An operative will never go armed with no round in the chamber. Michael should never have to rack his weapon before firing.

I think he has little to worry about in an public mall. I'm no expert on guns but do you really think it's smart to walk around in public with one in the chamber? BTW, the gun is just as a precaution. I think he knows that they need him alive. He serves them no good dead.

Love this topic! I absolutely agree...anyone that carries a gun in a protection capacity would have a round in the chamber. You only get three seconds to take someone out...a spy wouldn't waste precious time on charging his weapon.

While we are on the "authenticity" subject...I've been bothered by them meeting in the cafe. Anyone being targeted would not sit in the open, on a sidewalk cafe. You are such an easy target there! The other thing is the use of cell phones. MW communicated with Sam about Carla being in Turkey (or somewhere). She is listening in on his phone calls, so she is hearing this stuff. She is going to keep throwing him for a loop.

Will say, this is an awesome show. I'm glad to see there are few "authenticity" mistakes. The writers do a great job teaching the viewers. There are great twists to how Michael helps his clients. Great show!

Janamom,

I agreewith vestokes.I think he has unwanted "back-up" from Carla since she ishe handler now.



The phone thing had me too since he's so paranoid about phone use.He must want her to know she messed up with her foreign language speaking. All I can say is Carla is not going to be happy with Michael.

I beg to differ about the phone tap... let me digress for a moment. Michael knew when Sam tapped the Charger for the Fed's in the Family Business epi. He also knows how to tap a cell phone (Loose ends epi 1) Mike knows all of the capacities for cell phones... I'm not only positive he'd know if his phone was bugged (since he knows all the ways to do it), but he'd also know how to use it to his advantage. There is no doubt in my mind that Carla will hear exactly what Mike wants her to hear and nothing more. As far as one in the chamber... well I think that's a personal decision each operative makes according to the situation, of course. Michael is in a precarious position, but like stated earlier by Vestokes, his enemies are also benefitted by his abilities, and as long as he serves a purpose he will be watched/protected to a certain degree. That is until his usefulness runs out... It's a battle of life and death for Mikey, make no mistake about it.

As for the phone, per mom...Michael goes thru cellphones like toothpicks! He probably has more than one cellphone. He knows they are listening. If he doesn't want her to know what he's talking about he need only use a different throwaway phone. Sam has been seen using more than one phone in the Wanted Man episode. He used one phone to talk to Mike and another to call the police.

This is the only smart post in the entire thread.

Michael obviously uses more than one cell phone. He has one in contact with Carla, and another one that is completely new only used to call other untapped cell phones, such as Sam's.

Sorry we don't meet up to your intellectual standard. Can we all have a differing opinion without shooting each other down?

Back to the mall situation. Do you really think Carla's team would try to have a shootout in a mall? That's why they keep having meets there. I think you guys are more paranoid than he if you think you need one in the chamber with people milling about in a mall.

I think that ur wrong on the not having ur wepon chambered because most ppl that I know that carry always carry cocked,locked & ready to rock because an empty gun is useless.Totally useless.

Great point on the phones. I missed seeing Sam switch phones. Sure Mike is doing the same.

Yes, his gun would be locked and loaded. Hollywood just loves having people do that with weapons. Seriously, if you're in a shoot-out, you have no time to cock your weapon. In the time you spend doing that, you would have already been shot.

I should have clarified on the cafe thing. Carla is not the only threat to MW. There are other assasins from other nations that are prolly still after him. By sitting in the open, he is just a target. No biggie on this authenticiyt thing. It would take too long to keep up with this and still have an awesome storyline.

I do love this show. I didn't think I would ever find a replacement for "Alias" when it went off the air. Yeah, now I do!

I agree, if you have to draw your weapon quickly, it should already be chambered with a round. In a crisis situation, you can forget if a round is chambered or not, and if you simply fire the weapon and it goes click, you're in big trouble. I have to carry a firearm for a living and absolutely no one I know would not have a round in the pipe. I too wish Hollywood stop with the racking of the weapon for dramatic effect. Today's audiences are far too sophisticated to overlook the fact that MW walks around without it being "ready to rock".

