Plot-holes

[BravoNine]

(26-01-2011 12:36 AM)WhiteSwan Wrote:  

(26-01-2011 12:30 AM)BravoNine Wrote:  

(26-01-2011 12:25 AM)WhiteSwan Wrote:  How could Lucas = John get that job in a casino? Those jobs are not given away just like that, you need special training. And at least in Bavaria you would need a police certificate stating that you had no criminal record. Wasn't JB involved in drug dealing? How amazing he managed to get such a sensitive job! And apparently he was fluid in French, too, as this is the official language in Dakar.
So it seems John=Lucas and Lucas=Lucas not only looked fairly alike and were the same age, they also both had a training as croupiers before going to Dakar, both spoke French, both were fluid in Russian, had the same education and degrees (if JB were to pose as Lucas he needed the same qualifications) and neither of them had any family or friends. Now that's what I call a coincidence!

MI5 also give qualification training tests too before they bring in an applicant, so how did John/Lucas copy or match the scores of Real-Lucas so perfectly? IMPOSSIBLE!

The more you think about it the more ridiculous it gets. That's why I have decided not to take that story serious anymore. Lucas is just Lucas and no-one else. He might have had a nightmare, but that's all!

As a fan for a spy drama series, suspension of disbelief is something that one exercises a lot, I mean there are many moments on Spooks that you just have to kinda go with it even if it's not very realistic, but I think the writers are taking that loyalty of the audience for granted this time and pushed too far.

This whole storyline hinges on all these coincidences align together so perfectly at the right time, it just doesn't work. There are far too many technical aspects of the storyline that are never explained or just quickly glossed over, and when it all piles up, it ruins the atmosphere of the story. Especially for one like Lucas's downfall, when it all hinges on coincidences and getting the audience to believe in them, the writers took that risk and it just didn't pay off for them.

I mean, I can take a lot watching Spooks, I don't nitpick everything or else I would have stopped watching once Series 8 became just Lucas and Ros saving the world which is completely unrealistic, but the stories were good, well-written, and it made sense, so just ignoring the tiny factor of just two people saving the world is not a big problem at all.

But when your whole entire storyline is about the sudden dramatic change of a character to someone who the fans never thought he would be, all these coincidences and oh-so-perfect moments just doesn't stand up to scrutiny and when that basic foundation is crumbling and weak, the whole story just falls flat.

And this is what has happened to Series 9, the writers pushed the suspension of disbelief too far. They took it for granted, thinking that the audience is just gonna go with it, that they can get away without having to explain everything clearly, but they were wrong. When you tell an emotional life-changing story like this, you have to have solid foundations and backstories, what the writers gave were feeble excuses.

As a writer myself, I understand writing TV is difficult and there are time restraints, but that's no excuse to pull together a storyline with a weak foundation. It makes me feel shameful for the writers.