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–

***

Money Spiders

DVD, BUGS S4 (Money Spiders)

Here it is, then. After over a year of going through this series, we come to the final two-parter of its final year. I find myself a little sad to be coming to the end so 'quickly' (in relative terms), because 'BUGS' was such a highlight of life in the late-90s and carries with it memories of good times, so it's quite a moment to come to the end of that revisitation of a series that has remained in my top two or three TV series' of all my viewing experience. I wouldn't have said this episode was one of the high points, but they were still finding new ways to tell the same kinds of stories. This time it becomes a study of the psychology of certain characters, interestingly the two lesser used main characters, Jan and Alex. Alex is finding preparation for married life might suggest things are going to be more difficult than she imagined (likely a realistic reading of the situation!), with her and Adam arguing over everything from style of cutlery to who they invite to the wedding. But it's Jan's self-recrimination at the death of a civilian who'd demanded to be involved in an operation that is the real interest. We've seen so many characters offed throughout the series, most without even a backward thought to their families and those around them that may be affected, but here we actually have Jan visiting Daniel Michaelson's widow, trying to find some kind of absolution for her mistake in allowing him to put himself in danger. I'm not sure I feel entirely positive about the direction the series was going in - we'd already had far too much soap and domesticity in Season 4, and now the characters are going to second guess themselves?

Yet it also gives Jan Harvey some of her best scenes, a chance to emote and play something other than strict business or being under duress and for that I applaud them. The series may have started to become bogged down by issues of realism that could have affected how the stories were written in coming years, if there had been any, but there weren't, so any speculation is purely academic for how such story points might have changed the series. Any long-running drama needs to adapt and allow new angles in order to keep things fresh, otherwise you'd just be rehashing the same plots or scenarios (which they had done on many occasion, to be fair!), so it was good that they were trying new avenues and ways to explore characters. And Jan was a character ripe for exploration since she'd remained a mystery for most of the time, only Harvey's performance to give us the impression there was much more to her than giving out assignments. I liked that they brought back her psychologist friend Simon from 'Sacrifice To Science,' another time she was concerned about the state of others. Now she's concerned with the state of herself, believing the position has made her callous and unfeeling, nothing of the real Jan, the real Barbara, left. Rather than become self-pitying and reclusive, this drastic guilt and self-doubt manifests in a sudden desire to get involved at the coalface, go on a mission with her team, but in that state of mind it may not have been the best time for it.

As we see, the mission goes awry and right in front of Jan's eyes one of her people, Ros, is shot and collapses in Ed's arms. If there was anything that could have made Jan feel worse, that was it! But if you want to push the characters and uncover them, you have to put them through the worst stuff. I don't remember if I thought Ros would really die in the last episode, but it's a common enough trope to me now, the life of a main character thrown into the balance and leaving the audience wondering. It shows the villains are reasonably bloodthirsty, not just removed, keyboard-tappers that deal out their villainy from the anonymity of the internet. Up to that point, though, things had been quite technical - an indication Wymark is of that generation of dot-com opportunists who saw the potential in the wild west wasteland of the online world before it had fully developed into what we know it as today. But it's his hard-faced woman, Zephyr, slightly mysterious, who seems like the real skill behind it all. She had the same hard pride that Morag had in the opening two-parter and it would have been interesting to see who would have won in a fight between them! She suggests a nasty piece of work, while Wymark is more of a user happy to blackmail and extort any way he can.

I'm not sure it's really about the villains, as such, at least in this first part. Yes, we see they've got a nice thing going with their free internet service and the ability to hack into systems through the junk mail they send, a cutting edge idea in the Nineties, a bit of industrial espionage leading to blackmail. No, it's more about Michaelson and the consequences of getting him involved. The big blue computer face in the room must be dealt with first, though: was it intentional to suggest Cyberax with the blue helmet avatar the villains use to communicate with Michaelson? It seems hard to believe it wasn't, even though the design is very different, just the idea of a computer-affected voice and this sinister blue 'cartoon' as Michaelson describes it, immediately brings to mind the classic AI villain of Season 2. It's not like they don't throw in regular callbacks to things in the series' past - even in this episode the team mention Jan's recent management course from 'Jewel Control,' Jan herself recalls how she felt when Ros went missing at the end of Season 3, Beckett jokingly asks if Ed's been promoted back to Bureau Chief when he finds him using his computer, and of course there's the beginning of the culmination of The Hive being featured, Mr. Dent returning for the third time after his surprise reappearance in the third episode of Season 4. There are even special moments like Beckett meeting Dent again for the first time since he was cast out of the organisation, and gets to be in a position of accusation when, after Dent's claimed the Hive building's impregnable, Beckett reminds everyone that with his record of internal security, such assurances aren't worth a thing!

But deliberately evoking memories of Cyberax? It seems... unwise. Unless they were preparing the audience for a spectacular comeback, then it would have all been worthwhile, and one reason I use as a suggestion for the identity of the mystery man at the end of the final episode. But that's for next time. It's a risky move because those episodes were the best in the series, the top trilogy of 'The Bureau of Weapons,' 'A Cage For Satan' and 'Renegades' (quadrilogy if you include the excellent 'Schrodinger's Bomb,' quint if you want the 'prequel,' 'Pulse'!), and you're setting yourself up for unfavourable comparisons if you go down that road. But they didn't go down that road, or didn't seem to, so maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Nah! The writers had proved they knew the series very well indeed with all the minute past references they included, or stories connecting with previous characters, organisations and events, that's one of the things I love about the series and has given added depth to rewatching it. I did like that the bike helmet of whoever met Michaelson (and judging just by size and shape, not to mention I suspect she had more gall than Wymark, I'd guess Zephyr), was the same shape as the digital face, it added a bit of visual continuity. And though it'd been done before, the surprise exit of a getaway bike out the back of a van (see 'Stealth'), the stunts in this one were a bit better.

