, Sam Barber copied some hidden files from his home computer onto a thumb drive.  He was going to give the thumb drive to Bob Partridge, but wound up not doing that.  I got a screencap of the only document that was legible.

CIA doc:

People we know are involved.

• Harold (Floros)? - Deceased.   Joe's co-worker who also worked on the program which supposedly raised a flag on Nazari.  He also poisoned the receptionist and was surprised to get a bullet between the eyes when the two operatives massacred those at Joe's office.
  
• Nathan Fowler (Brendan Fraser)
  
• Gareth Lloyd - guy with the pharmaceutical stocks - set to make a fortune
  
• Sam Barber - CIA employee, working at HQ in Langley.  Joe's "best friend".
  
• Gabrielle Joubert - Female Assassin
  
• Deacon Mailer - Male Assassin (accompanied Gabrielle in the slaughter at Joe's office and the subsequent chase to get Joe).
  
• The Ambassador -- accepted the plague package from Fowler
  

I suspect everyone else -- even Joe's date Kathy H. and of course, unknown to Sam -- his wife, Mae.

Just watched episode 2.  

So glad to see Sam Barber do the right thing -- too bad he died doing it.

Now we know Gareth Lloyd owns some kind of military (mercenary?) operation.  He has high level CIA friends who want to see terrorists taken and they've found a friend in Nathan Fowler -- someone to act on their behalf and take the fall -- IMO.

I now trust Bob (mostly) -- since Marty Frost (Mira Sorvino) has successfully ousted him and taken over.  It appears she was forced out some time ago and maybe blames Bob.  I can see someone like that being involved in a conspiracy of the kind we're seeing.  

I'm leaning more to trusting Kathy H as she does seem genuinely surprised and frightened but that could be an act.

I think Joe's best avenue is to try and secretly contact Bob, but that will be hard as I'm sure he'll have eyes upon him.

I did notice the guy who gave the two assassins cctv info -- he was sitting in a room that had wall clocks which looked exactly like the clocks at Langley.  So, he's either in on the conspiracy or he thinks he's just doing his normal job.

Episode 3

Yeah Kathy H!  Great job!  You now get to feed your neighbor's cat.  I get why Kathy pepper sprayed our guy but damn!  

We now have confirmation that Gabrielle Joubert - Female Assassin is a CIA operative.  So, that must have been a CIA tech providing cctv coverage as mentioned above.  Also -- she's now supporting evidence that the people pulling Nathan Fowler's strings are in the CIA, IMO.

Marty Frost (Mira Sorvino) with her kill order on Joe has just gone up a notch or two as possible conspirator.  Although, I think a case could be made that she is just being used by someone higher up in the CIA since she appears to have issues and something to prove.

Which brings CIA Deputy Director, Reuel Abbott  (Bob Balaban -- I always remember him from Close Encounters of the Third Kind) to the forefront.  I will admit that removing Bob from Joe's case could be seen as SOP since a conflict of interest could be present but now Abbott is also threatening investigation into Bob's use of the program Joe wrote which uncovered Nazari.  Since the plague was found on Nazazri, it shouldn't raise any flags unless someone thinks/knows Nazari was innocent.  So, I'm losing trust for Abbott right now -- he might be the CIA guy at the top and planning to pin some blame on Bob.

With Mae's reaction to Sam's death, I'm beginning to trust her more.  Kathy H is tied to Mae since Mae set her up with Joe through Tinder.  So, trusting Mae more means that I also trust Kathy H more.

Bob -- co-opted deceased Sarah's partner (FBI agent) and now is working with her on the investigation, hoping she keeps him informed and perhaps proving Joe innocent.  But the thought occurs to me that Joe's perceived innocence and Bob's perceived innocence is also tied together in this investigation.  It could be that Marty Frost is just a "woman scorned" and as such may be a useful tool for someone higher up in the conspiracy (possibly Abbott)  and in making Bob a patsy.  On the other hand, Bob is smart enough to be involved in the conspiracy and as such, needs to show he's right about Joe's innocence which would "prove" his own innocence or so it would seem.  Although I trust Bob more than others at this point, he could still be involved in the conspiracy.

