The Enemy Within

DVD, BUGS S4 (The Enemy Within)

It's hard to let go. After a year of going through the series, revisiting, reviewing, analysing, enjoying, it feels like the last time I'm going to watch what is one of my favourite series' of all I've seen. It doesn't have to be, of course, and perhaps in future, now that I don't have to watch with a critical or analytical eye I might perhaps sling on an episode any time I feel like it - the main reason I didn't watch it since the late-2000s was because I knew I'd have to go into detail and write reviews. But the series has truly ended for me now, where that wasn't entirely the case in previous watches: in 1999 I didn't even realise this would be the last we'd ever get, these three episodes chopped off the tail-end of Season 4 in 1998, but there was still the prospect of seeing more of the series and within a couple of years I had a video of the first two episodes, which I'd never seen before. Then the DVDs coming out in 2004 gave me access to every episode, including one or two I'd missed and the whole of the first series, and then again, finally in 2007, meeting Craig McLachlan and having him say there might be more 'BUGS' coming, so watching through that last time came with new hope of what might be to come. But that never materialised, the message boards fell silent and there seemed no more likelihood of it returning as the actors aged and technology moved on. And I've even come to the conclusion, having seen what was done to first 'Dr. Who,' then 'Star Wars,' and finally 'Star Trek,' that it's a good thing there won't be a revival, as it would be twisted and used for whatever agenda suited the 'bright young things' of today.

In a sense, then, the series is dead, but it will always live on in my memory as a formative experience of childhood. I don't remember sitting down to view this final ever episode, probably because it wasn't known as that, it was just the last in the current series, but it doesn't work as well for being a finale as it might have done as just another episode between others. It has a great ending, a great beginning, it's just the middle where it sags a little, despite there being plenty of good ideas. The biggest is the way it actually ends, they were clearly trying to replicate the success they'd had with 'Renegades' at the end of Season 3, hoping they'd be picked up for Season 5, but that was much better put together, the whole episode being a rip-roaring success, whereas this was significantly more low-key: it's 'another' kidnapping, only this time we're allowed to witness it take place, both Ros and Beckett held at gunpoint in a limousine by Stefano, an old friend of Adam's from his university days, then the guy driving, who gives the impression of being a chauffeur, the little we see of him, possibly one of those caps on, an impression of being quite large, arched eyebrows... surely it can't be Jean-Daniel, the series' standout villain? I do think this is what we were intended to think, it's a shame they couldn't stretch to getting Gareth Marks and to show him for definite, but this way the mystery can be preserved: it's someone with an artificially disguised voice, someone Beckett seems to recognise, and someone he thought was dead...

If they did get Season 5 they might not have been able to get Marks. If they didn't get Marks they couldn't do JD. This way they leave their options open, and there's certainly no telling for sure that they intended to bring back the evil Frenchman from the dead, but it would have been an absolute jaw-dropper if they had. It's hard to see where wishful thinking ends and reality begins, but bringing back characters was something they liked to do (in this episode we have Dent of The Hive, Adam Mosby, Christa, Ros' Mother, Coral, and not forgetting Wagner the cat, too!), and you can read the 'clues' of the blue digital face from the previous episode, and I'd completely forgotten we actually see 'Technopolis' and the Technopolis Tower (or at least the building upon which a digital extension was added in 'A Cage For Satan'), as they run around in the same locations used for that (complete with those statues of people, and the deserted streets that would bring to mind the modern babel of Season 2). It's hard, when the series was so insistent on reminding viewers of past continuity, not to take these hints as deliberate clues, though even if it was all intentional rather than mere production conveniences, it could have been a misdirect for whatever the real story was - I'm under the impression the writers (Frank De Palma and Terry Borst for these last couple of stories), didn't know what they were going to do, and as Stephen Gallagher (always keen to point out he had nothing to do with the fourth year!), said in his interview on the boxed set, he suspects that, too, as that's how you end on a cliffhanger and try to get your audience excitedly speculating.