There's a bit more of a feeling of the villains being on the same kind of technological level as Ros and the gang. I'm surprised Zephyr didn't react with surprise to find the famous Ros Henderson in their office, since people like them would surely know about a technological genius like her, especially after her recent high profile, or maybe it's just the name and she's kept her face largely hidden. On the other hand it's apparently a simple matter to check up on Bureau 2, as the Brazer twins did in the previous episode, so I'm sure they'd have done the same and found out who the opposition were. There's already a rivalry there since Ros whacked Zephyr to the ground, the reason she was so eager to take the shot as Ros hangs trapped halfway down her abseil, and she seems very much the type to hold a grudge. It's fascinating to see so many technological terms in their infancy that we take for granted now. Ros using a virus to infect the digital spiders and make them visible when they infect systems; the whole idea of junk email ('the Trojan Horse of the 21st Century'!); it's amusing that old Michaelson needs technical assistance to get rid of it; then there's Adam and Alex making a digital wedding presents list - I'm sure that's as common as muck now, but did people do that in 1998 (or '99 when the episode was finally shown)? One thing that can't be good is Alex covering her computer monitor in novelty woolly sheepskin, that would trap all the heat!

Alex has greater problems than her choice of computer accessory, however, as she demonstrates quite, shall we say, eccentric tastes when it comes to decor, cutlery, tea sets... Adam's very much the traditionalist, and as if to make more of a contrast they have her going for quite outlandish designs. Still, it was funny, and lightened the mood, which helped to cover the fact that yes, we are indeed watching an episode of 'BUGS' in which the main characters are shopping. Even Beckett gets in on the act as he tries to help Christa choose a hat for the wedding, and she couldn't be more girly and irritating! Beckett shows remarkable good humour throughout, but then he is enjoying her company, inexplicable as it may be, and there's even a thoughtful realisation that he'd never done anything like that with Ros. That's because shopping is boring and Ros is much more interesting! It made a nice change to see Ros and Ed go off together to break into Wymark International at the end, just as we saw Beckett and Ros scout out the place earlier, Beckett getting to be the one to go undercover this time (from the Internet Users Council). Ros has the bluster to make a good courier and that sequence was well done as Beckett has to stall them while Ros deals with the spiders.

While it is a little galling to see wedding shops, or scenes of Adam and Alex arguing over the guest list, there was enough of a mixing in more typical locations for a visually appealing variety: Wymark's is really only offices, but they have that more colourful 'BUGS' touch to them, bringing in those neon blues and yellows again (speaking of which, things are back to normal on the clothing front, too, with Ros mostly in her bright yellow shirt and some small round silver earrings, Beckett in blue shirt and tie under his suit jacket, and Ed... yep, bland t-shirts again!), and the sinister reds when the villains accuse and manipulate Adam in a car park, then there's a nice return to The Hive (they've obviously redecorated since 'Out of The Hive' as Dent's office is very different this time), including getting to see more of it than we ever had before: the sprawling basement area where they keep their main security vault, and even a little utility entrance where Alex pops out a little way down from the main building. But the best view must go to the beautiful three-hundred-and-sixty degree view of London from the rooftop garden where Dent introduces Michaelson to Jan and the camera swings round them taking it all in. There's Tower Bridge, and oh, a tiny cameo you wouldn't have expected to see again: it's the HMS Belfast in the background, from 'Assassins Inc'!

One thing that doesn't quite ring true is how Michaelson actually died. You get his boyish enthusiasm to get involved in all this spy stuff, a foreboding of his short future, but while he is champing at the bit to do something to the people extorting him, he does hang back and do what he's told, as much as it pains him. It's only when the team fail to predict the surprise getaway and focus is drawn away from him, that he takes independent action, trying to stop the biker. Trouble is it wasn't very clear where he was in relation to the bike and how he could have toppled right over the guard rail to the lower level, but it's more an issue with the directing of that moment in the scene. Something almost as troubling is that in that moment the team are clearly trying to capture the villain, yet later on when they break into Wymark's and are discovered, once they've overpowered the pair, knocking them to the ground, rather than stop and pick up their guns to hold them hostage, or arrest them, they flee for their lives. It's been done many times on the series and I suppose it can be put down to not wanting the characters to use guns if at all possible, but it always seems a little silly when they could halt the villains there and then. On the other hand if you pick up a gun you have to be prepared to use it, and they didn't know if there were other staff in the building with which they might need to have a firefight... Another odd moment is when Adam uses Dent's card to get into the vault area, and it only gives him a few seconds to run past that red laser barrier before it comes on again - I don't see Dent sprinting anywhere!

I noticed for certain the various computers used, including the Bureau's, were operating on Windows, although Ros does go back to the old operating system that we're used to when getting round Wymark's admin password via a tiny laptop. It's another time Dent's voiceprint was misused as Adam does here - that's how the baddies put Beckett under suspicion by using Dent's voice to call him to his office in the first ever episode. And Alex seems particularly insensitive when she asks Ed to be the one to give her away at the wedding. We learn her Father's dead, and it was nice of her to say he was her best friend (although this season I'm not sure we'd seen much evidence of that - and what about her life before Bureau 2, she was a martial arts teacher don't forget, so didn't she have other close friends?), but it was a bit much to go down the route of the symbolic giving away! And what's going on - there wasn't a single explosion! Can this really be the series we knew? No, in some ways it isn't, but it's best to just breathe it in and enjoy it because after one more lonely episode the journey would be over. Forever.

