So, Suleiman and his brother (Ali?) are seen in a flashback in Paris prior to their radicalization. They could almost be a type of every-man, but then we see how French society rejects Suleiman who is trying so desperately to fit in. In the end he rejects the goal of making money and hangs out with his street gangsta brother.
I think the writers wanted me to feel sympathy for how this guy ended up in prison and there gets radicalized. Not only did I not feel sympathy, I resented the notion that I was being manipulated. The back-story of how Suleiman and his brother become terrorists may be necessary from a narrative point of view; I just sensed that the writers were trying too hard to get me to like him, in that they assume that terrorists are de-humanized, so they (the writers) have to humanize them.
The side plot with the drone operator, (Vincent?) is to me a pointless meander. The plot with the smuggler and his helping Jack and Greer was interesting and a glimpse into a world that most of us would not like to acknowledge and explore.
In terms of the overall season, the plot device of Greer being a Muslim is tiresome, as though to tone down American-ness, some of the Americans have to have a dual allegiance in a post Reagan realpolitik. Again, in terms of the season, Jack and Cathy jumping in the sack after the first date is downright icky, and then the character of Cathy says that she doesn't want to get serious but just wants to basically hang out seems at odds with the seriousness of her job as an epidemiologist. she's bright, but loose in the morals department. This is at odds with the character as Clancy imagined her, and I didn't see the need to shake the character up that much.
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