MI-5 (or SPOOKS as it is known in the UK) is a series with a very frightening look at terrorist events and other related
problems that could happen now or in the near future. Season 5 kicks off with another government conspiracy plot as the cliffhanger
to season 4 isn't resolved in the best way after a killer last 10 minutes at the end of season 4. It's like they didn't know
what to do with it and decided to move on to a different story. The third episode with Zaf undercover in a suicide bomber
cell is a very gripping episode. Like any other episode of SPOOKS, you don't get clean endings. People get hurt and sometimes
die all in the name of protecting the UK from threats. The episode after that show how dirty politics in a geopolitical world
is and the fifth episode is an unfortunate farewell to one of the MI-5 team for a while at least (fans of the show are campaigning
for the return of the character).
Yes, SPOOKS has in many aspects become too much about Adam Carter as he has nightmares about his wife's death and his own.
One of the death of the MI-5 team in the first episode gets little play as we don't see the after effects. A little potential
romance between Harry and Ruth pops up, but it doesn't lead to much. I always saw Ruth more as a potential replacement for
Harry and not a love interest. Jo is active in the mix, but it seems she is just there to move to the story along and nothing
new is known about her.
That brings me to the new member of the MI-5, Ros. Given how they could have played a little less on Adam's life and focused
more on the lives of Jo and Zaf, we get lots of time for Ros. So SPOOKS is the Adam and Ros show. Adam would do anything to
get the job done, but Ros knows when to draw the line. She is about as cold as Adam on the job. Ros puts a woman's life at
risk by ignoring Adam's advice and it has some unintended consequences near the end of the episode. Ros asks for a fellow
agent to cover her on her decision. But Adam and Harry still don't trust her to do her job fully when they decide to conceal
some information about her father until the end of a mission in episode 4.
With the same brutal style and terror to the storylines, I wonder how the second half of this season will match up to not
a bad start. It is a shame that the season 4 cliffhanger was swept under the rug like that.
Related reviews:
Season 3- http://enterline2.tripod.com/mi5spooksseason3.html
Season 4- http://enterline2.tripod.com/mi5spooks_season4.html
this review is (c)11-17-2006 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a link
to the review). Look for additional content at http://enterlinemedia.livejournal.com and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
