I may not be your boss anymore, Ruth, but there's no need to insult me.
This morning I bolted awake at 5am, and so lacking anything better to do (like, sleep), I watched 4x10. Lo, there were spies. Lo, there was shoving against a wall.
THUS, THINKY SPY THOUGHTS RETURNS/CONTINUES (this time, with pictures!).
First, a word or three about 4x09 & 4x10. ajfhaksfhasjfhkajs THIS SCENE THAT I HAVE CAPPED BELOW. It's only a minute or so long, but how is it possible that Nicola Walker manages to convey the vast continuum of emotions Ruth goes through JUST BY USING HER FACE? Her gorgeous, gorgeous face.
LOOK:
YOU'RE A BORN SPOOK, RUTH.
I don't know what to say. For one shining minute, Harry ~breaks cover~ with Ruth, so to speak. He stops being Her Boss or Harry Pearce MI-5 and is just a person with feelings, and it's - yeah. IT'S SO GREAT. "You think I'm a limited man." Oh, Harry. In some respects, you know he's just giving a version of the speech he's probably given dozens and dozens of times to young agents - but in other respects, what he's actually telling her is, "You think I don't know to compartmentalize? Or that you can? Hello, the two of us have spent the better of two years pretending we don't want to jump each other, so OKAY LET'S DROP THIS EMO I-CAN'T-COPE ACT RIGHT NOW, SHALL WE?" It's like he's sharing a secret, a shortcut, a cheat to this job. As in, not everyone cuts it as a spy, and here's why. You can cut it. I trust you.
"AREN'T YOU PROUD YOU TOLD THE LIE?!" There, it is, the key to being a great spy - pride in your powers of manipulation. The admittance that sure it's about national pride and civic duty and all that high-minded bullshit, but it's also about loving making other people do what you want.
I mean, contrast it with:
1. 3x10, when Ruth has to beg and plead for Harry to believe her about Adam's weird phone call. How many times does she tell him to trust her in that scene? And now, ten episodes later, he's saying, "You have spy instincts. You're a born spook." Relationship development!
2. 4x05, after Harry's old colleague dies and Ruth tries, she really tries, to tell him that she's there for him (and that he won't die alone because she'll always be there! is what she was really trying to convey, BY THE WAY), but Harry effectively shuts her out. That was an exercise in those self-control and self-denial skills he mentions, I would think.
AMIRIGHT?!
And 4x09, oh jeez. First of all, I completely believe that Ruth sent Harry tins of food out of fear he wouldn't eat, and that Adam wasn't just winding up the surveillance. I truly, utterly believe this. (As the lol opening of 4x05 proves, Ruth knows everything, literally everything, about how the Grid operates, and I'm fairly certain she effectively runs Harry's life for him.) And then! The bus! WITH THE HANDS. (lol x1000: if the innuendo on the commentary is to be believed, I'm fairly certain that wasn't scripted, wasn't improved, but rather the involuntary action of Peter Firth touching Nicola Walker's hand in the scene. Which is perfect, in a way, since their shameful and unrelenting flirting CAUSED THE RELATIONSHIP TO HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.) And finally, the last scene. At the end of the day, it's just Harry and Ruth, burning the midnight oil to keep England safe from evildoers. Her pathetic, slightly flirtatious joke about getting the last bus! Those two kids are completely crazy for each other.
(I have always imagined that post-4x10, Ruth did a lot of frantic running and shouting at nurses in the hospital because she doesn't know if Harry's been injured, too. Considering her hysterical reaction when he actually was shot.)
And.
And.
Yeah, you can totally see Season 5 coming from miles away.
(Which is a great segue into talking about things that are not me foaming at the mouth re: Harry/Ruth.)
- If S3's theme is Tom-Quinn-induced PTSD, then S4's theme is Harry Pearce vs. THE WORLD. Oh, man. We got flashes of a broader world in S1 - S3, but it's not until now when these outside forces (all typified in Juliet Shaw) become a regular and driving force of the episodes. I'm sure that was more a narrative decision than a reflection of any sort of shift in world politics (since this is all post-9/11 to begin with), and for now it's okay. (It does sort of fall down in a heap in S6, though.) The last scene of 4x09 has a certain note of, "well, everything's back to normal, but that was certainly closer than we would have liked.")