***

Twin Geeks

DVD, BUGS S4 (Twin Geeks)

'Twin Geeks': 'Twin Peaks' - yes it was another pun for a title after 'Jewel Control' (just the previous episode!), started the ball rolling (though I'm not sure 'Twin Peaks' would have been quite as in the zeitgeist by the late Nineties as it was in the early). Fortunately this would be the second and only time they pulled that. More importantly, it's the start of Season 5, whoopee! At least, I thought it was back in 1999 when this was shown. Sadly, I didn't know then that this was actually the first of three episodes rescheduled from 1998 when Season 4 was cut cruelly short, but in those days I didn't understand narratives, serialisation and the ins and outs of TV production, otherwise I'd have realised what a poor choice this would have been 1) for starting a new series of stories, and 2) for encouraging new viewers into the fold. But then it wasn't meant to be, hence why this particular episode seems especially 'mythology' heavy with vast amounts of references to series lore, continuity and history. That's also why it's a fascinating watch if you are well versed in the 'BUGS' world (and if you've been following along you will be by now!), because few episodes before it have packed in quite so much self-referential material, characters or storylines. But before I delve into any of that, on this specific occasion one thought was in mind as I watched: is that... Valentine Pelka? It is Valentine Pelka! When I first saw the episode I would have had no interest in the name (he'd never been in 'Star Trek' you see!), and even in the subsequent viewings, but this time I came to it having watched all of 'Highlander: The Series' and knew the actor as one of the key recurring villains. When I was watching that I felt I recognised his face, but I'd never put it together (despite other actors who'd been in 'BUGS' showing up in that series, too), so that was a fun new perspective.

He plays Leigh Vaizey, Chief Executive of CET (Communications and Electronic Technologies), the latest company to be put at threat of extortion as in the old episodes of the series. So right there it's got a feel of the old freelance days about it, and the fact the villains are both bald with glasses can't help but suggest Jean-Daniel, at least in aesthetics, as well as them being geniuses capable of all kinds of technological inventiveness. Ros, herself something of a genius in the tech world, as we know, finds herself in some sympathy with them as the parallel story of Channing selling his company and all assets, including Ros' product licences to a Mr. Tachibana of Haichiku Corporation, has some similarity, the difference being that Ros chooses the self-sacrificial way of damage limitation for the sake of her friend, Graham Hurry, who's staked all to raise the cash for her to exercise a time-limited buyout clause and keep her designs her own. Seeing the episode now I wish there had been more depth in this part of the story to connect it to the twins, perhaps they hear and understand her position and there's some kind of sympathy between the parties, even though they've chosen the way of crime and revenge rather than reluctantly (and tearfully), submitting to the realities of the business world as Ros eventually has to. But I will say that there was more to it than some episodes this season and I was impressed how the writing duo of Colin Brake and Alex Stewart were able to throw in everything but the kitchen sink (or should that be refrigerator - no they threw that in as well), and managed to keep it all coherent.

Maybe the story doesn't have those spikes of exhilaration as much as past seasons, but they certainly achieved the vital building of tension at the end, calling on all the plot threads to advance and reach boiling point in impressive fashion. The episode didn't start that way, the buffing machine bomb looking most weedy when it goes off, another indication of the Season 4 softening or weakening of the series' vitality. The van which served as the twins' rolling headquarters for a while, and which Ed and Beckett have to leap out of and run for their lives, blew up real good, part of it wheeling toward camera, and nicely caught from multiple viewpoints, a classic explosion in the series' best mould, and Ros' car, a coasting, flaming wreck after being blasted by Beckett's reverse proximity explosive, was another great visual (and callback, as yet another of Ros' cars to be destroyed, a sort of running joke for the series). And if the majority of the episode isn't as exciting, there's so much to keep track of that it doesn't disappoint in the way that perhaps the last couple of episodes did. Let's see then, what lore was touched upon, a rundown is in order: the big one, though it doesn't really feel that way, is bringing back a character from way back in Season 1, not that that was unprecedented this year as they'd already brought Dent and his Hive back into the story (we visit it in this episode, and while Dent doesn't appear, he is mentioned again), but Graham Hurry wasn't one of the more memorable folks our people had dealt with, though 'Down Among The Dead Men' is a fine example of the series.

You notice they don't trouble the audience with backstory, Ros just mentions obliquely that she helped him and he owes her a favour. It's a real deep cut for the series that unless you had been following very closely would have gone over your head. It is a touch strange that they would bring back Hurry and the investment bank he works for, Kamen & Ross, but I expect it was more something they thought of after the story was planned and remembered him and the company, deciding to tie it to internal continuity rather than settle for something new. It would go over the heads of most people, though I suppose the series had come out on video in the late Nineties (not sure when exactly), so there may have been more opportunity for devotees to rewatch earlier episodes than I'm giving credit for. But still, it was a surprising character to bring back, just a shame they couldn't get the original actor, with a guy sporting a full head of hair replacing the original balding Hurry (if it had been the other way round you could believe it, but then again in the 'BUGS' world they do have all kinds of advanced technology...). I have the feeling Hurry had been slightly sweet on Ros then, but I can't remember for sure - here he's really head over heels, risking his bank's money, his career, even prison for his faith in her and the desire to help her out, although it must have been partly he felt he owed her since we learn he's advanced to a seat on the board. Mind you, having someone like Ros indebted to you would be a very good thing, because she has a first class mind and a lot of integrity to go with it (unlike the Brazer twins, Michael and Marcus, like evil versions of her - maybe there should have been more of a pitting wits against each other to have Ros more involved in defeating them?), which is the reason why Tachibana was interested in acquiring Channing's company in the first place.

