Series 10 - Episode 6 Discussion

[Gazelle]

(25-10-2011 10:20 PM)beatrice4ruth Wrote:  

(25-10-2011 09:21 PM)DogSoSmall Wrote:  I have tried to read everyone's comments and really take in what is being said about how appropriate and beautiful the ending was. I want to agree, because clearly to have found this perfect would be a much more pleasant experience. I forced myself to watch the repeat last night, constantly reminding myself how this was, apparently, the only possible way for Spooks to end. I revelled in everyone's incredible acting. I laughed at the funny lines. I took in the beauty of the memorial wall. I forced my way through the poignancy of Harry's last scene.

I don't get it. I will never get it.

I have been watching Spooks since it first began 10 years ago. I have always enjoyed it, in spite of the derision of family members who know a bit about the security services. I have loved many of the characters (particularly Zaf and Adam) and have been sad when they died, but have always acknowledged that it has been in the "Spooks tradition" and it has been gripping, heroic and exciting as well as awful. I've always been left with the sort of "wow" feeling that most people seem to be achieving now. I do not watch Spooks just for Harry and Ruth, and I don't like the dismissive way people are categorised as the H/R brigade. I have always enjoyed both characters as individuals and because they are played by such exceptional actors. It is the actors and the writers who introduced any sort of relationship element and have been leading us along this path. Those who are most immersed in the show have followed, and cared just like they wanted us to. Everyone loves Harry and wants him to be happy, and it is the writers and the actors who have convinced us that he believes he would be happy with Ruth. That is why we wanted that for him. The show is not all about Harry and Ruth, but it is the writers who put all the emphasis on Harry during this last series. Of course, they wanted to make the most of Peter Firth's skills and this series is a gem in that respect, but it is the writers who created that emphasis and the viewers would have to be asleep not to notice.

Ruth's death was completely different from any of the other deaths on the show. It was unbearably and irredeemably sad. The writers have spent the last two series showing us what little appetite Harry had for his job any more. They concentrated our minds on the sacrifices he has made for his country and Peter Firth made us care. And how do they repay us for obliging them and caring? They put him back in that job he has grown to detest because they have taken away any other brighter hope for him, and that is the final image we are left with.

And, of course it's not real. I am finding it very irritating, seeing that smugly pointed out as if some do not appreciate the fact. Surely the pinnacle of achievement for drama-makers is to create something which becomes real in the imaginations of the viewers. I'm sure they would not want to the belittle those viewers when they do achieve it. And frankly I think it is pretty rich for anyone who has registered on a fan forum (not to mention people who are obsessed enough to start up a forum) to mock others who take it seriously.

It is bunkum to say this is the only way the series could have ended. A happy ending would have been soap opera? Does anyone watch soaps? I don't, largely because you can bet that the second a character is happy, death, betrayal and misery are close behind. In that respect, this last episode was pure gold soap. It was the acting skills of PF and NW that saved it. Just as their skill would have delivered an equally plausible end with them together. And I'd put money on it that if that is what had happened, being the consummate professionals that they are, they would now be giving interviews saying how fitting and deserved that kind of ending was. I didn't want to see roses round the door. Just an acknowledgment, however subtle, that sometimes people can find their way to each other, no matter the obstacles.

So now I am sad. And I want the writers to know that I am sad. For 9 series and five and 55/60ths of an episode I thought Spooks was the best thing I had ever seen on television. Now I just hope I wake up tomorrow and have forgotten all about it.

And if you make a sarky comment about that, Nitrus, I swear to god I will hunt you down - Tom Quinn style!!!

Thank you for your wonderful remarks. I wish I could write so well.

You have summarized so well my feelings about the love of Harry and Ruth and the mockery that other fans, one person in particular, heap on us because we dare to cherish them.

It's so childish that we are not allowed to have a different opinion from other fans. Isn’t what a forum is about, to share different points of view and respect each other? It is even more galling when our posts are dismissed without being read properly. Why is so difficult to accept that H/R fans can also appreciate the spying tradecraft? I suppose that I will be again exiled! Big deal. As a teacher, I find it very funny that at my age I am being sent to the corner with a dunce hat.

Now let’s go back to the truly important stuff. Harry broke my heart during the death of Ruth, at the cottage, at the memorial and in his office with his black and white mourning tie. It was nearly unbearable to watch him, nearly more so than the actual death of Ruth. Britain is now supposed to be safe in the hands of a broken and reluctant Head of Section, who kidnapped a CIA deputy-director and nearly blew up a plane full of civilians. What will Harry do without the guidance of Ruth who was not only the love of his life but his moral compass?

Harry and Ruth deserved a happy understated ending. I can't get over the fact that they shared only three kisses in 9 years and for the third one Ruth had to be dead. It is so unrealistic and ridiculous.

I am truly sorry that Spooks has disappointed you after 10 years of faithful viewing. PF and NW have tried so hard to create a loving and perfectly-matched couple who should be envied by all and not mocked by some. The marvelous PF and NW must have felt somewhat betrayed by the short-sighted imagination and the tedious shock and awe formula of Kudos.

Apologies for quoting these 2 posts in full as it'll make my post very long, but to abbreviate them wouldn't do them justice. Both are really well written and sum up my feelings perfectly, thank you to both contributors for posting.

The lines that stand out for me are the following:

"Those who are most immersed in the show have followed, and cared just like they wanted us to."

"Ruth's death was completely different from any of the other deaths on the show. It was unbearably and irredeemably sad."

"Surely the pinnacle of achievement for drama-makers is to create something which becomes real in the imaginations of the viewers [so it is unfair to criticise fans when this happens]."

"It was the acting skills of PF and NW that saved it. Just as their skill would have delivered an equally plausible end with them together."

"[It would have been] Just an acknowledgment, however subtle, that sometimes people can find their way to each other, no matter the obstacles."

"Harry and Ruth deserved a happy understated ending."

I couldn't have put any of this better myself. Like you both I remain desperately sad that the writers/producers decided this was the way the show should end, it is however comforting to know we're not alone in feeling this.

(As well as reassuring to know we're all perfectly sane, intelligent and well-balanced individuals who's only crime is to have cared greatly about this drama and the fate of Harry and Ruth!)

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts.