This was one of my favorite action series back when it first aired, but it got much less compelling around series 8 and I quit watching at some point round there. I’ve now re-watched the entire series as well as the movie that followed it Spooks: The Greater Good. Here are some thoughts!
– I still LOVE the opening credits theme music!
– the first series aired in 2002, and all the computer and technical stuff is so primitive! LOL
– I much preferred the Grid in the first half of the series: it felt unique and distinctive. As the series progressed, somewhere after series 5 maybe, the Grid got very boring and it looks like a million other offices now.
– This was the first role I saw Rupert Penry-Jones in, and after this he was in The Strain where I was very happy with his performance as well.
– This was the second role I saw Matthew Macfadyen in, and had at first terrible trouble seeing him as a spy/action man. But I really became to like his character as the series went on, even though most of his personal storylines were bad.
– All in all, I think writing for characters was better in the early series. They all felt more like real people, each with their motives, strengths and weaknesses, desires and needs. Later on, the characters, with the exception of Sir Harry Pearce, became more one note and not as real feeling to me.
– I also liked that in the early series, the characters almost never had guns on them. Although often that felt unbelievable, though, but I’m not sure whether that’s because I’m used to all fictional spies/action heroes/law enforcers being armed to the teeth at all times. On the other hand, they never seemed to wear bulletproof vests even when knowingly going into a situation that likely would end in gunfire. Continue reading Random TV Thoughts – Spooks (MI-5 in the US)