Series 9 Episode 2 discussion

[grampus]

Finally found it online!

Thought the "Yabu no Naka"-esque structure was okay, but it did telegraph somewhat more than usual that not everything would be as it seemed. But kudos to Kudos to handling the repetition pretty well.

The lift "race" scene reminded me of something: not sure whether that was also meant to be a tribute or homage of sorts... damn this ageing brain...

Anyway, what's with the "Beth looks frumpy" vibe on here?! Surely you want your spooks to be boy/girl next door types that melt into the background. If they were all femme fatales dressed up to the nines then surely you'd get dozens of witnesses for everything they did, from taking the milk in to shooting a Russian!

Finally, I know that the audience needs some kind of exposition at various points, and it can't always be in the briefing room, but I do groan inwardly at how clumsily it is handled sometimes. Example from this episode:

"Five of them might work in the oil industry and live in the Surrey Hills but one of them is a trained assassin paid to kill Robert Westerhouse". Erm, yeah, thanks for that, writers. Not sure that on an actual operation that anybody would be sitting there with their earpieces in, thinking "Drat! Why are we here again?! Should have paid more attention..."