Shotgun Wedding

DVD, BUGS S1 (Shotgun Wedding)

"Confirm your identity. Confirm your identity." Starkey may have had a good catchphrase to latch onto, but he really wasn't much of an assassin. Perhaps he should have used some of that Cyberscope technology from 'Assassins Inc' instead of more traditional methods of execution such as 'explosives' or 'guns.' But right from the start he's a bit of a failure - he's spotted by SSD going into target Anna Fabrizi's hotel room, and okay, I understand that this sequence was to set up just how deadly he was: two shots, two kills. But there's more to the art of assassination than being an expert marksman and Starkey just didn't seem to get it. This could be explained as setting up Ed's role as stand-in at the end when he stumbles into being confused by the real baddies for the anonymous murderer-for-hire. Was Ed's line about 'haven't you heard of security' just a fortunate accident as I don't think he ever heard Starkey say that? The bumbling nature of the chief opponent of the story is part of why this was the first episode on seeing Season 1 that I wasn't blown away by. It's not that it's a weak episode, almost none of the series are since they rely on such likeable personalities to carry it and put them in constant danger, it's a winning formula. If Starkey is a little slapdash, even in his precise and targeted way, then the Gizmos team are also made to look a little inexperienced, as is Wence and his SSD, so there's far too much fudging.

That may not be a coincidence as I thought I'd missed it, but checking back I find no one was credited for the writing! This probably means it was a group effort which would explain why it doesn't come off as strongly as the first four episodes did. Perhaps it's not helped by the fact the scale isn't close to what they'd already achieved with planes and submarines. Perhaps they needed to set the end sequence on the Eurostar train, back when it was shiny and new, and do some kind of tense 'Mission: Impossible' scene as they would do in the first film a year later. Not that I'm suggesting a helicopter flying into a tunnel, although saying that… The other part of the episode that doesn't endear me to it is that Fabrizi just isn't that well developed as a character: we hear her talk of how her and Corelli's new Liberty party, only two years old, is out to expunge corruption from Italian politics, but we never see her do anything that reinforces that. If only they could have shown her doing some kind act or something that made us like her for more than the fact she loves the team's client, William Swift, because that wasn't enough to sympathise with. Especially as, though she doesn't like it, we see she acts in a deceitful manner by concealing it and allowing assumptions she and Corelli are engaged to persist for the sake of their chances in the upcoming election. Add a scene where she and her maid giggle over silk underwear in the back of a limousine and it all adds up to someone we can only care about simply because she's the victim of assassination attempts!

At least there was some question about who was and wasn't shady at first - was Fabrizi really the target? It was her room, but the way Starkey allowed himself to be seen on the CCTV suggests he could be taking suspicion away from Fabrizi as the force behind it all. It could be she that is actually trying to kill Corelli for the same reason we later learn he was behind it: to sweep into power on a wave of public sympathy. Even Swift is hiding something. But the complexity is quickly taken away and we know what's what and who's who. I'm not usually one to love mystery, but in this case the episode could have done with something like that to shore it up. Because there isn't a lot of action in this one, or at least it's not as accomplished as it had been. The best moments are Ed creeping up on Starkey on a rooftop at Royal College Green (where it's either early in the morning or late in the evening as shown by the long shadows Swift and Fabrizi cast), fighting him for the detonation handset that will set off the bench where the targets are sitting. And the other is Ed in the situation of being zipped into a jacket full of plastique that will blow him sky high if he undoes the zip which is completing a circuit, while a separate timer counts down to zero by which time he must have executed Fabrizi, all while McKenzie, the middleman between Starkey and Corelli, watches on a portable screen tied into Ed's gun!

