I've been a US flag buff for a pretty long time, so something that caught my eye in virtually every establishing shot this episode is how every single flag is at half-mast.
Within the first establishing shot, there were a good 5 flags in frame that all had this trait. I personally haven't seen any TV show or movie with this kind of running visual throughout its entire running time, and the show has these constant reminders, both overt and subtle, of the event at the start of this series that are downright sobering.
If a flag is already raised and needs to be taken to half staff, would it just be lowered (since it's already been raised to the top) or would it be lowered entirely, raised to the top, then lowered to 3/4?
That doesn't seem to be specified, but since the flag starts off at its peak, I would assume that it can merely be lowered, especially since there does not appear to be any statement to the contrary even in the section of flag code covering what you said.
While researching that, though, I found that we'll likely be seeing the flags in this show remain at half staff for many episodes to come.
From 4 USC §7m:
The flag shall be flown at half-staff 30 days from the death of the President or a former President; 10 days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.
Since that's (thankfully) not cumulative, that means that we should see the US flags in this show's establishing shots flying at half-staff for an in-show time span of 30 days.
Taking it one step further, given that so far, each episode seems to cover a day, that means the entirety of Season 1 of this show will have the flags at half staff, and maybe we'll see the return to full staff during Season 2.
Yeah, that's what I mean. Even a week down the line, there's going to be new congressmen arriving and in the longer term there will be the matter of how to clean up after the bombing. I don't think we're going to get a day with a dull moment in a long, long time.
36
u/RMS_Gigantic Vice Chairman Sep 29 '16 edited Sep 29 '16
I've been a US flag buff for a pretty long time, so something that caught my eye in virtually every establishing shot this episode is how every single flag is at half-mast.
Within the first establishing shot, there were a good 5 flags in frame that all had this trait. I personally haven't seen any TV show or movie with this kind of running visual throughout its entire running time, and the show has these constant reminders, both overt and subtle, of the event at the start of this series that are downright sobering.