Episode 8 Discussion [rewatch]

[Silktie]

I too love this episode, but then I'm a sucker for any storyline that touches on the Cold War. It's great to see Harry always a few steps ahead of anyone else on this one - he plans ahead with Hugo and it pays off in the end. Every once in a while they give us a peek as to why Harry is so highly regarded, which is good. The scenes between Harry and Hugo is some of the best, and some of the most touching of the episode, but my favourite scenes remain the scenes between Adam and Ruth.

Ruth seems to understand better than anyone else what Adam needs right now, and is not afraid to cross Harry to provide him with it. This episode truly cements the bond of friendship between these two characters for me. It is interesting that, although Harry is probably quite aware that it was Ruth that blabbed to Adam, it is still with her that he discusses most things, even Adam himself. She is truly the person he trusts most, but even then he doesn't follow her suggestions all the time, which I think is a good thing. The buck ultimately stops with Harry, so I can totally understand why he follows his own instinct here. Perhaps that is why he is so dismissive of Ruth in that one scene - he doesn't want her to change his mind, which she is quite capable of doing. In fact, she does persuade him to allow Adam back on the operation later in the episode. I interpreted his little stare in that scene as a way of saying to her that she shouldn't think he'll always listen to her, even though he did so this time.

I like that they showed us how much Adam was affected by Fiona's death. Too often this issue is glazed over in TV shows. They had earlier established the very intimate relationship that Adam and Fiona had, so there is no way that Adam could just continue without being seriously affected by her death.

LOVED Malcolm in this episode, he's so funny when he gets a little stressed out. Zaf was great too.