The Two Becketts

DVD, BUGS S4 (The Two Becketts)

Who knows, but it could have been two Becketts in a very different way if Ros hadn't been so silly in blaming Nick for Terry's death - they might have got married! Instead, the other Beckett of the title (and a good title it is), would be revealed to be his Father, Matt. So little was known about the characters' pasts, not much more in Beckett Jr.'s case than what is once again trotted out by his Dad when he says he followed his career: the Navy, the Hive, freelancing with Ros and Ed. I'm not criticising, I find it terrific whenever they make any effort at solidifying the backstories or adding new information on their lives, so what could be better than a family tragedy and reunion in the same episode. We'd already had Ros' Mother earlier in the season, so why not bring in Beckett's Father? About the only character that didn't get the fleshing out, as it's been noted many times before, is Ed. But maybe even he would have had the treatment if McLachlan had stayed or the series had lasted another year or two? As it is it's best to get Ed's contribution out of the way at the start: Houghton really doesn't add anything to the story, and truth be told, it's more the opposite. I just don't know what he was trying to do, was he given notes, any direction, or did he have anything in mind when he approached the role? Because it often seems as if there's very little in Ed's mind! He just comes across quite blank and bland, the Jeremy Renner of the 90s, only Renner was usually at least a little likeable.

It doesn't help that they thrust the character into a position of power when they inexplicably boosted him to Bureau Chief. Instead of giving him the chance to make mistakes or learn from the experience in any way he simply comes to the conclusion that Beckett's more right for the part, something it's hard to disagree with. This version of Ed really needed to stay in the background as the resident muscle used for backup while the 'adults' got on with things, or that's the feeling I get from watching him. It doesn't help that the women especially treat him as a novelty, both Alex and Ros having a jovial tone when replying to his orders. It doesn't make for a very strong sense of hierarchy and slick operations if the Chief is looked on as 'aah, isn't he cute giving out his little orders there,' and when you factor in Beckett, who though demoted in name, carries on as normal and just exudes authority, Ed in that position doesn't sit right. It's not like the team were ever that strict about who's the boss, it's that Beckett has an innate assurance and ability to size up a situation and decide what to do and the others respond to that. No one would be grinning at him telling them what to do, they might have light moments, and did, many times, but they all recognise Beckett as the field boss under Jan's overall directorship. I'm not even saying Ed did badly, just that he wasn't even given the chance to really take control and prove himself and Houghton's quiet, self-detrimental or self-effacing portrayal did not fit at all with the bombastic, cheery Aussie we knew!

Ed is pretty much relegated to the background, even if he does go on the hunt for Zealander, one of two witnesses that can put criminal Vladimir Rokov away for good. And he also coordinates the assault on Rokov's base, but again, with two seasoned members of the services in the Becketts, it just looks odd that they'd pay much attention, especially the senior as he's become a bit of a lone wolf agent, as his son points out. They all charge in and give it a good fight, but I'm not sure how much in the way of tactics were being used, and when you think about it, why wouldn't they go in with soldiers or operatives from other organisations? And who uses the rest of the Bureau 2 building, it can't just be them on the top floor and that's it, especially as we've seen a busy reception area! I felt they missed a trick a little bit in the way Rokov was taken down - in so many episodes the villains are killed off, either intentionally as the only way to stop them, or passively by them not saving them from destruction, but this time, one of the few times when the villain's evil is personal they get him without bloodshed. Not that I wanted to see the Becketts get their revenge on this nasty criminal, however much he might deserve it, but I would have liked to see one of them stop the other from pulling a trigger when they were in the position of putting him down for good. Either Beckett could have stopped his Dad from executing him, or his Father could have saved his son's career, preventing him from ruining his life as Beckett Sr.'s had been.

What was it all for? We learn fascinating new information on Beckett's life before 'BUGS,' that his Mother died in a car crash in 1988 and that his Father went off after that and hasn't spoken to him in ten years as he fought to take down Rokov. But the revelations don't end there as we also learn it was actually due to Rokov himself that Elizabeth Beckett died, in an attempt on Matt's life, so there's some really affecting motivation playing out. It tells us a lot about Beckett, too: that he inherited his Dad's hot temper and bullheaded approach to solving problems, and that he was suddenly deprived of both parents. Overhanging everything, as it does for most of the season, is also the theme that two people working in the intelligence services can't make a go of it together, something Beckett's already felt the sharp end of thanks to falling out with Ros. She's having second thoughts and tries to reach out to him when she sees parallels with how his Mother died, and his finding Ros' car when she went missing so she's really empathising with him and sounds a bit regretful earlier when she's talking to Alex about her own prospects with Adam (who blessedly doesn't appear, another positive for the episode!). I like how she just closes down when Alex starts prying in the way a younger, less experienced person would! Beckett isn't in the best of moods and has seemingly accepted his situation in the miserable ex-safehouse flat and doesn't respond particularly well.