- One more thing: RUTH IN THE FIELD. Running from a crazy guy with a crossbow, and then sneaking up on him with a very large stick. "Shall I hit him again?!" I can't believe Adam never made a snarky comment later in front of Harry about thinking twice before pissing Ruth off, only to make her blush profusely.
- I'm struck about how much Adam's first episode post-Fiona is similar to Tom's return, right down to the shot of him inviting himself into the surveillance van where he doesn't belong.
- Oh, Fiona. In the end, it's all a bit random and sudden and full of a lot of awkward exposition, isn't it? She suddenly shifts from being traumatized by Danny's death to "surprise! she knows her other husband is still alive and wants to - I don't know? do... something related to this fact"? All right, I'll say it - it doesn't make sense. Um, at all. Since time is so weird and elastic on this show, it's almost impossible to place the "six months ago" tag at the beginning of the episode, and I think it would go a long way if you could place the revelation of her husband being alive to either pre- or post-Danny. I'm fairly certain it's post-, but it would have been an even sadder yet comprehensible death if you could have connected it to this awful, horrible event she experienced. Instead, it just becomes All About Adam and his emo that he couldn't save his wife in time from the very thing he created, and that's boring and one-note. A note we get to hear over, and over, and over.
ACTRESSES ON SPOOKS, STOP GETTING PREGNANT. There was so much that wasn't fleshed out - namely, when she's introduced my assumption was that she was Syrian, but S4 establishes that her parents are English and that she simply moved there. Why?! I've always wondered. And now we will never know.
- I completely forgot that Ben Daniels shows up as an evil Russian capitalist in S4. That LOL lasted me for a while.
- Zaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaf. Zaf likes Jo. So Zaf and Jo got married in real life. THAT NEVER GETS OLD.
Do I have other things to say? I don't know.
In conclusion, remember when Harry got Ruth to leave Danny's funeral by saying, simply, "I need you"? Remember that time Ruth called Harry, and he was disappointed it was not an invitation to come over and have sex? GOOD. GOOD.
THUS, THINKY SPY THOUGHTS RETURNS/CONTINUES (this time, with pictures!).
First, a word or three about 4x09 & 4x10. ajfhaksfhasjfhkajs THIS SCENE THAT I HAVE CAPPED BELOW. It's only a minute or so long, but how is it possible that Nicola Walker manages to convey the vast continuum of emotions Ruth goes through JUST BY USING HER FACE? Her gorgeous, gorgeous face.
LOOK:
YOU'RE A BORN SPOOK, RUTH.
I don't know what to say. For one shining minute, Harry ~breaks cover~ with Ruth, so to speak. He stops being Her Boss or Harry Pearce MI-5 and is just a person with feelings, and it's - yeah. IT'S SO GREAT. "You think I'm a limited man." Oh, Harry. In some respects, you know he's just giving a version of the speech he's probably given dozens and dozens of times to young agents - but in other respects, what he's actually telling her is, "You think I don't know to compartmentalize? Or that you can? Hello, the two of us have spent the better of two years pretending we don't want to jump each other, so OKAY LET'S DROP THIS EMO I-CAN'T-COPE ACT RIGHT NOW, SHALL WE?" It's like he's sharing a secret, a shortcut, a cheat to this job. As in, not everyone cuts it as a spy, and here's why. You can cut it. I trust you.
"AREN'T YOU PROUD YOU TOLD THE LIE?!" There, it is, the key to being a great spy - pride in your powers of manipulation. The admittance that sure it's about national pride and civic duty and all that high-minded bullshit, but it's also about loving making other people do what you want.
I mean, contrast it with:
1. 3x10, when Ruth has to beg and plead for Harry to believe her about Adam's weird phone call. How many times does she tell him to trust her in that scene? And now, ten episodes later, he's saying, "You have spy instincts. You're a born spook." Relationship development!
