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Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - JHyde - 06-03-2011 01:40 AM

There's a virus on the streets of London, Zaf goes missing and Jo stands alone. Plus Connie joins the team.

What did you think?

(This thread will run for two weeks.)

For me, the best things about season 6 are the introduction of Connie and Jo's development as a character. Connie's introduction is hands down the best on the show so far and I love how she slaps Harry into action. It's also nice to have a grown up on the show, compared to all the 20 and 30 somethings who otherwise run the department. Then again, in the world of Section D, that's mostly because everyone dies.

As for Jo, this is the episode where she really becomes an officer and not just a junior sidekick. She is brave and resourceful and I find the sequence where Alexi has her captive absolutely heartbreaking. She also gets one of my favourite lines in the entire show, where she agrees with her captor that Adam is cold and why.


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - Kazters - 06-03-2011 12:42 PM

i sort of dont like how the end of s5 is ignored i know time has moved on a little but still! the whole ros adam thing is stressfull from the start - and i do think its very strange the ana thing harry puts adam for especialy what has just happened and his frame of mind isnt right!

i love the introduction of connie and what they are planning to do. Connie really was a breath of fresh air

i agree about jo for me this is when she finaly steps up and says im jo im a proper member of this team


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - JHyde - 07-03-2011 07:33 AM

I like to think that this is probably the biggest gap between seasons that there is in the show's run. My estimate is at least 5 months, probably 6.


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - HellsBells - 07-03-2011 02:33 PM

I have only watched 6.1 so far.
Did it seem really too easy for MI5 to bomb that train in Tehran? No body seemed to question the fact that they were going to kill people in a foreign country. The bomb was placed in the carriage that Asnik was in but there were other people in that carriage as well so they would have been killed. Section D only seemed to get upset when the number of causalities was going to be higher than anticipated. And surely if you want to assassinate someone you wouldn't blew up a whole train, because as shown, you wouldn't necessarily kill them.
But after that the episode was great.
Loved the line when Ros presents Malcolm with Nick Ronson's finger to help open his laptop files, 'brought you this to point the way'.

Also liked the way the UK infection number was displayed in between scenes.


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - Kazters - 07-03-2011 02:36 PM

i do love malcoms face when he sees what she brought him ;-) love there banter


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - HellsBells - 07-03-2011 02:47 PM

Malcolm recovers from the shock quite quickly with the line, 'I'll go fetch some tweezers', Malcolm is so brilliant.


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - A Cousin - 07-03-2011 02:54 PM

Only watched 6.1 so far, but it occurred to me that this may be the first time I have rewatched S6. It is the series that changed everything, huh? Overall, I did not like S6 as much as any of the others but I do like the first two episodes. Question: Is this when Neil Cross took over as lead writer?

I cried like a baby for Zaf. Sweet, cheeky, ethical Zaf. Its different with 20/20 hindsight, as it were. Zaf was clearly not happy with the decision to bomb the train and knew he had seriously breached protocol by warning the folks in his office. I wonder if he kind of threw himself to the wolves not only to save the people of London but because he didn't believe in what he was fighting for anymore? Maybe he even knew that the book would have been thrown at him after compromising the mission in the way he did? I dunno. There just seems to be more levels there than met my eye the first time around.

Love Jo's hair. She looks bitchin'! Wink

I do wonder why Harry didn't do the Harry thing and just say, "Hell no. I am not going to bomb this train right now I am going to find another way."? He clearly did not agree with the call. However, he had no way of knowing what would be unleashed.

I liked the premise although I am too sure how strictly realistic it is. The biological weapon, plague-on-the-streets-of-London-with-no-cure premise, feeds on a very real fear with the anthrax scares and the flu strains jumping from animals to humans and the sale of biological weapons all wrapped into one package.

I really like Omar Madha's work as a director. Its cool looking but not overpowering which was my main gripe with S6 as a whole. I particularly like the shot through the fencing of Ros talking to her asset.

I was struck (again) with the great chemistry between RG and PF. We haven't seen Blake since early S5. My feeling is that S6 is when they really decided to give Blake a consistent role.

IMO, the Best American Accent Ever (on Spooks) Award goes to Mathew Marsh! Shallow of me I know, but there it is. He does not falter once. He sounds little like Richard Nixon, but it works for me. Leaving me able to concentrate on the character - one of the best.
(07-03-2011 02:47 PM)HellsBells Wrote:  Malcolm recovers from the shock quite quickly with the line, 'I'll go fetch some tweezers', Malcolm is so brilliant.

OMG! The baggie! How could I forget the baggie! Love. It! Such a "Ros" moment. Malcolm has seen it all.

There is another loverly moment with Harry and Malcolm as well. I like those too.


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - JHyde - 08-03-2011 03:54 AM

I adore that last shot of Raza from behind his head, it's so sad. Of course, we don't know for sure at this point that Zaf is gone, but that final scene where he saves Adam is just Zaf to his core.

I honestly believe that Zaf was the most underused character in the entire show. 4.6 and 5.3 were the closest we got to proper stories for him, but mostly he was just tucked in around everyone else. It's not really surprising that he left.

Yes A Cousin, there was an interview Neil Cross did about 2 years ago where he admitted that he was the head writer for seasons 6 and 7. I'm pretty sure we have it up in the pics/videos sub forum, although you might have to scratch around for it.


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - JHyde - 08-03-2011 08:53 AM

Here's the interview, thanks to Aria who posted it originally http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j2HL_UqQgw


RE: Episodes 1 & 2 [re-watch] - Silktie - 08-03-2011 10:58 AM

I do like these two episodes. The 'plague loose on the streets of London' storyline, to quote Harry, is suspenseful and very well done. We also get some nice character development.

Poor Zaf. He is really fantastic in the first episode, showing loyalty and incredible self-sacrifice despite being unhappy with having to bomb that train. The question does arise, though, how he didn't die from the virus himself. Did the people who killed the mercenaries and took Zaf from them miraculously happen to have some of the vaccine?

Another question is why was it MI5's job to get rid of the Iranian scientist in Iran. Surely that would normally fall to MI6. I, too, wondered why Harry didn't refuse to go through with it. I guess it is not so easy to ignore orders when they come from the Home Sec, or maybe because he knew it had to be done and that there was not enough time to formulate an alternative plan.

I do love the second episode and the desperate measures that Harry and co take to find the vaccine. Bob Hogan and Harry together are great, and I also loved the sleazy Russian spy that Jo abducted. He was quite funny. Apparently the Spooks writers think all Russians ever are only interested in strip clubs and hookers, though...

Loved the introduction of Connie. There was something very old school and Cold War era about it, and I always like that. It's the little touches that does it for me - Connie spraying breath freshener in her mouth, immediately interrogating Poor Malcolm and Harry about their love lives, and the casual way she shows Ros the dungeons on top of which she lives. 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'.

Malcolm gets quite a lot to do in this episode, which is wonderful. Interesting that it is actually him who comes up with the idea to kidnap the four other intelligence agents. 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.

So Anna makes her first appearance, and we also see the first of the Adam/Ros relationship. I confess that these are two of my least favourite storylines. Perhaps separately, it would have worked better for me. I thought it interesting to explore an officer getting caught up with an asset, which is something that does happen in real life. But lumped together with Adam also seeing Ros and the jealousies and other issues it brings, it becomes too overwhelming and, at least for me, starts to take up too much of the show's time.