Nuclear Family

DVD, BUGS S3 (Nuclear Family)

There didn't appear to be a credited writer on this one, which tends to suggest it's one of those written by committee and so isn't going to be one of the better episodes. Added to this was the fact that it was one of only two I missed from the original run (excluding episodes from before I started watching with the third episode of Season 2), in this particular case out all day on a trip to Weymouth and not getting back till late, so I didn't see it until I was able to borrow a video off someone the following year, meaning I never had quite the same connection to it (much like the other one I missed, 'Whirling Dervish'). All this to say that the sum added up to being the weakest of Season 3. When I say weak, it's in comparison to the general high quality of the series, so it's still a good, enjoyable episode on a par with examples such as 'Shotgun Wedding' and 'Newton's Run,' none of which are bad except in the light of the series' greats. What is it that prevents 'Nuclear Family' from taking off like one of the Medusa missiles that are the target of the bad guys this time? It veers too far into conventional government operative drama with not enough sci-fi or gadgetry other than the token GPS bracelet that handily (or wristily), made tracking down the kidnapped Beckett and his charge, Madam Natalya, a breeze. It's all stately homes, diplomatic functions and hospitals, I don't think there was a single 'BUGS' building in sight, unless you count the Bureau itself, which is cheating. And the villains are among the blandest, most uninteresting examples we've seen.

Sean Driscoll, almost entirely forgettable other than for his ability to beat up Ed (who, don't forget, is supposed to be a martial arts master!). I can't even remember what happened to him in the end - did he get away, was he captured? And then there's Bridget Kay, a woman apparently with a rubber head - she gets biffed by Alex, collapses in a chair, but is fine a few moments later without even the slightest hint of a bruise (I know, I know, the conventions of action-adventure). Ros does the same for her later (at least it's an improvement on giving Beckett her right hook as she did in 'A Cage For Satan'!), knocking her out cold, presumably. And just on a tangent: it's another convention that the team don't usually use guns, but was it wise of Ros to fling the gun away and leave Kay stunned, but free, on the ground? We know it wasn't since it turns into Kay showing up to threaten Ros with another weapon and while this was perhaps the best moment of the episode ("I'm not moving," Ros states bravely, while standing on a pressure pad that will blow up Beckett and Natalya if she steps off - typical of her brand of stubborn heroism), they don't mind blowing up baddies, so why not hold a gun on her? At least tie her up! I don't know why both Driscoll and Kay are such boring enemies, perhaps it's because there's simply nothing about them that interests or strikes any chord.

At least they did say that Driscoll was ex-SAS, so it recovers a tiny bit of Ed's pride that he could be so easily bested in physical combat (again!), but nowadays he's too busy bleating about whether Alex likes him or not, and I have to assume that this has made his usually taut senses into less than professional reactions. I hate to say it, but Alex may be a liability, a distraction for our main action man and no amount of her stepping in to save him can undo the damage (twice this time - she takes out Kay when Ed's fabrication skills fall short, and Driscoll in the hospital). At least he had an excuse in the second encounter, as he'd been involved in a car accident and injured when his bike went out of control after Driscoll chucked caltrops or an equivalent into his path. It was good to see Ed back in his natural habitat, on a bike (where he tends to drive a car now - another change due to Alex tagging along!), two different bikes, to be precise as he uses a Yamaha dirt bike for the chase (probably cheaper and more suited to being chucked about), and another, bulkier type when visiting Channing, but he's beaten yet again, and on his own ground as it were, so it's a bit of a shameful episode for him. As if to demonstrate that he doesn't have the strong persona he used to, his wardrobe is particularly lacking in the usual strong primary colour the others wear: he's got a grey jumper with coloured lines, admittedly bright, but not very visually representative of his character. He also does wear a red jacket sometimes, but this ties him to the red jumper Alex wears as if for some visual reminder of their tag team.

The same thing happens with Ros and Beckett: she wears a lime green suit jacket over black trousers (with pearl earrings), while he wears a tie of the same hue, a dull blue shirt and darker blue jacket. I don't know if the costuming was genuinely designed to complement each other, any more than Ed and Alex' was, but I'd like to think they thought that through. Trouble is, a lot of Ros and Beckett's interactions are tinged with the oneupmanship of Beckett versus Channing, rather than the friendship and ribbing of old. Mind you, there's plenty of ribbing on both sides as Beckett competes with Channing, happy whenever Ros is disapproving (such as when he foists a free sample on Natalya - the bracelet), but it comes back to bite him when he's forced to thank his nemesis (because the bracelet allowed Ros to rescue him), ending the episode with a bit of a whimper as Ed and Alex look on smiling at Beckett's losing score against Channing. It also veers too far into soap territory as Ros asks Ed not to tell Beckett her stuff's at Channing's house, after Ed's visited. It's all just a little uncomfortable - I don't mind it sprinkled in among the episodes, but this was a bit much. Channing's house would come into the next episode in a big way, but it was typical of Ed to sum up the opulence by saying understatedly, "Nice pad." Beckett reveals himself a little too much when Ros asks rhetorically if she isn't allowed a private life, and he says, 'No!' Funny, but it's been played a little too much.