2. 4x05, after Harry's old colleague dies and Ruth tries, she really tries, to tell him that she's there for him (and that he won't die alone because she'll always be there! is what she was really trying to convey, BY THE WAY), but Harry effectively shuts her out. That was an exercise in those self-control and self-denial skills he mentions, I would think.
AMIRIGHT?!
And 4x09, oh jeez. First of all, I completely believe that Ruth sent Harry tins of food out of fear he wouldn't eat, and that Adam wasn't just winding up the surveillance. I truly, utterly believe this. (As the lol opening of 4x05 proves, Ruth knows everything, literally everything, about how the Grid operates, and I'm fairly certain she effectively runs Harry's life for him.) And then! The bus! WITH THE HANDS. (lol x1000: if the innuendo on the commentary is to be believed, I'm fairly certain that wasn't scripted, wasn't improved, but rather the involuntary action of Peter Firth touching Nicola Walker's hand in the scene. Which is perfect, in a way, since their shameful and unrelenting flirting CAUSED THE RELATIONSHIP TO HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.) And finally, the last scene. At the end of the day, it's just Harry and Ruth, burning the midnight oil to keep England safe from evildoers. Her pathetic, slightly flirtatious joke about getting the last bus! Those two kids are completely crazy for each other.
(I have always imagined that post-4x10, Ruth did a lot of frantic running and shouting at nurses in the hospital because she doesn't know if Harry's been injured, too. Considering her hysterical reaction when he actually was shot.)
And.
And.
Yeah, you can totally see Season 5 coming from miles away.
(Which is a great segue into talking about things that are not me foaming at the mouth re: Harry/Ruth.)
- If S3's theme is Tom-Quinn-induced PTSD, then S4's theme is Harry Pearce vs. THE WORLD. Oh, man. We got flashes of a broader world in S1 - S3, but it's not until now when these outside forces (all typified in Juliet Shaw) become a regular and driving force of the episodes. I'm sure that was more a narrative decision than a reflection of any sort of shift in world politics (since this is all post-9/11 to begin with), and for now it's okay. (It does sort of fall down in a heap in S6, though.) The last scene of 4x09 has a certain note of, "well, everything's back to normal, but that was certainly closer than we would have liked.")
- One more thing: RUTH IN THE FIELD. Running from a crazy guy with a crossbow, and then sneaking up on him with a very large stick. "Shall I hit him again?!" I can't believe Adam never made a snarky comment later in front of Harry about thinking twice before pissing Ruth off, only to make her blush profusely.
- I'm struck about how much Adam's first episode post-Fiona is similar to Tom's return, right down to the shot of him inviting himself into the surveillance van where he doesn't belong.
- Oh, Fiona. In the end, it's all a bit random and sudden and full of a lot of awkward exposition, isn't it? She suddenly shifts from being traumatized by Danny's death to "surprise! she knows her other husband is still alive and wants to - I don't know? do... something related to this fact"? All right, I'll say it - it doesn't make sense. Um, at all. Since time is so weird and elastic on this show, it's almost impossible to place the "six months ago" tag at the beginning of the episode, and I think it would go a long way if you could place the revelation of her husband being alive to either pre- or post-Danny. I'm fairly certain it's post-, but it would have been an even sadder yet comprehensible death if you could have connected it to this awful, horrible event she experienced. Instead, it just becomes All About Adam and his emo that he couldn't save his wife in time from the very thing he created, and that's boring and one-note. A note we get to hear over, and over, and over.
ACTRESSES ON SPOOKS, STOP GETTING PREGNANT. There was so much that wasn't fleshed out - namely, when she's introduced my assumption was that she was Syrian, but S4 establishes that her parents are English and that she simply moved there. Why?! I've always wondered. And now we will never know.
- I completely forgot that Ben Daniels shows up as an evil Russian capitalist in S4. That LOL lasted me for a while.
- Zaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaf. Zaf likes Jo. So Zaf and Jo got married in real life. THAT NEVER GETS OLD.
Do I have other things to say? I don't know.
In conclusion, remember when Harry got Ruth to leave Danny's funeral by saying, simply, "I need you"? Remember that time Ruth called Harry, and he was disappointed it was not an invitation to come over and have sex? GOOD. GOOD.