It makes sense that the business world would seek to capture Ros because she is a force and resource to be tapped and they were laying down possibilities for where the story might have gone in future years if the series had continued. Actually, I'd forgotten Ros had such issues and it may be they get resolved before or during the final episode, but it was certainly a great new spin to put the character into. But Hurry and the bank weren't the only connections in an episode rife with references: Ros' Mo... monetary advisor (and Mother!), Coral Henderson, returns after being introduced at the beginning of the season as a place Beckett went in his search for Ros. Usually I rail against the domestic settings of this particular season, but there was something reassuring and pleasant about seeing Ros' Mum in her house helping her daughter (seems uncharacteristic of Ros not to know all the legal stuff in her contract), and this wouldn't be her last appearance. Bureau 2 is mentioned by the Brazer's when they look up the opposition CET have brought in against them, commenting that it was a reincarnation of the old Bureau of Weapons Technology –I need to break off there because maybe it's just me being too close to the series, but there are a sprinkle of clues that suggest they wanted to evoke thoughts of Jean-Daniel and Cyberax, that whole sequence of events that closed out Season 2 and 3, in these finale episodes: it's maybe going too far to say the Brazer's were designed to look reminiscent of JD, they're just generic stereotypical boffins, the baldness and glasses goes with the territory, but also mentioning the old Bureau, and then other things in the last couple of episodes would be reminiscent of Cyberax and JD...

I was wrong. That is, I was mistaken in my belief that the Armed Response Squad Jan calls up in 'Pandora's Box' was what I associated with SSD, because it was in this episode that the memory of black-clad soldiers being at Jan's beck and call as they drive down between some nondescript buildings came from. It was a far cry from the old SSD agents in their suits and overcoats, and they weren't SSD, they were a bomb disposal unit, presumably army, but this was the moment I'd thought SSD had some input, and it turns out it wasn't them at all. They were quite realistic actually - I'm thinking of when the disposal expert barks at Jan, Vaizey and another soldier to stand still when they're clumping about and talking loudly mere metres from his examination of the bomb! Other connections to the past include Beckett's history with Naval Intelligence - he visits an old colleague, Iain Keating, at the Naval Engineering Stores, to get some background on a piece of equipment the twins were using in one of their bombs (previous viewings led me to believe that was a big oversight because it seemed it was the timer for the bomb in the van, but you clearly see it in Beckett's hand when he exits), and it's good to see him use his contacts for once. There's also the reminder of how Ros and Beckett met when Ros tells Christa it was he that got her into all this (as we saw in 'Out of The Hive'), and her statement that her independence is very important to her is a throwback to the beginning of Season 3 when Jan was trying to bring her into the Bureau. The Channing connection is another big part of that season (shame he didn't come back, but you can imagine the scene, Ros getting angry, Channing apologetic but defensive). Her affection for Beckett is also key as she says his safety is more important than her money issues, which leads to the big dramatic destruction of the case in her car that has the Hurry money that will get her out of the Tachibana deal... (a bit like the ending of 'Hell and High Water' when Jan blows the car with the money in the back).

There's all this detail, but they also bring in the other plots of Christa and Adam, and I felt none too badly considering the pair of them were usually intrusive, irritating characters. Christa progresses from the car park of Bureau 2 right up to the offices themselves when she 'makes a scene' demanding to know what's happened to Beckett, who's been kidnapped by the twins. And Adam is starting to show some suspicious activity when a designer watch he bought for Alex isn't the fake she thinks it is, plus Ed sees some of his bank statements when rescuing the pair from a freezing room at the Electric Freezer Company and notices large payments coming in... (how did he find time to photocopy them - was there an old model he could hot-wire hanging about the place?). I'm pretty sure we never got to find out what happened with Adam, whether he was being blackmailed or whatever, because of the cliffhanger ending in two episodes' time, which is annoying, but at least what happened here all made sense, even if the final scene where Alex comes in and announces her and Adam's engagement couldn't have come at a worse time with the team all shellshocked from what's just happened: Ros is tied to Tachibana, Beckett's had to be honest with Christa and admitted it was all over between him and Ros a long time ago, and Ed's reported Adam's suspect riches to Jan. Still, they all put on a brave face and wish the happy couple well. I don't know if this was deliberate, but both Ros and Beckett wear blue at the end of the episode as if in sympathy for each other. Otherwise, Beckett's in red shirt and red silk tie under his suit, Ros in a black suit with skirt and spiky silver earrings, and Ed's inconspicuous as ever in black t-shirt and sometimes the blue jacket.

The episode probably is an improvement partly because Ed isn't as integral to the story, and in the bits he does get it's less talk and more physical. As you'd expect, he makes sure to save both Alex and Adam, despite any personal issues. Oddly, he's become much more technological, carrying around a tiny laptop or organiser which has a crossword puzzle cheater program on it, not the sort of thing you'd have associated with him previously, as if they'd forgotten what sort of guy he is. The old Ed would have been making fun of the 'geeks' right before stepping in one of their traps, but there's no lightness of touch or wit to this version of Ed. Alex, too, doesn't have much involvement other than her subplot with Adam and The Hive software, but still, everything is integrated and nicely put together. And I like that they did get the parallels of it all being about technology and the all-important licensing and control. Perhaps they weren't the most serious villains the team have ever come up against, very much emphasising their quirks over ruthlessness, but ex-employees with a grievance was a different approach, and there is threat because they don't mind killing if it'll get their point across, though they don't seem to have much of an end goal in place other than revenge, taking down the company that exploited them and left them with nothing. We see their character in that game of draughts where Michael cheats as soon as Marcus looks away - they'll even do each other a mischief if it serves them, so no wonder they ended up as villains attacking the system. I also liked the musical tone of using a small piece of the Asian theme associated with Tachibana when Ros says she knows how they feel.

