The final episode of Spooks aired last night on BBC1 after I was made to wait a week (since the preview episode thing doesn’t apply to final shows). The first series ended with a big does she/doesn’t she die in the explosion cliffhanger.
As it turned out she didn’t, but another bomb elsewhere in London did go off.
This time around the last episode lead us up the garden path a bit, as Tom got some information from his CIA lover about a hitman coming to Britain. He tracked him down without letting everyone in on it all, but at the same time, he was being set up by some people who turned out to include a suposedly dead CIA agent who was angry that Tom had once recruited his daughter.
On top of this was a supposed new Irish identity that Tom had opened up including with an Irish passport and several million dollars in a Slovakian account.
They all get themselves caught, although Tom is taken away, and is seemingly kidnapped and drugged until a prominant chief of staff has been assassinated. He’s now in the frame, and he meets his boss Harry and the others. They try to persuade him to come in, but he decides to shoot Harry and do a runner.
Now at this point I began to question what was going on. Why did he need to shoot Harry when he was unarmed. Certainly he had a remote control device to bring in backup, but they could have come in anyway.
When he ran, he made it to the beach where he starts swimming before disappearing below the surf. Next thing we know, the coastguard and helicopters are searching the sea and the beach with no sign of him.
Series ends. New series next year.
OK – I don’t know how they’re going to dig themselves out of this one. He’s shot his boss, so with the best will in the world, he’s in trouble. But how does he survive the sea? Unless he’s a double agent and there’s a sub offshore awaiting him (unlikely in the extreme), or lobster pots have airpockets (they tend to be baskets with holes in), I can’t see how they can do it.
Maybe he’ll show up next series with Tessa in some far-flung part of the world.
For all its failings, and this is no Smiley’s People, I do thoroughly enjoy Spooks. But the main problem they have is that it’s going to be enormously difficult to film another ten episodes next year, involving Matthew MacFayden without everyone finding out. He’s quite a big name these days, and I’d guess that it takes 3-4 months to make a series of Spooks. Even if he’s only involved a little, it’s hard to tell. Mind you, I thought Natasha Little was going to be more involved this series than she was, and everybody thought Lisa Faulkner was going to be more involved in series one.
Roll on next year.