Episode 9 Discussion [Rewatch]

[Tea Lady]

Watch and Discuss.

[YourFutureMuse]

This has got to be my favourite storyline of series 2 I think. I just love the moral dilemmas it brings up and it is the perfect lead up to the beginning of the big Tom exit. Just the look on Mariella's face when Tom and Zoe tell her who they really are... and the end with her and Tom is heartbreaking.

I loved when Tom talked about Zoe and Danny as his children and Danny 'at a difficult stage' aha hilarious

Sam and Tessa story also good. I did at first thing maybe even Sam wouldn't have fallen for it but I guess Tessa was very convincing.

[Tea Lady]

This probably won't make any sense but I feel my brain turns into swiss cheese a little watching this episode. I find that I stop following the plot but keep watching because I am fascinated by the relationship between Zoe, Tom, and Mariella. I know the plot was something to do with drugs and guns and Colombians but that's as much as gets registered in my brain. Perhaps I find the plot boring or silly, I dont know.

I just find that I have real empathy with Mariella. To be alone like that and then to think you have made some friends at last, to then find out...well she really wouldnt have hurt a fly would she, and I think she knew Rafa would kill her in the end. She made no attempt to get away from him.

I was really disturbed about what Tessa did. Was this her revenge on Harry? How cruel and unecessary. Tessa might as well have killed Mariella herself. Before now Tessa's actions were quite amusing. They certainly stopped there being amusing. How heartless. Her business had obviously been doing better as she seemed to be in a flashy new office.

Tom is definitely on his way down that slippery slope. The way he shouted at Ruth in the meeting was down right nasty. The way he stood up to Harry at the end when all Harry was trying to do was put a positive spin on a bad situation, was frightening. I thought there was going to be a fight there and then. Zoe and Danny both looked so scared. I dont know whether Harry's hand on Tom's shoulder at the end was a friendly hand or a "dont mess with me hand."

Harry drinking his whisky alone at the end showed that he was affected by what happened I think, but just couldnt show it to the rest of the team. Also after being slightly sarcastic towards Ruth about bursting into his office, he seemed to really warm to her and spoke very gently to her. Poor Ruth though, she didnt know whether she was coming or going with the rest of the team in this episode.

Did anyone else think that Harry/PF had a sore throat during this episode? He sounded really rough at the start in particular.

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(14-03-2010 02:50 PM)YourFutureMuse Wrote:  Sam and Tessa story also good. I did at first thing maybe even Sam wouldn't have fallen for it but I guess Tessa was very convincing.

Yes I forgot about Sam YFM. She was very good. When she thought it was eventually all over, the look on Harry and Zoe's face. Very funny.

[Silktie]

There was a lot going on in this episode and I thought the writer used the plot very well to illustrate the changing dynamics in the team and their interpersonal relationships. Tom is right on the edge throughout the episode, and vascillates between ruthless and calculating and overly sentimental. Harry seems to be aware of it and is watching Tom the whole time with this calculating look on his face.

I thought Zoe was good in this episode, she did her job really well and even though she was fond of Mariella and could question the morality of MI5 using her like that, she always kept the goal of the operation in mind. I also liked that she told Tessa she would give her up again if they were in the same situation.

I liked Camillo, and the interplay between him and Danny was good. He seemed to take everything in his stride, and even kept his sense of humour about it.

I agree with Tea Lady that poor Ruth didn't know where she was with the team, and Tom in particular, for most of the episode. I think it's the first time we see her kind of annoyed with Tom when he asks the impossible from her at the beginning of the episode. And it was funny how she burst into Harry's office at every opportunity, and even talking over him when he tried to send her away. I love her enthusiasm whenever she finds a new piece of the puzzle, it is infectious.

I'm with Zoe that Sam isn't exactly the fastest car on the Grid. I found it quite naive for her to have fallen for Tessa's scheme. It's funny that the first time Harry seems to find Sam worthy is when she stands up to his interrogation. Before that he seemed to have a low opinion of her abilities and basically viewed her as the teagirl.

Tessa really is a treacherous snake. The way she used Sam, and was trying to profit from MI5 once again by getting Sam to steal their information and then giving it to the Spanish, and the way she sold Mariella out at the end was deplorable. Even though Harry did double-cross her, she made sure that when she informed them of what she had done it would be too late to save the girl.

I agree with Tea Lady that Harry seemed to have the flu this episode, and seemed almost feverish most of the time. He obviously underestimated what Tessa would do if he double-crossed her, and I think this was what he was pondering at the end of the episode. I don't agree though with what Tom said to Christine at the end that Harry did it because Tessa had wanted his job. I think Harry took Tessa's former treachery very personally, and he wasn't going to let her profit from MI5 again. Also, probably, she would have tried the same trick in future operations, and he couldn't allow her to operate as some renegade who sold information to MI5 when it suited her.

