Happy Ever After?

DVD, BUGS S3 (Happy Ever After?)

Happy ever after? It's the question being posed to various characters in this story: will the Bureau (and especially Beckett) be happy ever after without Ros? Will Ros be happy ever after without the Bureau (and especially Beckett)? Will Jan's goddaughter be happy ever after with her new husband, Mark? That last one is an easy one to answer, for we see it transpire. It was a bold move to change his name and woo the daughter of Sir Anthony Fairchild, government minister and good friend of Jan (or is that Barbara? We get little slivers of information about her, and this is the latest one: her real name, Jan being the codename. So does that mean Jan Harvey is also a codename? What's the actress' real name?), purely for the purpose of saving his company from the new water table scheme. But more pressing and personal matters use this backdrop of adventure, as the mission builds: Ros has to make a decision about where she's going to go. After setting up the choice of moving to the US with Channing, it's good that it doesn't hang over the series for more than an episode so Ros can get back to doing what she does best. And the situation isn't fully resolved since she can tell Beckett's keen on her, but too… 'shy' isn't the word. 'Pigheaded' is closer, but perhaps 'distrustful' is most apt - to himself for thinking he's not up to her standards, and to her that she would ever be interested in him.

Channing foolishly forced the issue thinking money was the solution - not directly, but obviously having the high life is attractive to most people. But Ros isn't most people, she likes risking her life, helping people, the thrill of the adventure. Channing's much more mechanically minded, believing it will be enough for her to potter about inventing gadgetry and making him a fortune. The real test for him would have been if he'd been put in a position somehow where he'd have had to give up his wealth for her. She wasn't ultimately willing to give up who she was and the life she's built, in exchange for a glossy magazine outside, high-tech inside. And I like that she made the choice, she didn't wait for Beckett to come and profess undying love at the last second (though he does show up at Channing's house and we don't hear him come in, so was he hiding in there to see what would happen?), she was baldly honest with herself, didn't react in an emotional way, ironically, as she was thinking out the logical, calm reality. She's always had that mix of lateral thinking, with emotions just beneath the surface, and so has Beckett. He's a little less prone to emotions (other than hotheadedness), but also less logical, running more on instinct and they complement each other so well.

In the same way, Ed's carefree attitude, irreverent humour and interest in the physical more than brain work, made him the ideal third pillar of the trio, though as we've seen so much this season, he's become much more bonded to working with new kid on the block, Alex. Together they make an all-star team, and I say that because Alex seemed to be wearing some kind of all-star jacket of red, blue and white, British lioness of the Bureau, and even a bright blue jumper underneath (like she's Supergirl), as if she's really coming into her own as part of the active rank of the team since they traditionally wear primary colours - this time Ed wears a mustard shirt under his colourful jacket, Beckett stays traditional in Bureau Chief attire of green tie, blue shirt and charcoal suit, while Ros is back in her white jacket over black (complete with some earrings that looked just like the coins with stars on from 'Super Mario'! Bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop), though when she comes to the rescue, despite injury, she's in bright green jumper and shawl to reclaim her visual place. Ed gets to be himself a little more, climbing up the outside of a building (but what was in the backpack - I assumed it was going to be ropes and gear to help Julia climb back down with him, but in the end they made for the door), because he 'needs the exercise,' or racing after the kidnappers in hot pursuit with whatever vehicle was to hand!

There are some questionable decisions made once again, one being that Ed is constantly being bested in man-to-man combat by henchmen who don't really look up to the task! At least this time there was some female equality in the sense that Alex gets beaten up about as much as Ed, being given a winding in the churchyard, overcome in a fistfight, and flung over a balcony, but she does get to redeem herself with some expert acrobatics to prevent a drop to the floor. Though the landing didn't look all that realistic compared to the high-flying pole flipping on a hanging light! Still, it is good to see the pair of them hitting it off more and more rather than Ed behaving like a smitten schoolboy and Alex his minder. He seems to have settled back into his usual personality and at least there were no major letdowns from him driving a car rather than a bike, other than handling the spotless white Rolls Royce around a muddy field until he gets stuck. It reminded me of the car in 'Stealth' where he's doing great until something goes wrong, and if only he'd had his dirt bike with him on this occasion… While we're on vehicles, the Grand Cherokee Jeep makes its first appearance, rather unobtrusively, as Ros drives up to Channing's place. I think it's the one we see from now on, but I was under the impression it was the same dark green as Beckett's standard Cherokee Jeep, whereas this one looked dark blue. I wonder if this was just one of her expensive purchases from all the money that's been rolling in - there's a thought: will her business with Channing still go ahead, does he own her work?

I couldn't help feeling in some way that we'd been here before with some parts of the story. Understandable since the series does repeat stunts and other plot devices here and there. The idea of eco-terrorists ('Nature First' this time), as a front for some other criminal activity had been done before in 'Blackout' (that seems to be an inspiration for a lot of things as I find myself referencing it on a regular basis!), as had a seeming ally being the villain behind their mission (Mad Sally from 'Manna From Heaven' and Alberto from 'Shotgun Wedding' come immediately to mind, but I feel like there are other examples). Mark Schuman (or was it Curtis), seemed so obviously bad from the start - rather than leaping into action to save his new wife from the kidnappers, he seemingly panics and runs right into the pursuing Ed's path, shouting that Julia's been taken. Then he keeps making trouble, urging the minister to drop his water plans. You'd think someone as devious as he seemed would have been able to fool the audience as much as he could the characters, and maybe he was, I'm seeing it from the perspective of knowing he's a villain from multiple viewings so it's hard to remember how it was the first time.

