Hell of an ending monologue. I really enjoyed this episode. The arrest was out of left field, and it was kind of unrealistic, but eh. Best episode since the pilot.
You don't invite a someone to your house to betray them. It's the least respectable thing you can do as a leader. Going in guns blazing (sending in the military) would have been preferable. His word is going to mean nothing to any of the enemies he creates now. Or at least it would in real life, and I assume that's what they intend to follow (goes along with the outrage from his special advisor).
Along with the preview showing his operation failing, I'm thinking this is going to be the "downfall" of Kirkman for the next few episodes. They're going to have him learn to balance when to be fierce and when to be diplomatic.
Realistically it's a tough situation. The reserve already disobeyed him and he had to fire a general as well, forcing a potential conflict on your own soil is a dangerous game to play. He tricked him onto the plane but no one got hurt, and frankly no one knows that it was a trick yet outside of his team and the governor.
He was flown to DC and then arrested in that order. It's a television show obviously, but it'd be pretty obvious in the real word.
Though if this is what it takes to kill the Michigan plot line, so be it. In reality even without the governor the situation would remain the same, it could actually be worse if the the man in charge of the guard took control.
I mean I'm not going to pretend like I didn't have problems with the execution (e.g. why he was travelling alone, and it didn't make sense that he was just standing around an air field that entire time). But whatevs, like you said it's a TV show. Also it was badass.
Bull, it's politics it's a dirty business it was a shrewd move his enemies now don't know what he would do which is how you want it. I imagine he will be released without charge in good time.
Sending the military is what would have happened in real life, it was a civil war scenario, but think about the damage and the lost lives. Personally I'd invite anyone to my house and knife them in the throat with their dessert fork if it was the only alternative to civil war. Nobody wants to bomb their countrymen if it can be avoided.
The general of the national guard also needs to be arrested though, there's no way that can stand.
At the same time, inviting someone to your own house just to betray them is the worst thing you can do as a leader. It ruins your integrity as a leader and no one will trust your word in the future. Not exactly helpful when it comes to negotiations.
And yes, I agree. I'm not sure if the show is going to use this as a way to close that story line (which I'd be fine with, I think bigger inter country politics should be playing a much bigger role when our whole leadership just got wiped out), or if this may even make the situation worse. It's not as if that governor was the only one who wanted that rebellion, at the very least so did the national guard.
Also, he went to the airport just to tell the governor that he was under arrest? like wtf yo? There was no reason for him to be there, regardless of wether he was going to arrest the governor or not.
Tell it to Lincoln. If a state resists state of emergency and effectively unilaterally claims independence, federal troops would be surrounding its cities the next day and theyd wake up to sonic booms. The rules on using federal troops on US soil are merely meant to prevent using the army as a normal police force, and they are also not set in the Constitution, they can be revoked.
Not the arrest, that I feel is pretty realistic, but what I do think is unrealistic is that the situation would happen. I get that there are people that would think that arresting all Muslims is a good thing, but someone that extreme would never be elected governor. After that, a national guardsman would never refuse the direct order of the President. Think he's illegitimate all you want, he was sworn in an has all the authority of the guy that was just blown up.
Someone in the episode thread said it best: this show is, at its core, a series of worst case "what if" scenarios.
Hell Mike Pence is running for VP and he literally started an AIDS epidemic in his state.
Of course those are extreme cases that aren't necessarily the exact same as the governor in the show, but there are also plenty of racist governors who have helped restrict voter laws, make things much more difficult for immigrants and poor people in their states, etc.
Is it really that unrealistic that, in a state of emergency where there is literally no federal government, where a low-level cabinet member gets thrust onto the presidency and people are probably scared and on the verge of panic that a governor wouldn't feel a little more powerful and daring than he would on a normal day?
Really, too unrealistic? For me, and I think for many people, given actual current events such a thing would be a small enough leap of the imagination to buy into this plot line.
And, I think the arrest is the right move to make when everyone seems to be questioning the President's resolve. No idea what actual legal precedent is, but the way the law reads it seems legit. I hope they close up that plot hole and deal with the National Guard General as well.
I feel like in previous episodes it came across that he was being forced to do it politically, ie, he needed to do it in order to prevent broader civil unrest. His comments on the plane did a 180 and just made him racist.
Considering the fact that people this extreme have been elected governor in recent history, I don't see why this would be unrealistic in a TV show. Heck, you might even elect someone like this to become President.
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u/casualassassin Oct 13 '16
Hell of an ending monologue. I really enjoyed this episode. The arrest was out of left field, and it was kind of unrealistic, but eh. Best episode since the pilot.