I've always liked to think it was JD - you can explain the distorted voice by his vocal cords being damaged in the explosion at the Tower, and as we know from Season 3's 'Fugitive,' his body was never found. Whether that means it was incinerated or he somehow crawled away, half-dead, we'll never know, but that kind of miraculous survival and return is what films and TV are made of - you can never keep a great villain down. Except in 'BUGS' it does go against the tradition of most of the enemies being killed off - even here we see half of the dangerous duo falling to his death from an external inspection lift. Wymark didn't do anything in this episode to make him seem cleverer, and the dunce-like behaviour of not accepting Ed's hand to help him up onto the roof because he refuses to leave without 'his' money was ludicrous. Clearly he wasn't going to be able to keep the money, but he was too dim to realise and instead slips and plunges to a glass and concrete death, suitably for the final episode among some good 'BUGS' buildings. As well as Technopolis we also see old favourites such as the dock area with the black chains, used a number of times, the Docklands Light Railway, the Millennium Dome and even Canary Wharf Tower one last time, so they really enjoyed showing off London sights, just as in the first part (and was the wedding reception held at Kew Gardens?). It was also especially well directed with a fluidity and an in your face approach, while also using little tricks like a canted angle to assist the impression of Jan's spiralling sense of grief and confusion as she stumbles away down a corridor at the hospital, the picture blurring out.

The strong direction somewhat covers the fact that the episode isn't one of the stronger examples: in its defence it has one of the best teasers of the entire run, expertly weaving together a montage of key scenes from previous episode 'Money Spiders,' before giving us Adam doing for the Mini what hadn't been done since 'The Italian Job,' swinging it around the tight spaces of a car park atop The Hive like a pro (and we get to see more of that building than we'd ever seen since the first episode, a nice touch that the first and last episodes filmed there), while being shot at by agents (is the implication supposed to be these are Hive agents or could they be a contingent of SSD - Dent does throw out one last reference later on, saying Wymark and Zephyr can be picked up by them), and then it's into those wonderful opening credits that never fail to bring waves of nostalgia and excitement crawling up the back, reminding me how much I'm going to miss going through the series. The ending lives up to things, too, the shocking death of Adam, Alex' grief as Ed and Jan move back out of her space, and then Ros and Beckett captured... Then we have Jan's emotional breakdown, fleeing her role as DOIC, and Dent pouncing, showing up as Acting DOIC - I can't help feel that was a plot that should have been part of the cliffhanger: will Dent remain in command, or will Jan be reinstated? It was terrific to see him in the environs of Bureau 2 and it was the backlash of the cooperation between services that had been, if not building across the season, certainly in evidence, and it's typical that such a positive thing could be turned against our team, especially, as Beckett says, Jan is the Bureau. Without her this incarnation wouldn't exist!

I felt there was more to explore there, and a Season 5 that began with half the team resigning and Beckett trying to keep things together while being disgusted with Dent's conflicting ideology, would have created some unique drama for the series. Dent's belief is that Bureau 2 has been given too much latitude so he's going to come in and see that everything is done by the book, a threat to the very nature of the organisation, which is why it's somewhat triumphant when Jan pulls herself together and comes in confidently zapping electronic devices and taking charge again. I'm not quite sure what caused her to change her mind, and it could have been played up more, but it's the right idea. No, I think the problems of the episode are to do with the fact that one of the team, Ros, is almost entirely confined to a hospital bed other than an amazing recovery in time for Alex and Adam's wedding. It's never a good idea to remove one of the key characters for the majority of an episode, and it also means we're robbed of the team working together as a trio, plus Alex and Jan, one final time. Instead, it's more like Ed and Beckett chasing down the villains, with Jan, Adam and Alex joining in. The other issue are the small stakes the villains are playing for: yes, £150 million is a lot, but the only victim is going to be the bank who they defraud, and we're not meant to like Chichester, this fake-smile, suave and untrustworthy type. The impression is the bank is a bit slimy and operates with no questions asked, very unethical, so the only motivation is in catching the villains to make them pay for what they did to Ros.

