Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch]

[A Cousin]

(12-03-2011 05:37 PM)binkie Wrote:  

(12-03-2011 03:30 PM)A Cousin Wrote:  BTW, Connie is drinking gin. Mr AC (ex-bartender) confirms that it looks like Tangueray, a mid shelf gin. What does that say about her?

Cynical me thinks that says her grade-tied civil service pension is probably not all that impressive

Binkie! Good to see you here. Please stay!

I would agree with you. Before we get our first look at Connie there is a slow pan over a junk filled table. I'll bet the set dresser had a field day! I have half a mind to take a much closer look at what her table is littered with.

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(12-03-2011 03:45 PM)Nia M Wrote:  My guess would be that she knows what it's like to feel you've been left behind and are going to die (in 5.10 she's basically left on the Barrier alone with the terrorists - and probably likely to die - until Adam comes along, and then again when they're under the water we see her at her most vulnerable, in complete and utter panic, and essentially giving up) and she doesn't want Zaf to have to go through that.

I'd buy that, but didn't she make the choice to replace Adam on the barrier? Maybe she still simply has something to prove to herself and the team?

[Nia M]

(12-03-2011 06:59 PM)A Cousin Wrote:  

(12-03-2011 03:45 PM)Nia M Wrote:  My guess would be that she knows what it's like to feel you've been left behind and are going to die (in 5.10 she's basically left on the Barrier alone with the terrorists - and probably likely to die - until Adam comes along, and then again when they're under the water we see her at her most vulnerable, in complete and utter panic, and essentially giving up) and she doesn't want Zaf to have to go through that.

I'd buy that, but didn't she make the choice to replace Adam on the barrier? Maybe she still simply has something to prove to herself and the team?

Yes she did, but even so when it came to it I reckon she'd be pretty scared.

Series S8 Spoiler: show

For all her talk of not being scared in 8.8, she does a darn good job of showing the opposite here.

I think her replacing Adam may well be down to feeling she still needs to prove herself, but also I reckon because Adam is in no fit state to have the safety of the city's population on his shoulders, and she's not going to risk it.

And then in the end its he who comes to her rescue (without meaning to make it sound like she's a damsel in distress of anything, because we can all see she's anything but!), so she's in his debt again.

Bit of an iffy analysis, and I'm not even sure I agree with myself on what I've written there, but it's a possible avenue of reason somewhere.

And actually, I've just realised that has practically nothing to do with the episodes this thread in discussion...

[binkie]

I am cheating, I admit, because I haven't actually watched these episodes since they were broadcast. It's all about the dregs of memory, I'm afraid And what I mostly remember is Connie. I think I may actually (still) be in love with Connie. She has such a beautiful, tragic face and such an air of resigned disillusionment with the enduring reality of her continued existence. The sense of her frustration with the unrelentingly draining influence of self-doubt is palpable.

(08-03-2011 10:58 AM)Silktie Wrote:  There's something irreverent about it all which made me immediately like her. And of course she gets to tell Harry to buck up and not let his people see he has no idea what to do.

Is this the first time we hear Harry acknowledge that he doesn't know what to do? Love that line of Connie's when she calls him 'the still point in a turning world'.

I love that she says this without any implication of pity or admiration. I love that she prefaces it by telling Harry (something like): "It doesn't matter how you feel". I love that she is so utterly ruthless in getting Harry's decision-making faculties back up to speed. She isn't telling Harry how special he is; she is telling him to be the thing other people believe him to be - or that other people need to believe him to be in order to make some sense of their own actions.

And yes, A Cousin, it is interesting from a 20/20 point of view. Interesting, but not devastating. It can't only be me that gets more than a whiff of Medea off Connie's whole storyline. Tell me it's not just me

(12-03-2011 06:59 PM)A Cousin Wrote:  Before we get our first look at Connie there is a slow pan over a junk filled table. I'll bet the set dresser had a field day! I have half a mind to take a much closer look at what her table is littered with.

Also, if you can get any mileage from this ^^, you'll be in line for the virtual-reward of your choice

(08-03-2011 10:58 AM)Silktie Wrote:  There's also a great touch on the friendship between Malcolm and Harry when Harry sends Malcolm away so he wouldn't have to witness what they're going to do to the four men.

