Series 9 Episode 8 discussion

[BoHenley]

(12-11-2010 03:17 PM)Logsie Wrote:  I am looking forward with trepidation to series 10. As others have posted, Kudos have a habit of dispensing with their previous series' cliffhangers in the first episode so we may not get an in depth retrospective of Harry's career. However, if we do, I hope they shoot new material and tell us things we didn't know, using interesting guest actors rather than dishing up a montage of old footage in a lame attempt to save money. We don't want Spooks on the cheap. Either do it properly or not at all!

Anyway back to 9/8. I thought the dust had settled on John/Lucas's death but now I'm finding new straws to clutch at. Someone pointed out things to me about the rooftop scene which I hadn't noticed before. After we hear the scream and the car alarm there are clearly audible hurried footsteps and they don't sound distant like the other sounds drifting up from 26 storeys below. They sound close - very close. Also when Harry looks over the edge, he frowns, then looks to one side and then the other as if to say "where'd he go?" We don't know what Harry saw on the ground. I wonder if they have left things open so that John could turn up at a later date, or he could stay dead, depending on scripts and availability of RA.
I had already tried to conjure up a scenario where he could have survived this scene but all I could think of was that someone else crept onto that roof, possibly to take out Lucas in order to save Harry, and that L/J despatched him and threw him off the roof before making his escape. I couldn't see how he had the time though, because the other man would have to be dead or unconscious or else he'd scream all the way down. Then it dawned on me! Lucas was already on the roof, lying in wait for Harry, so there is no reason why he couldn't already have a convenient body stashed on the roof ready to chuck off. The body would be pretty messed up after a fall from that height, and L/J could have rearranged his face a bit before the drop; and nobody who knew him was on the ground, the rest of section D were still at London Bridge station. The mistake would show up at post-mortem, but by then John would be long gone.

One other thing. I'm not convinced Albany is a fake. I think the real one was in Harry's desk safe all the time and he switched it with the fake one in the church. The Chinese now believe they have a useless weapon which they will merely exploit for its deterrant value, but the British still have the real deal. Harry will have retrieved the real Albany file later and removed it to a safe location.

Logsie, I really hope you're right. To bring Lucas back after this (at a later stage, even for one episode) would be a HUGE TWIST, and worthy of Spooks. And let's face it, it's no more incredulous than the Lucas-is-John story we've been expected to swallow this season.

Re: the rooftop scene. I also thought it'd end with the sound of a gunshot which would've given a much better cliffhangar to S9, and given an "out" for both characters. I did notice those footsteps in close (there's no way Harry could hear footsteps from down in the street - car horns and screams, yes) - who else was up there, or was it Lucas running off and Harry looked the wrong way, squints at the body trying to see if it's Lucas? Still, I think with the "48 hours later" bit, they'd have to know whose body it was, UNLESS Harry & Co are covering it up. (another good twist) Clutching at straws, I know, but hey, it's just an idea.