Jewel Control

DVD, BUGS S4 (Jewel Control)

Very punny title. We haven't seen one like that since... actually we've never had a pun for a title (jewel control: dual control...), so that's a first for the series at this late stage, but it wouldn't be the last. I suppose, other than the fact our Mr. Diaz wants control over the jewel smuggling business, it refers to his hold over the hapless Richard Blenco, this season's Mark Schumann (or was it Mark Curtis, I can never remember?), who in turn has exerted his 'charm' over Ros' old school friend, Sorrel Mandrake, in order to marry him and then he'll have leverage over her Father, Owen. I suppose. Watch enough episodes and you begin to see patterns, or at least repetitions in story and character - the obvious one is, as I mentioned, the 'happy couple' from Season 3's 'Happy Ever After?' They had it right down to the conman who only marries the woman to get to her Father in the government, both times the connection is a friend of one of our team (Jan with Sir Anthony, Ros with Sorrel), both times the little woman is kidnapped by the conman's associates and both times they get some physical comeuppance from their rage-blushing bride (a vicious kick in the shins from Julia, a solid double-handed slap from Sorrel). I don't recall who wrote the former episode, but if it was either Colin Brake or Stuart Doughty (this episode's co-writing team), they have some explaining to do. Not that I'm complaining about the lack of originality, it's fun to note the parallels and gives me more to examine! Another, less conspicuous similarity is in setting the teaser in a foreign country, this time what looks like the favelas of Columbia, scene-setting that reminded me of the desert opening to 'Schrodinger's Bomb,' something that adds a greater sense of scale, geographically speaking. And the International Emerald Exchange with its overconfident head of security reminded me of Jacobs Doyle from 'Down Among The Dead Men.'

The biggest connection to past episodes, however, must be the realisation of another 'Action Jan' story with our Jan off on her own much of the time, the older woman given the chance to show her initiative and resourcefulness, courage, and application of the very practical experience she's been claiming make the very assessment she's been assigned to complete, an irrelevance. Books are no substitute she claims and does come off a touch entitled and arrogant, or would do if we didn't know better, have seen her abilities, knowledge, connections and dedication. If we didn't know her (as fellow assessee, Melissa doesn't), and if she wasn't given the opportunity to prove herself in fine fashion when Diaz and his mob, The Three Amigos, come a-calling. It is ridiculous that a woman who's served in the intelligence services for twenty-five years would be called upon to complete a course, let alone alongside fresh young things who must be straight out of college, but perhaps forbearance and patience were part of the test? We later learn she has to be assessed every five years, but judging from the way she reacts to this particular assessment we can conclude this was different to what she'd gone through before, unless she was simply tired with the procedure and felt her age and experience should count for something, which it should! It was probably a cost-cutting measure from the government: just chuck in old hands with new recruits, that'll save money. But it was a bit demeaning, especially when you consider Jan and her team have saved civilisation as we know it on more than one occasion!

The important thing, and one more reason why the episode works, is that she's given her chance to show what being in the field is really like: under fire or in danger of death, guerrilla tactics, using mind and body to take on the enemy to the best of her ability in spite of scant resources (why would the Harding House facility have no weapons - you'd think arms training and testing would be par for the course!), just like in 'Identity Crisis,' hence another parallel with the past. Jan isn't put through the wringer quite as much as she was in that episode, but she's certainly tested, paired with the only available asset in the aforementioned Melissa, a 'bright young thing' very receptive to whatever new ways and ideas the current regime claim as best operating procedure. At first you can see where she's coming from, facing an attitude like Jan's when she doesn't see the point of using a rowing machine because she's never in all her years been required to row for her country, but as Melissa points out fitness is important in the field (or an attitude to that effect), as Jan knows only too well. But the really important things are mind and willpower - the ability to make the right decision when faced with threat and without much time to contemplate. Boldness, striking at the right moment in the right way. Melissa just comes to pieces when faced with this reality - she does get one moment to shine, to show she has potential (and if the series had continued it would have been great if they could have brought Naoko Mori's character back, perhaps in the Alex role as she moved up - Alex could even have been a sort of mentor), her knowledge of the tech manuals means she knows how to open the blast doors trapping the others in a room with a time bomb, and showing that book-learning has its place too. But for the most part she ably demonstrates that simulation can't match up to reality.

