Sacrifice To Science

DVD, BUGS S4 (Sacrifice To Science)

There are things you forget about an episode when you haven't seen it in years, and that's the situation I found myself in while watching this one - some of them are small, such as what General Russell's plan was and how he was actually aligned with Sunstorm's goals, or that Ros' flat being left in disarray was not her doing, as originally appeared, but Hawkes and his associate, Dawson, Russell's loyal followers. But some of those things are gigantic: I refer specifically to the reason for the rift between Ros and Beckett. I'd completely forgotten the origin of that, assuming it was the fact Ros hadn't trusted Beckett and the team enough to let them into her little Sunstorm gang - we hear her side of the story this time, that she didn't want to put their lives in danger, rather than she didn't trust them to keep their mouths shut and get such secret sources as Dr. Corcoran's assistant, Karen, killed. It's a shaky excuse when you consider the Bureau have always been about putting their lives on the line, as have Ed, Beckett and Ros in their old freelance days, and it also suggests she didn't mind putting Terry's on the line, logically! That clearly wouldn't be the case, as we'd find out at the end, but you get a strong impression that Terry was the real driving force behind their resolution not to involve 'outside' forces, even ones Ros has spent her life relying on. He has obvious intentions towards her, ideas above his station ("You and me against the world," as it used to be), as we see, even though she rebuffs such advances, and you can see there is a conflict of interests there for him, and an inner conflict of loyalties for Ros.

She'd known Terry since she was sixteen so it's been a long association, and it almost sounds like their exploits as teens were the preparation for the role she'd play with her friends as… Gizmos? That's a difficult thing to work out and may be something to do with the end of their association as we learn she and Terry had a 'blazing row' the last time they met, which is the excuse he used for synthesising Beckett's voice in order to gain admittance to her flat quickly, so perhaps that was about the goals and direction of Gizmos as a business, since we know Beckett dealt with Terry before and expected him to be there when he rings up in 'Out of The Hive.' So the whole business of who owns Gizmos and when could be a big factor in the interactions of Ros and Terry. Here's a thought: if they were ever to do a prequel of 'BUGS' they could make it about these two in the early years working together. Forget 'Terry and June,' this would be 'Terry and Ros'! Going back to my earlier point about things I'd forgotten, the rather huge thing that's dropped by the end is the way Ros reacts to Terry's death, perhaps motivated by her own confused emotions and guilt at an inability to keep him safe, and possibly favouring Beckett over him by the fact she wanted to keep him out of the dangerous mission while being happy to be working with Terry on the same. In other words, I had it in mind it was the pigheadedness of Beckett and his unwillingness to forgive and forget that caused the rift, when in fact it was actually Ros senselessly blaming him for Terry's death.

This makes it harder to accept, since Beckett being an idiot and standing on his high horse out of jealousy or haughtiness that he wasn't trusted is totally in character, and I'm sure Ros would have been able to talk him round eventually, but for her to become completely cold to him, chuck him out on his ear, and be entirely removed, is much harder to accept, especially from the way Terry was presented. It's not like we really got to know him, certainly not in the way Ros does. I accept she feels very strong loyalty to him because Jaye Griffiths sells it so believably, but for the sake of sympathy we needed to know and believe in Terry ourselves, though then the danger is that Beckett will look unsympathetic and perhaps there isn't enough subtlety and nuance in the series' writing to be able to pull that kind of delicate balance off. Maybe Stephen Gallagher could have worked it out, but perhaps even he would have struggled when it was playing against the series' strengths of friendship, cooperation and upbeat confidence, and the combined powers of two stalwarts, Colin Brake and Stuart Doughty weren't quite enough. There is subtlety, but it may be something I'm reading into rather than deliberate, and it comes back to the colour schemes they wear: Beckett's in his familiar green shirt, probably his defining colour, while Ros starts out in her all black attire, transitioning to a white suit, or maybe cream or light grey. In between she wears a hospital gown, the only colour visible the same shade of green in a top underneath, and the only sliver we see is where her heart would be, as if showing where her heart is regarding Beckett - aah… But then at the end she's in the same green top and we see it all, like she's taken Beckett's colour and as he sadly leaves their flat he's now in a dark blue shirt as if he can't wear green now Ros has rejected him.

