Episode 9 Discussion [rewatch]

[Silktie]

This is one of my all-time favourite Spooks episodes. I just love how they don't flinch away from portraying the questionable methods our heroes resort to to get the job done. It's interesting that the only two people who don't question whether they should be going this far is Adam and Harry. At various times in the episode Danny, Fiona and Ruth are shown as being ambivalent about what they're doing, but Adam and Harry never waver from their willingness to do whatever it takes to safeguard London. Yet, in the end scenes, both Adam and Harry shows an awareness of what doing these things does to one's own humanity.

This is the episode that made me really love Adam. He is terrifyingly menacing in his encounters with Morgan, yet RPJ never fails to show us a glimpse of Adam's vulnerability through it all. Danny's concern that Adam loses himself in this stuff and doesn't realise how far he's taking it, is inaccurate I think. Adam is very aware of the consequences to himself of what he's doing, but he's also very aware of the consequences for innocent people if he doesn't do it. So in a sense, he's sacrificing his own humanity to save that of his fellow countrymen.

Can there ever be a definitive wrong or right in these circumstances? Is it ever okay to torture someone? The idealistic answer is no, but I don't see any alternative in this instance. If there is incontrovertable evidence that someone is planning an attack that would kill possibly hundreds of innocent people, should you allow the attack to happen on the grounds that torture is wrong? In such an instance I for one would be glad that there are people like Adam and Harry willing to sell a piece of their soul to keep me safe. As long as they don't show them revelling in the pain they're inflicting, I can live with it.