Watched new ep last night. Even had whisky and chinked glasses with my mate as it started !
Frankly i loved it. the tone is so much better than S9. Idk to me s10 seems more mysterious and doco like almost. I actually liked the slow meandering beginning. Was almost like a dream and very peaceful. loved the flecks of humour throughout and looks like ruth may have to make a decision later on about a possible promotion. Bet that'll cause some waves.
I agree with everone whos not sua about the newbie techie, he sorta got on my nerves.

Looking fwd to more flashbacks,revelations and of course ruth/harry moments!

(20-09-2011 03:33 PM)harrbd Wrote:  

(20-09-2011 02:43 PM)Scarlet Wrote:  I re-watched ep 1 on the iplayer last night and noticed something that I'd missed before. In the scene where Sharecropper is in his flat and opens a file, the first page looks like some declassified document and under 'Subject', is written 'Lee Harvey Oswald'! (If you pause it on the iplayer at 01:57 you can see what I mean)
Eh?! Is that supposed to mean anything?! Or one of Kudos' little 'injokes' - sort of nod to the whole cold war, russia spy saga of the 1960's?
Did anyone else notice? Weird....

Yes, I noticed but no idea what it means !

I saw it and I wondered whether that is the code name for Jim Coaver. I also saw another word that began with a P and as we know Harry's code is P******* Just a thought.


On a side note, I'm wondering what's happened to Scarlet as she failed miserably in letting Sacha get through the door

(19-09-2011 07:18 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  Yes, I agree Silktie that Elena is being used here. But if they are trying to throw Harry off the scent, get him out of the way, why did Gavrik practically save him from being sacked? The FSB could have had Harry out of the way by not asking the Home Secretary for him.

Good point, TL. Perhaps they need him there because his link to Elena and Sasha makes him vulnerable? They plan to manipulate him in some way? Or if they know Sasha is his son, use Sasha to do something and Harry will be unable to neutralise him, or give the order to neutralise him, because of that? It increases their chances of success.

I kinow that nobody believes that Elena is involved in the plot. Here I go again with my speculation.

Finally I looked a bit closer to the flashbacks and noticed where young Harry, young Elena and young Sascha were. Both Harry and Elena seemed to be behind a fenced-off compound. It seems to be an embassy, perhaps the British Embassy in East Berlin. There was a kind of obelisk in the garden too. You could see young Sascha running through the gates. I can't imagine where else they could be. It cannot be a park with these gates. It does not look like a safe house. I wish I knew where the location was. I think it is a big spoiler.

If it was really what I am thinking it is, then there was no way that the East German or Russian government did not know about Harry and his Russian family. Everybody was monitored in East Berlin or West Berlin. The KGB would not let such opportunity of recruiting Elena go by. Obviously, the British government knew about it and Towers made a curious remark to Harry: "I know that you and Gavrik wee intertwined. Anything I should know?" We know that Jim Coates of the CIA was running the operation with Harry and was full aware of his relationship with Elena.

I too think that it is Harry who is being used by Gavrik and perhaps Towers. The meeting in Moscow was revealing. The plotters, perhaps oligarchists, were confident that Gavrik (Ilya, Elena ?, or Sascha ?} would do his/her/their job.

Perhaps you are right and Elena is being used by her husband. Perhaps the plot of Elena as a double agent is too obvious and Harry truly believes that nobody on the former communist side knew about his affair with Elena. I can't believe that either. As a MI-6 agent, he should have known better.

The whole plot of Elena and Sascha is a puzzle to me. I really do think that it is not the main plot and the secret of Harry goes much deeper.

Yes I definitely believe Ilya knows about Harry perhaps he is part of the plot but I also suspect Ilya is being used too.

Good point. The plotters might be blackmailing Gavrik because of his weakness, his wife. According to the files shown on episode 1, they know about the liaison between Harry and Elena and that Sascha is their son.


I hope not. That would be too awful for words. And why would he do it?

(21-09-2011 12:25 PM)beatrice4ruth Wrote:  Good point. The plotters might be blackmailing Gavrik because of his weakness, his wife. According to the files shown on episode 1, they know about the liaison between Harry and Elena and that Sascha is their son.