I will say that at least it's not a negative episode, the troubles don't overshadow the story, and in fact play nicely into it. You can see the writing (from Terry Borst and Frank De Palma this time), using not only the potential of the series' history and blank spots, but also immediate and recent story threads that shows they know the setup and characters very well, and that makes all the difference: Ros mentions the interminable trade shows Channing used to drag her to when she comments on the sonic weapon the villains are using, showing she still views him in a less than positive light even after her subsequent falling out with Beckett. The Hive gets mentioned several times which shows they don't want it forgotten, partly for Adam's continued presence in following episodes, and the full return of the organisation later. And I already mentioned Matt's reeling off of Beckett's career, which is always good to hear. The episode itself is something of a historical document as we get some great views of the famous Millennium Dome under construction - I wonder how many TV shows and films recorded that? I know it's shown up in various places in finished form (Bond famously dropping onto it in 'The World Is Not Enough,' only a year after this episode was broadcast), and it really looked fascinating as a backdrop!

The direction must be given especial praise and attention because Brian Grant really excelled throughout, picking out numerous well-executed shots and visual tricks that meant the lack of typical escalating tension and split-second escapes was papered over quite neatly. One of the things about Season 4 is that it could often seem cheap or lacking in some way, and that may be because they spent the budget too much on these early episodes, or that they had less, or a bit of both, because again, the style is there but sometimes you don't get the full impact as we used to. I'm thinking specifically of the grenades that go off with a whimper - there's one which Rokov or his henchman chucks at the special holding unit during the escape, and then again when Ros is chasing them after they've kidnapped Khalif from her not very safe safehouse hideaway in a caravan under a railway viaduct. Ros' black BMW is stopped dead by an EMP grenade, so in that case it didn't matter there was no big explosion because there wasn't meant to be. I must say she was very brave driving after them when they had automatic rifles and as far as I could tell neither Ros or Alex even had a handgun so I'm not sure what they'd have done even if they'd managed to stop the fleeing van… Other action scenes include Matt and Nick getting into a fight with some petty crook and his heavies, which again was excellently directed with fluid camera work and choice positioning that emphasised the violent nature of the scene.

Then there's the escape from the holding unit itself, some great location work to find somewhere like that (reminded me of the tower where all the art pieces had been stored in 'Buried Treasure'), a lone building surrounded by a metal fence. The basketball is shown in slow motion as it curls through the air, and dead on the money as Rokov scores a three-pointer, the focused, directed ultrasound blasts high frequency audio waves through both fence and wall to free the prisoner. The question is how he knew when it was going to happen since the whole point of the unit was to keep him isolated from outside, but there's always a way, whether they bribed a prison worker or had some other means of smuggling the message through to him, he knew and was ready. I only wished Ed had had a bike ready and waiting and could have gone off in hot pursuit, but he seems to have gone off them… We don't even see him drive the Land Cruiser, although Alex goes out in a dinky little car that looked like just the sort of thing she would drive, while Ros is using her BMW which we hadn't seen before, and the Becketts are taking it in turns to drive the Grand Cherokee - I noticed it sometimes looked blue, but that it must be a reflection of the light since it was definitely the green model, which makes me wonder if there's always been only the one green version and the blue one I thought I'd seen occasionally before was actually green, too?

We even get a suitably 'BUGS-ian' building in Taska Tech where the C3i uplink module was developed. I was getting another link back to 'Out of The Hive' with all that, this 'Command Control Communications and Intelligence' device sounded a bit like SACROS, and then we first meet Matt when there's an intruder alarm from the records room, which was where the tape was taken from in that episode. I'm sure it was coincidental, and anyway, that intro to Matt was well done. It really seemed like an older man trying to escape - loved the footwork as he runs across computer desks between keyboard and monitors, then crashes through the window to exit the building. Shame he didn't notice the electrical hazard sign on the fence he leapt onto! But it was all very effective in introducing this loose cannon and the animosity Beckett feels towards his Dad. It's approached quite seriously and what with the look of Khalif and Zealander who might have strayed off some 70s action series like 'The New Avengers,' and the connection to the past through Matt, it was a much more grounded episode that was different for the series while also harking back to many older episodes, particularly Season 1 with the caravan (like in 'Down Among The Dead Men'), the Docklands Light Railway, and country locations as well as tech.

