How did you feel about Season 9?

[binkie]

(15-11-2010 12:13 PM)HellsBells Wrote:  

(15-11-2010 04:53 AM)BravoNine Wrote:  I think binkie said exactly what I wanted to say! Nice!

I would just like add that perhaps one of the things that really pissed me off the most about Series 9 was how they turned what was Lucas's beautiful gift of ultimate sacrifice and loyalty for his country and his team into this dark twisted perverted sense of self-punishment and need for redemption. Now all his greatest moments and his greatest words from the previous 2 series rings hollow and untrue, where there was once deep meaning, now they are just simple meaningless excuses and lies.

I totally agree with BravoNine and binkie. Binkie you write so well, I can't really compete. This defined Lucas's loyalty to his country but the writers tried to twist it into something evil.

Thank you, HellsBells, for the generous (if somewhat exaggerated!) compliment

I think the salient point in your post is that the writers of this season “tried to twist [Lucas’ loyalty] into something evil”. This is a really perceptive observation, because it absolutely exposes the question of whether this re-write worked on the level of enabling a valid reinterpretation of the character and his motives. I would argue that in fact it does not.

It is not enough for a writer, reinterpreting a pre-existing text, to point at that text and say: “X here means Y”, or “A is an indication of B”. If it was this simple, anyone with a reasonable grasp of cause and consequence could legitimately call themselves an academic analyst. A successful reinterpretation of any text stands or falls on the validity of the interpreter’s terms of reference, and the extent to which those chosen terms justify a new reading of the text. The prism of reinterpretation used by the writers/producers of season 9 to justify their reading of the text (the character of Lucas) is fatally flawed because it does not take account of the existing structure or purpose of that text in the wider community (the Spooks narrative).

What I’m trying to say is that, essentially, the writers of season 9 have pointed at Lucas and said: “This is John.” Having established this as their premise, what they should have done next is to return to the text and make a rigorous case in support of their claim. A textual reinterpretation of the type attempted by the writers of season 9 needed to have addressed the entirety of the text, not just those elements which best lend themselves to re-reading. At the same time, this textual reinterpretation needed to have been addressed in the context of its location and the circumstances of its operation. These areas, in my opinion, are where the writers failed as writers.

Effectively, the text of season 9 – Lucas-as-John – is sustainable only so far as the writers’ insistence that it is so, not because the text of seasons 7 and 8 – Lucas - can be successfully reinterpreted in that way. I will use the example of 8.4 as an illustration, because I think that episode is vital to the character of Lucas. I will use a very small element to make my point: the question of line placement. In this episode, once the identity of Oleg Darshavin has been established, there is much discussion, among the principal characters and within the narrative, of the matter of interrogation. Lucas uses that word, and so do Harry and Ros. Following Lucas’ meeting with Oleg at the Thames Estuary, and prior to Lucas going out to meet Oleg again in central London, Ros takes the time to characterise the relationship between the two men: “He tortured you for four years.” Lucas, insisting that he is “fine”, goes to attend the scheduled meeting. Ultimately, of course, the meeting takes place in Lucas’ flat, where Oleg tells him: “A reminder, Lucas. I supervised your interrogation for four years.” Lucas replies, as though the truth is only now occurring to him: “You tortured me.” Later, he will remember that, in effect, Oleg very nearly tortured him to death.

The occurrence of Lucas’ definitive line: “You tortured me” is crucial to the reading of the character as text. Lucas needs to be told what was done to him, needs to have it laid out for him in the barest terms, because otherwise he will never remember these events for what they were. What season 9 did was to take the idea that Lucas’ memory of his own past is imperfect because his past is so horrible, but divorce it from the context of what the experience of torture and imprisonment meant to the character once it came again to the forefront of his mind. Lucas, who needs to be more or less reminded of the reality of his relationship with Oleg, cannot successfully be reinterpreted as John, who accepted what that relationship meant because he was seeking punishment for some other crime.

Is Lucas a mask for John? Only if you believe the writers!