back on the spooks train, 8.01-8.03
SO.
I cannot believe it has been a whole year since series 7. I thought the wait would drive me crazy, but the interval has been so full of fic and discussion and rewatching and good cheer that I haven't even noticed it fly past.
That said, I did nearly die when my computer hit '5 minutes remaining'.
- - -
8.01
First episodes are always weird, aren't they? Of course I should know by now not to expect even the most basic continuity from Spooks, but the Tiresias network was so full of potential plotlines that I thought it would at least last the first few episodes. Nope. Not even a mention. I had hope for a moment, when Malcolm put Ruth's safehouse through the system and Jo panicked it would be compromised - yes, because Connie betrayed every single safehouse, if you recall, and every level of the government and secret services was supposedly riddled with FSB agents - but no, it was only compromised by Today's Token Evil MI6 Man. I mean, why do we bother? Do they really think it makes a better series opener to trust everyone's completely forgotten the events of the previous series? At the same time as they assume we all remember every single moment of innuendo between Harry and Ruth, from three years ago?
ARGH.
Anyway. It wasn't until watching 8.02 that I realised the main reason 8.01 felt so off. It was the Grid scenes. Everyone talking quietly and steadily, calm and competent and secretly distraught. There was a massive Harry-shaped hole in the need for an angry voice, and a massive Ben-shaped hole in the need for a bit of irreverence. (Although I will say that the Ben-shaped hole was also a Zaf-shaped hole which Ben never had enough time to properly fill.) Unexpectedly, Ros took care of the Connie-shaped hole so well that I didn't even miss her.
And of course there's been a Ruth-shaped hole for exactly as long as there's been no Ruth. OH MY, RUTH. The "simple and elegant" line broke my heart. I would have liked for her life in Cyprus to be less happy - maybe a hint that she still thought of going home - but in retrospect, this line took care of all of that. The foundation of her happiness in her new life wasn't that she had a husband, or a cute kid, or fresh fish, but simply that her life wasn't a train wreck. Ohhhh Ruth.
I don't think I have the words to get over Malcolm. My first thought of course was "well at least they didn't kill him", and then I was angry, because I didn't want to lay any thanks at the feet of the Powers That Be for needlessly writing out such a rock of a character as Malcolm.
What with that, the weirdly off feeling of the whole episode, and the maddening lack of Tiresias, I finished the episode pretty thoroughly annoyed. Then I realised that I'd held my breath for the whole hour and felt like I'd been kicked in the guts at least three times, and credit where credit's due, what other television program can do that to me? HI SPOOKS, WELCOME BACK.
- - -
8.02
Maybe I carried reactions through because so much of this episode should've annoyed me and didn't. Corrupt made-up countries! Power shortages! Personal vendettas affecting government policy! How familiar, but somehow ridiculously fabulous. (Maybe I am being ignorant, but would rolling power outages really kill thousands of people? I mean, England is hardly Siberia. I'm sure people would burn some wood and deal.)
Jo was fabulous this episode. Lucas and Ros were doing nothing for me (similarly 8.01, but they were deliberately background to Harry and Ruth). Even with the recycled plotlines, it was so apparent how much Jo has changed since her first day. I loved that she is still young and idealistic enough to protest when everyone else is bulldozing human decency in the face of the Greater Good. I loved that everyone listened to her. I loved that Harry listened to her, like a colleague, like an equal. I loved her (again) new hair and I loved her English-rose getup and I loved Ros' faith in her as a honeytrap, after everything she's been through.
Completely unspoiled as I was, there was a tiny warning light at the back of my mind which is always set off by sudden sympathetic focus on a minor character. (Un)fortunately I managed to forget this by the time I started watching 8.03.
- - -
8.03
I'm going to be faithful to my minute-by-minute feelings towards this episode, and it was GREAT. At first I was "oh god not another Ros-(Zoe)-stuck-in-embassy-seige plotline", but it quickly became something different. I loved that the terrorists where naive geniuses whose parents never taught them about Consequences. I loved that we didn't see the first execution (hurrah, restraint!) although that was pretty well wrecked by replaying it several times later on. I loved that most of the episode was everyone sitting around in their variously screwed-over situations just watching, because there was nothing else they could do.
Lucas' sudden action scene in the pool again did nothing for me, but seeing the trailer for 8.04, obviously they're saving him up for a special fanservice episode all of his own, which I am not-so-secretly dreading.
Jo's death didn't anger me anywhere near as much as Ben's. I suppose because there was that feeling in the first two episodes that Jo has changed so much and had sort of reached the end of her arc. Her death, while pointless and frustrating and heartbreaking, felt like it served a bit more than just cheap points. Mainly I am annoyed by how Kudos is so obviously trying to get away with as much shit as possible while we are all blinded by the brilliance of having Ruth returned to us. (Are we, people? We are not.)
I loved Jo. I don't know how the Grid is going to be without her, or Malcolm, or Ben. I don't really have anything to say about Tariq or Sarah/Lucas. The blatant typecasting has been called by more eloquant people than me and on countless earlier occasions. Ergh. If they can get the team dynamic working (and I think it was working in 8.02-8.03) then I'm quite happy to forgive recycled and dodgy storylines. There needs to be some new characters with some decent ownership of their own character-ness, if that makes sense. Lucas' introduction was as a unique character. So was Jo's. I still have hope they can do it, but it better be quickly.
- - -
Okay, I'm off to read everyone else's reactions now. (And hopefully there's some fic out there, although I have no burning need to write any of my own just yet.) If you're up for a little late discussion, do let me know here, or link me to your earlier posts if you'd like. What did you love? What did you hate? Am I alone in any of my ridiculously contradictary opinions?