You'd think a phobia of needles would be on her bio if the services are as forensic about potential agents as Adam thought they were, nervous about his Anarchist Society membership at university. Perhaps she didn't declare it or they decided that wasn't reason enough not to accept her on the programme. And it is meant to be a comedy moment when, after all her excelling at the physical and mental rigours of the assessment she falls down in the face of a needle, literally fainting at the feet of a bemused Diaz. I must say, he seemed like a particularly humane villain, for all his bluster, at least up until he leaves the gang with the bomb, but it's more that he comes across pretty stupid in all his dealings. He has these unrealised ambitions of being Big Shot Emerald Smuggler, yet he allows himself to be taken in by the singularly unimpressive Blenco. He won't delegate all this to underlings, maybe he doesn't trust them to do things right, and comes to England with the promise of an emerald haul from the IEE (would they really store such expensive gemstones loose in little plastic trays in the vault?). But he seems very keen not to kill anyone unnecessarily, even going to the trouble of bringing along drugs and needles to sedate the inhabitants of Harding House when he also had automatic weapons and could easily have mown them all down without a second thought, even telling Ed to back off when he chases him at the end, when he has him in his sights (if he had killed off Ed it would definitely have changed the series, some might say for the better in this case!), as it seems he might have from Jan's perspective when she hears the rattle of gunfire - that was a moment she could have had second thoughts and simply done everything to escape and save her own skin, but she has an innate sense of responsibility and the guts to do what's necessary. In contrast, Blenco is quite gutless, seemingly no motivation other than money, while Diaz isn't much better - money, but prestige as well. They aren't the greatest team of villains our team have ever dealt with, but they do at least have the edge of intimidation thanks to Diaz' three heavies, especially when they smash into Sorrel's house to take her and Ros prisoner (recalling the guy who smashes through a glass door trying to get to Ros in 'A Sporting Chance'). As ever, while most would run away, Ros runs towards the danger, intent on using herself to slow down the adversaries so her friend can get away in typically selfless, heroic fashion.

More could have been made of the connection to Ros' past that Owen and Sorrel represented, especially the elder Mandrake, for it seems that he was the one that first gave spark to her interest in electronics in the first place - it's just thrown into dialogue that when she was twelve Ros liked horses until Owen showed her how radios work, setting her on the course of her life! That's quite a momentous thing, and I'm not saying she wouldn't have found her interest and line of work without that, but this is how it happened so you'd think there'd be a little more poignancy and affection between them. Ros seems to have reverted back more to her Season 2 reserved persona, perhaps because of the soapy side of this season which must have affected how Griffiths played her. Once again we sense an undertone of tension underlying the interactions, what with Ed complaining Adam isn't right for Alex, who's spending a lot of time with him socially (and so has apparently taken a bit of a backseat in recent episodes when it comes to meaningful participation in the adventure), while Beckett becomes inexorably closer to the invasive Christa, going so far as lying to the team about where he was going in black bowtie and dinner jacket, Ros seeing him picked up by Christa on CCTV when he claimed he was heading to an all-male Naval reunion. How dense can he be? Why change into the outfit at the Bureau, why let Christa pick him up from there, and why claim it was an all-male do in the first place? It seems cut from the same cloth of soap-silliness designed so Ros can be sad, an end scene that must be the worst of the season. How can you make it so negative?