I know it's dramatic convention, but it was a bit odd how Jan, Alex and Ros discuss the twins' history, how they were ahead of their time and all that, all while searching for the bomb at CET. You'd think they'd be showing a little more focus and concern since it's due to go off any time soon, but it's information needed to get across to the audience. The same can be said about Ed and Beckett talking about Adam while also hunting for the bomb, and it does show that the soapy side of things didn't suit the action-driven nature of the stories. But still, it's enjoyable, even if I can see why it would have put general viewers off when it's so heavily bound up with the series' details and so much going on, and to then plonk it down a year later and expect people to be able to keep up, well, it was like you'd stumbled into the middle of a season instead of the start, which you had really! At least it was nicely directed, and though there were lots of broken down old locations, as is their wont these days, they also got in the occasional shiny 'BUGS' building, too - I loved the watery abandoned warehouse area that Beckett's left in, the reflective floor really making it appeal visually. This is essentially the last single story of the series, since the following two are a two-parter, and it's a good one to go out on.

***

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.

***

Pandora's Box

DVD, BUGS S4 (Pandora's Box)

For an episode that features the inauspicious debut of Christa, Beckett's dozy neighbour, and the next appearance of Adam, it's not bad. They get the soapy-dopey stuff out the way early when Ros shows up at Beckett's flat to find him deep in conversation with that woman, and similarly, when Ed comes to inform Alex that Jan wants them, she's on the phone to Mosby fixing up their evening plans. While the negativity and tensions between these two pairs have yet to degenerate (actually I've been fairly pleasantly surprised how Terry's death hasn't affected the atmosphere as much as in memory), this episode is more attuned to a story, and a very low-tech one at that, so the camaraderie of the characters isn't as much in evidence as they're mostly off doing different things. In one sense this is a boon for the above reasons, but it also means that when there are moments where it should be apparent, the charisma vacuum that is Houghton's Ed is more noticeable - take the moment when he's been captured and he hears someone returning to his cell: he hides behind a locker with a handy metal bar the villains forgot to remove and takes a swing at his visitor, who turns out to be Beckett. All the banter and character comes from Birdsall, Houghton's just blank!

The story itself, about a 6th-Century plague unleashed, potentially from King Arthur's tomb, is strangely un-'BUGS'-like, and while it's not bad, and it's good to have a different kind of story, this is most certainly one to watch because you like the characters and their interactions rather than a thrilling story. We do get a nice scene between Ros and Beckett when she shows her concern that he's putting himself in danger because they don't know for sure this virus does only affect people with blonde hair and blue eyes, and it's nice to see him notice - much better than tension between them. Other than that there didn't seem to be a lot of character interactions between our main cast, which, coupled with the lack of tech, makes it one of the lesser examples of the season. It's quite a grey, bland sort of story, visually speaking, what with even the clothing mostly grey (Ros wears a grey suit and rectangular silver earrings, Beckett a grey boiler-suit under his hi-vis waistcoat, and Ed wears grey trousers with his now-trademark white t-shirt), with the only colour being Ros' blue top under the suit, and at the end the primary colour palette is completed by her wearing a yellow top and Beckett a red shirt under his painting gear. To recap so far: very little technology, lacking the usual colour, and once again in this especially lacklustre locations season we see the most mundane everyday settings that almost make you forget what this series is about! Raymond's bike shop, the school gates, a playground, housing estate, hazardous waste dump... Okay, so that last one is more in keeping, but even there Saniman Waste at Athersbury Point (or Arthur's Burgh), is mostly the dig site with its higgledy-piggledy mesh fencing, mounds of soil, festoon lights and a JCB, which gets a starring role at several points.

Connors, one of the workers, is first to have a go, losing it while driving (never operate heavy machinery while ill!), allowing Beckett a heroic moment of getting aboard and steering it away from the toxic barrels. Not sure why he couldn't just hit the brakes, but I'll assume Connors was covering the controls. Later, Ed uses the ever-useful JCB to deal with Witcher, Eli Cameron's right-hand man, though the man must be very slow not to get out of the way of a swinging digger arm! Finally the great yellow beast provides a hoist to get Beckett out of the pit, so they certainly got their money's worth out of it! For once Witcher and Cameron, the main villains as it were, weren't the worst: partner Vigo is the real nasty, but even then all he does is clonk his boss or partner in the head and steal the sword. His crime is more of stupidity and ignorance, unwittingly unleashing the plague on the populace by his actions, all for petty greed. He's happy to accept a mere £15,000 for the sword as his payoff, and when you think how much the hoard would have been worth had they found one, he seems quite small-time and not very forward-thinking. Even if Cameron went legitimate and reported the find I think they'd have been due fifty percent of the value. As it was, the hoard was long gone, and maybe Vigo was in a spot of financial bother and simply needed some fast cash, we'll never know.

A shame Cameron wasn't played by Tony Robinson - I imagine 'Time Team' may have started by that time (checking up I find it began even before 'BUGS': 1994! So maybe there was some basis for comparison there...), and that would have been funny! Like Vigo, it's not that Cameron is a particularly evil villain, it's more that he's uncaring for the fate of his workers or the dangers he's put them in, completely focused on the prestige of uncovering this fabled treasure. Witcher's the one who seems little more than a lackey happy to shoot anyone that stands in the way, although it's Vigo who brings out the automatic weapon when he and Cameron meet with the Saniman board - I thought it was going to be a repeat of 'Blackout' where Lacombe sprayed bullets into the security guards, but just as every other element of 'BUGS' appears to be a touch watered down or softened this season, things here are pretty tame, too. We do get a pretty good bloom of explosion at the end when Beckett, Ed, Witcher and Frane (I assume - the other henchman), run from the detonation of the site which had been set up to bury the plague. I always think they're going to dive into that trough of water in front of them, and no matter how many times I watch it, they never do. I assume it was filmed that way to get a lovely reflection in the water, as Brian Grant does inject a few noticeably attractive shots, such as the camera moving in on Cameron while the background shifts and Vigo and Witcher cross behind him, or the shot from the wheels of the gurney as we find the collapsed nurse at the hospital - he added inventiveness to a relatively unexciting story.

