Plot-holes

[Byatil]

(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!

Aha, oh dear! That really does blow the entire Dakar situation out of the water.

Once again, playing the devil's advocate: is it possible that the Casino would have been a popular tourist attraction therefore not requiring Lucas-is-John to have more than a basic understanding of French?

Is it also possible that Lucas-is-John only became fluent in Russian after he joined MI5?

I don't think there's any way to explain how he got a job in the casino, unless they had very different standards back then. Which raises a fair point - surely Lucas-is-John would have acquired a criminal record, which is something MI5 should have picked up on?