Series 10 - Episode 6 Discussion

[Silktie]

Well, shit, they killed Ruth...

Wow, sixteen pages of comment already?

What a haunting ending.

The episode belonged to Peter Firth. My word, his performance was out of this world. First he scared the bejeesus out of me when Harry was smacking Sasha around and threatening to shoot him, and then he ripped my heart out as Ruth died and right up to the very last negative. Ever. Simply sublime.

There were also fantastice performances from NW and SRB, as well as JH, AK and TWJ. Kudos all round.

I think it a fitting ending for Harry, as once Ruth died, he was always going to return to the Service. It is the only way he knows to honour the fallen. It was ever thus.

Though I enjoyed the double bluff with the plane in this last episode, I remain ambivalent about the Elena/Sasha/Harry plot overall. It was emotionally powerful, yes, but for it to work it required Harry to get not a single thing right, in the present as well as all those years ago. Now, I don't require my heroes to be infallible, and Harry has certainly never been that, but for nine years he has been a brilliant and intuitive Intelligence Officer who did get the occasional thing right. We never got to see those traits in this final season, and that doesn't sit quite right with me.

The whole Gavrik family drama playing out was fascinating, and I agree with whoever said Sasha is going to need some serious therapy. Maybe he and Ilya can work out their differences whilst doing time together for killing Ruth and Elena respectively. I liked the fact that Harry used that lie about Elena's parents to 'turn' her - he has never been afraid to go to the dark places of this job and I was glad that dark side got an outing here.

And as ever, Ruth and Harry's timing sucked. Just when both of them were finally ready to move on together, it was too late. And Sasha gets to make the final interruption of a Significant Moment between the two, unfortunately permanently. I never really expected them to get a happy ending, but a small part of me had hoped that they would surprise us with an ending with the slightest hint of hope for the future. But they definitely got the promised definitive ending - there's no coming back once your name is on that wall, sadly.

The Memorial Wall and Tom's little cameo was a great way to tie everything together that had happened these last ten years.

So, rest in peace, dear Ruth.

And keep on fighting, Sir Harry, you magnificent bastard.

I will miss you dearly.