No 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Spooks 10.2

[dweomeroflight]

Sometimes I wonder why I bother with Spooks?



Not even my lisence to mock could save me from 10.2. There are so many things I could say but these are things that I could meta on about forever because these things are not new to spooks. It's not new for Harry to be a douche to Ruth and her to still stick around (My Mum and I were both shouting at her to walk out on him and get a new guy). It's not new for Harry to be a bastard and still be posited as the hero by the writers. It is not new for the ensemble cast and characters to be a thing of the past with the storyline only able to linger on one alpha male at a time. It is not new for the plot of the week to have enough plot holes to drive a truck through. In my 'Problem of Spooks' post re Lucas and Series Nine shezan wrote of a wish for the quality days of s1-3, when the only explosions were the figurative ones in the minds of the protagonists. Damn I miss that show. Damn I miss that.

But belantana got to the heart of the ultimate problem of 10.2 when she wrote about Tariq here: A question of colour

That's all I have to say about Tariq's pointless, predictable and trite death. To requote myself and Macbeth re Jucas and 9.8, "It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signfying nothing."

Unlike No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which is the most refreshing thing I've seen on my tv in ages! Get this guys! Get this! The episode was an hour and fourty five minutes long AND THERE WERE NO WHITE CHARACTERS. NONE. NOT A SINGLE ONE. Also, characters spoke African in parts, without sub titles even at times. They also all spoke in African accents. Even David Oyelowo (Danny from Spooks) who turned up in a hilarious cameo appearance as an unfaithful husband who really wanted to get into Precious' pants. Also, they actually filmed this in Botswana you guys! With actual, ya know, Botswanans. And they had cultural advisors in the credits.

Perhaps the Spooks writers could take lessons?

What you write on a page, the words you write and the things you depict and culturally construct, they have power. People should think more about that power and how it affects people and what kind of message you create and how you create it. Even fiction has a power. Please don't misuse it.

Comments

[the-silverdoe.livejournal.com]

It is true that, apart from Danny, the "visible minorities" characters were very badly treated. Shame.

(My Mum and I were both shouting at her to walk out on him and get a new guy
Haha, I had this fic idea that I started writing a while ago in which Ruth got tired of Harry and helped Lucas get away and ran away with him, and they flew and tried to get normal lives elsewhere (in my head it made sense, and it wasn't a romantic pairing). I have to confess I wonder how thing will turn out with her and Towers. I still ship Harry/Ruth, I'm not a traitor, don't hang mepeople!

It's funny, I thought there was more focus on the ensemble of the team this week than last week. Everybody got a nice moment, I liked that. I think we don't agree on this because s10 is mostly about Harry, and I really love Harry and you don't.

Even fiction has a power. Please don't misuse it.
Amen to that. Fiction has a lot of power. But I don't think it's realistic to ask for the quality of series 2 or 3 when it's series 10. A while ago I had this discussion, probably with Dad, and I told him I seriously thought a TV show should stop after three of five years. Three intense series are better than eight with four lousy ones. That's why overall I prefer mini-series. Still, I won't complain because Spooks was (mostly) excellent, and they gave me s7 for which I'll always be grateful.

David Oyelowo? Where? I need to see this thing!

[dweomeroflight.livejournal.com]

It's true and it's kind of not cool. Seriously. How hard is it to write non white characters for a change?

Man I swear Hestia8 had the same fic idea! Like no joke!

Haha I would never ship Ruth/Towers but it could be fun ;)

Where was Dimitri's moment eh? Cleaning up bodies? MOAR DIMITRI I SAY. I liked Harry last week but this week he got nasty and I didn't like it. Someone over at Vicky Frost's blog wrote this in the comments and this sums up things well for me imo:

The bit I didn't like was the burning of the asset. Didn't like it morally and didn't like it in terms of character consistency.

Sometimes Harry is a beacon of integrity (facing down British coup attempts and dodgy apparatchiks) at others he is given the role of amoral spymaster and doing things like betraying assets in favour of shabby deals with the Russians.

My brother would agree and I think I do too. But see I think we can ask for quality. We might not get it, but that's no reason to stop expecting it. It's the BBC. They are funded by the British people and they therefore have every right to expect quality... and if they don't get it, axe the program and start a new one.

I think Spooks was good for s1-4 and 7 but everything else was either extremely silly, frustrating or poorly filmed/badly acted. Harsh but that's my opinion :P

And I complain. I always complain. I'm a vocal one. That's what history and politics does to you ;)

[the-silverdoe.livejournal.com]

Dammit I'd typed a whole comment and LJ refused to post it! :/

Man I swear Hestia8 had the same fic idea! Like no joke!
Really? How funny! Did she write it?

I'm too lazy to re-type it all, basically I was saying I understand you re asking for quality, but as I was watching 10.2 I was trying to imagine what I'd think if it was my first Spooks episode and I would probably have been thinking "That's great, I want to see every episode of this show". They'll never match the quality of series 7, but it's still good and better than most shows. The Spooks fandom is one of the most elitist and demanding fandoms I've been in. Not that I mind, I'm an elitist myself.
Also, being French I probably tend to be less harsh than you are, because our shows are so bad that the worst episode of Spooks is TV!Haven in comparison. And bad acting? Apart from Sarah and Maya, the actors are all pretty good imo!

[dweomeroflight.livejournal.com]

BAH LJ! WHY SO MEAN TO M???

I don't think she ever did... I think she just talked about it :P

I agree re elite fandom lol! It's kinda interesting compared to say Doctor Who. My personal feeling on that is that this is because Spooks takes itself so seriously and has done from the beginning.

[zulu-ottawa.livejournal.com]

Most of the episode I could tolerate, except for the fact that every scene Tariq had was with Calum. Even his death, ffs (why not Dimitri, or Ruth?). It's hollow because there is no poignancy, no connection; it means nothing to me, and it means nothing to Tariq. It's just an obvious visual statement, and I hate that sort of blatancy.

You know, I'd really wanted to watch Downton Abbey instead of Spooks on Sunday. I didn't, but I wish I had.

[dweomeroflight.livejournal.com]

Re Tariq: hence the Hamlet quote! It signified NOTHING. DAMN YOU SHOW. NOTHING.