Abbot -- I loved the little "chess game" between Abbott and Bob at lunch via the phone call Bob received.  It seems Frost is Abbot's tool in this game.  And Abbot personally paid Mae a visit to find out what she knew.  Ultimately he accepted that Sam told her nothing or so it seems.  Then he prayed for her while he was in his vehicle.  That prayerful display could be one side of Abbot with the reverse side being a hate for all things Muslim which seems to have been a common factor for two of our known conspirators -- Nathan and the male assassin, Deacon Mailer.  I don't trust Abbot.

More on Bob -- Bob hand picked all the people Joe worked with -- all twelve of them.  We know Harold was a conspirator -- how did he get by someone like Bob? On the other hand -- Abbot and Bob appear to be on opposing sides and right now I do trust Bob a lot more than Abbot.

It would be nice to know if all the conspirators knew who the other conspirators were but I suspect they do not.  The top layer may be the only ones who know that.

sandi wrote:

Abbot -- I loved the little "chess game" between Abbott and Bob at lunch via the phone call Bob received.  It seems Frost is Abbot's tool in this game.  And Abbot personally paid Mae a visit to find out what she knew.  Ultimately he accepted that Sam told her nothing or so it seems.  Then he prayed for her while he was in his vehicle.  That prayerful display could be one side of Abbot with the reverse side being a hate for all things Muslim which seems to have been a common factor for two of our known conspirators -- Nathan and the male assassin, Deacon Mailer.  I don't trust Abbot.

Well, well, well ... now we know -- Abbot is on the conspiracy and it may be a religious war additionally fueled by prejudice.  But is Abbot the top guy?

So, is Frost in on the conspiracy or is she just another tool Abbot is using?  I could go either way on her.

Bob -- I'm thinking Bob may have been in on some of it but not all of it.  I would trust him completely except for his flashbacks with Joe showing the idea of "culling the herd".  I believe Bob (as sort of a last resort) would agree to the biological attack on the terrorists and/or those that fund them.  But there's no way he knew about the slaughter of Joe's co-workers nor does he approve of killing Joe.  I do think he's figured out Gabrielle Joubert was, at least in part, involved in killing Joe's co-worker.

RIP Kathy H!  Wow!  I didn't see that coming.  No doubt, they'll pin it on Joe, but any fool could see the bullet holes through the side of the car and know that he couldn't be driving the car and shooting at her from the passenger side.  

Who do you think tipped off Caleb?  (I think it was Bob.)

I trust Joe, Mae and that FBI chick Bob got inserted into the investigation.  (Too bad she fell off the wagon.  Hopefully she gets back on.)

So, what are your thoughts?  I'm not into blogging.  

You're too on point with characters' names, Sandi. I have to look up the cast on IMDb in order to follow your posts lol.

So sad about the cute new girlfriend. I liked her a lot. The Israeli assassin, whose name is about the only one I'll recognize when you mention it, is also a compelling character.

No William Hurt this episode. Nevertheless, it was a good one. The bedroom scene was fantastic!

Joubert is a scene stealer.

I;m glad the hero has some allies now. Show should really pick up some steam.

Best action series currently on television. Although, I'm not really sure it qualifies as an action series.

I'm glad Joe has an ally with Sharla (FBI chick) but I'm afraid it's the kiss of death if you know what I mean. Joubert stops Sharla's car and gets real close to the driver's side window. Did Joubert sniff Sharla? Like she was some animal trying to pick up Joe's scent? That's what it looked like to me.

Mae (Sam's widow) steps away from the house to talk to Iris (another CIA widow). Unknown to them, the bad guys have been in and planted bugs and the tech at Nathan's (Brendan Frazier) office can still hear them when they move away from the house. (Iris was married to Elden Loramer who was killed by the bad guys but she doesn't know that.) Too bad the bad guys now know that Iris is a threat and they know where to find her on the boat so she can have an accident. (I wonder if Mae will blame Joe for Iris's future death?)

The other assassin, Deacon Mailer, infected that guy in the MidEast (I can't remember where they were at). I noticed that Deacon, himself, doesn't appear to be in the best of health. He looks a little bleary eyed and did I see/hear some sniffling? I think I did. Do you think he's also infected and is just moving around to infect others as well?

Joubert was definitely sniffing. I watched that scene a second time to make sure. I'm not sure exactly what she was thinking she might smell but she's probably trained in picking up on scents of different things.

Deacon is a trip. I don't have any idea what he's up to. I don't even remember why he isn't still teamed up with Joubert or why he is in the middle east. I am enjoying his asides though. Surely something big is coming involving him.