The main story is about the President of an ex-Soviet country coming for a life-saving operation, and planning to go through with a nuclear decommissioning deal. Rostov comes across as this very avuncular, twinkly-eyed reformer, perhaps influenced by his potential life-ending situation (actor Trevor Peacock died only a couple of years ago, I believe). He's a nice old codger, but maybe the story is too much about the guest cast and not enough about our characters, I don't know. And this is the third episode in a row to feature an actor I knew from a children's TV series: this time actor Max Digby who was the slimy boyfriend in 'The Queen's Nose' and here plays the slimy son, Grigori. Instead of a mystery shot we get a mystery needle shot as we see it go into someone and I think you're supposed to wonder if it was Grigori or Ed except for the fact you can see it's Grigori's suit that's jabbed. But it was a good moment when Ed goes in hot pursuit after the villain takes off and they end up fighting on the roof of the hospital (good thinking to use the oxygen mask to ignite the smouldering cigar and using the flash as a diversion, even if a hospital allowing a lit cigar at all is hard to believe, but then they were different times and Rostov is a revered diplomatic figure…). It almost redeems him for all the failures and defanging the episode puts him through. Oddly, one shot is used twice: we see Grigori's POV as he grapples Ed on a ledge and Ed flings his arms over as if throwing Grigori, which is how he ends up falling, but it happened before he fell, too!

There are some fun little callbacks, though likely unintentional, as you'd only recognise them if you knew other episodes of the series very well. In fact one is definitely unintentional since it shows how bad Beckett's memory is: when Natalya asks if he's ever been in this position before (chained to a bomb with a woman he likes), he claims not, but in 'Whirling Dervish' that's exactly what happened to him and Selina. Exactly! The other one is an example of Ros reacting to her gadgetry personally as if it's a living thing, much like in 'Gold Rush' when she showed her malfunctioning gadget who's boss - this time all she needs it to do is set off Kay's car alarm as a diversion, but it won't comply so she ends up doing it manually by jumping on the bonnet, then casts the offending device away in disgust! I like that she has this personal connection to her inventions, it makes her more real than a mere genius, and I will say, one thing this season has achieved is bringing back the old Ros from Season 1 who was much more engaged rather than the generally more subdued and somehow remote version of Season 2. Ed's role in the original trio is psychoanalysed by Alex, so not content to show him up on a physical level she also has to deconstruct him! Not a good episode for either of them, really! It made sense what she said about him not being the leader or the tech genius, but it only added to his unsure footing and one thing I always liked about Ed was his cocky confidence and lightheartedness.

One character who neither gets any good or bad this week is Jan, who barely features, even though it is another big diplomatic mission, protecting this foreign official. The only interesting thing she had was the line about her policy being to trust no one until they've earned that trust. And there was plenty of suspicion to go around. It reminded me of 'All Under Control' where you're kept wondering who the saboteur is out of a small pool of suspects. Here we have Grigori, the son, Natalya, the young wife, and Varetsky, the security chief - he's another foreigner who sounds like he's spent most of his life in England judging by the thick regional accent. Manchester, I'd say in his case! Part of it has to be that when you know who the villain is there's no mystery to it, but usually that only encourages me to look for any telltale signs, either of true motives or misdirection, and there wasn't really much to enjoy in that regard. In truth, there isn't even a great deal of the kind of action we expect from the series and only that one, Bridget Kay-destroying, explosion to add to the tally (apparently the one hundredth of the series according to my counter!). At least we know Beckett's wardrobe is very hard wearing - he's forced to roll under the lip of a skip when Driscoll tries to reverse over him in the teaser, yet later he's attending a diplomatic reception in the same suit! Maybe his secret is multiples…

As I said at the start of this review, it's not that it's a bad episode, far from it. It's enjoyable, the characters are all there, but it's just not as gripping as it should be, despite some good directing (pulling back from that window as Beckett succumbs to gas; Ed's brutal fight on the rooftop while cutting back to Alex gazing at the used needle), and too many nondescript locations and characters. Dare I say that Beckett and his team are starting, ever so slightly, to look like mere government employees rather than the radical, unconventional outsiders who can always get the job done. Even if they can. I can't be longing for the days when they were freelancers again already, surely? Mind you, the very next episode would give a big taste of both the advantages of their position and a sense of freelance isolation. Which is perhaps why that one is a lot more memorable and much more anticipated! Oh, and could there be a rare reference to Gizmos in this episode? Ros gives Beckett a tie pin, the 'For Him' version of the bracelet, and says it's from the 'GPS Gizmo range.' I'd like to think she used the company name for her products, though it throws even further confusion on Gizmos in Season 4…

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