Good ol' Netflix suggested MI-5 to me, and since I'm going to London soon (have I really not posted about that?) I decided to give the BBC show a go.
I don't have the most discerning taste in entertainment- as in I don't usually care about the plot holes or blatantly repeated themes in shows. I mean, the more I watch a show the more I pick up on them but they don't usually bother me and/or make me stop watching the show-which is still half true in this case.
Basically it's your run-of-the-mill spy show- a five-ish person team made up of the boss, a couple of actual field operatives, a tech guy or two and a person who does the behind-the-scenes deep research are all working together to keep Britain safe.
Spoiler Alert
So, if you ever plan to watch the show or just don't want to know a huge plot point for it, don't continue reading.
They kill everyone off- seriously. No, seriously; and not just the red shirts (which is kinda what we've all come to expect). I'm in Volume (Season) 8, episode 4 (thank goodness there are only 12 episodes left) and they have killed off in one way or another at least 15 main characters. Some of these have actually died-been shot and whatnot-but a few of them have retired, burned out, gone rogue, or have been outed by a conspiracy and basically burned by their own government. The only original person from the first episode is the main boss guy- who is okay, I guess, but not really who I would've chosen as the sole survivor for eight seasons.
I mean, I get that spying is hard- people die and get burned out every day and there's high turnover. But how in the heck are you supposed to connect with a show if they keep changing the dad-gum characters seriously every episode? Especially when you just get used to the new main character and then he gets killed off and you're left with a chick you hate who the writers suddenly try to make likable.
I feel bad for the guys who have to make the title sequence- although it's more revealing for who's dead and who's alive than any other show I've ever watched. Just a side note about that- they tried to change the name of the show about Volume 4 to Spooks before they thankfully realized that that at least was just too far.
It does change things as far as suspense goes-truly wondering if the heroes really are going to live or die. However, it brings things to the other end of the scale to where, instead of saying: "They can't die. They're a main character" to "They'll probably die. They're a main character". It's an odd paradox- one I'm glad I'm almost done with in another 12 episodes.
Why am I finishing it? Because I've come this far and although I'm not really invested in the people per say- because they've pretty much all left- I have this strange compulsion to finish the show.
So maybe they know what they're doing after all?
Seriously.
3 comments:
So in my plans to write a TV show one day, I was totally excited to kill off important people, but you have given me some pause. It may be tricky to find that balance between "they're a major character so they can't die" vs. "they're a major character so they will die."
Did Lost do a good job with that?
I think Lost did a great job- I think they had a good balance between "They're a main character and can't die" and "They're a main character and will die".
It's something I never thought about before I watched this show. Fascinating, right?
I like that you used the phrase "dad gum" in this post ;)
Post a Comment