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Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

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Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#341

Post by TeaBrain »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #192
adhamsalama wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the first time I see a fellow Altered Carbon fan in the wild.

I thought it was a great standalone show. What I found unforgivable were the underlying plot changes vs the books. The Last Envoy? What? That did not even become a plot point (at least in season 1, I bailed pretty early in S2). Also, Envoys are terrorists and not the ultimate-special ops forces?

This is what really threw me. In the book, Kovacs was hired because he had been a highly-trained UN envoy. It made little sense for him to be hired as a known terrorist. I wasn't much of a fan of any of the terrorist cell background, or the other background elements like those with his sister, that they decided to add to the show.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#343

Post by lazyasciiart »

robocat wrote: post #290
lazyasciiart wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least some of them certainly do record it. I have multiple passports and have had difficulties several times with an airline that has one of my passports listed, that doesn't show the right of entry to the other country and which I was not intending to use for that flight. Moreover, if you are travelling on a codeshare flight, for instance, all airlines involved will record your travel documents, but only the airl…

Is there a conflict between (a) wanting to exit a country using the passport you entered it on*, and (b) wanting to enter a flight using the passport you will exit on? * don't want to be recorded as an overstayer

At the airports I've done this, they are separate checkpoints. e.g departing Australia for the US: 1. check in with the airline using your US passport. If it is the return leg of a flight from the US, you probably put in your Australian passport details when booking so you may need to go through an agent. 2. go through Australian border control checkpoint, and show your Australian passport 3. board the plane showing your US passport if asked for ID.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#344

Post by fennecbutt »

dylan604 wrote: post #262
yencabulator wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article directly contradicts you: > Elena also provided a veneer of plausibility for the Šapošnikovs’ lavish lifestyle. Despite Šapošnikov’s modest income from Imex (around $650 per month), the family bought real estate in Czechia and Greece at a value far in excess of what their collective income could account for. As Czech investigators note, “in some cases their official income could not cover even their phone…

Sure, when you get caught and are being interrogated for crimes against the state, you go right ahead and provide your new friends access to those accounts. Edit: Nothing you wrote contradicts anything I said. Your quote proves my statement. They had other sources of income than their cover provided, and the investigators used that to zero in them.

Should probably close those tags properly

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#345

Post by tunesmith »

nwatson wrote: post #332
pohl wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand the reflex. To me she was "that actress from that show Felicity that I never watched". The Diplomat turned me around real quick.

The Americans was awesome, especially that last "showdown" climax. Best TV ever, along with parts of Breaking Bad. I watched a couple episodes of The Diplomat and couldn't get into it. I'll give it another try.

Episode 3 is the one that kicked it up into the stratosphere for us.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#346

Post by foobarqux »

smolder wrote: post #320
squigz wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're confused about what episodic TV is. Star Trek is (or was) (generally) episodic. The Wire is serialized, as is most TV these days. Some people like episodic TV, some people prefer serialized.

I don't think they're confused about episodic vs. serialized shows; they're talking about the plot structure of serialized shows often having a change of direction at every season boundary instead of resolution of the existing plot threads. That sort of meandering never-concluding plot can be annoying. One way to avoid that pitfall is by staying episodic, (Old Trek,) another is to wrap up each season and start from a…

Yes I shouldn't have used the word episodic. The problem with your third solution is that it seems to be difficult to do with the current way TV series are financed and produced: You can't commit to multiple seasons at the outset and you also want to have an arbitrary number of episodes depending on how well the show is doing (milk more episodes if the show is doing well). There is also incentive to create cliffhangers so that subsequent seasons can be produced.

There are lots of mini-series which do book adaptations but it's hard to come up with examples that span multiple seasons: "My Brilliant Friend" did it I think and maybe you could argue early "Game of Thrones" but the story was never finished in book form either so it couldn't be said to be telling a complete story.

I don;t think "The Wire" gets enough credit for creating a format that conformed to the constraints of TV production while still being able to tell stories that spanned many episodes. You could have ended the series at any season (had it been cancelled) and it wouldn't have felt incomplete and yet the final season did feel like it completed an even larger story arc.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#347

Post by lmm »

mmsc wrote: post #71

> In both cases, she used sophisticated tradecraft that sought to leave no trace in databases accessible to European authorities. For instance, she booked her trips and bought her plane tickets using her Czech passport, registering only that nationality with the Greek airline. But upon crossing the Russian border, Šapošnikova used her secret Russian passport, thus bypassing the need to obtain a Russian visa issued to…

> It’s generally illegal in most countries to use another country’s passport within the country your passport is from.

It's not generally illegal. Some countries have that requirement but those are generally countries that are particularly strict (e.g. you mentioned Germany and Argentina but they're both countries famous for unusually strict nationality laws; Germany generally strips people of their nationality if they acquire a foreign nationality, Argentina on the other side makes it impossible to renounce your citizenship at all).

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#348

Post by hnick »

voltaireodactyl wrote: post #210
The_Colonel wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess smart people visit porn sites when they want to watch some. For me it's just boring filler and I skip them.

While we’re expressing opinions: in a show about navigating a partnership that accepts seduction as a necessary part of intelligence work (not solely of a romantic nature, but often), where the main characters are also being seduced by the capitalist lifestyle — I suspect some smart people might also view those less-clothed scenes as contributing (and even critical to) the underlying themes.

I'm with them, I don't enjoy those scenes (in general - haven't seen the one in question). Not because I'm a prude, I just find them a little boring and they usually take too long - and often are immersion breaking themselves with how they clothe or position characters to appeal to TV decency standards. An implication and a fade away is enough for me, unless something pivotal happens within the scene itself.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#349

Post by tomcam »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #9

This is my semi annual plug for all of you to watch the fantastic and somehow forgotten FX network TV show, The Americans, A spy drama set in Washington DC in the 1980s about KGB “illegals” posing as travel agents. It’s way better than any basic cable TV show had any right to be. Plus, all seasons are streaming on Hulu, so you don’t have to worry about whether the story will be completed. https://www.hulu.com/series/…

Easily one of the top 10 shows ever created IMHO

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#350

Post by swozey »

hughdbrown wrote: post #266
garyrob wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to give some advice: Don't judge it by its first few episodes. When I first checked it out, the basic setup seemed rather inane and I stopped watching. Then, a couple years later, I needed something to watch during long exercise sessions and I checked it out again. It was getting much more interesting by the end of the first season. And every season got better and richer. By the very end, I experienced it as a…

Try this: look up the most highly rated episodes on IMDB and watch only those. Missing the crummy episodes usually does not interfere with understanding the story arc. Often, I set a minimum IMDB score that I will watch, like 8.5 or 9.0 to capture only the best. This works well with series that: - take a year or two to find their footing or - have a large cast (some mediocre) that get their own story lines of no cons…

This is a very interesting way to watch a show. It feels almost illegal or wrong to me, lol. I'm one of those people who won't completely finish reading the end of a book series or game (witcher 3 easy example) because I'll like a show/game so much I don't want it to end.

I'll go through this list and start from episode 1, though, so I appreciate the list of good shows!

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