Something that stands out is the heroism of Ed and Beckett in saving Cameron's lackeys. Lesser good guys may have felt justified in leaving the woozy pair to their fate and not wasting time risking their own lives, especially as they'd tried to kill them, Witcher actually shooting at a fleeing Ed, not to mention it was his fault the detonation went off uncontrolled (hope they had time to remove all those sensitive waste barrels!). But no, they use up valuable escape time working out how to get the pair out by carrying them on a forklift. Cameron isn't so fortunate, and if the message about the blinding power of greed to all other concerns couldn't be clearer it's in the moment he refuses to leave the underground burial tomb and is covered in a fall of earth, fittingly. Despite all this saving of the villains there aren't many of the series hallmarks you'd expect - we're not exactly inundated with explosions, there's the one countdown to detonation, but you notice, other than the rising danger of the plague and the more personal stakes of a child at risk (young James, who finds the sword dropped by Bjorn's buyer was played by Tom Felton, an actor who'd go on to fame in the Harry Potter films, but whom I know from the Joseph Fiennes film, 'Risen'! You’d think his Mother would have qualms about him picking up a life-sized sword from the street…), there wasn't a lot of tension and things take a turn for the even more low-tech when Ros ends up assisting Dr. Hemmings with creating a cure by using antiquarian methods of preparation - a naked flame, pestle and mortar, that kind of thing. It's a good concept, but I'm not sure how realistic it is (I'll look forward to hearing the 'Fusion Patrol' podcast’s view when they get around to that episode!), nor am I sure Ros has the qualifications to be dealing with medical matters for all that Beckett describes her as 'a bright spark' when they're pretending to be electricians as cover for Christa’s sake ('very progressive electricians'), and are there no hospital staff like Hemmings?

If the story isn't very typical it does feature quite a few indirect connections to other episodes. I say indirect because other than The Hive agents seconded to Jan's search for the sword, we don't get specific references, but there are, as often is the case, a few connections to previous examples: I already mentioned the surprise gun appearance, as in 'Blackout,' but we have another instance of Alex going undercover, this time as an investigator of the Hazardous Materials Agency (though she goes in with Ed, so it's not quite the same), the briefcase with a camera in it was used on more than one occasion (I always think of the one in 'Pulse'), and this time Beckett takes such a device on his interview at Saniman (didn't they have CRB checks in those days? Cameron asks if he'd been in prison 1994-1998 as his CV was blank! Should have put 'exploring other career options'!), and I'm sure Ros teasing Beckett through his earpiece because he can't answer back had been done before ('Buried Treasure' maybe?), and it was a sort of inverse of Alex' first undercover operation in 'Blaze of Glory.' There's stock footage of a lift shaft which must come from 'A Sporting Chance' (though the size doesn't match with that wide example in this episode which has enough room for a forklift!), and even the idea of a virus that targets specific people had been done before ('Assassins Inc'), even this season ('Sacrifice To Science')!

I had thought we'd be free of Adam this time as they'd done the obligatory reminder he's about with Alex' phone call early on, and with her falling victim to the plague (not the last of the main cast to spend most of a story in a hospital bed this season...), but they wanted the drama of him finding out she's one of the affected infected, but strangely he still doesn't take much of a role, only seen going about with Ros while Beckett and Ed do the heavy duty stuff. He doesn't even warrant a scene at the end with his girlfriend, though I think he was there when she opened her eyes, but in reality the poor use of him was for the better because we don't want him interfering in stories, and it was quite nice to see our four main people meeting up at Beckett's flat - for once Christa makes a wise move and leaves Beckett to his friends. Interestingly, the tag scene is another more pleasant one than silly or cheery as it really is lovely to see Alex pop her head round the corner, fine again, although the only downsides are that we never got to hear the actual Viking translation of the stone they left behind on plundering the tomb. And Jan isn't there to complete the picture. Once again she seems to be bringing together the various organisations in a spirit of cooperation, something I've already commented upon this season. Obviously Hive agents joining in was one aspect, but we also get an 'Armed Response Squad' which is a new one for the series. We’d seen them go in with backup before (in 'Renegades' when they swoop on the villain's HQ), but this time they're all balaclava-ed up as if even their identities had to be kept secret. The real missed opportunity is that they weren't named as SSD men, which would have been better, and this must be what I'd previously thought were SSD's contribution to Season 4, more's the pity.

It's great to see Jan in command of some large forces, no matter its provenance, but does that mean she always has access to such extensive backup? That has the danger of either making our Bureau team obsolete, or at least takes some of their value away, except that in this case the squad appears to be more soldiers there to enforce and guard rather than the unique skillsets our people have at their disposal. Jan didn't get everything right, however, as she said Alex was infected by a coin Beckett gave her, but in reality Alex took it herself. Although Alex is flat on her back for much of the episode we do see her get in the familiar Toyota Land Cruiser when escaping from Saniman. I'm not sure we ever saw the Jeep, which is a rare event, but other former staples of the series make a comeback: Canary Wharf Tower, absent all season, is very visible, as is the Docklands Light Railway (even if Adam calls it the 'Rapid Transit trains'), which was a nice revisiting of the series' past (most notably used in 'Newton's Run'). We see Beckett doesn't necessarily always give out the best advice: he meets two Saniman employees and whips them up into a frenzy of panic about the virus the dig has unearthed, basically telling them to run for the hills, but surely it'd be better to quarantine the place, contain the virus, they don't know how it's spread, they could be taking it out into the community! At least we learn something new, or at least that hasn't been touched on much before: his love of vinyl. This was actually something of Birdsall's own personality, which is nice (especially for someone so caught up in cutting edge tech in his professional life - bet he was happy when it made a comeback!). And we potentially find out something about the mysteriously undeveloped Ed, too: his ancestors could be from Mars for all he knows (or even Australia?) - that explains why Ed started acting like an automaton in Season 4, he's been replaced by aliens!