I had quite forgotten this ^. Thank you for the reminder. The relationship between Malcolm and Harry is quite layered, and does reward reflection. There's probably a more appropriate thread for this elsewhere *goes to look*



Edited because the alphabet is our friend, and good spelling is important.

[JHyde]

In regards to why it's Ros and not Adam who goes looking for Zaf I think it comes down to a few main things.

Adam is the team leader and is in charge of the main mission of finding the vaccine. Ros is one who comes across the information via the French, so she is the one who has the information that Zaf may not, in fact, be dead. At the end of the double parter Adam is pretty much a wreck so it's not surprising that it is Ros who will go looking. And I agree with the general consensus that Zaf and Ros had built a good relationship on the Grid.

[HellsBells]

Finally watched 6.2!
I just love Connie, she is exactly what I imagine a real spy would be like, really practical and resourceful, and mature. There is clearly some history as to why she retired from the service, did she leave voluntarily or was she made to leave. I didn't believe the idea that she lived a disused germ-warfare facility, but that was a minor point.
I liked the way that the science was believable, ie the virus was only 94% fatal, the virus had to be an aerosol so that is had they infected Bob and the others.

Really interested in all your theories as to why Ros was so concerned about Zaf, that did seem a little odd in the episode.
Perhaps I'm a bit of a softie, but I enjoyed the way that single victim (sorry can't remember her name) in the hospital was followed, when she kept asking to see her children and husband, and the fact that she survived and her husband was there for her in the end.
Did we ever find out what the Russian price was for the vaccine, the one the British government was not going to pay?

And a cliffhanger for the next episode.

[Silktie]

No, I don't remember them spelling out what the Russians wanted in return for the vaccine. I too would have liked to know what it was.

I'm a little baffled by that last scene between Adam and Jo. I'm not sure what they wanted the audience to take away from Jo's reaction to Adam not coming back for her. When she tells him she just wanted to see whether he would say to her face that it had been the right thing to do, was she pissed, or understanding, or both?

Also, Adam seemed to recover pretty damn quick at the end there. That scene between him and Jo couldn't have been that long after he was shown fading rapidly in that car.

[JHyde]

I think both, in regards to Jo. Jo knows in her heart of hearts that he did the right thing but it's a hard truth to admit. To herself and to him.

[HellsBells]

Yeah I was confused by that Jo/Adam moment. Did she really expect him to come back considering they would lose the vaccine?

[A Cousin]

(13-03-2011 12:22 AM)binkie Wrote:  And yes, A Cousin, it is interesting from a 20/20 point of view. Interesting, but not devastating. It can't only be me that gets more than a whiff of Medea off Connie's whole storyline. Tell me it's not just me

I cannot say that this connection jumped out at me. I am only aware of the Medea legend through Euripides play, though. No surprises there, I suppose. If my memory of The History Of Theater class I took in college serves, Euripides took some liberties with the myth. And it doesn't include the whole Golden Fleece part of it. That said, I would not put it past them at all. So now you have infected me with this idea , I will have to refresh my memory of the Medea myth and keep it on the back burner.

As for the Adam/Jo moment, I think she was waiting for him prove that he was still human. He is very cold in S6. I think she knows he did the right thing for an operational POV, but needs the respect of knowing that it was not an easy thing for him to do. Almost as if she is trying to make sure he is aware that he is still connected to his warmer side.

[binkie]

(15-03-2011 02:03 PM)A Cousin Wrote:  

(13-03-2011 12:22 AM)binkie Wrote:  And yes, A Cousin, it is interesting from a 20/20 point of view. Interesting, but not devastating. It can't only be me that gets more than a whiff of Medea off Connie's whole storyline. Tell me it's not just me

I cannot say that this connection jumped out at me...That said, I would not put it past them at all. So now you have infected me with this idea , I will have to refresh my memory of the Medea myth and keep it on the back burner.

Yep. Like a sneaky virus in a teeny tiny aerosol I am just the Robert Abplanalp of the Spooks Forum