Ah yes, what they did to Ros... Somehow, despite facing upwards toward Zephyr's gun, she actually got shot in the back of the head, the bullet seen to go up towards her brain, so I'm not sure that was physically possible from the way she was hanging at the end of the last episode! Not that that's a particular problem, we can skip over such things without too much thought - it is an action series, after all! Another odd thing was Zephyr calling Wymark by his surname. They seem quite close so you'd think she'd call him Gordon, or some pet name. Maybe he likes her stern insistence on using the surname? While I'm making observations, it seems Adam follows the Bureau team in his refusal to countenance gun use - instead of picking up Zephyr's dropped weapon and training it on her, he instead takes the time to remove the bullets so when she manages to grab it and is about to fire on Alex, she comes up short! I understand it's for dramatic convention, we think this is it, and then surprise, but you'd think a Hive agent would have been fully firearms-trained and happy to use it judging by all the gunplay that goes on when they're hunting the disk-stealer at The Hive. I suppose there was the chance Zephyr might have used Alex as a shield, and Adam didn't want that...

There were a few references mentioned - Angela is called by Alex when she needs a new car after Adam's taken her mini, though we don't see or hear her. She was seen in 'Absent Friends' and credited in 'Sacrifice To Science,' both at the start of the season. Then there's the fun reference to Gizmo's Alex makes. Okay, maybe this was just her talking about one of her gadgets, but I'm sure the writers deliberately had her refer to it as a gizmo as one last tribute to the original organisation our team comprised. And on the list of locations that have the new G5 computer chip, Marine Command is included, which must be a reference to Beckett's time there. I believe the G4 Power Macs were just coming out in the late-90s, or were at least on the horizon (I had one in 2000), so I'm guessing that's why they chose 'G5' as the chip name to make it sound a little more futuristic. It's typical 'BUGS' coincidence that the one our villains go for at Central Teaching Hospital at exactly the same time as a specialist is using the technology to remove Ros' bullet! And there must be backups for this tech, surely? I don't mean the electrical backup as that was accounted for - Wymark shot up both mains and backup when Ed's chasing them (that was one thing the two Ed's had in common as McLachlan's version chased after Elena as she shot at him in 'Out of The Hive'!). Though it doesn't seem a good idea to have both systems in the same place! No, I mean what if the computer failed, wouldn't they have a manual system for the operation? If not it shows the limits of relying on technology.

I'm not sure I'd have entirely believed Ed sitting vigil at Ros' bedside when he's usually the one to be in the thick of the action, while Beckett thinks he has to catch those that put her there. Then again, this Ed has been more reticent to get involved: you only have to look at the first episode of the season where Beckett refuses to accept Ros' 'death' while Ed's already advising him not to go chasing after evidence she's not really dead, so maybe he lost a little backbone or something. It's academic anyway as he soon joins Beckett in the hunt. I must mention that female doctor who seems so interested and fascinated by Ros' case, explaining the operation in detail to a distraught Mother with all the tact and sensitivity of a scientist lecturing on experiments! But the series always did do a strange mix of minor characters - take the non-speaking role of the delivery man in the car park, he's a typically eccentric addition, first moving out the way, taking cover when he hears gunshots and finally having to leap clear of the speeding mini! The series never forgot its roots in English ITC-type fun drama, even though this season had taken things more into traditional dramatic style with subplots of marriages and friction between characters. It can't be denied that it remains the weakest season, but for the series it's still good fun for the most part.

But what of those tallies I've had going throughout? Well, I counted twenty-one explosions this season with a grand total across the series of one hundred and thirty-seven, while there were a mere four countdowns and a total of forty-two in the series, and apparently only five deaths on screen (I was very strict in only counting those that you see the actual moment of death rather than, for example in this episode, Wymark plunging to his doom, but we don't see the impact, naturally!), with the total being sixty-one. And that pretty much sums up the series. The Bureau building appeared in nineteen episodes, The Hive in six, with the replacement Grand Cherokee Jeep making it to fourteen. And if that was indeed Jean-Daniel at the end he'd have been on his ninth appearance, Dent was on his fourth, Christa on her fifth (Beckett looked like he was having second thoughts about bringing her to the wedding!), and Adam sixth, with Coral on her third. Continuity definitely seemed to be the watchword for the season, it's just a shame they moved away from the pulse-pounding escalations of tension, though they did their best to try and inject it here and there. Saturday nights would never be the same again for me, and they haven't been since it ended. It wasn't a perfect series, but it forever made its mark on me and will never be forgotten. What a series overall, one that will never be equalled for me in its unique blend of action and friendship. Thank you to all the writers, directors, actors and production staff, you did a great job. Oops, got to go: there's a countdown and I've got three seconds to get out of the–

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