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Spooks 9.4 – and some general RA gushing for good measure

TV series episode review: Spooks (2010), series 9, episode 4, directed by Paul Whittington

We’re back on the Grid this week, and there’s still no shagging on the kitchen table. Boo!

The episode follows a Chinese double/triple agent and a Chinese scientist, and how the spies of Her Majesty’s Secret Service go about using/protecting them. Not as taken by this episode as I was last week. Partially down to the lack of kitchen tables, I think. The first we saw of Lucas (Richard Armitage) and Maya (Laila Rouass) this week was them in bed (Lucas flashing tattoos like it’s nobody’s business) but not gettin’ down among the place mats. Maybe next week, eh?

On the plus side – OMG, Dimitri (Max Brown) actually got to say something!! And got to do stuff! And be a Big Damn Hero diffusing a bomb and all! Finally, we seem to be getting somewhere with regards to his character. Good. About bloody time!

What made me gasp with delight in the previous episode is the fact that Lucas lives at number 42. Just a coincidence? That number is never a coincidence! I mean, Fox Mulder also lived at number 42. It’s an awesome number, even if Douglas Adams just picked it at random back in the day.

Lucas has a minimalist apartment with a fairly standard British garden, shed an’ all. If you’re a spy, I guess you don’t really litter the place with personal touches like family photos and that sort of thing, but having it look like a show home? The fact that he has a big cheffy type knife implies that the man at least occasionally cooks at home. Which in turn makes me picture Lucas trying to pick up two-for-one bargains the local Co-op, or pushing a trolley down the endless isles of a massive Asda. Still, it’s a funny idea, Lucas trying to navigate around the freezers for some Ben & Jerry’s on special or cruising the sweets aisle for half price boxes of Thornton’s.

It also makes me wonder how similar Lucas’s pad is to Richard’s den, which is a two-bed house. (Interview with the Financial Times recently. Make you go “oooh”, I promise.) Unless he’s got one of them old houses, a two-bed house is really only big enough for one. We used to live in a modern two-bed, and it was really tiny. Is Lucas’s place also a two-bed? Why would he need more when he’s a spy and always on missions and things? Does he have time to do housework? More funny pictures: Lucas with a hoover. Lucas with a duster. Lucas with a crinkly forehead trying to unclog the shower drain.

Bless.

There have been some snide looks at Lucas in this and past episodes. Beth (Sophia Myles) implied he was hiding things, and Ruth (Nicola Walker) is starting to suspect things as well. Setting up an innocent guy to take the fall for nicking lots of money while Lucas is copying pictures of old ship paintings to USB drives? That’s not very nice. Bad Lucas. Down with that sort of thing! Lucas should be a reasonably good guy. Don’t make him a bad guy. That’s what Gisborne’s for.

Ruth speaks Mandarin! Fancy that! That lady’s resourceful and a half, have to say. I like her. Not the suspicious way she looked at Lucas, though, even though she really had reasons for it. She shouldn’t have, because Lucas should be a nice chap. That’s my opinion, anyhoo.

Traxy

An easily distracted and over-excited introvert who never learns to go to bed at a reasonable time. Enjoys traveling (when there's not a plague on), and taking photos of European architecture. Cares for cats, good coffee and Boardwalk Empire. A child of her time, she did media studies in school and still can't decide what she wants to be when she grows up.

5 thoughts on “Spooks 9.4 – and some general RA gushing for good measure

  1. OMFG. you’re fast. I’m still trying to locate my brain (too much alc) and deciphering my notes..
    Still – Dimmy3 finally got some ACTION!!! L/J got sneaky (!!!) and we got to see tats (never mind kitchen tables)
    Very fast-paced ep, lots of action, good lines, and the EVILest of cliffhangers!!!
    If only they’d produce one like that every week.
    Will go and sober up enough to put up initial ASSessment.

  2. Lol – I’ve often wondered what RA’s flat/house is like. I thought he was into renovations so it might not look like Lucas’ flat in Ep 4 as that was quite modern. Lucas must have to change his residences frequently. It seems as if he mows the lawn at least. As for Ep 4 – I really don’t want Lucas to turn into a villain and I was appalled at what he did to the young man whose password he used to get the file he needed. Ros however wasn’t so squeaky clean in the early days and neither was Ruth IIRC. Ruth is definitely suspicious of Lucas though. I’m hanging out to see what will happen next ….

  3. Great post Traxy. I saw it *your post) right away but didn’t want to read it until after I saw the episode. Then I forgot to come back here after I saw MG’s post on FLY HIGH! so I put a rather lengthy comment there already.
    Yep. Not happy about Lucas sneaking around and incriminating innocent people. I was also wondering if we get to see anything between “the kiss” in 9.2 (lovely as it was!) and the morning after in 9.3.
    I can’t stand the suspense! And I have to wait a day or so after you lucky people watch then next ep. for some generous person to post it online for us sadly deprived North Americans!!
    Enjoy yourselves tomorrow and spare a small thought for Lucasless me!

  4. I like your reviews… they always make me smile. 🙂 Like Phylly, I saw this post last week but couldn’t read it until I’d seen ep. 4, then forgot to come back and read it until today. Good refresher. You’re lucky that you get to see these episodes as they air.

  5. Thanks for commenting, everyone! 🙂

    TeeTotallyNot: Well, I was watching it live on my computer at the time, so it was just a click away to Blogger! 😉 They’re good with cliffhangers this series, it has to be said. Keeps us on our toes!

    mulubinba: Maybe he has a gardener. 🙂 Then again, it doesn’t look like the sort of garden that has a side entrance, so then he’d need to let them through the house itself, and you wouldn’t do that if you were a spy, would you? Maybe it’s what he does on his days off – mows the lawn. Everyone has their dirty secrets, so surely Lucas should be allowed a few as well – especially if the others did!

    phylly3: I was like that with one of the other episodes as well – no blog reading until I’ve seen the episode! And I couldn’t watch it until Thursday or Friday night and by golly, it was a long week! And I know what you mean, you write a long comment somewhere and then it’s a bit “but I’ve already said that somewhere else”… For my part, if I write a really long comment somewhere, I tend to save it and re-work it (more or less) and publish it here as an actual post. 😉

    Nat: As above! 🙂 We are spoiled to be in Britain when RA’s British and therefore is on screen a lot. On the other hand, you Americans get to see all the other shows I follow and normally months in advance! (S8 of NCIS starts tonight! Yay! Only a month or so after the US…)

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