Series 9 Episode 8 discussion

[binkie]

(30-11-2010 05:36 AM)Silktie Wrote:  I thought when Lucas said that to Ruth, he was speaking more about the most recent events, i.e. him stealing the Albany file, and how he'd tried to cover his tracks by framing that other bloke.

Well if you’re going to be all literal about it... Maybe I need to tone down the critical functions a bit more when I watch television. I did manage to work my way up to a genuine appreciation of a Cinderella metaphor in Eastenders the other day. Oh! I need a hobby

(30-11-2010 11:00 AM)HellsBells Wrote:  That's an interesting point Silktie, I like others had thought that comment referred to earlier events (of hiding John), but it does indeed make far more sense in reference to more current events. Although saying he used the underground when it was in fact shut (Ruth's first discovery) was still very careless.

The underground thing is surely the least of it. ‘John’s’ understanding of “so careful” seems to extend only as far as infant school lying (the underground error); obtaining restricted access by face-to-face deception (although, the young man from Section C does seem to have been remarkably blasé about spending time in jail, since he has evidently made no effort to describe the person who was standing right in front of him around the time of the crime he is accused of committing), and cleaning his fingerprints from the touch screen BUT NOT THE KEYBOARD of the access point he had his mitts all over. Are we to assume he was lifted in Moscow because he was just too stupid to lie?!

(30-11-2010 01:04 PM)Belle Wrote:  If Lucas really didn't remember being John,( can't believe I'm typing this!) than maybe that could explain Beth finding the gym-picture of the 'real' Lucas so fast. If Lucas didn't know he was someone else than there would be no reason for him to think about the fact he would have to cover up his tracks and hiding the existence of a 'real' Lucas North, in this case: destroying the gym-membership-evidence.

Again with the disbelieving typing... Given that the presence of Lucas in the Dakar file seems to be based on something as ephemeral as gym membership, should ‘John’ not have also been in the file simply by dint of his employment in the casino? If ‘John’ was in Dakar, ‘John’ should have been in the file.

(30-11-2010 02:55 PM)Byatil Wrote:  Well, if we accept the theory that Lucas is suffering from split-personality disorder, then the plot somewhat makes sense...

Clearly, this is the plot scenario the writing/production team believes itself to have created. I can’t help thinking, though, (because I am a paid researcher, and that’s just how my brain works) that I’d like to have seen a bit more effort put in to a cold presentation of dissociative identity disorder in the middle of a narrative so ill-equipped to support this development. Dissociative identity disorder is a fundamentally misunderstood, and extremely contentious, condition. There is disagreement in the technical psychiatric profession as to whether the concept is even capable of supporting diagnosis or description. It bothers me that a clever and internally coherent spy narrative – for all its ludicrous shorthand – should defer to a badly drawn medical narrative in an effort to answer character questions which had never been asked, and did not require answers.

I will continue to be bitter about this at least until I find some other TV show to disappoint me