Favorite moments/characters/pairings/etc

[kainosite]

After an anonymous rendezvous on an international forum (très Cold War), a fellow Sandbaggers fan and I thought it might be nice to come and have a chat about the show here at SIS headquarters, so to speak, where there was a chance of finding other enthusiasts

Comments

[mickeyk]

(Perhaps you can see why I mentioned Callan in that rendez-vous you mentioned.)

Excellent post!

Love Neil, precisely because he is such a bastard, and he tries to be as loyal as possible to his Sandbaggers.

I knew this was not your typical television fare when three agents were introduced over two episodes, and then two of them were killed off in the third episode. Some shows can only wish their deaths were as meaningful and a punch in the gut.

I think I was just in front of the TV at the right time, probably watched another show at the same time/same night, The Sandbaggers replaced it and I instantly got hooked.

Favourite characters: Willie Caine, hands down. Guess I just love the sidekick and yes, I did cry when I first saw the twentieth episode and heard the voice-over the credits which went something like, 'This is the last episode of The Sandbaggers, due to the death of the writer-creator Ian Mackintosh.' I was glad to read later that Ray Lonnen said Willie would have survived and been paralyzed, but even recently (late last year), when my mom and sister watched the series, they also immediately thought Willie had been killed off.

Gotta love Jeff. Never did decide if Neil actually forgave him for the biggest betrayal (more on that in a bit).

Neil was a fantastic character and Roy Marsden was excellent in the role. Loved his scenes with ex-father-in-law Sir Geoffrey Wellingham. Wonderful stuff.

Poor, doomed Diane and Tom Elliott.

Really enjoyed both secretaries, Elizabeth and Marianne and Neil's relationship with them.

Jeff's betrayal: Knowing Neil was out of the office, went to Willie and tried to scam him. Loved that when Willie saw the picture of the supposed person that Mike was to get out of Russia, Willie knew it would all go to hell and it wasn't the right person's picture and how Willie advised Mike and the day was saved. I don't think Neil ever quite forgave Jeff for that and their friendship was never the same. Thoughts?

Other episode that I loved, of course, was when Willie and Jeff's operative were two of the hostages on a plane, and Willie had utter faith that Neil would rescue them. Fantastic end scene, with Neil lying his head off about what he would have done (except he was stopped).

Excellent, excellent show.

[kainosite]

I knew this was not your typical television fare when three agents were introduced over two episodes, and then two of them were killed off in the third episode

Absolutely. It's a shock, and then just when you think they've got it out of their system and you're starting to relax... It makes everyone's missions seem perilous for the rest of the series.

when my mom and sister watched the series, they also immediately thought Willie had been killed off.

It's the logical conclusion, based both on past episodes and on Neil's character arc. Over the course of S3 he loses everyone- he starts out having lost his original C for Gibbs, then the rotten underpinnings of his relationship with Jeff are laid bare, then he loses Ed Tyler, Karen goes back to America, and finally Peele and Sir Geoffrey wash their hands of him. Losing Willie for good is the logical next step.

I'm really glad they decided to spare him, though. ♥♥ Willie ♥♥

I don't think Neil ever quite forgave Jeff for that and their friendship was never the same.

There's a weird lack of follow-up to that, so it's really hard to know. I'm convinced their breakup at the end of "All in a Good Cause" is a total sham on Neil's part- he never wastes time lecturing people just for the self-righteous satisfaction of it, so there's no reason for him to go through the whole guilting routine at the end of the episode unless he's ultimately planning to take Jeff back. (Also the equally guilty Wellingham is neither rebuked nor cut out of the loop, which suggests that Jeff gets sent to Coventry not because Neil is so upset about the incident that he can't stop himself from burning bridges with critical allies, but because he thinks it will work. Whereas if he tried to guilt Sir Geoffrey he'd just get the "Lol, the idea that you experience human emotions!" speech again.)

But you're right, scamming Willie to send a Sandbagger into an active theatre seems like it should be a vastly bigger and perhaps unforgivable betrayal, even if Willie handled the situation with his usual competence (and a fair amount of eye-rolling at Neil's asshole friend. One gets the impression Willie feels about Jeff roughly the same way most fathers feel about their daughter's first boyfriend). But Jeff shows up again two episodes later without so much as a coke can in apology, and he and Neil seem perfectly fine with each other. They never even mention it. Either they had some huge offscreen reconciliation involving an entire Coca Cola factory or Neil's given up caring about Jeff's total lack of ethics or he's just pretending to be friends while he sharpens the knife...

Willie had utter faith that Neil would rescue them

One of the many, many instances in which Willie is too nice for his job. I also liked the episode with the KGB girl where Neil is like "There were many, many missed opportunities to murder people on this mission!" and Willie is just like "..."