Episode 8 - Agenda

[Nitrus]

This is the episode where an extremist christian recruits ex-army men to bomb islamic targets.

I thought the storyline of this episode was very very interesting because it dared to mess with religion, particularly.. what is considered to be the "main" religion of the UK by many people, and using that religion portray a "necessary" evil.

I thought it was very bold of the writers to take a storyline like this to the screen.

What do you think?

[Silktie]

Very bold indeed. It is interesting that the episode did not create the same criticism from religious groups that the season 2 episode about the suicide bombers in the mosque apparently received (it is commented on in the season 2 DVD extras).

[almh]

I think that the people who would criticise the show (ie very religious christians,) wouldn't have been watching anyway after the one involving abortion in series 1! But I think that people did not overreact as much as they did about the season 2 episode because there is a lot of portrayal in the media by islamophobes about how Muslims are all going to blow up planes and kill us all, when actually it is a huge misrepresentation of the Muslim community. After all, it is only the minority who do commit terrorist acts within that community, and they are considered by many Muslims not to be proper Muslims as part of their teaching is peace, not war. I think that some people saw the summary in the Radio Times or something, and did not actually watch the episode, just wrote in to voice their views. If they had seen it, I'm sure there would have been far fewer complaints.

However, with the Christian one I don't feel that it is an issue that people feel that strongly about - how often are there modern-day Christian crusaders committing terrorist acts in television shows or in films? Compared to the number of ones about Muslims, it's not that many.

[sam b]

I wasn,t as keen on this epi found it boring it,s only got interesting at the end when Miss Myres kicked ass. The story line of Christains becoming terrorist found it hard to believe Sorry!

[JHyde]

This is good argument to have. I remember my sister and I explaining the plot of 1.1 to my father to make a point and he was a little outraged. Ironically, he's probably love the show.

The answer to this is that fundamentalists or extremists of any religion or ethos (as in the case of 4.1/4.2 or 5.10) are equally capable of death and destruction. But it's also true that some groups seem to appear more often in threat reports - and I know this because I've trolled the public reports of MI-5 looking for fan fic ideas. Certainly in terms of the threats that Five deals with, at the moment they are overwhelmingly classified as Islamic fundamentalists, mostly from Pakistan.

Admittedly, these are only the public reports and there may well be politics at play here. But not to the extent where the numbers lie so significantly.

And I hate it. I often worry, especially when writing fan fic, that I should pop something at the start explaining why I write my bad guys also speaking Arabic. But in terms of UK threats.....it's usually accurate. For Five in the 21st century, it's the truth. Twenty years ago, it was different.

[lwhite53]

(28-03-2010 12:51 AM)sam b Wrote:  I wasn,t as keen on this epi found it boring it,s only got interesting at the end when Miss Myres kicked ass. The story line of Christains becoming terrorist found it hard to believe Sorry!

Many centuries back, there was a little thing called the Crusades. Also Bloody Mary's reign of terror in Britain and the burning of "witches" in Salem, Massachusetts, just to name a few. There have been Christian terrorists throughout world history and they were just as barbaric and bloodthirsty as Muslim terrorists.

In today's world, Christians hold positions of power and authority; Muslims don't. The victors always write the history and slant the media to their way of thinking.

[JHyde]

That's exactly right. And it's why I never get too worked up over fictional threats that might be extreme versions of my own beliefs.

[Kazters]

it was certainly an ep that made me think! it yet again was an ep for adam to shine but also showed the problems that he was having! which i dont think really hit home untill wes sent missing/ran away. i think the thought of loosing him to pushed him over the edge (but apparently dosent stop him from risking his life further in the series or even in this ep).