Episode 6.3 [re-watch]

[A Cousin]

Edited to add - In my enthusiasm, I think I posted this too early - sorry! Feel free to delete it!

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I'll be the pushy American and start this off.

Malcom goes out in the field alien hunting, Ros smells something rotten in Denmark and Harry get his "K" and a psychological assessment on the same day!

Discuss....

OK - I'll start.

One word: Malcolm. Love this episode for him. HS is lovely in it. I also like how Adam stays with him. Sure he lets him think he is gonna die for longer than he needs to, but Malcolm really proves himself to himself.

I love the scenes with Harry and Bob. "Maybe it was a cat?" In fact, I think Matthew Marsh is one of the best series long guest actors they have ever had. You just never know where the team stands with him. Is he helping? Is he not? It's a constant guessing game. For Harry and for us. Harry doesn't trust him any farther than he has to.

Harry's psycholigical assessment. Chocolate Buttons - lolololol!!!!!!! I wonder if this is before or after Jane Featherstone asked NW if she would like to come back to the programme?

Ros & Yalta - meh. Adam & Ros - meh. Adam & Anna - meh.

Rupert Walters script. I always like his stories. His scripts are always thriller/suspense oriented. He clearly likes writing for Malcolm and Harry in particular.

This is the episode where the camera work starts to be very distracting to me. There were moments where it just feels like the director (Charles Beeson) is showing off.

[JHyde]

Nah it's OK. Just don't necessarily expect anyone until the weekend.

My favourite (heartbreaking) line is Malcolm's admission that his mother thinks he does what Adam does. Because inherent in that is Malcolm admitting that he thinks what he does isn't noble or selfless or brave. And he is all those things.

[Silktie]

Firstly the things I didn't like:

The Ros storyline. I find her actions incredibly naive at best. She agrees to help Yalta after they kidnapped her, practised Chinese water torture on her and admitted that they lied about knowing where Zaf is. On what basis does she decide to trust them above the team that she's worked alongside for the last year? She doesn't even bother to do some rudimentary research on them - she simply takes what she has been told at face value. I understand that she's angry about the apparent US involvement in Zaf's death, but she seems to make her mind up pretty quickly that Yalta's intentions are noble without any proof whatsoever.

Adam/Anna/Ros storyline. Still hate it. In this case, the way the end of the episode was edited also makes it look like Ros decided to help Yalta partly out of jealousy that Adam is still seeing Anna.

Things I loved:
Malcolm! How great is he in this episode? A true hero. It's also nice to see how much everyone cares about him, from Harry right on through. The threat of the week storyline was also quite believable and well thought out for me. And Adam is so sweet with Malcolm. It's episodes like these that make him my favourite Section Chief to date.

Bob and Harry. Haha, these two play off each other really well. They are two experienced intelligence officers continuously playing cat and mouse with each other, seeing with how many lies they can get away before the other catches on. You also get the sense that there is reciprocal grudging respect despite their repeated attempts to deceive each other. It's fun to watch.

Connie has settled right into the fabric of the team immediately, hasn't she? She is always needling Harry, from getting him to go for his psychological assessment to teasing him about the lack of a Lady Pearce, before doing the nice thing and going to the Palace with him. I immediately got the sense from her first two episodes that these two characters have a long and rich history together.

Hah, Harry's answers to the psychologist are pretty funny. I wonder what she eventually made of all that? And aww for the indirect shout out to Ruth with the missing 'something, someone' answer.

The ex-boyfriend of Jo's seemed a real drip. I wonder what she ever saw in him? I was disappointed that she didn't sock him for calling her 'Jojo'. That sounds like a clown's name...

So Harry becomes a Sir. Should he have refused the Knighthood? Is it not a bit of a sell-out to the establishment he so often clashes with? Or is it a calculated act to give him more clout in those fights with said establishment? Either way, it sure is fun to call him Sir Harry.

[picard1109]

I thought I hadn't seen this ep but about 20 mins in I realised I had. I think first time round I just watched the 'Harry bits'...

I like the Harry/Bob interaction, too. Two old war lords baiting each other. I loved the psych evaluation - Harry being seen to be vulnerable brings out my usually well-hidden nurturing side.

Hated the Ros storyline - didn't ring true at all. If they'd had her then talk to Adam or Harry about it, so that it was clear that she was laying the groundwork to be an MI-5 mole in Yalta, I'd have bought it but Ros appearing to fall for the whole Yalta thing didn't work for me.

