[SPK] Blood And Money

TV Programme: Spooks
Season: 2
Episode: 4
Date I watched this episode: 31/08/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: Less than 1 day.

This was yet another well-put-together, intelligent story. This time the information was slowly rolled out to viewers based on a plot device of "a need-to-know basis". Together with some brilliantly mysterious characters such as the cold, direct, but strangely pressured Amanda Roke, and a situation where MI-5 are trying to go against government orders for their own benefit ("Why not? We are spies!" explains Harry), the story weaves itself more like a fluid fog than a tapestry. Especially when we find out the truth, and then discover that MI-5 were actually right all along to mole Bowman's, it makes for a very compelling episode.

Ruth was more pivotal in this episode than normal, which is right and proper as this main cast member has hardly been seen since her introduction. Not only did she have a fairly important role at the beginning, but the whole scandal with the GCHQ leak will have served to make her more prominent. Not only that, but within the storyline, she has really got a chance to prove her loyalties to the Service. Her character ebbed away in this episode, and she is wonderfully eccentric, picking up on obtuse historical references that have a way of actually being important, quite surprisingly.

Danny actually comes off quite well as a stockbroker; I can imagine David Oyelowo in that role. It's that overly confident, cheeky attitude of acting which probably fits equally well with trading as with spying. We also see his exposure to the decadent lifestyle, which was fitting with his character after the credit card fraud seen last season (which Harry helpfully mentioned in this episode, causing a few raised eyebrows). Danny's love of money was seen once again in this episode, talking about it passionately, which is something Harry has cautioned him against before.

The Carlo/Zoe storyline was not a minor storyline in this episode. That surprises me, but I guess that in a 60-minute long episode, they do have more room to work on those side-stories. Well this one has seemingly come to the end of the road now. I do feel a bit sorry for Zoe, especially when she was effectively being interrogated by Tom, who showed the standard about of coldness and lack of emotion. Her character is wavering a bit now; the spying lifestyle has caught up with her and she is struggling under the pressure. This is a compelling area and I hope it will continue to develop, though obviously in a different direction from Carlo.

It's unusual that MI-5 actually made a mistake in this episode, leading to one of their own operatives (namely Danny) being at risk. Usually this kind of thing is shown to be infallible, usually through people like Malcolm and Colin (who do seem to have had a bit more of a major role this season). One tiny slipup led to everything going wrong, making for a gripping ending to the episode, where even Tom was left with no option other than to put Danny at extreme risk.

Probably the most surprising part of the episode was that at the end, the British Treasury effectively stole $19,000,000,000 of aid money. I'm surprised this happened: although admittedly the British government had gone to great lengths to stop the money getting into the wrong hands, they had also not even given the CIA a chance to be helpful in this area.

Altogether this was another great episode, which left me feeling satisfied that my brain had been actually working rather than in a dull relaxed stage. The overall story was actually pretty complex and that's what this show does best, perhaps second only to The West Wing. The next episode actually is one I've been looking forward to for a while and in general I'm finding this season to be about on the level of the last one.