As I say, I could be reading into it what I want to see, or what's relevant to the story, but it really stuck out to me, and even if I am always conscious of the colours they use for characters, it seemed especially carefully thought through. On the opposite end of the scale we have Ed and Alex who both have quite nondescript clothing, Ed in particular mainly going with a blank white t-shirt that matches Steven Houghton's blank portrayal of Ed. If he wasn't too bad in the first part, in this part he has absolutely none of the weight of Ed, none of the charm or the connection to the other characters - it's all for Griffiths to sell her delight and joy at seeing her old friend again at the hospital, and she does it admirably. But Ed really comes across as a bit slow and completely without charisma. And the fact that he's going to remain the Bureau Chief is another strike against him and good sense! Beckett's back, and I understand you don't reinstate him right away, and there's certainly potential to be mined in Ed as the leader of the group, especially now that Ros and Beckett are going to be strained with each other, as well as giving Ed his own storyline as he deals with being the boss, but I don't recall things working well in that line and in a way it would make sense for Jan to simply give them their assignments as things settle and work themselves out, though in practice the first real downer of an ending would set the tone for the rest of the year, tragically. Interestingly, Ed actually wears a light green polo shirt at the end, as if green is the colour of command, but he doesn't have the strength of position to have a strong shade of it!

Ed's only real change as Chief is to start wearing a suit, but then that wouldn't have worked out too well for him if he'd been wearing it earlier when he had the fight in the underground control section. He does get to pull off a callback to a fight Ed had in the past (a couple of times!), where he pushed a villain into electrical machinery and they were electrocuted, most memorably with Hex in 'A Sporting Chance,' but also in Season 2, I seem to remember. After the first part with it's emphasis on the series' past, this part doesn't have anywhere near as much, though there are a few references, such as Beckett correcting Terry when he says he knows about his army background ("Navy!"), or Beckett reminding Ed of his history of insubordination when he hears Ed's the new Chief, and obviously we hear a touch more about Terry and Ros' past. The triumph of the episode is that they're still able to give us the kind of impressive action scenes and building story that we expect, before the budget disappeared, and they must have put a lot into these first two episodes to ensure viewers came back for more. The flashback sequence, stylishly shot in black and white with echoey dialogue, is the standout in the episode - not only are we getting a fascinating style of delivery, but we're also getting to see exactly what happened immediately before our team arrived at the flat, and subsequently as Ros and Terry are pursued.

They're still able to carry off great stunts as we see her Cortina fly dramatically into the river from which it would later be fished out, and there's also a terrific explosion as Hawkes and his mate, both working for Russell, blast Sunstorm's cabin to bits, Beckett forced to get himself, Terry and Ros out through very practical means (chopping a hole in the floor!). Low-tech can be just as useful sometimes. The finale must also be mentioned with its huge screen depicting the tone of characters and the final reckoning as Russell tries to make a statement on TV with the murder by virus means of Yerevenkian, the man responsible for the death of his family, while he tries to make amends at the International Commission for Ethics in Science. The accusatory face of Russell looms over the small, conciliatory shape of Yerevenkian, and this whole sequence was expertly contrived as the overblown emotions and bitterness erupts, magnified in this large arena and its vast screen. Very well directed, it must be said. The virus itself was something that had already been explored before, way back in 'Assassins Inc' as a particular ethnic group was targeted. Just as in that, specific people or types could be programmed into the virus, and it's a horrific idea that isn't as well implemented here as it was then. Its effect is also lessened by the fact that Russell is willing to alter his plan when he's informed the virus he's set up will kill everyone in the building, himself included, but it also shows him to be more unstable.

