Series 10 - Episode 1 Discussion

[A Cousin]

Act I: Prologue - history and exposition. Lots of house-keeping to be done in this episode.

Love the code-names for Harry and Elena:

Peregrine - a) bird of prey, b) foreign; alien; coming from abroad, wandering, traveling, or migrating.

Tourmaline - a crystal boron silicate mineral compound that is classified as a semi-precious stone. The gem comes in a wide variety of colors.

For the record and those who asked, S10 has the same lead writers as S9: Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent. I think they found their stride with this episode. I dug it. The hour flew by. I think the budget cuts forced them to return to Spooks basics of good drama: plot and character.

General Impressions:

Harry was fab. Loved the Old School spy stuff in the beginning. I did have a bit of a chuckle at the baby-sitting crew. They didn't mind being seen! PF hit just the right note with the Sasha reveal at the end. It could so easily have tipped over into Vomitsille, but he underplayed it brilliantly. I knew it going into it so I am glad it was blown in the first episode. In fact, PF under-played everything beautifully.

Ruth seemed to shed some of her maudlin depression of S9 and was brilliant in the field. Her tears at the end of S9 were always cathartic to me, so I didn't really mind the "re-set" of their relationship. I liked seeing them work so well together without so much baggage. Favorite moment with them was comic one when Ruth tries to get a look-see at Harry's Tome to Ruth's Brilliance. They are hy-larious!

There seemed to me a little bit of a return to an ensemble feel which I have really missed. It was certainly Harry-centric, but everyone had a solid moment of development.

I liked both Erin and Calum. Esp. Calum. But I like a smart-ass. (Takes one to know one. ) Jury is still out on Coaver, Ilya, Elena and Sasha.

From a filming perspective, I freely admit that I am a fan of Alrick Riley. I love how he works with shadow and light. Which I thought, stylistically, a really good choice for the first episode which is still so shadowed with questions. And he really knows how to pace an episode.