Episode 5 Discussion [rewatch]

[JHyde]

Tea Lady, I understand what you are getting at. When I was writing the Ruth's Dairy entry for this episode, it troubled me a great deal and was one of the reasons that getting the continuity of that entry right was so difficult.

I understand why Tom was so cold when talking to Steph The one line he could have played for emotion was his repsonse when she asks him if he wants to come and have a drink with her.

I too see this as the beginning of Tom's end. One of the hardest things for him in this episode is that fact that different people know little bits of just how bad things are getting: Harry, rations, Zoe and the firearms, Malcolm and the morale issue - but only Tom sees the full picture. And in that he is alone.

Tea Lady mentioned something about Zoe and how this might not have been the best time for her to go something through this. There's truth to that, but I like to think that she took from this day the knowledge that her cheating ratbag of a lover wasn't the worst thing she could imagine.

I'm going against the grain here. This episode is very moving and gripping the first time you watch it, but I do feel that it loses some of its power once you know its conclusion. And more so than what you would normally find upon a rewatch. The sequences that remain powerful are the argument over the continuity of government (which is bloody scary, quite frankly), Tom's whispered discussion with Ruth in which she chastises him for rejecting her comforting words, and the final sequence in which all is revealed and the team is stunned while everyone around them drinks champagne.