He's certainly villainous, murdering his lackeys in a car bomb, attempting to blow up the water station, trying to kill his wife… But it all seems rather haphazard, as do the actions of the heroes, specifically Ed - you'd think for once he'd pick up the bad guy's weapon and put him under close arrest, but instead he leads Julia off on a desperate attempt to escape, instead trapping them both within an apparent dead end. And when he realises, he calmly starts climbing out again even though he knows an angry enemy with a gun is close by! Not actions that make sense, but it's become a running theme whenever villains drop their weapon that our team seem allergic to picking it up. They don't like to use guns, I understand that, but as a defensive action to protect themselves and to hold someone in custody it seems a highly defensible, even sensible course of action! But then we wouldn't have the excitement of a rooftop chase as a limping Mark goes after them as quickly as a limping man can, firing bursts of gunfire in anger. In that case, simply have it that he never let go of the gun, which would explain why Ed didn't grab it. Why he didn't simply throw himself upon the downed villain and wrestle it off him, I couldn't have said, but he was in handcuffs at the time...

Beckett gets his time to shine, and no gun fails in sight, bravely rushing to save Ros, carrying her out of the blast of a hastily thrown grenade to mask the goons' escape. That whole scene had a good, natural sense of action and reality to it, from Ed pulling Donaldson out of the vehicle, Sugar hitting him with a metal bar, then hearing the clang as it's dropped, it has the frenetic atmosphere of a genuine off the cuff sequence of split second events. And then Beckett rescuing Ros - shame he couldn't help but chuck her to the ground as the blast took them all off their feet, I expect that didn't do her much good any more than the gunshot wound! From there it becomes the 'Channing Scolds Show,' mother hen-ing her in her hospital bed as if he's protecting an investment. Which he is, really. Channing always seems like a decent bloke, always game to try and go along with whatever wacky course Ros wants to follow because that's what she and her friends do, and only showing any kind of snide side in reaction to Beckett's failure to reign in his spiky attitude towards friendly terms. Beckett does tend to come off looking worse, but then we already like him so we're on his side. We do get to learn more about Ros and what motivates her than we ever had before, so it's surprising that no writer is credited for the episode as that generally means it's a messy one. And yet this was beautifully handled and it's a well written story in general.

It may also be the most downbeat ending the series had ever done, with Ros realising where her place is, even if Beckett can't bring himself to try and persuade her, going so far as to speak against his own interests because he thinks it's what she wants. But Ros is more practical and realistic, always the most grounded member of the team and she has it out with Channing, saving us from the future without her part of the series, which would be unthinkable. She's not really happy, it was a painful decision, but Beckett's there at the end, more for presence than anything else. There's a relief that she's not leaving, but it's also shot in such a sad way that there are real mixed emotions to it, and it works. It's not all doom and gloom, or even just this concern hanging over the future, there's plenty of fun and that's what sets this season above Season 4, since that had the similar kind of cloud over proceedings, except in that case without all the hopefulness and positivity, if worrying, becoming negative and unhappy, a major reason why that season didn't work nearly as well as those before it. We have things here like Alex dressing up in another disguise, a character trait which is fun to see peppered through the season, this time claiming to be from the Treasury when she visits Curtis Drilling to leave an ultimatum for Mark, dressed in trench coat and shades! Then there's that very English moment of Ed stuck in the Rolls and a cow mooing in sympathy.

There was also some good, simple deduction work as they realise they can trace the villains not by some clever technical way through the computer they used at Battle For The Planet, a 'cyber cafe' and laser game centre (much like Megazone, which we used to have in the Nineties!), no, they realise they can track them from the CCTV, knowing what time they sent the message. Interesting view of the internet, Alex calling the cyber cafe the modern opium den! There's a sleazy proprietor that only cares about getting paid, not what his young customers might be looking up, it's all off the record and there's a real sense that this is the modern equivalent of a place where young people will be led astray, what with the attitude of the guy in charge and this giant image of a demonic monster face on the wall behind them. It's all quite dark with flashing lights, a bit like how arcades were viewed in the preceding decades, I suppose. Definitely an air of non-respectability, alien to the generation of our characters - no, they were only into phone hacking and messing around with authorities' databases!

In keeping with this season we're once again very much in a rural setting for much of the time, with country churchyards, fields and farmhouses, and only the occasional jaunt into a modern leisure centre, or the closest to a 'BUGS' building we came to with the Curtis Drilling place and the water station. In the end nothing can tear the team apart and Ros rises from her sick bed against Dr. Channing's orders to get involved and saves their lives thanks to her expertise in bomb defusing - I liked that they actually used her credit card video camera with a live feed so she could give them instructions on how to freeze the detonator. Also fun to have Ed's sewing ability come back to the fore when he criticises Alex' attempts and takes over, which he'd shown an aptitude for back in Season 1 ('Shotgun Wedding,' I believe). I'm not sure about leaving a roaring fire in the grate when you're leaving for another country, I don't know how easy it is to put out a big fire like that, but it seemed irresponsible so close to them heading out the door! Was it left for the hired help? You'd think someone like him would have a butler, at least! But importantly, all is well at the end and it's another pretty strong example of the series. Now we just need to get Jan more involved, but that would be coming soon.

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