Make no mistake you brought no 'intelligent' posts. Just your assinine opinion, might want to think about that in the future.. Is it hard to be an external rectal opening? just asking?

LMAO, Di, ...that's gotta be the best come back so far....


the phone was an excellent point because I actually thought he had two steady phones... (seem different colors/face plates in different scenes) and also wonder who Nefi was calling.....?? interesting.... Peace.

I didn't notice two sets of phones or the gun already set to use, but would assume the obvious since you never know when you need to take someone out. Sorry, I never pick apart the show on the first round up. I"m usually busy watching Mikey and whatever he does...

Nah--you could always throw the thing...

Man, Damien001, don't PO the BN fans, or they'll rake you over the coals. And for cryin' out loud, don't disagree with them.

It doesn't sound like you've read much of what's posted here. There's lots of disagreement and debate. It's just that we want it to remain polite, because we hang out here and want it to be a place that we like to return.

If Damien had left out the "this is the only smart post in the entire thread" part he'd have been fine. Disagree, but just don't insult (flame) people. As you can see, flaming begets flaming, then you got upset and reacted to the anger, and so on it will go, then no one wants to participate if it continues.

I think EVERYONE needs to take a MOJITO break!!! yes?

I'm glad you put me in my place.

So many topics to talk about....where to start.....

Is the Mall the best place to meet --

1)they're out in public and it's not either one's "territory"
2) safety in numbers....if anything is going to happen, there are going to be witnesses (whether you can get them to testify is another issue). Like When Lucy Lawless met MW in the cafe "if I was going to kill you, you'd be dead by now"....why bother doing it in a public place.....
3) alot easier to escape a tail if you've got them weaving thru "traffic"



Safety on or locked and loaded --

Depends on the situation and the indivdual....in a mall scene, in my mind, it's not the brightest thing to have it in the chamber....if it gets knocked, dropped, or what not, you might end up killing a Foot Locker referee. In a car chase or related, if it goes off accidentally....ugh, I don't even want to think about it...entering an abandoned/ relatively empty part of a/ building with a POI....ready set go babe!

Phone Home

Yeah, I was a little concerned when he just picked up the phone to Sam with that little tidbit (especially in an age where tv cops et al forget to wear gloves at a crime scene! -- see rant on IPS), but I trust Mike, and he does apparently use alot of throw away phones (loved the toothpick reference!!! ), and unless they use a product placement esque camera angle, I sure can't tell which one he's using, and for the most part, nor do I really care, so i think we can take it on faith that our boy either wanted her to know that he recognized the language/accent she had (or was using), or was using a disposable if he didn't....he'd better recycle it though

Flaming -- agree....disagree....state your case....no one needs insults.....Opinions are like (butt cracks)....everyone has one <and they usually stink...at least some of the time >. Your words will speak for your thoughts...ya wanna critique the show for better or worse, go ahead, but no need to critique each other (a little encouragement is never a bad thing though )....just....ok, revolving commentary....

Mojito break ---- I'm always game for that LuLu





Ok, did I miss anything??????



to all





KA23


edited for clarity

Ask any LEO or Federal Agent. If you carry a firearm (handgun, shotgun) then you always go Condition 1 (cocked and locked.)

Like someone said above - carrying a firearm without a round in the chamber - is just carrying a useless hunk of steel. I suppose you could throw it hard enough.

IMO Michael just likes to challenge himself.

Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you run out of bullets? Whenever we're watching television and the shooter runs out of bullets, my husband and I shout at the screen, "Throw the gun!"

They usually do...

Yeah. You don't get brownie points for slapping your opponent before the duel. LOL!!!!

I LOVE to disagree with people. I have at some points stepped on people toes on this message board and also gotten angry with others for pointing it out to me. I learned to pull back and try to not take things so personally especially since I LOVE being on this board. Also, what a boring world this would be if we all agreed on everything.

With that said, I wonder why those who say you should have a bullet in the chamber don't consider that Michael doesn't intend to use the gun. Why would he need to use one in a public setting like a mall? I don't think Carla and her team are so stupid that they would shoot at someone in a public place. As Evelyn told Michael when they met at the cafe, "Oh for crying out loud I'm not going to shoot you here." Even crazy Evelyn didn't want to risk the local cop's involvement or getting capped by a rent-a-cop. 

