Series 9 Episode 4 discussion

[JHyde]

I'm coming into this thread cold, having not read anything else on the forum about this episode. Although I have strong feelings about this one, I'm still not sure whether I really liked it altogether. I think I did, but because I've watched it in sharp bursts over the last few days, I'm not sure.

This episode was about 3 women and about Kai. Everything else was background noise.

It's about damn time Spooks got into the Chinese plot lines. There's a whole murky pool of stories there and I know they thought about it back before the 2007 season (when they ran with the Iran stories instead). It seems they've finally arrived at a destination that has been waiting for them.

So in this episode Beth finds her feet as a field agent, Ruth proves that she is as brave and resourceful as she is brilliant and Jiang (a shining example of a modern woman) calls herself a 'commodity'. Ros may be gone, but the women of Section D are a tough breed.

This was a horribly sad episode in many ways. It was about the fundamental dilemma of spies, that of lying, both to oneself and to one's colleagues. Harry, the Home Secretary, Ruth, Beth and most importantly Lucas and Kai all articulate various points of view on this one theme. I am disappointed about Lucas going the way he is - there has to be a big payoff here somewhere surely. And also - he really isn't very good at saying the words 'I am a spy'. Remember that Elizaveta didn't know either and it doesn't look like Maya will. Does anyone else think Maya will be killed off? That seems to be where this is heading.

The lip line from Harry was a little silly, I thought, but I loved the cowbell joke, immediately followed by Harry giving Ruth his undivided attention. Some things never change.

Dimitri kicked arse. Max Brown and especially Shazad Latif make do wonderfully well with what little they have been given thus far. (As a bike afficionado though, that was some SERIOUS stunt driving! Very scary!) Hoping for more from them.

Sophia and Nicola really brought their stuff to the table on this one. They both delivered some very tricky scenes that were played beautifully with pathos.

The Albany explanation needs to come in the next episode lest they fall into the trap of season 8 where Nightingale was parachuted in in the final 3 episodes and felt really rushed. I'm not wavering on that. They run the risk of making the same mistake here.

Finally, a point that may have been made already. I found Ruth's codename very interesting. I may have sung at several too many weddings, but the choice of 'gazelle' to me was deliberate. In Song of Songs, love is described as 'leaping like a gazelle' and I immediately thought the choice was wonderfully poignant in a beautiful, subtle way. That's the kind of HR subtext I like. It is probably just a coincidence, but it's a very neat one.