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“We couldn’t be more together than we right are now.”
RIP Ros Myers. You might have been cold-hearted, but you were a brilliant spy and you wore a cream coat beautifully. If someone as good as Ros (she did, after all, actually come back from the dead) can die, no-one on the team is safe.
This is one of the most action packed episodes of Spooks I can remember. Even before the titles, there’s a funeral, a marriage proposal, a big revelation and a death. The scene of Harry’s revenge on the traitorous former Home Secretary is marvellously underplayed by Peter Firth and Robert Glenister, especially the moment of realisation on Nicholas’s part. As he dies, he gives an absolutely brilliant description of Ruth (“that dogged, brilliant bitch”) and attempts to undermine Harry’s fundamental morality.
After the titles, things don’t let up. As always, the whole plot is daft as a brush, but it’s tensely written and directed. The introduction of the new cast members is deftly done – I’d managed to avoid a lot of the pre-series coverage, and so was genuinely surprised that Dimitri was part of the team. The scenes on the boat were good, but I enjoyed the second act even more, especially Lucas apparently taking over Ros’s mantle of giving frosty one liners like “Don’t think I won’t kill you because you’re a teenage girl.” Ultimately, as it was always going to, it comes down to Harry to save the day, using his unwavering moral sense to make one of the tough decisions he longs to avoid.
The one thing Spooks gets right is the casting, both of team members and supporting characters. Richard Armitage is at his best here as Lucas North, all mysterious and gorgeous, and I’m interested to see what comes of the last scene – it appears Lucas has even more secrets than we thought. Jo’s replacement is finally here in the form of the lovely and talented Sophia Myles. I love Simon Russell Beale and nearly squealed with delight when I realised he was the new Home Secretary, while Max Brown is perfectly chosen - attractive enough to be aesthetically pleasing, but not handsome enough to invoke the “Spooks can only have one really good looking man at a time” rule.
But, as I’ve come to expect and hope, the true stars of the show are Peter Firth and Nicola Walker as star-crossed lovers Harry and Ruth. It’s nearly always some fantastic piece of research from Ruth that saves the day, while plots often hinge on Harry’s decisions. I couldn’t believe it when he finally did something about it his feelings for Ruth and proposed. While I expected her refusal, it nearly had me screaming at my computer screen in frustation, but the writers paid it off beautifully with their final scene. This isn’t how I want (or expect) their storyline to end, but I’m enjoying the direction it’s being taken in.
This was very much Spooks at its best – complete nonsense, but engaging, fun to watch, and, above all, absolutely compelling.
Spooks is on at 9pm on Mondays on BBC1, and I’ll be here every week sharing my thoughts about the latest episode.
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