I cannot believe it has been a whole year since series 7. I thought the wait would drive me crazy, but the interval has been so full of fic and discussion and rewatching and good cheer that I haven't even noticed it fly past.
That said, I did nearly die when my computer hit '5 minutes remaining'.
- - -
8.01
First episodes are always weird, aren't they? Of course I should know by now not to expect even the most basic continuity from Spooks, but the Tiresias network was so full of potential plotlines that I thought it would at least last the first few episodes. Nope. Not even a mention. I had hope for a moment, when Malcolm put Ruth's safehouse through the system and Jo panicked it would be compromised - yes, because Connie betrayed every single safehouse, if you recall, and every level of the government and secret services was supposedly riddled with FSB agents - but no, it was only compromised by Today's Token Evil MI6 Man. I mean, why do we bother? Do they really think it makes a better series opener to trust everyone's completely forgotten the events of the previous series? At the same time as they assume we all remember every single moment of innuendo between Harry and Ruth, from three years ago?
ARGH.
Anyway. It wasn't until watching 8.02 that I realised the main reason 8.01 felt so off. It was the Grid scenes. Everyone talking quietly and steadily, calm and competent and secretly distraught. There was a massive Harry-shaped hole in the need for an angry voice, and a massive Ben-shaped hole in the need for a bit of irreverence. (Although I will say that the Ben-shaped hole was also a Zaf-shaped hole which Ben never had enough time to properly fill.) Unexpectedly, Ros took care of the Connie-shaped hole so well that I didn't even miss her.
And of course there's been a Ruth-shaped hole for exactly as long as there's been no Ruth. OH MY, RUTH. The "simple and elegant" line broke my heart. I would have liked for her life in Cyprus to be less happy - maybe a hint that she still thought of going home - but in retrospect, this line took care of all of that. The foundation of her happiness in her new life wasn't that she had a husband, or a cute kid, or fresh fish, but simply that her life wasn't a train wreck. Ohhhh Ruth.
I don't think I have the words to get over Malcolm. My first thought of course was "well at least they didn't kill him", and then I was angry, because I didn't want to lay any thanks at the feet of the Powers That Be for needlessly writing out such a rock of a character as Malcolm.
What with that, the weirdly off feeling of the whole episode, and the maddening lack of Tiresias, I finished the episode pretty thoroughly annoyed. Then I realised that I'd held my breath for the whole hour and felt like I'd been kicked in the guts at least three times, and credit where credit's due, what other television program can do that to me? HI SPOOKS, WELCOME BACK.
- - -
8.02
Maybe I carried reactions through because so much of this episode should've annoyed me and didn't. Corrupt made-up countries! Power shortages! Personal vendettas affecting government policy! How familiar, but somehow ridiculously fabulous. (Maybe I am being ignorant, but would rolling power outages really kill thousands of people? I mean, England is hardly Siberia. I'm sure people would burn some wood and deal.)
Jo was fabulous this episode. Lucas and Ros were doing nothing for me (similarly 8.01, but they were deliberately background to Harry and Ruth). Even with the recycled plotlines, it was so apparent how much Jo has changed since her first day. I loved that she is still young and idealistic enough to protest when everyone else is bulldozing human decency in the face of the Greater Good. I loved that everyone listened to her. I loved that Harry listened to her, like a colleague, like an equal. I loved her (again) new hair and I loved her English-rose getup and I loved Ros' faith in her as a honeytrap, after everything she's been through.
Completely unspoiled as I was, there was a tiny warning light at the back of my mind which is always set off by sudden sympathetic focus on a minor character. (Un)fortunately I managed to forget this by the time I started watching 8.03.
- - -
8.03
I'm going to be faithful to my minute-by-minute feelings towards this episode, and it was GREAT. At first I was "oh god not another Ros-(Zoe)-stuck-in-embassy-seige plotline", but it quickly became something different. I loved that the terrorists where naive geniuses whose parents never taught them about Consequences. I loved that we didn't see the first execution (hurrah, restraint!) although that was pretty well wrecked by replaying it several times later on. I loved that most of the episode was everyone sitting around in their variously screwed-over situations just watching, because there was nothing else they could do.
Lucas' sudden action scene in the pool again did nothing for me, but seeing the trailer for 8.04, obviously they're saving him up for a special fanservice episode all of his own, which I am not-so-secretly dreading.
Jo's death didn't anger me anywhere near as much as Ben's. I suppose because there was that feeling in the first two episodes that Jo has changed so much and had sort of reached the end of her arc. Her death, while pointless and frustrating and heartbreaking, felt like it served a bit more than just cheap points. Mainly I am annoyed by how Kudos is so obviously trying to get away with as much shit as possible while we are all blinded by the brilliance of having Ruth returned to us. (Are we, people? We are not.)
I loved Jo. I don't know how the Grid is going to be without her, or Malcolm, or Ben. I don't really have anything to say about Tariq or Sarah/Lucas. The blatant typecasting has been called by more eloquant people than me and on countless earlier occasions. Ergh. If they can get the team dynamic working (and I think it was working in 8.02-8.03) then I'm quite happy to forgive recycled and dodgy storylines. There needs to be some new characters with some decent ownership of their own character-ness, if that makes sense. Lucas' introduction was as a unique character. So was Jo's. I still have hope they can do it, but it better be quickly.
- - -
Okay, I'm off to read everyone else's reactions now. (And hopefully there's some fic out there, although I have no burning need to write any of my own just yet.) If you're up for a little late discussion, do let me know here, or link me to your earlier posts if you'd like. What did you love? What did you hate? Am I alone in any of my ridiculously contradictary opinions?