Series 9 Episode 4 discussion

[lwhite53]

This was the weakest of the four s9 eps thus far, imo -- too much "been there, done that" for my liking. And 2nd ep in a row where the spooks team has been played by a foreign intelligence service (leading the bad guys directly to the prize). Are the writers making some kind of comment about the service's competence? or just a bad placement of similar back-to-back eps?

In the absence of a plausible and engrossing plot (c'mon writers, something totally new would be nice), I spent most of the ep concentrating on the characters.

Harry/HS is developing into a really good sub plot -- their evident dislike for one another is palpable. I laughed out loud at the look H gave the HS at the "I don't think they put the hazelnut syrup in" line -- H's disgust said it all!

Interesting comment the HS had about Britain and it's current place in the world: "This little island's intellectual property may be the last meaningful global currency we have left. We have to hang onto it, whatever it takes." An enlightening home-grown perspective.

I loved Ruth in her undercover assignment (great codename, "Gazelle) -- she was witty ("You try remembering the Mandarin for 'quark'"), focused, quick thinking in getting into the secure area (even H was impressed by her ad libbing) and cool under pressure. And the "aha" moment when she cottons onto something going on with Lucas was really well done -- the hint of a niggling brain blip that translated into a very small facial gesture, just enough for us to register the visual.

I'm VERY happy that the H/R relationship seems to have regained some sort of equilibrium. They interacted well professionally and even when they verged on the personal ("Sorry about your lip." "Don't be.") they kept it civil. Truly loved H's "If you don't start knocking, I'll have to have you fitted with a cowbell." It was playful banter, just like old times.

Finally got to see some action from Dimitri who's been pretty quiet since ep 1. His "Sounds like you just told me to melt the bomb" was a great little comic moment.

I think Beth stole the ep however -- loved her determination, her self-doubt and her obvious need to prove to everyone that she really does belong in the service. She's developing really nice relationships with Harry, Lucas and Dimitri but especially with Ruth. Their little scene together was a self-contained gem:
R: "In this job, every day you make it home in one piece, that's a little victory."
B: "Bloody hell, I can see why they didn't let you write the prospectus."
In two lines, you know exactly where these two characters stand and what's happening to them emotionally.

The best line in the ep, imo, went to Kai: "I have been a good traitor." That's both the funniest and the saddest thing I've heard anyone say in a long time!

And Lucas -- what can you say about what's happening with him? His storyline has become so muddled I can only think we're being led on a merry chase by the writers. I am seriously disturbed that he would feed another agent to the wolves to get what he needed and that he would, AGAIN, get romantically involved in about 5 minutes but . . . I think it's a feint. What he's doing is so out of character for him (setting up another agent, rushing to see Maya at the hospital) that I really do think it's all a cover for a larger op, one that Harry is aware of but Ruth is not. What that op may be, I haven't the faintest idea yet but I'd bet it has to do with "Albany." And, btw, even though Lucas downloaded the "Albany" file, we don't know that that was what he actually handed over to Vaughan.