Series 10 - Episode 6 Discussion

[molecatcher]

(29-10-2011 04:36 AM)daphne Wrote:  

(28-10-2011 09:52 AM)molecatcher Wrote:  On 2nd viewing I got the impression Ruth walked up to Sasha and pushed against him as if she felt she could stop him by putting her body between him and Harry. Sasha looked as shocked as she did when she stepped back wounded. I'm not so sure he intended to stab her let alone kill her.

thank you. my take is along the same lines- I thought I was alone..

I saw the scene as 3 people in an emotional daze- not quite themselves- their professional instincts 'off'- mental and physical faculties slowed just enough to take that crucial edge off response time..

I saw Harry and Ruth and Sasha as 'naked' for the moment- not-Spooks, 'just' human beings.

Sasha's world has been torn asunder. he's a walking mass of inchoate rage, grief. propelled by pain. this viewer doubts he had a plan.

Ruth is heady with having been promised more happiness than she has ever allowed herself to ask/reach for in life.

and Harry, perhaps for the only time in 10 seasons, had stepped down for the moment, both intellectually and emotionally, from his chair.. as head of Section-D.

an ineluctable accident

that is what makes the scene 'Tragic' in the "Classical" sense, for me.
3 individuals caught up, tangled in 'Fate', because of who they are- (Aristotle- the inevitability of consequence..)

Totally agree daphne and the reason I felt I had to take a 2nd look at that scene because as stunned as I had been 1st time around I couldn't shake off a feeling that Ruth's death had, in those few seconds, been an inevitable accident with Sasha in turmoil, Ruth somehow sacrificial having finally declared her true feelings and for a split second when Harry relaxed and smiled, his guard went down and fate dealt that blow.

(29-10-2011 02:13 PM)Naivety Wrote:  Despite reading all of the fine and articulate posts above, and trying to be grown up and brave about the ending to this show, in my heart I keep coming back to the heartfelt sensation of disappointment. It's not rational and it doesn't do my sensible, analysing mind justice, but it's real.

I can't help feeling that in these gloomy days of austerity and recession, it would have been good to be left with a heart-lifting conclusion that had hope at its core, instead of despair.

Whatever justification I may come up with for what happened to both Ruth and Harry I admit that disappointment is also in the mix. A little part of most of us wanted some happiness to come Harry's way but realistically his place is on the Grid and as someone else put it so beautifully, he'll be hearing Ruth's voice either chastising or encouraging him as he continues to fight the bad people who want to kill us and in that I see hope rather than despair.