5.9 [re-watch]

[JHyde]

Ros baby-sits a war criminal and Adam comes up against an old foe. Or is it friend?

Discuss!

This is probably my joint fave episode of this season along with 5.3. I love seeing where Ros might have been earlier in her life (she has some hilarious moments in this episode), RPJ turns in one of his best performances on the show (I love how cold he gets as soon as he leaves the sister's house) and the plot is great. It is a very believable premise, the job of caretaking a war criminal just for the present, despite all the terrible things they might have done - that's been done a few times for real. And the use of the old school spy stuff is just brilliant.

I think this episode is a great example of a story that stands alone. It's clever and suspenseful and works really well.

Am I the only one who thinks Ros' old beau is a real drip and that the wife and Ros are so much better than he deserves?

[Silktie]

What I like about this is how well it shows how little options remain available to someone like Marks when your superiors disown you, despite you only doing what they ordered you to do. The line between him and Adam is a thin one, as we know that Adam has also on occasion assassinated people on behalf of the state. It's interesting also that Marks is the first one willing to put a name to what Adam is going through - perhaps because he is not as close to Adam as the rest of the team is, he is more willing to see it for what it is?

RPJ does deliver a great performance this episode. I like the fact that Adam is willing to give Marks a chance to explain despite all the evidence against him. Even when struggling with PTSD Adam's basic humanity still wins out, which is what makes him such a great character in my eyes.

Ros was cool, and Zaf and Jo didn't have too much to do other than look worried that they might have to shoot Adam.

I enjoyed the scene in Harry's house and the quote about sleeping in Savile Row suits. At least now we know that Harry can actually knot his own tie. I also liked the scene in the interrogation room when the MI6 guy at first thinks they still believe him, only to realise he's been played. And of course the ending, when the war criminal finally gets what's coming to him.

[JHyde]

Oh I love that joke! Never fails.

I also forgot to mention how much I love the casting of all the smaller characters. Alec Newman as Dempsey, Marcel Iures as Grecic and Michael Maloney as Russell.

The commentary I have for this episode is also excellent. It has Neil Cross (writer) and Katie Swindon (who does a number of things on the production side).

[A Cousin]

Oooh... thanks for the heads up JHyde. I really like it when Katie Swindon does the audio commentary. She always has some really great things to say about how the script developed, what they thought of doing, why they didn't do it, and she's funny, etc. Isn't she usually script editor?

I think this is the episode that got me fully back on board after grieving over Ruth. It is first one after that that I really remember. Sad, I know, but there it is!

This is also Julian Holmes as director who, interesting (to me anyway), we don't see again as director until 9.5 and 9.6. I really like his touch as a director. His (and his teams camera work) is interesting but not intrusive. He doesn't bitch slap me with cinematic symbolism. In particular, I like the way he handles Adam's PTSD. He doesn't fall back on crazy camera tricks to convey the depth of Adam's PTSD. He places the viewer in the POV of the character on the receiving end of Adam's PTSD, e.g. the officer that doesn't know anything (is that Andrew Faulkes?), Dempsey on the bench, even Zaf & Jo. He really lets RPJ's acting guide it and its fantastic!

As for the script, this is one I have to see several times more to really follow it in its entirety. Each character, including the viewer, has a different level of knowledge of the situation that changes over the course of the episode. I have a hard time following that. But that's half the fun. I'll be rewatching it tonight with commentary.

Although Zaf doesn't have much to do, IMO, he has the best lines of the episode in answer to Adam's "Where's Harry?", "Moving in mysterious ways."

Ros is still out there doing her own thing. The idea that she is willing to give that much of her blood indicates her dedication to the job. Her reaction when Harry tells her Grecic's blood group is priceless Ros! I agree the doctors wife was much more interesting than the doctor himself. Frankly, I think it would have been more interesting if she were the old flame! But I guess that is not very main stream.

Harry's "gotcha" of his counter-part of Vauxhall Cross is a little bit old hat, but always fun to watch.

All in all, one of the best going.

[HellsBells]

I loved this episode as well. It was fast moving and full of suspense, never knowing which side Dempsey was on was handled brilliantly, and lots of tradecraft. I would have preferred a bit more background on Adam and Dempsey's friendship and the connection between Ros and the Doctor, that sort of left me feeling I had missed something.
I was surprised how far Harry let Adam go with his own instincts, and couldn't quite believe that Zaf and Jo were going to kill Adam.

[JHyde]

This is definitely one of Cross' best scripts. From memory it was also his first for the show.

[A Cousin]

(22-02-2011 07:30 AM)JHyde Wrote:  This is definitely one of Cross' best scripts. From memory it was also his first for the show.

Not from memory, but very impressed that you can do it from memory , you are right. Interesting that both the director and writer were on their first episode with 5.9. The fresh perspective shows, IMO. In a good way too.

Oh, and I was wrong about Kate Swindon. Looks like she was script editor for S4 and asst. producer for S5, 6 & 7. I was confusing her with Faith Penhale. I have a newly found respect for the job of the script editor. I can see the differences between script editors as much as I can it in the producers, directors, and writers.

[Silktie]

I confess to never noticing who the director or writer/script editors are for any episode. I just focus on the story and whether it makes sense to me and draws me in.

Something else I found interesting is how the scene where Adam/Dempsey stands back to back so Jo/Zaf can't shoot Dempsey without killing Adam as well, mirrors

Series 8 Spoiler: show

how Jo was killed in episode 8.3 - being shot through the bad guy by her own side.

Zaf sure seemed determined to do what needs to be done here, more so than Jo, who I felt the least likely to actually shoot Adam, if the need arose. Zaf, I think, might actually have done it.

[A Cousin]

(22-02-2011 03:44 PM)Silktie Wrote:  I confess to never noticing who the director or writer/script editors are for any episode. I just focus on the story and whether it makes sense to me and draws me in.

I didn't either until I started watching with audio-commentary. I like the behind the scenes stuff. I work behind the scenes too in my own very (very, very) small way. As an amalgamation of a writer, producer and editor, the script editor's mark and personal style is on each episode. It has captured my fancy. Although I do not know who the script editor was for S5. Still looking. Maybe it was still Kate Swindon but she just had a new title.

But this is also why I need you to answer my stupid questions when I say "Wait! I don't get it? What just happened? Why did they do that? What did they say?"

As for Zaf, I bought that he would shoot as well. To take it a step further, Zaf being Zaf, he would make sure that he had heard everything out and would do it only as a last option. I think he gave Adam a little more opportunity to explain than he might give someone who, well, wasn't Adam. That the fact that it was Adam, definitely tempered his decision to shoot them. It's these moments that reconfirm to me why I like Zaf as a character. He's not as cold as either Adam or Harry.