Series 10 - Episode 6 Discussion

[DogSoSmall]

Well, having said I wouldn't be back, I have had to return just once, because I have been unable to work this morning through needing to get this off my chest. I appreciate that my words last night were not thought through, although perhaps genuine initial reaction is the most honest. I also appreciate that Nitrus's words were directed at me and not at the people who gave more considered reasons for being upset with this ending. However, as others have said, it is extremely unfair to be down on people simply for not having the same opinion as you, Nitrus. I think you, and probably Kudos too, underestimate just how many Spooks fans have been drawn into the programme largely because of the interaction between Peter Firth and Nicola Walker and their characterisations of Harry and Ruth. Without them, this would be a good programme that's enjoyable to watch and slightly ridiculous and escapist. With them, it's a human story. Without them I would have been a viewer. With them, I have been a fan, which is not something I have been with any other TV show, ever. It's pretty insulting to be dismissed in such a patronising manner and told that my support for the programme has no worth. I hope that programme makers take on board the importance of employing actors who can so truly raise a TV show above the dross that is out there.

I agree completely with the comments of Tess24, loladom and Tea Lady. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and one person's "classic Spooks staying true to the storylines" is another person's predictable, thoroughly over-used and, for this show at least, positively hackneyed "dramatic device" leading to an unimaginative, unoriginal conclusion. I could have been convinced by a well-written death of either of these two - something full of dramatic import and acted, as ever, to perfection. A lazy little stabbing right at the end was just pathetic. I couldn't appreciate anything that happened afterwards, however beautifully it was shot and acted. I don't understand what there is to cheer about seeing Harry return to work after we have been shown for the last two series that he is fed up to the back teeth with being a "tool of the state" and completely disenchanted with his own role. And now he has to go back to this unmitigated misery without even the support and advice of Ruth to keep him sane. That is truly the most depressing thing I have ever seen on television. I fail to see the "satisfaction" or indeed "hope" we were promised.

Still, it's not real, is it? Just another programme to consign to the dust of the BBC bunkers. There are two things that make me sad though. I was really looking forward to buying the dvd and lots of the others from previous series that I don't yet have. If there had been even one remotely positive thing about the ending to this series I could have enjoyed everything up to and including it, but the final message of "life's a bitch and then you die" is not my idea of entertainment. The other thing that I can't stop feeling really upset about, as pathetic as it may sound, is that Nicola misled me about the ending when I met her. She could see how much it meant to me. It might be an actor's job to manipulate our feelings on the screen, but to do it face to face, real person to real person, well it just feels quite unkind. Before this season began, I was resigned to the predictability of the conclusion (who wouldn't be, after Lucas) and was talking myself into accepting it. But I genuinely believed Nicola when she told me it would be ok. I trotted into this final episode like a lamb to the slaughter, hopeful of something really uplifting. Well, there you go. Life's a bitch..........