Episode 4 Discussion [rewatch]

[Silktie]

Another very good episode for me. I think Peter Salter had become disillusioned with the job, which is why he was so seduced by the anarchists. They did something they believed in, whereas he no longer believed the country was worth saving and thus no longer believed in the job he was doing. I thought the moment in the Underground when Salter says there has to be an end to obedience to the state was well acted - that moment when Tom realised the guy was cracking. I don't understand why Tom allowed him to leave after that, though. The chances that he would do a runner was pretty big.

Harry was pretty funny this episode, his scenes with Jools were great. Also liked the scene where Zoe and Danny report back, they looked like schoolchildren being scolded in the Headmaster's office in that scene. Does Harry spy on his own officers, as he seems to know everything about them, like Danny's little problem with the credit cards? Harry losing his temper and not taking any crap from any of his officers was great. Loved him yelling at Danny to get out of his office, and later shutting Tessa up before she could protest about him sending Zoe to meet her source. And he's apparently well read too, as he recognised the quote from Shakespeare that Salter used to seduce the girl.

So now we know how Tessa can afford that swanky flat we saw in 1.3! This practice of creating ghost sources and pocketing their money is apparently a big problem in intelligence services, so it's great to see it being addressed in Spooks. Not sure why Zoe didn't immediately go to Harry about this, I hope they explain this in the episodes to come.

I thought Tom handled his revelation to Ellie extremely poorly. He was so cold and distant, a little more empathy towards her would have made it a lot easier.