Episode 5.8 [rewatch]

[A Cousin]

I agree JHyde, Harry has some of his best lines in this episode. One of my all time favorites is his line something to the effect of, "Can anyone give me anything that they didn't find by typing a search into Google?" That lack of a good analyst is showing.

Unlike you though, I had to watch this episode again. I have seen it three times now and I whenever I rewatch it, I think, "Oh, yeah! that one!"

I really like the balance of character development vs. threat of the day in this one. Lennie James as the Bishop is fantastic. He really stands out for me. His soliloquy to Jesus as he morally battles the same question the Spooks battle all the time, sacrificing one for the greater good, could have been very OTT but he kept it in check and honest.

And I liked how all the regular characters get their moment in this episode. Proving that it is possible to spread the love.

Question: Is the implication that Section D is being monitored by the Downing Street lawyer supposed the upshot of the Ruth Evershed incident? It's a bit of a red herring if it is.

Question: Can anyone tell me what Ros' response to Zaf is after he says that he thought football was the religion of the day? Perhaps it is a cultural allusion I am not familiar with so just can't catch.

This is a Julian Simpson pulling double duty as Director and Writer. He also directed 4.9, 4.10 and 5.3, all episodes I really like. He is a very stylized Director. My only gripe would be that while I like the script, for me he overshadowed what was a good, tight and reasonably straight forward script with over done filming. Far starters, there is what I call The Bat-Cam. This may be a bit too American/1970's an allusion, but anyone who is familiar with the old Bat Man series with Adam West will know what I am talking about. If there was supposed to be some subliminal meaning behind the choice to use that kind of off-kilter camera angle, it was lost on me. In addition, with the filming of Adam's PTSD meltdown, I feel a little like I am watching Ken Russell directing Clockwork Orange. I generally love the idea of Adam's PTSD. On both cases the filming techniques were a bit too over zealous and gratuitous.