It is quite ridiculous when you think about it: does McKenzie keep these things around for just such an eventuality? If he was that close to the action why didn't he simply run in and shoot Fabrizi? He seems more concerned that Starkey does it than anything else! At the same time it does make for a nice tension as Beckett and Ros arrive in time to try and save both Ed and his target, McKenzie spooked into pouncing, but Beckett's waiting for him. While down below the wedding ceremony takes place oblivious, except for Corelli who glances up expectantly out of the corner of his eye. And Beckett wrestles with the villains. And Ros tries to halt the countdown on Ed's wrist… It's not the end sequence from 'The Untouchables,' but it works. Surprisingly, for the first time on the series we see our people actual kill the villains: Beckett gains the upper hand and sends McKenzie to the lower hall, tipping him over the balcony to crash down to the stone floor, then Ed shoots Corelli when he seizes his last opportunity, and his political partner, taking Anna hostage! It's a far cry from Season 2 where they hardly ever used guns, it was all futuristic tasers or lasers. It can be argued that they had no choice, given the circumstances, and it's great that Ed turns the situation to his advantage, even at the risk of his own life because Ros is telling him she needs to pull the plug on this detonator or they're all dead. Of course she pulls it off in the few seconds remaining, otherwise it would have been a very short series since all three of our heroes would have been blasted to pieces.

Would there be some kind of investigation over the villains' deaths? In this case there's an easy way out of that as Wence and the SSD (Special Security Department, as we'd find out in their next appearance, Season 2's 'Newton's Run'), would have been able to cover up and get Beckett and his team out of trouble, but otherwise it would be hard to explain, or at the very least, would take a lot of it. SSD are the third and final of the main 'BUGS' organisations all introduced this season. After The Hive and The Bureau of Weapons Technology they do come across as far less interesting to the extent I wondered if the two gun-toting suits deployed to take care of the intruder at the beginning were MI5, MI6 or even hotel security (though that last wouldn't have made sense anyway as the hotel is referred to as if from an outsider's perspective). They're easily and coolly despatched by Starkey, and apart from when they're all surrounding people with drawn weapons the other agents are just as ineffective - even Wence comes across as a fairly dopey, even deferential leader, at least when he's around Fabrizi. He's not happy with Beckett infiltrating what I assume is SSD HQ, but could just as easily be their local base of operations, a relatively nondescript building that doesn't have the glamour of many 'BUGS' buildings, other than a great glass lift that can be seen going up the outside of the building.

Another issue I have with the episode is how generic it can feel: Wence and Beckett clearly have history, maybe even a grudging respect, at the least an understanding of the other, but we never hear how or why. This would have been an ideal time to throw in a story about Beckett's time with The Hive, perhaps he had to liaise with Wence on a disastrous operation, or it could be that both sides were simply intelligence rivals and disliked the others' methods. Instead all we get is Beckett telling them about Wence and Wence recognising Beckett, so it was a real lost opportunity to flesh out some backstory. At this stage I suppose that was the point, they were supposed to be divesting themselves of what had become traditional continuity and development to hone in on a sleek, adventure style that didn't require knowledge of previous episodes. Indeed, if you watched this episode never having seen earlier instalments you'd just assume how Beckett and Wence met would be covered in an earlier story not relevant to this one. But as the series continued it would play up its history and created world more and more, though still within the confines of being accessible for the average casual viewer (other than the Jean-Daniel serial, but even that was largely superficial for much of Season 2).

Once again we're not privy to how Gizmos got hired, all we know is that Swift had a female friend who recommended them, so their reputation is obviously growing - perhaps they won't have to rely on all Ros' contacts after all? This time the character colours are Ed and Beckett switching around, Ed to blue, Beckett to Red, while Ros has red - you notice how many layers she wore, and that would have been because they filmed over winter so it would have been pretty cold. Pity the stuntman that ends up in the drink when Starkey gets shot. It wasn't the best time to take someone out: covered on all sides by SSD guns. Maybe the poor guy just wanted to end his career with at least one kill to his name and knew it was all over, but we don't actually know for sure if the agent he shot died or not, so it was probably in vain! It's a little bit like 'All Under Control' in that one of the team not necessarily au fait with the position is put into a different role. This time it's Ed, who defies Beckett, charmingly, of course, but when the team leader says to go and babysit Anna, he'd rather stay at the London Arena where Swift is based (is he there for a specific job or does he really work out of a massive arena? That was odd. He also calls it the 'Riverside Arena' though we see a big sign in the background that says differently), and do the fun stuff, much to Beckett's chagrin. It blows up in Ed's face, so maybe he'll be a little more careful in future about doing what the others say.