***

Hell and High Water

DVD, BUGS S4 (Hell and High Water)

Come hell or high water our Bureau 2 team will always get their man, or men, or men and a young lady, even if that means being helicoptered off to a remote oil rig out at sea. I couldn't remember if they actually filmed on location, and that's a tribute to the excellent scene-setting use of stock footage, because I realised we never do see them out on the exposed deck, only inside a helicopter or going down into the bowels of this Searanger IV satellite tracking station. It became very clear when I recognised the door to the Crew Quarters when Beckett investigates, and it reminded me of the ones at The Hive, and lo and behold, the room he walks into was just another redress of that familiar Hive office with the concave wall and its lines of small windows! That wasn't the only reuse of a location (we also see the actual Hive, but only from outside), the 'decommissioned area' that the baddies are searching looked very much like the water pumping station Mad Sally fell to her death inside (and which was very nearly Ros' fate here), which was also used in Season 2 with 'Blackout' as the site of the nuclear triggers. So they were once again including some 'BUGS' history, and these filming spots weren't the only connection: the biggest is a mention of Starshield, the deadly defence satellite system that caused so much trouble when Ed went into space at the start of Season 2 and almost blasted the space shuttle to destruction. This time it's another of the satellites, Warbird Alpha, whose orbit has decayed and unless it can be ordered to self-destruct it'll rain down on a city, obliterating it.

Good stakes, then. And there are plenty of threats, too, with one of those multiple villain scenarios that doesn't often occur, perhaps even in record-breaking numbers - you have McKormac, the steel-haired, worn-faced, leather jacket-wearing criminal responsible for the biggest spy scandal of the 1970s, his accomplice's children, Liam and Sarah, her two cronies aboard the rig, and a rogue element, Grey, an actual member of Searanger's crew who has no association with them, but wants to take advantage of the situation and blackmail his former commanding officer for a cool five million. In reality the only really dangerous offender is Grey, partly because they don't know he's a murdering psychopath and partly because he is one! He's able to catch both Ros and Beckett with their guards down, and if it hadn't been for a truly terrible aim, he might well have cleaved our Bureau Chief's head in two, or at the very least taken an arm off, with that axe his weapon of choice! Beckett's subdued earlier with better aim and a metal bar, and it doesn't take much for him to trick Ros into captivity as we see her concern for Nick override all others (not getting conned into an airtight room again, Ros - see 'Manna From Heaven'). That's one of the highlights of this episode because it shows that things are practically back to normal, they're happy and joking in each others' company, doing their usual teamwork to get themselves out of a tight spot and saving civilisation too. In short, things are positive again, though it wouldn't last…

The seventh villain is Adam, you know surname Mosby, new recruit at The Hive, Alex' no accounting for taste boyfriend. Okay, he's not really a villain (yet. Yet?), he's just mildly irritating and they don't play with the 'Ed jealousy' angle that seems to come into play to match the Ros and Beckett personal troubles here and there. In fact Alex is almost entirely off on her own little mini missions for the greater cause, which shows how far she's come from a simple filing clerk guarding the Bureau of Weapons' Code Reds, and also nice to see Paula Hunt given her own story to match her placement as one of the main cast in the opening titles (more on those later). She'd already been well established as a personality which loves going in undercover, doing it on a few occasions, and this time she doesn't even have Ed to hold her hand as she poses as a member of the Gas Board checking on a leak at McKormac and gang's apartment, sweeping the place with a camera and planting a bug. Certainly she was more successful than when she went to the villains' flat in 'Hollow Man' as a researcher asking questions, starting with, 'what's your name, Mr. North?' But only marginally as her bug is quickly discovered, putting the villains on the alert.

While Alex goes solo, we get to see a nice little mission for our original trio as the three of them head off to the rig to find out why it's incommunicado. Strangely they all wear red at different points of the episode: Ros starts off the trend with her red suit jacket, while Beckett's in his usual smart suit with blue shirt, reminding us of the primary colour days (and Ed's as bland and basic as ever in a white t-shirt - he obviously missed the memo), then for more serious work they wear more serious gear, Ros in a black tracksuit while Beckett's wearing a red shirt under a blue coat (and Ed's in a nondescript brown t-shirt), and then Ed also catches up by wearing a red jacket, almost as if he saw the pattern and didn't want to be left out! At least it did look a bit like the red jacket McLachlan's Ed had worn previously. Any resemblance to the days of yore for our team aren't the strongest thanks again to the very serious, slow way Houghton plays his scenes - he always seems to scrunch up his forehead with the effort of deep thought instead of throwing in quick wisecracks and enjoying himself, but if Ed doesn't enter into the spirit of it all, at least we're pleased to see Ros and Beckett getting along. Ed also seemed quite surprisingly brutal and ungentlemanly, chucking Sarah into the cage with so much force! The little lady never looks like much of a threat, either, and in the spot where we used to have an exciting fight scene when Ed and Alex confront Liam and Sarah at the industrial site back on land, all that happens is the villainous pair are tackled or knocked down very easily, making them look most inconsequential.

