Series 9 Episode 5 Discussion

[A Cousin]

Ummm...wow! Lots of great thoughts here. I will try to not repeat much.

Since I have never met a Spooks episode I have not liked on some level, I will not say categorically if I liked it or not. It held me but once again, the threat du jour felt faintly familiar.

The filming was unobtrusive, clean and concise. I liked the shot on top of the building with Lucas and the sniper. This series' filming feels like a blast form the past for me - in a good way. It lets the plot and character development shine through. I also think I recognized many of the locations. That glassed in office building that the sniper shoots through was very familiar. So was the alley way that Lucas was strangled in. Wasn't that where Ruth told Adam and Zaf that she sees no other alternative but to sacrifice herself in 5.5?

Plotwise, there are huge parallels being played out: Levi/Anna vs. Harry/Ruth, Harry vs. Lucas, Harry/Ruth vs Lucas/Maya, Dimitri vs. Anna to name a few.

The whole Lucas character thread is so separate from everything else, certainly intentionally, that something has to happen soon. I am not convinced that Maya doesn't know "Michael" is Vaughan just yet.

I too was wondering where the hell Harry was through most of this episode but on the other hand I really enjoyed watching the team work as a unit with Lucas at the head.

The lack of Harry in general was made up at the end when he quotes Kierkegaard to Lucas. As if Harry weren't sexy enough! I don't think that it is a mistake that the book Harry quotes from is The Sickness Unto Death. The title is faintly reminiscent of marriage vows: in sickness and in health, unto death do us part, etc etc etc. Lucas could use a little read because this book deals with the theme of "despair," the tension between recognition of the self and a higher purpose and an individuals struggle to live with themselves. Heady stuff. Which is why I like Spooks. Did anyone catch Harry saying to Lucas, "Important work today" and not his usual "Good work...."?

Better development for Dimitri but still not enough! I'll be ruminating on that later I am sure, because I like the character. And I bet Sophia Miles bagged her gym run the day they shot her escape scene. She got a thigh and an oblique workout. She missed her calling as a contortionist!