Back in the day, even the cheesiest actioners didn't treat the audience like we're stupid. Instead they had a sense of whimsy and fun and we were in on the joke, but at the same time they mostly avoided the groan-inducing lapses in logic, continuity, and general verisimilitude. They were over the top, but people still behaved like real people within that world.
Here, as with so many recent entries, none of that applies. The writers don't bother getting even the simplest details right to balance the nonsense.
None of the "CIA" handlers act professional in any way nor do they exude even a shred of competence. They all behave like children, and the "side operation" is a truly terrible rip-off of True Lies, without any of the aforementioned whimsy.
The field operatives do everything to get discovered and caught, and only survive because the handlers all show up by magic and open fire on the entire group in the most ridiculous manner, yet somehow don't hit any of the key actors.
The field ops also talk on their "secret" coms openly in front of dozens of people, yet no one around them bats and eyelash.
Then we see nuclear waste being pumped into a mag-lav train like Cousin Eddie emptying his RV toilet. As if that isn't mind-numbing enough, the sleek, ultra modern train just happens to have a single threaded hose connection slapped onto the roof, not even under a flush door for aerodynamics, and it feeds into a giant tank occupying most of the front "engine".
Of course we're once again assumed to be stupid when the bad guys swoop in with a helicopter to steal the nuclear waste. First, the engine with the storage tank at the front of the train magically becomes a passenger car in the middle of the train, and the bad guys are able to suck the waste out by simply attaching a hose. All while the train is supposed to be moving at 150 miles per hour.
Of course we also get horrible dialog like "I knew we were right". What? Did a third grader write this show? Sorry, that's insulting to third graders.
They also got all of the science and physics of mag-lev trains and tanks and pumps wrong, including the laughable "valves" to control cryogenic fluid made out of basic plumbing parts the set builder bought at Home Depot.
Consistent with everything else, somehow it's a lot easier to steal nuclear waste from a high speed train than to simply hijack the truck that delivered the waste.
Of course we're also supposed to believe a CIA operative who has to constantly lie to her fiance is mad at her dad for being a CIA operative who had to lie to his family. She's also automatically the best at everything because modern writers think "representation" and "strong female" character means being perfect to the point of being almost superhuman at every skill, yet they turn around and make these women emotional dumpster fires. Being emotionally available doesn't mean falling apart at every tiny trigger, it means having feelings yet also being able to function in spite of or even because of those feelings. Can we please go back to intelligently written female characters like Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor and Holly McClane?
At that point of Episode 2 I had to turn it off before my brain cells started rotting from the stupidity.
Here, as with so many recent entries, none of that applies. The writers don't bother getting even the simplest details right to balance the nonsense.
None of the "CIA" handlers act professional in any way nor do they exude even a shred of competence. They all behave like children, and the "side operation" is a truly terrible rip-off of True Lies, without any of the aforementioned whimsy.
The field operatives do everything to get discovered and caught, and only survive because the handlers all show up by magic and open fire on the entire group in the most ridiculous manner, yet somehow don't hit any of the key actors.
The field ops also talk on their "secret" coms openly in front of dozens of people, yet no one around them bats and eyelash.
Then we see nuclear waste being pumped into a mag-lav train like Cousin Eddie emptying his RV toilet. As if that isn't mind-numbing enough, the sleek, ultra modern train just happens to have a single threaded hose connection slapped onto the roof, not even under a flush door for aerodynamics, and it feeds into a giant tank occupying most of the front "engine".
Of course we're once again assumed to be stupid when the bad guys swoop in with a helicopter to steal the nuclear waste. First, the engine with the storage tank at the front of the train magically becomes a passenger car in the middle of the train, and the bad guys are able to suck the waste out by simply attaching a hose. All while the train is supposed to be moving at 150 miles per hour.
Of course we also get horrible dialog like "I knew we were right". What? Did a third grader write this show? Sorry, that's insulting to third graders.
They also got all of the science and physics of mag-lev trains and tanks and pumps wrong, including the laughable "valves" to control cryogenic fluid made out of basic plumbing parts the set builder bought at Home Depot.
Consistent with everything else, somehow it's a lot easier to steal nuclear waste from a high speed train than to simply hijack the truck that delivered the waste.
Of course we're also supposed to believe a CIA operative who has to constantly lie to her fiance is mad at her dad for being a CIA operative who had to lie to his family. She's also automatically the best at everything because modern writers think "representation" and "strong female" character means being perfect to the point of being almost superhuman at every skill, yet they turn around and make these women emotional dumpster fires. Being emotionally available doesn't mean falling apart at every tiny trigger, it means having feelings yet also being able to function in spite of or even because of those feelings. Can we please go back to intelligently written female characters like Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor and Holly McClane?
At that point of Episode 2 I had to turn it off before my brain cells started rotting from the stupidity.