Harry is also quite scary in interrogation mode! He took Tom yelling at him rather calmly at the end, probably because he did feel some guilt over Mariella's death.

[JHyde]

This for me is one of the most tragic stories in all of Spooks in terms of 'the person caught up in events', because of a relationship or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The lamb to the slaughter, if you will. This was the first time this storyline really played out on the show and it has been done since with success, but there is a brutality to this storyline that is very personal, whether it's Tessa playing games with Harry, Mariella being used against Rafa, or Tom and Harry going balls out. Definitely not a friendly hand from Harry, more a warning to a comrade. MM and PF are wonderful in that conference room scene, really great.

I think Harry was drinking at the end because he was despondent about Tessa 'beating' him, part of which was losing Mariella. He wasn't immune to the tragedy of it, but it was part of a bigger picture for him, I suspect.

I think this episode is a great mix of the personal and the professional as well as giving background on missions and threats. In terms of a rewatch, it is probably the most successful for me from Season 2. Episode 5, while very powerful the first time you see it, loses quite a lot I think in subsequent viewings.

'The bar is open' still cracks me up. Even though what Tessa did was terrible, it's also kinda funny in that moment and that's the closest to comic relief that the episode comes.

I've probably forgotten stuff so I may well be back.

[Beatriz]

I agree with JHyde, this is one of the most moving stories in Spooks, Mariella's story is so heartbreaking, it was like his life was an entire lie. I think it's one of my favorite episodes of series 2, I'm a drama girl. You can rewatch it as many times as you want and still has its initial effect on you.

Tessa showed she has no qualms, the only thing that matters to her is having her revenge on Harry.

Zoe was brilliant in this episode, I like how she confronted Tessa.

Tom is falling apart, he's being too emotional, he's not being objective, and that's not good for a field officer, I don't blame him, it's a very difficult thing to do, staying unruggled; but after all it's his job.

I loved how Ruth entered Harry's office without knocking first and he sort of tells her off cute!

[Tea Lady]

Does anyone recognise the quote Tom uses in the meeting room at the end towards Harry?

[Nia M]

(14-03-2010 10:16 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  Does anyone recognise the quote Tom uses in the meeting room at the end towards Harry?

What's the quote?

[lwhite53]

(14-03-2010 10:16 PM)Tea Lady Wrote:  Does anyone recognise the quote Tom uses in the meeting room at the end towards Harry?

"Physician, heal thyself" -- it's from the Bible, Luke 4:23.

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There are several things about this ep that I really liked -- the ongoing deterioration in Tom and Harry's relationship was portrayed really well, Sam's being taken in by Tessa (and they think Ruth is naive!), Harry's inability to back off when Tessa is involved, and Harry telling Ruth (for the first time, I think), "Ruth, take a deep breath . . ."

Tom goes into the ep still pissed at Harry for telling him off about Christine and it all goes downhill from there. T is seriously affected the deaths of the Customs agents, he yells at Ruth, he is sarcastic toward Harry, "And your plan is what?" -- my sense is that he's barely in control of his emotions and on the verge of losing it several times. When he discovers Mariella dying, it all comes crashing down -- it's one too many deaths and he cannot reconcile himself to it anymore. So he goes after Harry, who's once again put in the position of explaining the govt's whims (covering up for Ross Vaughn's protector) and Tom is utterly disgusted -- "Ah, physician, heal thyself."

Mariella's death was truly grotesque. She was a pawn for Rafa, Vaughn, MI5 and Tessa, and was doomed from the get go -- this was a "no way out" scenario. And Harry's tepid reponse to her death was despicable! Not a good Harry moment, imo.

A funny moment -- when they took Rafa's garbage back to HQ and started to go through it, I thought, "Join MI5 -- go through someone's trash." That would make a pithy slogan!

(No commentary for 2.9)

[Crisitos]

Hi!!

Well, this is the only episode that I didn’t end up screaming to the computer and that’s not good.

For me this is the worse episode of the series that I have seen so far. The plot was predictable with Colombians and the drugs; I didn’t see something new or something that made me say "wow". Maybe because I live in Mexico and we see a lot of theses stories in the Americans tv show, but everything was too boring for me. And the last scene with Tom and Mariella it was overdramatic, and I think it should be Zoey, because her friendship with Mariella was stronger than Tom and Mariella´s.

I know that this episode it’s important for Tom’s story but still, I don’t like it. I think the writers could write something better than this.