The Checklist: Treadstone (S1 Ep6) “The Hades Awakening”
Another week. Another episode of USA Network’s event series, Treadstone, to put to The Checklist test…
#1- Was there an action packed opening?
Just minutes into “The Hades Awakening” we are treated to a motorcycle chase involving Doug McKenna (Brian J. Smith) and a SWAT team led by a dirty cop, who has a bone to pick with Doug after Doug’s involvement in the pill factory raid in Episode 5.
The dirty cop proves to be a temporary problem for Doug… thanks to Leo Biller (Paul Thornley), who shoots the dirty cop in the head, but then Biller starts asking Doug some tough questions… both about the woman he killed at the pill factory and Lowell, the mystery man who ended up dead and buried in the woods of Ashland, Kentucky after an encounter with Doug and his wife Samantha.
Doug manages to escape without revealing anything… but as the episode continued, we learn Doug’s Leo Biller problems have just begun. 1/1
#2- Did J. Randolf Bentley fill in some of the gaps?
When we last saw Bentley (Jeremy Irvine), he had met a woman at a bar in Budapest, who facilitated Bentley taking an acid trip… this trip would prove to be an eye opening experience.
Bentley is able to remember the moment he was taken captive by the KGB and the mind control experiments that Petra (Emilia Schüle) and Dr. Meisner performed on him. 2/2
#3- Were there any notable guest stars?
With all the main characters established and all the storylines progressing at a good pace, it felt like a great time to throw in a classic notable guest star… but obviously the writers and producers of Treadstone felt differently than I did and there were no notable guest stars in “The Hades Awakening”. 2/3
#4- Whatever happened to Stephen Haynes?
The last we heard from cicada agent on the run, Stephen Haynes, was back in Episode 4, as he was fleeing the cops and on his way to see his daughter.
In “The Hades Awakening”, Haynes is being assisted by the man who was hunting him just two episodes back, CIA Agent Matt Edwards. But instead of visiting his daughter, Haynes and Edwards end up having a showdown in the street with the woman responsible for awakening Haynes… which results in Haynes killing her.
Edwards has a tough decision to make, terminate Haynes as instructed by his superiors or work with him to uncover the truth about the Treadstone project… when Edwards defies orders it puts his direct supervisor, Ellen Becker (Michelle Forbes) in a bad spot with her boss, Dan Levine (who I get the sneaking suspicion isn’t being forthcoming with all he knows about the Treadstone project). 3/4
#5- Did the SoYun streak continue?
SoYun has been a major player since the Treadstone premiere, that trend continued in Episode 6… with SoYun surviving her trip to China and making it back to North Korea, where she finds that her son is now living with her mother and her husband is more or less being detained by his employer… Col. Shin reminds SoYun that as long as she keeps following orders, her family will be safe.
I don’t want to give anyone the impression that I am not a fan of SoYun, she’s kicked some major ass… but can we give SoYun a damn rest? There’s so much going on in this series and we’ve seen other major characters sit out episodes (Tara was missing in action for the second time this week), I think SoYun is due for a one episode break before the season wraps up. 4/5
- Final Score = 4/5 (80%) This week’s episode was carried by the strange bedfellows that are Matt Edwards and Stephen Haynes and JRB’s even stranger acid trip… The introduction of the Leo Biller character was well done and his promise to involve another asset to deal with Mr. and Mrs. McKenna is certainly intriguing.
Forgive me, as I am so pathetically behind! But another great Checklist!! However, I am going to disagree with one item on the list. That is having a notable guest star. Since Michelle Forbes does not count, I think the producers feel that this show should be all unknown actors, perhaps because a notable guest star would distract the audience from the action and take them out of the story. Or maybe the budget is tight and they can only afford to pay scale wages to unknown actors as opposed to higher pay to a better-known actor. Whatever the reason, since the actors involved are all so darn good, I don’t care that I’m familiar with only one of them.
By the way, I agree that I would like SoYun to take a break. But I think the writers consider her (and Doug) the 2 main characters, so we will see both of them every episode. At least Doug has a cool storyline! And I’d like to see Tara, too. And “old” Petra.
Sometimes I may be too old school for my own good… I loved when action adventure shows of the past would feature a recognizable guest star. But those shows weren’t being filmed all over the globe like Treadstone, so I am sure it is a budget thing… and honestly the story didn’t really need that extra star power… again, it is just me being old school.
Or maybe I am not familiar with action adventure shows of the past… so I do not realize there should be a recognizable guest star showing up. Thus, when there isn’t one, I don’t even notice it. I agree with you that with Treadstone’s globe-hopping, it is a budgetary issue. And again, with a show this great, perhaps this is one part of The Checklist that might possibly be skipped… for just this show? Maybe?!?
Spoiler Alert… I came to that very conclusion as you will see as you continue your Treadstone journey.
lol!