Series 9 Episode 8 discussion

[conniesachs]

A bit late coming in with my assessment of ep 8 but I was so numb, then sad, then angry with what they did with Lucas I needed a few days to let it all sink and reflect.

On the positive side I liked all the action sequences, Lucas running rings round Section D. It was amazing how he organised it all in such a short time, but it is Spooks so I'll give them a bit of poetic licence. The acting of RA, NW and PF, nothing more to add to what's already been said.

But on the resolution, no!

The writers spent the series turning hero Lucas into evil John with a story line that had so many loopholes that even non-Lucas fans had problems with. But we stuck with it and waited for the Spooks final twist and explanation. But there wasn't one. John was evil. Being Spooks we don't expect happy endings for our agents, but we a least expected some sort of redemption, however small, for John/Lucas. But instead we got an ignominious end and seasons 7 & 8 were spoilt for many. It didn't even tie up the loose ends, in fact it created more;
* Why did John still go for Albany? With his past out in the open he couldn't be blackmailed and
Maya was safe.
* Why go to the Chinese? When Vaughn told him he was working for them J/L told him he was stupid
so he clearly didn't trust them. If he wanted to finance his future with Maya he could have gone to
the Russians, he knew how to deal with them. Then he would have found out Albany was useless.
* What made him think Maya would just up and leave at a moments notice? In ep 2 she told him she
had a job, friends, family - a life.
* Did he really think Harry would betray his country? We knew he wouldn't and Lucas had worked
with/admired/respected Harry for 6 years.
* Once Maya was dead why did he go through with the deal? Then having given Albany to the
Chinese why didn't he leave? He had £20m. He could set up a medical trust in Maya's name if
he wanted to atone.
Many of these questions have already been discussed, but they shouldn't need to have been. Everything should have been resolved. I think most of us could have written a more plausible ending. Even given the position J/L was in at the end of ep 7 even I could have talked my way out of it and I'm not Lucas, let alone John;
Harry knows John's version of what happened in Dakar and with Vaughn dead there is no one to challenge it. Harry wants to believe that John didn't knowingly bomb the embassy or kill the real Lucas North, and thought he was working indirectly for the British government. Harry knows Vaughn has a dubious past and could think badly of him. Even trying to steal Albany isn't so heinious once it is known he is being blackmailed over the revealing of his past and Maya's life has been threatened. Maya can confirm Vaughn abducted her at gunpoint, chained her up and threatened to hand her over to the Chinese if John didn't get Albany.
So what's the worse that can happen to John? He's not going to trial for the Dakar bombing, the only evidence against him is his confession and he could retract that. He's not going on trial for stealing state secrets either, because his defence would be blackmail and that would bring out Dakar and how he was able to pass himself off as Lucas North and become a MI5 agent.
He may not be able to go back to MI5, but maybe he wouldn't want to, but he could hope that Maya would also believe his version of Dakar and try to re-build the lives of John and Maya.
It doesn't give us a dramatic finale, Lucas would be lost to Section D, but John would have a chance to re-build his life. And we would be left to decide who's version of Dakar we wanted to believe, John's or Vaughn's.


Last thought on the £20m. Perhaps we can set up a fund to counsel distraught Lucas fans!