Thank you KA23, nicely done, you said everything I'm sure more than a few of us were thinking. I've never had a mojito, but I'm game too. Friday night?, we can all play covert ops M4.

This isn't actually an authenticity slip, but a scene that has always bothered me. I can't remember the name of the episode, it was the one where Sam got abducted by the drug cartel. When Fiona left the phone dangling after talking to Michael, I felt good effect, but would Fi really have left the phone hanging there for them to pick up her trail, she's way too smart for that, so I think not.

Not true. There are some ops that are trained with hand-to-hand combat better than marksmanship; and, they use the pistol as a hand weapon and not as a firing weapon. The round is not in the chamber so hand-to-hand combat with the weapon is used; and since the round is in the magazine, if needed then the round can be put into the chamber after determining what form of defense is needed if not hand-to-hand.

Hi All,

Some you said it; the pulling back the slide on a gun is an old Hollywood trick for dramatic effect. Nothing more. And yeah, it's gone way old. The only logical thing left to do is cock the hammer back with your thumb. You only get to pull the slide back when you put a new/fresh clip in the gun, if it's a semiautomatic, systematic self-contained....sorry, couldn't help myself on that one!

I would say Michael doesn't have a scrambler on his cell phones, and as you say with Barry, he tosse the phone into the water. As someone said, he goes through them like toothpicks. You can change the card in one phone for another, and it looks like Michael only uses phones with top up cards (as they say in the U.K.) so he has no contract to pin down his number. And if the phone gets too hot, out it goes.

I am not for sure, but I think he removed the GPS temporarily from the phone Carla gave him, and then put it back. I know he tried to take it out, and a note told him to leave it alone, but I thought he made use of it to make Carla and company think he was in one place, as opposed to the other.

Oh, and since I am Technical, technically speaking, if you did pull the slide back with a loaded gun, it would eject the round and place the next one in line from the clip into the chamber. It would be funny to see, in a serious moment.

Meeting out in public isn't a bad idea. We have already seen in several episodes how the spies hide in plain sight. Doing business in public is a great way to keep it intimate and NOT draw attention to yourself(vies).

Friends, just be glad the show doesn't insult your intelligence for the most part and is the charming, intelligent, and clever show it is....T.

I think posters have forgotten that the "character" has been "Blacklisted". I believe that means there is NO PROOF on paper or anywhere that he is a spy.If he were to shoot someone in "Miami"(not a warzone) he would probably go to prison.
Also i remember reading a interview that J.D. did where he said the show does not want to kill people so they do the "Mcgiver" stuff so they don't have to use their guns as much.

But, if some disgruntled bad guy HAPPENS to be in Miami in a location that M.W. is at, and sees him, blacklisted or not, he would try and take M.W. out, but just not in public. If he can help it. Not very spy like. He'd wait around a corner, to make sure he had a clean shot.

Yes, sometimes it's in public, like JFK, but a trained spy in a Metro area would be deft about it. T.

Things have to be added to enhance the drama, don't forget........T. again...

I have noticed that sometimes it is other people who end up "dealing with" the bad guy. For instance, in the show where Ricky was in trouble with the record producer, the financial advisor went out on a boat and didn't come back. Michael and crew did just what was necessary to solve the client's problem and the betrayal was dealt with as an internal matter. The same was true for Ivan, whose body was found in a dumpster. Michael sent him to his boss and knew that Ivan was going to be in big trouble, but he did not kill him himself. (I had a little trouble with that one. Ivan was a bad, horrible, terrible, no-good guy kidnapping women, ripping off money from their families, and then, maybe, selling them into the sex trade. But, wierdly, I had a little Stockholm syndrome going on.) The Jamaican drug dealers and the corrupt cops got into a gun battle while Michael and crew drove off on their merry way. In other cases, they have managed to have the cops show up before the bad guys can get away.
Michael killed the agent who was strangling him. He shot the pretty-boy drug dealer Sugar in the knee. He ran an suv into potential kidnappers. He has certainly rendered people unconscious with hand-to-hand combat; a memorable example is when he made the transition from Jackson to Michael. There are probable others but I can't remember offhand anyone else that they have actually killed themselves. Anyone have any deaths to add?