Mrs. Gardner, Jan's boss, makes another appearance (apparently there is something higher than a Code Red file: a Code Red Plus, which Jan gives Gardner!), but I wonder if her close ties to the General, and failure to act sooner on Jan's recommendation were responsible for the fact she never comes back. Another of Jan's associates would return later in the year: Simon, an old friend outside of the services, much like Sir Anthony Fairchild, except this man isn't even connected to the government. It seems astonishing that he'd break professional confidence and discuss a former patient, even if he had doubts about his viability at the time (back in 1995 when our team was just starting out!), that were overruled and have now come back to bite those in charge, and it was even in a public place, not like he and Jan were completely confidential! At least Jan was included well, it's nice to see her out of the office (even if she is officially out of office!), going around in distress to various people, fighting to stop the Bureau being permanently shut down. And for all that Ed is being quite a poor version of himself, he at least isn't watered down in the action stakes now - in Season 3, too many times Alex was there to take over his action man heroics, fighting the bad guy, making chase, etc, but Ed is the one who fights Dawson at the end, or pursues the villains when they steal Yerevenkian's luggage for a DNA sample. He uses the same dark Toyota Land Cruiser as in the previous episode, so it's good to see some continuity.

I wasn't so sure on the continuity of Beckett's car - he seemed to be driving the blue Grand Cherokee Jeep early on, but later it's definitely become green, unless it's just the lighting of the episode causing that effect. Maybe there never was a blue version and it's all just been how it came across on camera? How the series comes across on camera is also continuing to be preserved this season, with an emphasis on village pubs, churchyards and the old architecture and grassy court at the hospital all going against the sterile, glossy, glassy image of the 'BUGS' buildings of yore. Perhaps this was all part of the idea to make it more grounded and less sci-fi as the previous year had succeeded in doing and gained some of the viewers that Season 2's more cold, technological outlook had lost? Or maybe they just wanted new locations to shoot in, or ones where the budget could be better spread? If so, I wonder if they had any scenes that were cut from the final running, because Angela is credited, yet I don't remember her appearing - in 'Absent Friends' she was on the switchboard when Beckett tried to call in, refusing him clearance, but there weren't any scenes like that this time. It could have been an oversight in the credits, just copying the majority of them over to the second episode, but then there were new additions, too…

You do sometimes wonder about the logic of certain choices made by the characters. I'm thinking specifically about Sunstorm and its members' lack of sense in piling up explosive crates right next to their headquarters, not to mention Chris and Morag running outside with only handguns to protect them, seriously underestimating the kind of firepower they were going to come up against, though credit goes to Hawkes and Dawson for their tactical attack on the location, first gunning down the defenders with sniper rifles, then pinning down the remainder and blasting them out, the camera work fluidly plotting their twin assault, though they're not very good at making sure the job was done! Just as in the flashback sequence where they go away satisfied with a job well done when in reality Terry and Ros were able to swim away, they later fail to check their enemies were actually destroyed. I assume they're military men, part of Russell's old unit, maybe they even served him when the virus killed those people on the base in 1995? They clearly have a dedicated and zealous motivation behind their actions, but we never really learn anything about them. The same could be said for Chris and Morag who die quite quickly as if it was convenient to remove them with so many other characters around, though Morag at least gets to fall memorably into the river.

It's a sad end to what was a story that largely worked, cleverly working with the painted-into-a-corner end that 'Renegades' left them in, creating a good story and characters and managing to involve all of the main cast. The money was still on screen, the history and style of the series was still there, and in a way this episode marks the last 'proper' episode of the series, the last that was connected to McLachlan's Ed (even if Houghton took over), and the last where the team were in harmony, all good mates together, with only the villains there to provide them with conflict. From now on it would be a generally negative atmosphere which didn't do the series any good and I'm sure contributed to the BBC not seeing any need for more. So sad they chose to leave the characters in such a state, and unnecessary as Ros and Beckett being good mates again, back to working with the team and being even more concerned about each other in the face of their closeness, would have provided plenty of drama. But the worst was yet to come, and his name begins with 'A.'

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