Episode 1 Discussion [Rewatch]

[BravoNine]

(24-01-2011 06:16 PM)Byatil Wrote:  I was surprised that Harry doesn't have a particularly 'big' role in this episode. He has a few hilarious lines which introduce his character well, but he didn't seem to have much screen-time. Should be interesting to see how his character matures

Harry is one of those characters whose role in the series changed greatly between the first few years and the more recent years. It's always weird for me to watch Spooks now to think of Harry as sort of the cornerstone or foundation of the Spooks team and then compare it to where it was in those first few years where Harry is just the normal typical desk-riding boss who isn't a very important central character.

I don't think the writers ever intended for Harry to become as important as he is now, but in their neglect of focus on Harry as a character, they allowed him to survive on when others died or left to the point that Harry slowly became the central heart and constant of the show, much like Martin Sheen's President Bartlett on the West Wing who went from just a few supporting moments to being one of the most important.

It's always an interesting thing to watch Harry's character progress and mature through the nine series from the very beginning. A lot of things have changed.

[Tineke]

I've just watched the very first episode again. I intend to watch them all before the next series starts.
Will I be ready in time?

[Kazters]

started rewatching spooks s1 in honor of the fact its just over a year since i became a fan and a member here l-)

[The Grid]

I know I'm a bit late but I thought I'd start reviewing each Spooks episode too. So I just watched 1.1 and here are my thoughts:

So Spooks begins and I think this is a very strong opening episode. The show manages to introduce each individual character effectively and manages to create a realistic working environment, which I believe is lacking in later series due to more emphasis being on the action scenes. This first episode focused on Mary Kane, a pro life terrorist. Mary was a brilliant villain and through the use of surveillance and a bit of undercover activity we witnessed her downfall.

In this first episode, we got a brief knowledge on how this MI5 team work - through undercover operations, surveillance and manipulating the media they achieve their results. We had Zoe briefly going undercover to befriend Mary's friend, then later as the family planning doctor. We witnessed Zoe and the team putting surveilliance inside Mary's house, and Tom fabricated a story to feed to the press to cover up the truth behind the car explosion that killed that poor mother and her child. No matter how many times I witness the scene where the mother drives off to work and her family wave goodbye to her, my eyes always fill with tears as they all look so innocent going about their daily business. The family are the innocent victims of a warped terrorist group, and when I hear the child say 'bye mummy' as she drives away, it sends a shiver down my spine as we know an explosion that will claim innocent lives is just seconds away.

Whilst Mary Kane is at the forefront of her pro life operation, we get an insight into those others who are involved. Mary's friend Rachel seemed to be incredibly naive and I think she represented that many people in the real world become tangled up and trapped in things they don't properly understand, due to their lack of common sense and judgement. I think Rachel genuinely believed what Mary was trying to achieve was for the greater good, and the spooks successfully picked up on her naivety and vulnerability in order to back her into a corner and extract information from her. Zoe posing as the family planning doctor towards the end of the episode demonstrated that this job involves them all risking their lives every day in order to protect their country. I think Tom summed up my thoughts perfectly when he confronted Mary Kane at the end of the episode "killing people for pro life, that's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard".

As well as all the drama and tragedy that this first episode delivered, we also got some real gems of comedy that helped balance things out. Two of my favourite moments of this episode has to be when Zoe and her team accidentally let the cat out of the house as they try and put in surveillance. Despite their surreal jobs, this situation demonstrated that they can all make silly cock ups just like the rest of us ordinary civillians! The second funny moment was Malcolm offering Zoe his camp bed. It was amusing, but it also revealed to us Malcolm's sweet and generous nature.

Finally, we got an insight into Tom's personal life. Ellie and Maisie are OK for now, but they really do start to grate on me as this series progresses. I guess the characters are relevant though to show how difficult it is for spooks to lead ordinary lives. Helen's little chat with Tom showed how nice and genuine she was, which I think is significant for the following episode...

A strong opener, though it's not one of my favourite ever episodes.

9/10

[JHyde]

It's interesting you mention the little Helen/Tom scene. On the DVD commentary we were told that this scene was added to the script to help build up Helen's character before her big exit in the following episode.

[The Grid]

(21-07-2011 05:19 PM)JHyde Wrote:  It's interesting you mention the little Helen/Tom scene. On the DVD commentary we were told that this scene was added to the script to help build up Helen's character before her big exit in the following episode.

I haven't watched the DVD commentary yet - I think I should at some point as I've owned the DVD for ages! I think the writers were really successful with this little scene. By just having a conversation with Tom, you could tell she was one of life's nicest characters and therefore you immediately cared about her and had some kind of emotional investment, so we could successfully feel something for her big exit in the next episode. No matter how many times I watch it, her exit still has a massive effect on me.

[Silktie]

On rewatching this episode, two things jumped out at me:

First, the amount of autonomy Tom had over the operation. Harry did not make any contribution to the decision making - it's as though he's there purely to handle the liaison with the politicians.

Second, there are a number of scenes where Harry is there purely for background purposes, yet PF manages to do a lot with those. In particular, in the scene where Tom informs the team that Danny will handle the surveillance when Zoe goes undercover as the doctor at that marketplace, Harry's expression in the background is hilarious, and leading up to him questioning Tom whether Danny isn't too young to run such a big operation.