Was Eldon killed before the massacre?

I wish the girlfriend hadn't died. I enjoyed her more than the other ladies in the show, except Joubert.

Nathan is fun to watch. I like it when he's nervous.

The actor playing Sharla is terrific. Very convincing.

I'm beyond trying to figure out what's happening and just enjoying the cat and mouse spy stuff. However, if I were to guess, this is about viral warfare that violates international law. The shell companies are supporting labs. It's all somehow connected to the president but the fall guy will be the director of the CIA. Joe's office needed to be eliminated because they (Joe) got too close.

Thank you for the help with the names!

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Was Eldon killed before the massacre?

Yes, he was.

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The shell companies are supporting labs.

Maybe, but the head of White Sands looked to make a fortune on pharmaceuticals and through the shell companies purchased stock knowing after the virus was released he would make billions. I don't think that was part of the master plan.

I see. Following the money then, it would have to be the head of White Sands that had Joe's office wiped out. Cuz, why would anyone else care?

They would care because anything that led back to White Sands would also lead back to them. So, it was erase it at the beginning or more to erase the further back it was traced. There's no way the head of White Sands wouldn't spill his guts if it meant a lessor treason sentence.

Okay, I'm sticking to just enjoying the chase scenes lol.

Another solid episode. Very sad to see Eldon's lovely widow go.

This might be the best work Brendan Fraser has ever done. Very intense, edge of your seat scene at the end.

You'd think William Hurt would be able to figure out at least who one of the players in the conspiracy is based upon the visit he had with Rosen. Rosen was his name in a Sally Field movie Absence Of Malice but not in this. Sorry, best I can do as far as names go. At least I didn't call him cancer druggy's husband.

Rewatched most recent ep. I don't usually do that but this show requires you to be on your toes. Watching it at 2am doesn't lend itself to that.

Tons of info and clues as to how the episode concludes. Yet, it is still shocking.

There is a line that Rosen says (still don't know his character name lol) which indicates he is working with an organized, established, and powerful group. Think Illuminati or Free Mason or Knights Templar or whatever the latest greatest name for them is.

Big John wrote:

Another solid episode. Very sad to see Eldon's lovely widow go.

This might be the best work Brendan Fraser has ever done. Very intense, edge of your seat scene at the end.

I had a lot of thoughts about this episode but forgot to post them.

Eldon's widow -- Yes, assassin Gabrielle Joubert kills another innocent person.  I get the impression that Gabrielle enjoys killing men more than women -- not that she's adverse to killing women -- just that she gets more of whatever it is satisfying her by killing men.  

But Iris put one over on her -- she got the necessary info out to Mae -- via pie delivery.  I love her for that.

Nathan -- Brendan Fraser -- had a truly good death story.  Gareth needed to go and who better than Nathan to shoot him.  However, Nathan could have inadvertently supplied his higher ups with the perfect ending -- tying up all the loose strings in a neat little bundle showing the conspiracy dying with Nathan and Gareth.  It doesn't but it could look that way, especially with Nathan now having a secret account with a share of the stock profits.  It makes it looks like all this was planned and executed by Gareth and Nathan for the money.  Their mutual demise can be put down to a falling out among thieves.

Big John wrote:

You'd think William Hurt would be able to figure out at least who one of the players in the conspiracy is based upon the visit he had with Rosen. Rosen was his name in a Sally Field movie Absence Of Malice but not in this. Sorry, best I can do as far as names go. At least I didn't call him cancer druggy's husband.

"Absence of Malice" -- a Sally Fields' movie -- I think of that movie as a Paul Newman movie.  I forgot Sally was in it.  Anyway, "Rosen" is Reuel Abbott in Condor.  And I think William Hurt aka Bob has figured out Abbott is a member of the conspiracy and of course he knows the assassin, Gabrielle Joubert.  But if Bob doesn't know about Abbott, he will shortly -- Abbott wants to bring him into the conspiracy.  (I wonder who Abbot was talking to on the phone?)

We learned that the conspirators started out as a secret assassin group and the biological attack was most likely not a part of their original scope.  I think they were able to convince people like Sam Barber and Eldon to join the group by representing their goals as single assassinations of the bad guys who they can't touch any other way.  I find it unlikely that Sam and Eldon would have signed on had they known about a biological attack killing millions.

