[spoilers] How Did You Rate Season 8?

[Tea Lady]

I think it is difficult to rate a series like Spooks just after it is finished. There are too many emotions going on. I think that if I didnt watch series 8 again for a year, I would probably have a different opionion on it then than I do now. I remember that I got bored with series 6 when it was first on the TV and I didnt watch the final 3 episodes. Now I like series 6 although it isnt my favourite series.

I think there were too many comings and goings in this series which makes it difficult for the writers. People have to have an exit storyline as opposed to just never turing up on the Grid ever again. Also It was always going to be difficult for the writers after the sucess of series 7. I just hope that they look at all these comments from the fans and take the positives and do something about the negatives which are not impossible or too difficult to put right e.g ban the shakycam, more character interaction, more H/R

My episodes in order of preference are:
8.1, 8.8, 8.6, 8.4, 8.7, 8.5, 8.2, 8.3

[Beatriz]

This is so true, sometimes you need some time to assimilate a film or a series in this case to have a proper image and opinion.

I think they were under stress, too many storylines and too much action, they got confussed...

My favourite episodes: 8.01,8.07,8.08 in this order. And the worst would be 8.03 too.

[JHyde]

My ratings are the same as Beatriz's. Truthfully, even episode 3 has saving graces, the final shot being one of them, with enormous potential squandered in the wrong places.

[Beatriz]

The storyline in 8.03 was good, it raise some interesting moral issues, but I didn't liked the way they shot it, the editing...

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Another mistake is that they waited (IMO) too much time to explain what Nightingale was about; we got some hints but it wasn't until 8.06 that Ruth says the magic word Nightingale... And then the outcome was rushed.

[Tea Lady]

Yes, why do the writers feel they need to have a running thread through the series? I am sure this has not always been the case. It can be done well but not at the expense of the traditional storylines which Spooks have done so well in the past.

8.3 was awful for me. I didnt like the way they showed too much of the terrorists in the rumpuss room. Also that terrible kissing scene in the middle of the episode. What were they thinking? Jo deserved more for her final episode. Harry and the rest hardly featured in episode 3 and the H/R moment in the office at the start was ruined with bad camera work.

Harry must have ended up with a bad back at the end of this series with the amount of time he has spent leaning over desks on a speaker phone or PC.

[YourFutureMuse]

I am currently watching series 8 for the third time and for some reason I decided to skip 3 and go straight to 4 which I think is very telling that it is the weakest episode...I mean I did enjoy it and daresay I will watch it numerous times in the future but it just wasn't as captivating as the other eps. And having recently watched the series 5 eps ( 6 and 7 I think) where Ros is hostage I have to admit it is very similar...

[DrDuke]

(26-12-2009 08:16 PM)mrs harry Wrote:  totally agree with above post - I was dissapointed with this series as it felt flat to me, not enough frrenzied action in the grid and the malcolm going/tariq in bit just felt like an afterthought, we didnt have a proper end for Malc and we still know next to nothing about Tariq. All in all, I am still a devoted fan but wonder if the writers have got a little bored.

I'm glad I'm not alone in my views of Season 8

(27-12-2009 07:40 AM)Silktie Wrote:  That's a good description, that the series felt flat. I still don't really know why that is. To me it felt as though the actors couldn't really sell the quieter character moments, because these did not seem to be integral to the plot, but felt tacked on as an afterthought. They just didn't earn many of the emotional moments.

Exactly! This season was badly written, character development was almost none existent and the introduction of new characters/exit of old characters was poorly executed.

It annoyed me even more because episode 801 was fantastic, acting, storyline. Everything about it got me excited about another fantastic season of Spooks, my favourite programme on TV.

Spoiler: show

Take Ros shooting Jo, this should have been a recurring issue Ros had to deal with throughout Series 8. Much like back in season 4/5 with the ongoing story of Adam Carter's breakdown after his wife was murdered

They barely touched on this!

Spoiler: show

They did make it part of the theme of episode 805 but in my view it just seemed cheesy because this was 2 episodes after Jo's death and it just felt like they passed over the issue as opposed to exploring it in depth and how it should have effected Ros's character throughout the series

Tariq's introduction to the show was just awful, no real backstory and basically nothing about the guy. Usually they ease new characters into a new series or they focus an episode on them to introduce them to the audience but not this series.

It felt like the guy was there just to make up the numbers, pure laziness from the writers on their part

I also felt episode 805 was a missed opportunity, I was hoping that Ros's MI5 mentor was going to add an interesting twist to the whole Nightingale conspiracy when he started murdering CIA agents. That's what I was expecting/hoping for because it would have given the Nightingale backstory a lot more depth.

A rogue ex MI5 agent trying to stop the Nightingale conspiracy, at least that's the type of quality I'd expect from the writers of spooks.

Instead this episode just felt like a filler episode that had no real significance to the major storyline of this series, a real shame in my view. Plus IMO if you're gonna have individual story lines then those should have happened during the first few episodes of the new series, part of the reason why I think this season lacked the intensity and build-up of previous series is because during the last few episodes the storyline needs to focus more and more on the major backstory

Example

805 - 25% about Nightingale
806 - 50% about Nightingale
807 - 75% about Nightingale
808 - 100% story focus about Nightingale

It needed this sort of build-up for the Nightingale backstory to really shine through, plus unfortunately the Nightingale plot just wasn't particularly complex compared to previous series which was another disappointment.

Another issue is Season 7 and 8 only having 8 episodes in total, before that each series (Apart from Season 1) had 10 episodes which was perfect, perhaps 8 episodes just isn't enough.

I could have understood the poor dialogue and camera work if they had of handed the script and direction to two 18 year old rookies but the fact that it's the same writers and director who created the previous few series really disappointed me.

I was left with the feeling "WTF has happened guys?!"

BTW very wise words Tea Lady, I agree 100%

[almh]

I can't remember who said that they liked episode 4, but I didn't like it. It may just be that I'm not an RA fan, but I wasn't overly keen on it

[mrs harry]

I wonder if the writers do ever check into the forums to guage real response - does anyone know?

[DrDuke]

(27-12-2009 07:40 AM)Silktie Wrote:  To me it felt as though the actors couldn't really sell the quieter character moments, because these did not seem to be integral to the plot, but felt tacked on as an afterthought. They just didn't earn many of the emotional moments.

Just wanted to add something else, I can't blame the actors for this. These are the same actors who gave fantastic performances in the last few series of Spooks, it's prominently the writers fault IMO.

Totally agree about the lack of emotion in this series, lets take the whole Lucas & Sarah storyline.

This was a major storyline within this series, actually it's arguably the biggest storyline concerning character interaction.

Episode 808

Spoiler: show

When Lucas found Sarah in the room with a bullet in her head we could have had an emotional scene with him breaking down but no! Instead the writers decide to have an action scene, all style and no substance which quite frankly was rather pointless. One of the key characters of Season 8 has just been murdered and we forget about it in seconds and move on, kinda sums up this series really!