Even worse for the series, though I'm sure they wouldn't have had an inkling at the writing stage, was that back in the day this was effectively the Season 4 finale! The BBC was mistreating the series, shifting it around the early evening Saturday schedule instead of the prime time slot it deserved, and then the ultimate indignity of indignities, they didn't have room for the final three episodes, shunting them off to an entire year later, August 1999, perhaps deliberately in case the finale drew in big figures and highly favourable audience reaction as 'Renegades'  had achieved, buying the series a stay of execution. They wouldn't let that happen again, which is unfathomable since they didn't have to recommission for a fourth year anyway, so why do that, then not support it? Perhaps if the writers knew this episode would be a kind of mid-season finale they might have done things differently, made it a bit of a cliffhanger to leave people bubbling with speculation over what it could mean, not concluding on such a downer! Despite the poor ending, the soapiness was still kept to a minimum, thankfully, meaning the episode, though still one of the lesser instalments of both series and season, was still mostly inoffensive and enjoyable to watch - I certainly had the urge to get into it. While I'd place previous episode 'Pandora's Box' a small notch above, this at least is more visually colourful than that drab-looking example: we have the team dressing in colour, Beckett in light green shirt, green tie under his suit; Ros in a red or orange top beneath her black suit (complete with gold star earrings, perhaps as a comment on her boss, Jan's rating, though I suppose two stars isn't very flattering!); and even Ed remembers his dark blue jacket. The palette extends to some of the locations with yellow lighting in the RSG (Regional Seat of Government) bunker, and blue lighting in the IEE security office which did look like a proper 'BUGS' location, all blue-tinted metal walls and a bank of monitors - it could almost have been Gizmos, if we're allowed to mention that name! Sorrel's house, too, with all its glass, was very 'BUGS'-ian, especially in contrast with Beckett's flat and the RSG is just the kind of secret underground bunker our team should be at home in!

One area the episode didn't deliver was the disappointing explosion - up to that point they handled the traditional escalation of events rather well, problem after problem overcome, all dashing out, but then it looked like a lot of stock footage, in close so you didn't get the sense of proximity to the characters. If anything, the much smaller air explosion when an escape hatch is revealed in a wall outside the vault for Diaz to exit through (from the Kanin school of exits, if you remember the guy from 'Blackout' who blasted his way into Gizmos to save time ringing the bell!), was more effective because it was a surprise. For once there aren't a great deal of direct references, but Beckett does mention SSD early in the episode - according to them Diaz travelled with an Englishman. Ed continues his climbing exploits, entering Diaz' hotel room up the inside of the atrium while Beckett's there as eyes and ears (actually giving him an order to get out at one point!), though you wonder how no one saw him climbing with all those windows about! They seem to have stopped using the old Operating System that was based on The Hive's systems right from the very first episode, and now it looks more like a version of Windows - perhaps this is all part of the changes in relations across the services. Maybe Hive agents noticed Bureau 2 were using their system when they came in to help search for the sword last episode? I certainly hadn't noticed them use a different OS before. Beckett seems to be fairly handy setting up the intruder alarm in his flat (but not quite as with it when it comes to his house key - he rushes out without one as far I could see), but I suppose that's small potatoes compared to the technology he's used to dealing with - handy that it cements his 'electrician' cover for Christa. Also funny when the villains make Owen fix the RSG controls, Ros offering to help because she 'knows a little bit about electronics,' the understatement of the year!

There's a little bit of tantalising history for the Bureau when Jeff the security guard says he once knew a former Jan that almost came to blows with her assessor, and she became chair of covert operations. So there had been at least one female Jan before... Jan. Maybe it was the one before Roland, maybe it was Mrs. Gardner, you never know? Melissa does warn the service is changing, and by featuring an older character in the mix with Jan Harvey it gave them more ground to explore if they chose to, as they do a little bit here: the threat of tried and true methods being replaced, probably because younger minds simply want change for its own sake and to feel superior to those with more experience than they have, to feel they have an edge of their own making - Jan's even threatened with demotion to a non-operational post if she quits, though I'm sure Commander Cordray was just blowing hot air - they wouldn't want to lose someone like her with a proven track record for results. I loved seeing her save Melissa's life when they take on one of the goons, and then not to be outdone, Beckett saves Jan's life. Teamwork, that's what I like to see! Maybe going down the route of old tech again (especially after the focus on centuries past in the previous episode), the RSG from forty years ago might not have been the best idea, and there really haven't been a great deal of techy sci-fi stories in this final year, which makes it a bit less 'BUGS,' but at least in this case we got our quotient of 'BUGS' buildings and no sign of housing estates, schools or any other such mundane locations. At the same time you can see the elements aren't quite gelling: negative soapiness, less technology, generally more grounded, 'realistic' locales, and Ed still comes across too stilted and unnatural in his interaction. But it's still 'BUGS,' it's still pretty good and it's better than nothing.

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