Now that Bob understands there's a conspiracy, I do think that Abbot is right about bringing him on board if he can.  Otherwise, they would either have to kill Bob or shut down the conspiracy group and lay the blame on Nathan and Gareth.  (They wouldn't shut down the group -- but just lay low until they were certain everyone believed Nathan and Gareth were to blame.)

So up until and including this episode -- I trust Bob.  After this episode -- well it really depends on what Bob does next.  (Whatever happens, I do believe he will try and bring Joe in and have the "heat" taken off of him.  No way would he want Joe killed.)

So, let's say Abbot tries to bring Bob into the conspiracy.  I can see Bob (at this stage) joining in (as long as Joe is safe).  Bob is not opposed to "culling" the enemy and since the play is already in motion with an easy patsy (Nathan and by extension Gareth), he may join the group.

Or ... Bob could pretend to join the group so he could identify all its members before taking it down.  Right now Bob doesn't know who he can trust -- no more than Joe knows.  So, I do think this avenue might be appealing to him.

I don't think Bob has a future if he doesn't join or pretend to join the group after Abbot tries to induct him.  The conspirators would have already tipped their hand and Bob would know that the "buck doesn't stop" with Nathan and Gareth.  So, Bob needs to play ball or pretend to play ball.

Tonight's episode should be very interesting, indeed.

Bob may pretend. Although, that would be extremely difficult considering the office they massacred was filled with many of his own handpicked people. I have trouble seeing him play ball at all. If he does, it will be brief.

Based on William Hurt's work over the last few years, I think his demise is coming soon. He's been a one season actor in a lot of shows.

Nathan and Gareth will definitely be framed for this. Nathan knows it too, which is indicated in his talk with his daughter. Still shocked that he did what he did. To sacrifice himself for the mission and save his cohorts from being under suspicion is some delusional hero wannabe type thinking. Plus, isn't the greater good philosophy a major component of communism? smh

The "goodbye" he had with his father wasn't the tenderest of moments, albeit the father didn't know it was a goodbye. Poor Nathan. Father seems to loathe him. Friends belittle him. Boss tells him to fall on his sword. He's had a bit of a rough go of it.

He's got that precious little girl though. Having daughters saved me from myself. It should have saved him too. At least she'll always have those suicide earrings to remember him by.

If Gareth is smart, and he seems to be, he's got the names of everyone with whom he was in on this attached to bank accounts in the Caymans. If he's really smart, he didn't use anyone's name. Not sure how easy it is for the good ol' U.S. of A to search foreign banks for accounts under certain names, but they probably can. Could be how this entire thing finally gets exposed.

Big John wrote:

If Gareth is smart, and he seems to be, he's got the names of everyone with whom he was in on this attached to bank accounts in the Caymans.

Excellent point! Gareth does strike me as the type who would make sure that if he is betrayed, everyone will go down with him.

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Tonight's episode should be very interesting, indeed.

And it was.

Is it bad of me to want Bob to pull the trigger when he surprised Abbot (who was on his knees saying his night prayers)?

Abbot assures Bob there's nothing that can be done to stop the biological attack in motion and that certainly seems to be true just from a timing element. In addition, it's to the country's best interest that the blame for the attack not come back to them in any way. So, Bob reasons that his only recourse is to do what's best for the country and not expose the conspiracy. (It remains to be seen whether Bob is joining the conspiracy or only pretending to do so.) As a condition of his support, Bob demands Abbot remove the assassination contract on Joe, and he does.

This is a pivotal scene for Bob if he's feigning the new alignment with Abbot.

Recall earlier, Abbot called someone (unknown to us) and mentioned it was time to bring Bob into the conspiracy. Abbot quickly assessed Bob and predicted that ultimately Bob would do what was best for the country.

It the scene, Bob (through actions, emotion and word choice) strikes just the right chords from moral outrage to ultimately -- acceptance and a desire to do "what's best for the country". If you watch Abbot's face, you'll see a flitting smug smile as Abbot sees his assessment and prediction proven true. This is important, because if Bob is just pretending to join in, he's effectively fed Abbot's ego which convinced Abbot he's sincere and will go forward being a trusted co-conspirator (as far as Abbot is concerned).

I'm a little confused about a couple of things.