Series 10 Spoiler: show

Or worse, is Harry double-crossing everybody and he is the impersonator after all? I can't believe that, as a former MI-6 agent and head of section, he thought that his affair would not be discovered by the Russians. He might be tricking everybody, including Ruth.

I hope not. That would be too awful for words. And why would he do it?

After the Lucas North storyline last year, I would hope this would not be the explanation. No, I'm betting on

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(21-09-2011 04:05 AM)loladom Wrote:  On a side note, I'm wondering what's happened to Scarlet as she failed miserably in letting Sacha get through the door

Oh, sorry. Must have fallen asleep...

I have more or less accepted the unlikely storyline that Harry has managed to hide his Russian "family" from the Russians for 30 years. I am really looking forward to the impersonator plot. I think too that he/she is an old face. Can’t wait to watch the confrontation between Harry and the impersonator.

At best of times Sascha is a loose canon and a spoilt brat. He has none of his birth parents’s self-control. Once he learns the truth about his birth, he will become

Re-watched last night. I loved everything about this episode, from the new characters to H&R.
I have no clue as to who is behind the person impersonating Harry, and who the bad guys are. It may be anyone from Erin to the Americans - and I love the fact that I'm so much in the dark - that's the sign of a good story.

Several comments about key fetures in the plot.

IMO Harry doesn't care much for his career by now. He wanted to resign last year, and he was willing to risk everything for Ruth - I think he did not expect to be reinstated and he had made peace with it. I also think he wanted to look after Ruth, and that's why he wrote the file on her, perhaps to make sure that his replacement knows how to value her. Perhaps he wants her promoted, maybe he wrote that file knowing it will reach the very top (the HS).

Not sure if IG knows that his wife was having an affair with Harry. I tend to think that he doesn't, because he probably would have had her killed had he suspected that. There's always a chance that he loves her too much to do that, but then that increases the chances that EG has been turned against Harry. Quite sure that she has not told anyone else that Sasha is Harry's son - that would have gotten her killed, for sure.

Loved H&R's relationship. Others have said most of what I have to say, but I'd like to add that I think Ruth has truly put the past behind her. She has thoughend-up and can deall with issues that threaten their relationships, which is a very good sign. Series-9-Ruth would be shocked at the truth about Elena and Sasha, and would be angry with Harry, to the point of not coping. Series-10-Ruth, so far at least, is not very happy with the news, but can deal with it. They looked and "felt" like a married couple, and even Callum noticed that (the bears comment). They are a team, a duo, inside section D. They were completly in sync at the ball. Loved it.

Loved the one-liners, loved the humor comming back to spooks, althogh this is not a full return to the old days. the first few series, especially No. 1 and 2, had a lot of light moments. This series is not light, but it's good to see a some return to what has made Spooks so popular.

I have so much more to say, but I'll just finish off by saying that Peter Firth's acting was outstanding. Nicola Walker was great too, I lovee her in this episode, but Peter was sublime. Can't wait for ep. 2.

Having re-watched this episode a few times, some things bug me:

Just before the opening credits, we see Harry and Ruth leave Thames House and enter a car: as Harry goes to meet the Home Sec, where is Ruth going?

Also the photo's Sasha is looking at: if they were accurate then it would show the inside of Thames House (a major breach in security), a private meeting between Tom and Harry and the best of the lot, Harry just seconds before he kills Kachimov, the former head of the FSB in London. Surely they could have shot some new, special surveilance shots of Harry for Sasha too look at, or is money that tight they couldn't afford to?

Also, why don't we see the Thames House: MI5 Central HQ logo until Harry's return to the Grid, even though his tribunal was there?

And a fail on the continuity front: Harry is wearing a red tie when he meets Coaver, yet the very next scene, he's wearing a different tie. Series 8 error there, or am I missing something?

Sorry if anyone has mentioned this before, just wanted to highlight some of the things that bugged me. I know it's just a TV show, but I always spot these things and they annoy me.

Brilliant episode otherwise, just hope that this is first episode jitters and that everything is perfected for Sunday.