Spooks – Series 5

When the fifth season of BBC spy series Spooks picks up, we are exactly where the fourth left off. Some deranged woman, who is plotting to kill the Royal Family, has seriously shot Adam Carter, while Harry Pierce is looking around in a panic. When Adam regains consciousness in a hospital the news is all abuzz about a violent terrorist attack on Britain’s fuel deposits by an al-Qaeda splinter group. With news outlets spreading fear that the country is becoming ungovernable, MI5 (national security) is forced to co-operate with MI6 (foreign intelligence), and the Prime Minister’s son’s life is threatened. While demands increase for new anti-terrorist legislation that would further curb civil liberties, a conspiracy to overthrow the government is well under way to establish a dictatorship. The coup d’état involves media mogul Millington, bucktoothed petrol magnate Jocelyn Myers, some colluding Cabinet Member, and none other than Harry’s MI6 counterpart Michael Collinwood. Of course, the threat is averted in the nick of time. Even detailed synopses won’t be able to do justice to the complexities of every episode’s plot.

Unfortunately, though understandably (as the season first aired in 2006), al-Qaeda remains very much on the forefront throughout the season. Because of that focus, though, episodes can easily become predictable and lose in entertainment value. Other topics, however, are included: a summit on African poverty that risks being torpedoed by a major industrial deal between America and Japan; the head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Oliver Mace (Tim McInnerny), who appears involved in the execution of seven imprisoned terror suspects; the Mossad (Israeli Intelligence) plotting to de-rail a British nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia; a Christian group hoping to provoke Armageddon by attacking the Muslim community; the transportation of a Serbian war criminal to The Hague; and environmental terrorists aiming to flood the greater London area unless a secret document is made public proving that Britain is collaborating with the U.S. to benefit economically from the catastrophes of global warming – rather than attempting to stem the tide. Nevertheless, this season overall has lost some of its previous intelligent excitement. At times I was even considering to stop watching the show altogether.

Rather than the various plotlines, the strength of the show has thus far been the dynamic between the characters, their moral dilemmas – especially in face of governmental expectations – and their emotional turmoil. That has changed quite drastically this season. There were a couple of fascinating moral judgment calls our spooks had to make. In one of those moments MI5 has to decide whether to protect one of the African heads of state from assassination, when they learn that he intends to go on an ethnical cleansing spree in the north of his country. The main story arc, though, was Adam’s inevitable nervous breakdown from post-traumatic stress disorder. He witnessed the assassination of his wife Fiona; he nearly got killed himself; someone else got shot and died in his arms; he struggles being a good father for his son; out of loneliness and escapism he falls for his son’s nanny; she confronts him about his secrecy and lies; one of his childhood friends is suspected of being a traitor; he breaks down twice during mission. No wonder his operational fitness is seriously questioned. Yet, the emphasis on this story arc (sometimes compelling, sometimes tediously predictable) and draws our attention away from the other characters.

In the past, when main characters were killed off or forced to leave MI5 their replacements were similarly interesting, or even more so. Now we’ve seen Ruth Evershed disappear, the Senior Intelligence Analyst, one of my most beloved characters. She si wicked smart, recognizing literary references at the drop of a hat, but socially awkward. She and Harry were on the brink of romantic intimacy, when she is implicated in someone’s murder whose subway suicide she witnessed. In order to protect Harry, she had to fake her own death. Ruth is briefly replaced, but that character is murdered the next episode. We barely get to know Field Operative Jo Portman (the excellent Miranda Rainson), although there was a nice bit in the beginning when she was able to foil an attempt to take the PM’s son hostage. Likewise, we see frightfully little of the inner feelings of her colleague Zafar Younis, even though he witnessed the deaths of several innocent people right before his eyes.

The team loses one of their most valuable members, Colin Wells (their Technical Specialist), just as he had discovered a plot of a mid-air collision of two passenger planes over the city of London. He is never replaced. Although the National Security Coordinator, Juliet Shaw, is paralyzed from the waist down by a car explosion, she occasionally reappears in her function – seemingly recuperating fast. Adam’s wife Fiona Carter is replaced by former MI6 Operative Roslyn Myers (the petrol magnate’s daughter), who has an air of cold rigidity and apathy about her. She enjoys telling other people what to do, but is fully capable of throwing a few flying kicks and punches around when necessary. I found it difficult to sympathize with her. It’s only by the time of the season’s finale that we establish something of a rapport. But then she is left drowning with Adam in a flooded tunnel. Cliffhangers notwithstanding, I doubt that Adam Carter will survive for much longer. Nor is the Cricket sure he’s curious to find out, though the other critics are still raving about the show.