How do you pick up on a trail on a pay phone? Who is listening in on a phone call from a pay phone to a cell phone, especially since Mike has a million throw away cell phones. Also the people who were after her knew where she was; hence the reason she ran off and left the phone off the receiver. Why would they care who she called?

Yup. ITA. Also, even if he does identify himself as a spy, that's not a get out of jail card. If you do the crime, you will do the time.

Exactly. And as KusaAngel23 so aptly put it, you can avoid "killing a Foot Locker referee". 

Keep things in perspective, it's the NSA, not the CIA that does all of most of, as they are set up to monitor any and all radio, phone, cell phone, fax, etc. etc. transmissions. If you use the word BOMB for example, it triggers something somewhere in a computer and an NSA tech jumps on it to see if it merits further interest on the part of the NSA.

It would turn out to be more than likely someone saying: "It was the bomb!" Obviously, harmless talk. But, if they heard "We will BOMB the President's helicopter and set it off when he just gets airborne..." Then that of course throws red flags.

It works more or less like that.

T.

Yeah, but I highly doubt you could trace a call and dispatch a team that fast. I'd imagine they wouldn't waste any resources tapping pay phones since most of them don't work properly and why even use them with throw away phones so cheap, convenient, and much more reliable. Also, you can't trace the owner of a throw away. So, even if you found the location of the phone, because some idiot left the GPS on, or by other means, they'd be LONG gone. 

Anyway, Fi HAD to get in contact with Mikey somehow. I guess when she jumped off that bridge her cell was lost or she could have left it in Sam's caddy.

She used the ancient method of a pay phone to get a hold of M.W. All I was saying was that the NSA are the chief means to spy on radio conmunnications in this country. That's all.

If you go back to decades earlier, the good guy, being chased by the bad guys, had to FIND a means to let his people know what was about to happen, and much drama was pulled out of trying to communicate with someone else. Of course, nowadays, you have a cell phone. So, you have to find other convincing ways to rachet up drama.

I see this with what the stupids keep doing with Superman. They make more powerful that about 20-30-40-maybe even 50 locomotives, and then it's too easy for him. So, how do you make Superman sweat. You do what Lex did in Superman: the Movie. You created a scenario where he can't be in two places at the same time. For one.

We want this to be as real as possible, but you have to keep ever rising conflict in the story to keep it interesting. Michael has Carla and the other idiot she works with in his sights, and as he is about to pull the trigger, his mom calls.........T.

Yes. NSA can listen in. I thought you were saying that Fi using the pay phone was one of the authenticity slips. I think her using the pay phone when she obviously didn't have a cell made sense. 

It does. What doesn't is that she left it dangling instead of hanging it up. She had time to tell Michael "they're coming"--she could have used it to hang up. He'd have understood. Leaving it dangling just made it waaaaay obvious to her pursuers that she'd been that way very recently. Sure, they'd probably have assumed so anyway, but the dangling phone was solid confirmation.

JMO. I could be FOS.

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FunnyDiva

You also could make a case that if you witnessed a murder via missile and that murderer is after you, the last thing you'd be concerned with is hanging up the phone. I just don't see this scene as being a slip in authenticity. They are human and we don't necessarily behave rationally when the adrenaline is flowing. She DID keep her head about her when she was in her element, making the explosive that they put in the truck to create a diversion for their escape. 

Yah, "I love machine shops!" was a fine moment!

I'd agree with your case if it wasn't Fiona (or Michael or Sam). They're used to coping with the adrenaline--they're trained to behave rationally when the adrenaline is flowing.

But when all is said and done, it's a TV SHOW for pity's sake. TV things are going to happen for dramatic effect.
And it's only because BN is such a great, smart show that we have the luxury of picking out teeny tiny details to discuss. (Like the "cap discontinuity" in "Old Friends" when Michael is keeping Jan from getting his epi-pen injection.)

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FunnyDiva

I actually enjoy discussing these minute details. I LOVE the show and I find any discussion about it interesting. I love hearing differing opinions too. Thanks for allowing my indulgence, FunnyDiva.

Avec plaisir, cher ami!

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FunnyDiva