What I will give the episode credit for is in its use of all five main characters in good proportion. I could have wished Ed was more Ed-like and there was some classic banter between the three on the rig, but he breaks up the team when he stows away aboard the hijacked helicopter and ends up working with Jan and Alex while Ros and Beckett have their own problems, so the original team-up was short-lived, sadly. While Alex is used pretty well, Jan was also given her money's worth (or government bonds' worth), and this time she isn't placed in such an awkward-looking position as tripping an enemy up in her high heels, as in 'Girl Power,' instead using her brain and knocking McKormac off his feet in triumphant style, using his own dynamite against him in the boot of his car (and sending those bonds into air, much like the money going everywhere in 'Blackout'). The episode isn't exactly full of spectacle, the closest we come is the pickup smashing its way out of the Museum of Computer Technology, though even there you can see it's actually a plate of glass shot in front of the building so as not to destroy an actual glass door (similar to when they built a false front extension onto a building in 'Pulse' so the HGV could smash into it), and while the stock footage of the rig, sea and helicopter was atmospheric and effective, it still wasn't 'live,' so Jan's explosive finale redressed the balance a bit. I also liked that she works out the old circuit boards are actually an aerial map, and it was fun to have her drive the famous Jeep, too!

The time scale this episode is set in is once again laid down very firmly as 1998 since we know it was 1974 when McKormac and Vincenzi, his partner in crime, sold their secrets to the Balkans, and it's been twenty-five years since then, and… oh, okay, so maybe it's actually set in 1999. If so, that was very prescient of the writing because they didn't know then that part of Series 4 would be shown a year late! I suppose Pa Beckett could have been fudging a bit when they talked of it being ten years since seeing his son when his wife died in 1988. Or maybe a year has passed since 'The Two Becketts'? Unlikely, considering the ongoing plots of Ros and Beckett, and Alex and Adam! I wonder if that was a real computer exhibition at the Museum? We don't get a good enough look at all those boxy old computers to judge if they're genuine or not. I can't help thinking they should have played up the old technology a bit, maybe have someone like Ros rhapsodise over it all, make some sort of commentary on where it's all gone. But it was a clever idea to have such a low-tech solution as the physical structure of the board being the key rather than the data on it. The Museum reminded me of Ethan Rockridge's collection in 'Hollow Man,' another episode in which we weren't given the chance to revel in computers past, not getting a good look at them. One thing that does see improvement across the series is its quality of computer generated art, this time seen in the 3D wireframe model of the rig that rotates on a screen. Even across four years CGI had changed hugely.

One thing about the MCT confused me, and that was that it seemed to be only part of guard Tom's rounds, except he was driving in a van marked MCT as if that was the main building to be guarded! Maybe production didn't keep as careful tabs on the dialogue in the script as they should have, or didn't think it was noticeable that a guard complaining about MCT not being worth his rounds was also travelling in a van with their livery! I was also a little iffy on the whole logic of this Searanger IV and its protocols - sending an inspection team to investigate the loss of contact, okay, I can buy that, even though you'd think they'd be alerting the coastguard or a naval ship in the area for faster response, but wouldn't the Bureau have been briefed on who was actually on the rig, with photos so they'd immediately be aware of intruders instead of bumbling around piecing clues together until they were in trouble! And why not bring armed guards with them, especially as later in the episode Jan has a throwaway line about sending a squad of SSD to pick up the other villains! That was an exciting line since it shows the organisations are now working much more closely, which you'd expect after The Hive coming into it earlier this season and the trouble with SSD at the top in 'Fugitive,' a firm hand and a more cooperative attitude would seem to be in order. But as I say, if they have access to SSD backup why not use it all the time whenever there's a dangerous situation?

That would have the effect of making our team look a little less heroic, of course, so reality has to take a backseat, especially in this series, which is fair enough, but then maybe they shouldn't have an option like an SSD squad open to them at all? Either way it was a pleasing reference especially as this is the only season SSD didn't get a story based around them. I would like to know one thing, and that's what the original escape route for McKormac's partners was going to be if they weren't planning on hijacking a helicopter? Did they have a boat waiting somewhere, or what? It's only because Sarah says they've got the chopper now as an alternative escape route. And while we're at it, wouldn't it have made more sense to have McKormac on the rig since he'd know where the circuit board was hidden, wouldn't he? Like 'The Two Becketts' and Season 4 as a whole, this continues to be much more down to Earth (and I'm not talking Warbird Alpha's trajectory!), focusing more on old tech, scummy old locations like the battered rig and the dirty industrial centre rather than high-tech gloss and snazziness. It's worked pretty well these last two episodes, but I wouldn't want it every week because that wasn't really the series' mandate or style, though it's fun to visit odd little places like the Pascall Marine office where a middle-aged secretary assumes Alex knows shorthand or remembers the Seventies, much like William Taska in the previous episode - gently poking fun at an older generation, though perhaps it's a bit disrespectful…

The biggest issue I had with the episode, other than Ed having no charm and very little camaraderie with his comrades, is how strangely it all ends. I'm glad there wasn't a grumpy, depressing finale as in 'Sacrifice To Science,' and the thoughtful one of 'The Two Becketts' was better than a corny joke, which 'Girl Power' went back to, but instead we have Alex and Adam joking gently together. It's not really that scene that's the problem, it's just there's a lack of follow-up to what's gone on. It's over rather too quickly with the villains being rounded up (no one dies!), and I was looking forward to that scene shown at the end of the titles with all five of the gang laughing together - I assumed it was from this episode since Ros was wearing the red jacket, but it didn't happen, so either it was an outtake they liked enough to include in the title sequence, or it's yet to happen, or it was a scene that was filmed, but cut for time. But the episode really needed to show that everything was alright again with Ros and Beckett - not that the episode doesn't show that, it does, but it could really have done with a capper to round things off and set things firmly back to normal. Except it wouldn't be, and I seem to remember the second half would be much less happy and more soapy with less great ideas and team involvement. I liked this episode, not as much as I expected to perhaps, but in the context of the season it's pretty likeable since there's nothing really amiss, other than Ed, but there was nothing that could be done in that quarter.

***

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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