Series 10 - Episode 2 Discussion

[Nitrus]

Any mention of Bill Crombie in Harry's Diary?

[Scarlet]

(26-09-2011 03:23 PM)Nitrus Wrote:  Any mention of Bill Crombie in Harry's Diary?

Yes. According to Wikipedia who quotes it as the source:

His first assignment at the service was to A Section, in Northern Ireland, where he was an agent handler during the Provisional IRA's campaign against the British state, until his close colleague Bill Crombie was kidnapped and killed in August 1978

It then says:

Pearce was then seconded to the Secret Intelligence Service (aka MI6), where he was stationed in Paris, under Juliet Shaw.

Any connection between the two events I wonder?

[pavementartist]

Wow! What a marvellous episode! My heart was in my mouth the entire time! Fast paced with lots of twists - this was like the Spooks of old. Forgive me if you are a fan of seasons 8 and 9 but they just didn't excite me. There's only one thing wrong with episodes as good as this one and that is, if the quality remains as high through to 10.6, we are all going to miss Spooks all the more.

Ilya is a wonderful villain: so cool, so gentlemanly and so utterly evil! How terrifying to be sitting across the room from him!

I love Harry and Ruth but did not mind the lack of tender scenes because the pace of the plot and the terrific acting held me spellbound. I noticed the plot holes already mentioned but did not let them bother me because I think you need to suspend disbelief anyway to enjoy Spooks, where the same five or six people save Britain every time Just imagine if a flu virus went around the Section D office!

I was gutted by Tariq's death, the more so because I feel as though his character development has been very slow, so it's as though I've only lately been getting to know him and now he won't be in the last four episodes - it is not fair!

I loved how the writers had me guessing all along about who knew what and who was plotting with whom. More to look forward to next week!

To Nitrus - the name on the file was "Bill Crombie"

[yorkshiretyke]

I loved this episode, in fact so much I totally forgot about H & R. Love Sasha and think he is just a pawn in the whole affair. Ruth a baddie never, its those peskie Russians, my money is on the Garvik's playing Harry the whole time...wouldnt be suprised if Elana was ordered to have an affair with Harry all those years ago.

Some one asked about Callum being teir when Tariq go out of the taxi, he was actually at the side door of Thames house, probbably too many people to film at front!

[beatrice4ruth]

I have also suspected that Elena might have been seducing Harry on the orders of the KGB and therefore of her husband, a KGB officer. Why didn't they think that Elena could get pregnant with the child of Harry? Why didn't she have an abortion, which was the method of choice for birth control in the East Bloc at the time? So many questions. Many fans do not like this interpretation of the liaison of Harry and Elena because it makes Harry look like he was duped by a better spy.

I am just going to enjoy the next episode and try to forget about H/R.

[Naivety]

This episode had it all, didn't it?

We had Harry playing mean and dirty with the cover up of the death of that agent, then the manipulation of Martha for the sake of information on Ilya. Then we had the softer side of him with the interactions with first Elena and then Sasha. He is so out of his comfort zone when tackling personal relationships. We had Harry and Ruth bickering with their voices while simultaneously looking at each other with such yearning. The death of Tariq was done with usual Spooks brutality. If you're not looking at spoilers then it was pretty much unexpected. It reminded me of Colin's death, very sad.

The woman on the CCTV receiving the briefcase was Elena, I'm sure of it, but perhaps she thought at that point that she was acting on communications from Harry, she may not have known then that she had been duped by the impersonator. I don't necessarily think that's true, but it is another theory.

As for Ruth being a baddie, NO WAY!! She is worried about Harry, she is not confident he is acting rationally because of his personal history with Elena and Sasha, and so she is trying to prepare for the political fall out when all this comes out in the open. Harry should be keeping her better informed. She is also upset/annoyed that harry has not considered her feelings with respect to the revelations of last week. I'm looking forward to next week, because by then she should have revealed some information regarding the Jim, Harry, Elena triangle. I reckon Jim was also running her. The reaction by Jim to Harry when he asked for help with identification was very sharp, wasn't it? I wonder if that that was all professional, or more personal spite because he knows Harry has met Elena.

I must be one of the few who finds Sasha annoying and immature for an FSB agent. He is an emotional loose cannon and not like Harry at all.

[beatrice4ruth]

I am so happy that you are saying that about Sasha. I hated him in the first episode. I found him so childish and so unlike his birth parents, Harry and Elena. That's why I am wondering whether he is really Harry's son. He does not look like him and does not act like him. He really did not behave like a self-restrained FSB agent. He was less annoying in episode 2 and a bit more mature. Even his mother had to quiet him down. She was touching like a young child, not a grown man.

[Beatriz]

I loved this episode, like everyone else!! Very gripping!!! It lasted 1 hour, really?? I though it was shorter!!!

So sad about Tariq, I didn't see that coming, I will definitely miss him, we didn't know much about him but he was a very loveable character.

I like Sasha in this episode, I don't think he's a baddie, he's only a victim of the destiny, I feel sorry for him, trying to cover for her mother... (I also noticed that he had left finger prints al over the place, it must be that gloves doesn't suit him....)The scene between Harry and him was priceless.

I don't believe for one second Ruth's a rogue agent. She's only trying to find out by herself what Harry isn't telling... It was mentioned last year, as well, I wouldn't believe it... I know with Spooks you never know, but NO WAY!

I'm not sure about Callum and I liking Erin more and more.

[Gazelle]

(26-09-2011 12:39 PM)Silktie Wrote:  And Ilya is in it up to his neck. I think he used his wife to get that laptop, because yes, it does look like it's Elena that Tariq spotted and got killed before he could spill the beans. Not sure that means Elena is a baddie, but perhaps it means someone wants it to look like she is one.

I agree with you, I also think Ilya Gavrik could well be masterminding things - he seems like a pretty cold and calculating kind of person afterall, and at the moment he's just lurking in the background. Perhaps there is no impersonator, instead Ilya (possibly with Elena's knowledge) is setting Harry up.

(26-09-2011 12:39 PM)Silktie Wrote:  At the same time, I can understand Harry not wanting to talk about his feelings over Sasha. What he did say indicated how much it hurt him never to have contact with his son, and he's so used to burying those feelings, that it's unrealistic to expect him to suddenly bare his soul about it all at the first opportunity.

I agree here too, having Sasha and Elena back on the scene must be a pretty big shock for Harry, he's probably not sure how he feels about it all, let alone try to explain it to Ruth. Plus he'd just helped Sasha cover up a murder in backstage at the ballet so Ruth probably didn't pick the best time! So saying he's going to have to open up to Ruth soon, she's hurting and needs reassurance. I'm guessing Harry was including Ruth when he told Erin he hurts everyone he cares about, I think he knows this is tough for her but fears her judgement.

(26-09-2011 12:39 PM)Silktie Wrote:  And I still think Jim Coaver is the impersonator, but I don't see that as too straightforward. I don't think the identity of the impersonator is going to be the main story in the end. There is something bigger and nastier at play, methinks, and the impersonator thing is just the clue that will lead us there.

Not sure what Jim Coaver's involvement is (other than being totally untrustworthy) - perhaps he too was involved with Elena, making her a triple agent?!

[yorkshiretyke]

Just remembered...new titles, Ruth having dinner with home sec.