Episode 4 Discussion [rewatch]

[Silktie]

For me, this episode only gets interesting once Yazdi is in England and the mind games begin. The first part, with Adam going undercover, I find very unbelievable. I cannot believe that in the whole of MI5 or MI6 they do not have anyone better suited to do so.

But once Yazdi starts to weave his magic, it becomes terrific and compelling viewing. It's clear from the outset that both Adam and Harry sense something is off, but that the Powers That Be, in the form of Juliet, is buying what he is selling hook, line and sinker. If Juliet had not intervened, things would have played out very differently indeed. Which begs the question: why is Harry so meek when it comes to opposing her position? The best he can come up with is "I'm unhappy" and "I protest", where just last episode we saw him very effectively persuading Juliet that her preferred course of action was not a good one. Puzzling.

The actor playing Yazdi was absolutely fantastic. He never went overboard with the fanaticism, which is what so often happens. I also like the fact that they did not let him betray his side. When people support a cause from a religious point of view, it is much, much harder to change their views than when it is purely based on ideology.

The episode sort of addresses an issue which, from books about intelligence services, seems to be one of the biggest problems they face, namely that sometimes officers tend to 'fall in love' with their assets. Not literally, but in the sense that they refuse to believe that the information the asset is giving them is wrong or deliberately false, therefore not bothering to verify before using it to make decisions. This is what happens here with Juliet, who is so blinded by the prospect of this big coup in getting one of the main players of the Al Garve terrorist organisation as a British asset, that she does not see the danger signs that Adam and Harry are picking up on.