Spooks/MI-5 2x01-2x10

[oyceter]

I was interested in the show but not particularly fannish about it after finishing S1. S2 has deepened the interest.

I'm really glad they got rid of the Maisie and I-forgot-her-name-already plotline; I don't particularly like spy shows that try to couple being a spy with everyday drama. I mean, I get that relationships and whatnot are dramatic no matter who you are, but I watch for intrigue, not girlfriend angst. That's probably why I bounced off Alias so hard. Well, that and J. J. Abrams' deplorable gender politics circa S3.

Then again, considering that I did like the Christine Dale subplot, I'm not against the personal problems per se. I just don't particularly like it when the spy world and the everyday world intersect.

Also, wow. Tom is very much the Worst Spy Ever.

Also, Christine's accent is just slightly off; she sort of sounds American, but she also just sounds... off. That's the one small thing that keeps me from liking her whole-heartedly. I have to admit, I liked her much better as the scheming, arrogant CIA agent than as Tom's girlfriend, particularly when she ended up doing something immensely stupid, like handing Tom classified info. Argh!

I felt so bad for Zoe and her wreck of a personal life.

I can't think of that much on Danny's plotline; the money thing from S1 seems to have largely disappeared, and his thing with Sam really doesn't interest me all that much.

I kept thinking that having one of the main characters be black was cool and maybe said something about the state of British TV, but the default cast of characters does still seem to be white. And they don't really talk about Danny's race much at all. This isn't to say that any black character must have race issues, but that the show talks about racial tensions and politics and things like that, so... I dunno. I don't know enough to really comment.

I guess they did have that episode with the black thiefs who took the docs from Harry's house...

I really like Ruth.

I keep wanting to whap Tom on the side of the head for doing stupid things.

I do wish that there were less infiltrating of enemy lines by getting to the Big Bad's girlfriend/wife/lover. And I wish there were less women and children in danger all the time.

But I remain very glad that the show continues to do neat things with its episodes and that there's no stupid romantic whatnot with Danny, Zoe and Tom.

Comments

[rilina.livejournal.com]

No comment on the cliffhanger of DOOM? Spooks season finales reliably blow my mind.

Ruth is so awesome. I think my favorite Ruth moment of S2 may be in the fake emergency episode, when she says, "Fiddle on." And yes, Tom really is the Worst Spy Ever.

Re: the horrible American accents - I am afraid this is a semi-frequent occurence on Spooks. I know a lot of expats get weird accents after a while, because they pick up some bits of the local accents and lose others, so I think that might be partly to blame. (I thought the actress who plays Christine is actually American?) In other cases, I think it's just poor acting. (An S4 episode definitely comes to mind.)

[oyceter]

No comment on the cliffhanger of DOOM?

Um, no, because I immediately went on to the first episodes of S3, so all perceptions are spoilery for those!

I was actually really amused by the bad American accents, particularly Joyce's. But that mostly because I figure that's what people in the UK think whenever they hear Americans trying the British accent!

I was reading your episode write-ups, and I think I didn't remember other episodes in which there is race involved, or at least black people (as opposed to Arab terrorists). Must try to notice more in the next season.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

I kept thinking that having one of the main characters be black was cool and maybe said something about the state of British TV, but the default cast of characters does still seem to be white. And they don't really talk about Danny's race much at all. This isn't to say that any black character must have race issues, but that the show talks about racial tensions and politics and things like that, so... I dunno. I don't know enough to really comment.

I've been saying elsewhere that I need to get into Spooks properly -- I've kind-of seen all the S1 and 2 episodes all the way through at least once, but I want to do a proper marathon viewing and then move on to the rest.

As for Danny, I think class and location comes into it a lot. He's outwardly middle class (although didn't his debt problems come from buying shiny stuff to keep up his middle class lifestyle?) with a university degree and he's a Londoner. So he fits into MI5 on that basis, and his race isn't necessarily going to come up. Whether that's a good thing is a matter of opinion, but it's common in a lot of professions, as is the problem of getting more of (certain) minority groups into a variety of professions due to the costs of going to university for those born working class (I was reading an article about how that affects my original degree subject yesterday, and what the Powers That Be are doing to make the profession more diverse from the entry point up).

I wrote a bit about Wyman from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (Noel Clarke's big role prior to Dr Who) here (http://pinkdormouse.livejournal.com/488731.html), and there's stuff in the comments about Spooks. Having re-watched more episodes of AWP, his race does come up more than I remembered -- mostly still Oz putting his foot in it, but also Wyman's comment about feeling like Wesley Snipes when he's having adventures and the fact that he wears a Brazilian No 10 shirt to play football (Pele's shirt). So, yeah, race is going to come up far more when dealing with a group of working class northerners, than when you're dealing with middle class folks or when the entire story is set somewhere as racially diverse as London.