Episode 7 Discussion [rewatch]

[allanah]

Jo, who's only been with MI5 for a week or two at this stage, is actually pretty streetsmart in this episode compared to Fiona.

She argues against Fiona, who is a way more experienced officer and has been put in charge of Jo on the mission and then follows her own instincts to call MI5 early against Fiona's advice.

If you watch the series MI5 has a very strong chain of command. Officers have to follow the orders of their senior officers even if they disagree with what is being proposed. That is because as the more experienced officer the senior officer's judgement is expected to be superior to the junior officer. This is generally true (with a few exceptions where people take matters into their own hands) but would apply much more strongly the case with Fiona/ Jo as Jo was only a few weeks out of training than for example Ros/ Lucas where the two have a similar level of experience and a little more leeway.

Fiona on the other appears to have completely taken leave of her senses. She actively goes in to a situation she knows is going to be dangerous and where she is going to be outnumbered with no backup, no support and without telling the rest of MI5 what the real situation is and how dangerous it is. I also agree that she plays Jo by not revealing her intentions until the last possible moment and then effectively pulling rank on her.

The only ones who can really be held responsible for Fiona's death are her ex husband and Fiona herself for her complete lack of judgement.