Oh, and another thing that didn't ring true is Harry's notification of being knighted...and then going to the ceremony a few days later. It's usually months between notification and receiving the gong. But then, this is just television and they take so many liberties with everything else, I shouldn't be vexed by this one.

[JHyde]

I absolutely adore the way that Harry and Connie have this fantastic history that is just tapped into. It's one of the advantages in introducing characters who have previous with the department.

Series 7/9 Spoiler: show

Just think how well it worked with Lucas too and to a lesser extent with Alec White in 9.8.

[HellsBells]

I agree that Ros join Yalta was a bit unbelievable.
But Malcolm was brilliant, it was great to see him out in the field and not get killed!
I did find that because I already knew the ending to this episode, ie it was Aurora the spy plane, I didn't really enjoy rewatching this episode, the set up seemed quite weak.

Still dislike the Adam and Anna story, does Adam love her or is he just using her?

(18-03-2011 10:26 AM)Silktie Wrote:  So Harry becomes a Sir. Should he have refused the Knighthood? Is it not a bit of a sell-out to the establishment he so often clashes with? Or is it a calculated act to give him more clout in those fights with said establishment? Either way, it sure is fun to call him Sir Harry.

Of course Harry should accept his Knighthood. It is after all from the Queen, the head of state that Harry defends. I know it is politically decided, but it is ultimately from the Queen and I never thought of Harry as an anti-royalist.

[A Cousin]

(21-03-2011 02:32 PM)HellsBells Wrote:  

(18-03-2011 10:26 AM)Silktie Wrote:  So Harry becomes a Sir. Should he have refused the Knighthood? Is it not a bit of a sell-out to the establishment he so often clashes with? Or is it a calculated act to give him more clout in those fights with said establishment? Either way, it sure is fun to call him Sir Harry.

Of course Harry should accept his Knighthood. It is after all from the Queen, the head of state that Harry defends. I know it is politically decided, but it is ultimately from the Queen and I never thought of Harry as an anti-royalist.

Is it even possible to refuse a Knighthood? What would be the personal and professional fall-out if one did refuse it? I am just asking out of colonial ignorance.

I don't think he feels he is selling out, for the reasons HellsBells states. After all, the Queen is the apotheosis of the "Regnum" he is "Defende"-ing. I just think it goes against the grain for Harry to be put in the spotlight for any amount of time. It makes him uncomfortable. I wonder if there is a portion of him that thinks that on some level he doesn't deserve it?

Oh, and I loved Connie's outfit. Precisely what one would wear to such a function. As if she were dressing for a role. I remember that at first with their relationship I thought it might be something more, but I really like the old mate/brother-sister dynamic they have. You don't get to see many of Harry's old mates. Old adversaries we get plenty of!

[HellsBells]

Yes it is allowed to refuse honours from the Queen, and a number of people have for various reasons. And I am sure Harry is more deserving of it than some!

I did like the fact that Connie went with Harry, there is a real sense of friendship between them. Connie character just seems to fit in so perfectly. I

[A Cousin]

(21-03-2011 04:53 PM)HellsBells Wrote:  Yes it is allowed to refuse honours from the Queen, and a number of people have for various reasons. And I am sure Harry is more deserving of it than some!

Thanks for the edu-ma-cation, Hells Bells.

I did a bit of research and found several instances of declined Honours. My favorites being: "In the British comedy As Time Goes By, Jean (Judi Dench)'s brother-in-law Steven accidentally refuses appointment as OBE because he ticked the decline box on his acceptance forms." (source: Wikipedia) Or Alan Bennett refusing because in his eyes it was tantamount to be asked to wear a suit for the rest of this life. So clearly, no one is shoving it down anybody's throat! I think Harry accepted it because it was his duty to do so, plain and simple. In the end duty wins out over his own discomfort with the it.

He sounds a bit like a little boy refusing to wear a tie when he said something like, "I don't want to be honored now or anytime." I am sure he is in fact more deserving of it, I just wonder if he sees it that way? Not in a modest kind of way, but in a self-doubtful sort of way?

[HellsBells]

I did think it was funny how quickly Connie found out about Harry's invite to the palace. I thought it worked especially well because we don't see how she found out she just knew.

One thing that I thought was over done in the episode was Ros's lie detector test. Okay I accept that she is brilliant at lying, but the graph showed no reaction to anything, not even when they 'killed' the french woman (Yvette?). I think a little blip might have been more believable.