The clothing seemed to reflect the nature of the story with very little colour - Beckett looked especially sharp in black suit, with only the red collar and tie showing above it, while Ros was dressed all in black, too, hair tied back severely, with round silver earrings, emphasising remoteness through much of the episode, other than when she's flying around at Taska Tech, overloading the module, spinning round in a wheelie chair, all good fun. Ed is, as usual, not noticeable, though in the attack on Rokov's HQ as he was running towards camera I thought he was wearing the trademark leather jacket until I got a better look and realised it was just his usual (for this Ed), outdoor hiking jacket. When he goes looking for Zealander at the flat that could well be the only toilet ever seen on the series, as if to emphasise the grotty safehouse location - you can't get more grounded than that! There was one thing Ed said that made me wonder if they were hinting at something more: he says 'parents, always an embarrassment.' He could of course have been speaking generally, but the scorn in his voice could suggest that he's had experience with his own. Sadly, it's clutching at straws, there isn't the backup to ever delve into Ed's life (other than the very occasional episode like 'Buried Treasure').

Perhaps the biggest suggestion for this episode being more like real-life drama (other than the sci-fi elements of sound weapons that can punch a perfectly circular hole through a thick wall!), is the very serious and emotional end at the graveside of Elizabeth Beckett, and Matt taking his leave of his son. There's no corny joke to end the episode with everyone having a laugh (unless you count Jan smiling proudly at Ed's request for Beckett to be reinstated as Chief), and it ends thoughtfully and soberly, which is certainly different, though 'Absent Friends' also ended with a heavy dramatic moment. I wonder if it was a deliberate move to try and grow up the series as they had tried to do by bringing in more backstory and a greater sense of reality. For one thing the series by this time felt quite firmly in present day when earlier episodes, particularly Season 2 appeared to be deliberately set a little into the future. Then again, the November 2004 date that Khalif gives as her 'memorable date' as part of the code to access the bank account which will have Rokov stealing from multiple charities' funds could mean the series was still future-based. Was it just a date she chose at random, was it something that was set to happen soon? (Maybe she didn't want to miss Bonfire Night!). It's just an anomaly really as you can't date the series more specifically than show Elizabeth's headstone (18/5/45-12/7/88), then say it's ten years since Matt has been in touch, so that very effectively dates the series if it hadn't already been.

The sad view of agents in the service not being suited to each other which is so pertinent to both Ros and Beckett's position and Alex and Adam's, is reiterated by Beckett when he tells Ros his Father said it was a recipe for disaster, and again when Zealander hints that he and Khalif had been close and it didn't work out. Indeed, I thought Rokov would know this and use it against them. I liked that it was Alex who was threatened if they didn't cooperate, but I also liked the way Khalif responds by saying she knew what she signed up for. So often in drama a person will heroically refuse the villain's ultimatum with a gun to their head, but then capitulate when someone else is threatened. Zealander is more practical, seeing how young Alex is and the fact that, as terrible a crime as it is, it's not worth letting her be killed for it. At the same time, Rokov would probably have eliminated them after they'd served their purpose, unless he needed them every time he wanted to access a different charity. There's also the issue that Rokov could just as well stayed in prison until his men had finished off the pair as then there'd be no evidence and he'd go free, but he seemed like a man that liked to get his hands dirty and not leave it to his goons.

One question might be why the Becketts just stayed standing at the bomb site when it was about to go off, since Matt admits it wasn't a pressure pad as Rokov surmised, but on a timer, but thinking about it I thought they probably had to wait until the villains had gone before they ran for it so as to think it really was pressure-activated, otherwise they might have come back and shot them. Actually, why didn't they simply shoot them, they had the guns, but I suppose Matt had one too, and it could bring down the rarely seen authorities. There's usually some kind of logic you can apply to any situation! What impressed me about this one is that it was very close to getting back to the old 'BUGS' way - it still had the soapy stuff, but it was put in carefully and sensitively and largely complimented the story they were telling. It's touching that Matt still keeps an old picture of his wife and son in his wallet, throughout all those years of working for an off the books US intelligence agency. I feel sure he'd have been a character they'd have brought back had the series gone on for further years. I believe the actor who played him, Stephen Yardley was married to Jan Harvey and they worked together in multiple TV shows over the years, so that's a nice touch. And I could be wrong, but Nick Brimble (Rokov), may be the brother of Vincent Brimble who played Tyson Strate of Strate Air in 'Whirling Dervish.' I can't remember where I picked up those facts, possibly in articles over the years, but I do like some fun facts!

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