Beckett complains at one point during the episode that Ed hasn't got the training for all this, but he just hits back with 'you sound like Rambo,' and thinks he knows better. It's a strange situation because in a lot of instances Ed is, and has been shown to be, the action man, but at the same time he is perhaps a little raw having been a guy for hire. He knows his way around a helicopter, or climbing, or gliding, but he doesn't have the technical expertise when it comes to technology (though he did cheekily leave a bug behind their client's desk when it became obvious he wasn't telling them everything), arms or combat. But I had to baulk at Beckett saying he didn't know hand-to-hand combat since later in the season Ed is supposed to be an expert martial artist. Unless he took some serious courses between now and 'A Sporting Chance,' proved to be a natural and rose up the grades like nobody's business, which is possible, I suppose. He certainly doesn't demonstrate an aptitude for close combat when he tackles Starkey, he's very clunky and heavy, far from martial arts which demands lightness on their feet. They were still finding their way with the characters at this point, and the simple idea of Ros being the genius, Beckett being the hotheaded man with a past in the services and Ed being the free spirit that'll try his hand at anything, worked fine.

The technological marvel this time are 3D laser holograms that I don't know would even be possible today. Maybe they would, but it was certainly sci-fi at that time. They use it reasonably well as this lure of a false target for Starkey to shoot (and it does give us one of the better episode-ending jokes when Ed the Ted, Ros' 3D test, meets our Ed and he says 'two Eds are better than one'!), with a fully three-dimensional Fabrizi there for him to aim at while she's safe in the booth. I'm not sure it was safe for Swift, however, as later on McKenzie urges Ed to shoot Fabrizi's maid as well if she remains in the line of fire. Starkey may have been more professional, intent only on taking out his target and no one else. There were a couple of times when I felt the sound was unrealistic - when Ros is in the arena sweeping it with binoculars for any sign of the assassin she says it's all quiet here as her voice echoes noisily. I know it's a big place, but it felt like even the slightest noise would be heard all over in that silence. I have to assume the glasses she was using were low-light or night vision as although it was dark in there it was hardly pitch black so she could easily have been spotted unless it's 'meant' to be darker than it looks (like day for night filming in old films and TV). Similarly, when Ed is above the wedding chapel or registry hall, whatever it was, he noisily unwraps the 'present' of the rifle McKenzie's given him, the noise echoing through that place! Suspension of disbelief required.

You can see the joins a bit through the episode: for example I spotted a yellow X spray-painted on the floor of the railway station which was obviously the mark for Anna and Corelli to walk to for meeting the press. And the bench that was blown up at College Green looked very much like it was stood on a fake bit of flooring, the 'bricks' underneath flapping out as if they were actually just cloth or something. It was over so quickly, but I just happened to be looking in the right place at the time, or the wrong place. Only that one explosion this time, but that was for the best otherwise the series would have been over, and it's taken five episodes but we finally reach another of what would become a 'BUGS' trope: the digital countdown. I'm surprised they held themselves back this long! On the other hand there were a lot of onscreen deaths, a total of five that we actually saw, so they didn't hold back there. I did like what was almost a callback to the previous episode, though it was most likely just coincidence: when Beckett says Wence couldn't look after a pet goldfish he could have been thinking of his own, given to him at the end of 'Down Among The Dead Men'! And when he spooks the spook spying he says the 'watcher's taken off' which made me think of the 'Highlander' TV series (which a few 'BUGS' faces showed up in, including McKenzie actor Peter Guinness!). I do feel that the weapon Ed was forced to use should have been a shotgun, though - I feel cheated!

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