Episode 6.5 [Re-watch]

[Silktie]

Halfway through the season, folks.

Watch and discuss.

[Silktie]

Well. I really hate this episode. Could they have laid the melodrama on any thicker? The whole Adam/Anna/Ros debacle rises to unbearable levels for me here.

On top of that, Adam (who I love) is being an idiot and led around by his, erm, nose most of the time. Meanwhile, Ros has the gall to criticise him all episode and accuse him of duplicity for still seeing Anna, whilst actively betraying her country by planting bugs on the Grid for some shadowy group that she knows almost nothing about. What a hypocrite. And as for the excuse that she thinks at this point Yalta is still helping, if she were so sure that their motives are pure, why is she sneaking around behind everyone's backs? Why not just come clean and use them, without betraying her country in the process?

Geez, at this point only Jo is still trustworthy in terms of the field officers.

Poor Ben seems to have no personality whatsoever. I also found that little speech Jo gave him about the difference between journalists and spies rather patronising.

I did think the story about the US selling Iran faulty plans was clever. Pity it was drowned in all the other nonsense.

[A Cousin]

Hahahahaha, Silktie! You took the words right out of my mouth.

Not only is the melodrama laid on thick as thieves, the filming is too. This is the episode where S6 really becomes very distracting to me. Especially when there is such a convoluted story going on. It's frenetic and not in a good way. It's not that it's badly done, it's just too much: too many close-ups, too much hand held, too much split screen, too many cuts, and the editing is too slick but not at all subtle. I start counting the seconds for each shot and never got past 2-3 each. There is not one moment where you can settle in as a viewer and concentrate. Maybe that was the intention, but it only succeeds in my not paying attention to plot and character at all!

I had the same thoughts about Adam and keeping his his w*nk in his pants esp. after Harry comes to his house and tells him to keep his fly shut! I do like that scene though. It shows the chemistry between PF and RPJ very nicely. How often does Harry visit his officers at home?

Is this the first time we see an actual consummation scene? I'm not afraid of it. I just didn't need it.

The thought has occurred to me that maybe Adam is so taken with Ana because he is trying to "re-live" his relationship with Fiona? Maybe he is trying to save Ana from her assumed oppressive marriage like he saved Fiona? Problem is, Ana doesn't want to be saved.

Seems to me that if Ana has the balls to drug Adam, drag him to the tub and leave him to drown, she'd have the steel to not give up his location to Ros quite so easily? All that to get the info that the Iranians have the real triggers? I don't buy that Bakhshi would trust this info to the wife that has proven herself to be untrustworthy over and over again. Actually, I think she is doing all of it to be part of something because Dariush doesn't bother her with the political details of his job.

Snakes. Why does it always have to be snakes?

This is a very paranoid episode on The Grid in general isn't it? Shades of S9.

I wish they had cast someone a bit more dynamic as Ben.

[HellsBells]

Loved the Harry and Adam scene in Adam's flat. Even Adam can't outmanoeuvre Harry!
Loved Ros pushing Ana around at the end, I've been wanting someone to do that to Ana for ages!

There is just so much, or too much, in the episode. The stories overlap each over to the point that the they no longer hold together. There were a lot of 'jumps' in the story, eg how did Adam know Bob Hogan had set-up the fake journalist? How did Ben know where Adam was when running away from the police? How did Valentino evade all the surveillance on him, except Yalta's?

I liked Jo's speech about being a spy, it is not often that Jo gets to make such speeches.
Totally agree with A Cousins that the 'actual consummation scene' was unnecessary.

[SweetTea]

(05-04-2011 02:03 PM)A Cousin Wrote:  Seems to me that if Ana has the balls to drug Adam, drag him to the tub and leave him to drown, she'd have the steel to not give up his location to Ros quite so easily? All that to get the info that the Iranians have the real triggers? I don't buy that Bakhshi would trust this info to the wife that has proven herself to be untrustworthy over and over again. Actually, I think she is doing all of it to be part of something because Dariush doesn't bother her with the political details of his job.

I just watched this one again and I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one not fond of it. As for Anna, I think that Bakhshi told her that she had to set up and kill Adam or he'd have her arrested for spying in Iran. As we learned earlier in the series, she's half English and thus not popular in Iran and only tolerated because he's so popular. If she's afraid enough, it could be an effective threat.

And now I remember why I didn't like Ros again - at least during this series. I get that she started out with Yalta because she thought she could find Zaf, but once they said they didn't know anything and then asked her to bug the Grid, holy hell Ros! What are you thinking? Adam's not much better, maybe just a shade.

The only part I really liked was Harry's visit to Adam's flat, though it didn't do much good.

I'm now remembering why I didn't remember much from S6. There are some lovely moments, but as a whole, it's definitely not my favorite. However, it's still better than all the reality show crap that has invaded tv.

[Noam]

Where did Ben come from? If he has Harry's private number, how come he was checking up on Adam and sleeping with Jo?

What was the scene in the pub where Ros drugs Ben and then Adam sits him all about? Maybe this connects to a cut scene, for as it stands, it makes no sense (at least, not to me).