I'm not sure how Gabrielle Joubert found Caleb's safe house. The scenes called attention to Joe's use of a cellphone and initially I thought that was how they were traced (which would have been poor writing as Joe knows when he can get away with using a cell and when to dispose of it). But then, after arriving at the safe house (and I can't remember whether she did this upon arrival or when leaving), Gabrielle removed a tracking device from a vehicle. So, then I thought -- Oh! That's the tracker she put on Janice's car a few episodes back. But, then I thought -- Wait! is that a tracker Sharla put on Gabrielle's vehicle which allowed Sharla and Frost to track Gabrielle. So, I'm confused and I don't really want to try and rewatch to have to figure it out.

So, do you know how Gabrielle tracked Joe to Caleb's safe house? And, do you know how Sharla tracked Gabrielle?

Which episode is this?

This is S01E09 Death is the Harvest, which aired this past Wednesday, August 8th.

Well whaddya know. I'm an episode behind.

The tracker was on Joubert's car. I'm assuming Sharita put it there because she is the one who does the tracking.

Bob tells Abbott that Joe is on his way to see Caleb to blow the whistle "but we have a way to stop him" Bob says. Bob hands over a device to Abbott. That device must be tracking either Joe or Caleb. Next scene Joubert receives an electronic communication and hops into action.

1.10 Season Finale

More people died.

I could have done without the extended ending which seemed like a slapdash sequence put together only after they knew the show was picked up for another season.

For that matter, the whole ep felt rushed. Extracting Marty Frost from the hospital, Joubert's movements in the middle east, etc... This probably should have been a 90 minute ep.

Still never got to see who Abbot was working with.

Bummed about Sharla. Most shocking scene in the episode.

Was it the piano wire that killed theDeacon? He seemed to bow out of the fight too soon. Made me think there was something else at play, like poison.

Overall, I'd give season one a solid B+.

I agree with you about the finale -- should have been two episodes.

We didn't get to see who Abbot was working with because that will most likely be the jumping off point for next season.

No, it wasn't the wire that killed Deacon -- actually, I'm not sure he's dead. Joubert did stick him with a needle -- could have been poison, could have just knocked him out. She has a strange sense of what's fair. Since her "employers" sent someone to eliminate her, she felt justified in foiling their operation -- and got paid big bucks to do it. She might not have felt justified in killing Deacon as he wasn't her employer.

I think the most shocking scene of the episode was Joe killing Frost. He's now changed and I think Bob was sad about that.

I had to laugh out loud when Frost sat there and swore Joubert killed Sharla.

sandi wrote:

We didn't get to see who Abbot was working with because that will most likely be the jumping off point for next season.

Yeah, I thought about that. They didn't know there'd be a next season. Heck, being that it airs on Audience, they might not have known if there'd even still be a network by then  

sandi wrote:

No, it wasn't the wire that killed Deacon -- actually, I'm not sure he's dead.  Joubert did stick him with a needle

Aha! I totally missed the needle! It all makes sense now. Cuz I was like, it looks like he's falling asleep in the middle of the fight. WTF! lolol

He's probably not dead then. She wouldn't have bothered to go through all that if she was gonna just take him out.

Odd that Joubert gave Deacon a warning by removing her scarf thingy. You might say it was a sign of respect but considering the nature of the trade craft, it just looks sloppy. Maybe she was trying to make him nervous so he couldn't think straight, causing him to be sloppy. Whatever it was, she's so sneaky and professional, it seemed out of character.

Actually, maybe all of that is true as well is it being a way for her to show her dominance over him. Girl power!

sandi wrote:

She has a strange sense of what's fair.

Indeed. My feeling about her is that she won't kill unless there is a specific contract. Okay, that's not right. She whacked a lot of people at that warehouse.

sandi wrote:

I think the most shocking scene of the episode was Joe killing Frost.  He's now changed and I think Bob was sad about that.

I hear ya. Although, I was more surprised than shocked about that. When Frost killed Sharla, now that legitimately gave me a jolt. Never saw it coming and it happened fast.

Wish Joe hadn't put Frost to sleep. Mira Sorvino is an excellent actor.

I'm also surprised that ol' Willie Hurt stayed alive and may be back for another season. Right off the top of my head I can name 3 recent series where he was a main character in season one and then left the show. Glad he'll be back though, for the same reason I stated about Sorvino.

Speaking of next season, I'm a little apprehensive about the premise. This season was predicated upon the murder of everyone at Joe's office. I hope that remains the impetus for the show. I don't want a new plot that Joe happens to get stuck in the middle of again.