Spooks: Code Nine
Sep. 9th, 2008 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakOr, the one with the kids. As spin-offs go, this one isn't a must, or as good as the parent show in its first season, but it has potential, provided me with some good suspense in its six broadcast episodes, and I like some of the characters, so if and when there are more episodes, I'll keep watching.
Spooks: Code Nine is set a few years into the future, at which point a nuclear bomb went off in London. This resulted in something suspiciously resembling the England in the Doctor Who episode Turn Left; since both were shot at roughly the same time, I think it's simply a case of similar ideas - after all, loss of civil liberties, overcrowded housing areas for the refugees and Guantanomo-style camps aren't that big a stretch of the imagination. Anyway, to it's credit, the show tries to do something with the premise instead of just using it as a justification for the spin-off and otherwise carry on the spy business as usual. Our heroes, all of which joined MI5 in the aftermath of the nuclear attack for a variety of motives, solve cases that more often than not confront them with what their country has become. There is also a season long mystery which isn't one if you know your spy story rules, relating to the nuclear attack, and like its parent show, Code Nine shocks you with killing off a character early on whom you assume to be a regular.
Now, I usually find the older characters in any given spy series - Arvin Sloane, Jack Bristow and Irina Derevko in Alias, Harry, Ruth and Tessa in Spooks - to be the most interesting, so a series where everybody is younger than I am, in fact not older than their early 20s, has a drawback against it. (Also, this does not augur well for the future of the characters in the parent show. I'm several seasons behind with Spooks, and maybe they've killed or moved some more characters since the end of s4 anyway (hey, no maybe about it, this is Spooks), but it's somewhat disconcerting to imagine that whoever survives gets blown into kingdom come by a bomb.) This being said, I came to like several of the youngsters, notably Kylie, who is played by Georgia Moffet (and paradoxically looks a decade older than Georgia-as-Jenny on Doctor Who, in a show where everyone else looks younger; it's the red hair and the general demanour, I suppose), and was close enough to London to be dying of radiation sickness now, which makes her enjoy what life she has left all the more now (Joss Whedon would approve); and Rachel, the ex-cop, who is all cool competence versus Kylie's energy buzz. Rachel and geek-turned-leader Charlie, who doesn't just have a Beatles hair cut but looks like one of them in their very early days so I constantly expect him to become black-and-white, are the closest the show has to an official love story, and this makes me suspicous (I remember Tom Quinn's love life, and the annoyance of same), but so far they haven't made me roll my eyes. Jez, the ex-criminal-turned-spy, does one of those things early on where you wonder why on earth he doesn't get fired immediately, but then I wondered that in the first season of Torchwood all the time, and I suppose I've become numb by now in this regard. Though it did make me want to slap him instead of going "poor Jez" (but then I wanted to slap Ianto in Cyberwoman instead of going "poor Ianto", so go figure). Otherwise, I liked Jez as well, and I came to like Rob, who doesn't get fleshed out until the later episodes.
In conclusion: a good way to pass the time, but not addictive yet.
Spooks: Code Nine is set a few years into the future, at which point a nuclear bomb went off in London. This resulted in something suspiciously resembling the England in the Doctor Who episode Turn Left; since both were shot at roughly the same time, I think it's simply a case of similar ideas - after all, loss of civil liberties, overcrowded housing areas for the refugees and Guantanomo-style camps aren't that big a stretch of the imagination. Anyway, to it's credit, the show tries to do something with the premise instead of just using it as a justification for the spin-off and otherwise carry on the spy business as usual. Our heroes, all of which joined MI5 in the aftermath of the nuclear attack for a variety of motives, solve cases that more often than not confront them with what their country has become. There is also a season long mystery which isn't one if you know your spy story rules, relating to the nuclear attack, and like its parent show, Code Nine shocks you with killing off a character early on whom you assume to be a regular.
Now, I usually find the older characters in any given spy series - Arvin Sloane, Jack Bristow and Irina Derevko in Alias, Harry, Ruth and Tessa in Spooks - to be the most interesting, so a series where everybody is younger than I am, in fact not older than their early 20s, has a drawback against it. (Also, this does not augur well for the future of the characters in the parent show. I'm several seasons behind with Spooks, and maybe they've killed or moved some more characters since the end of s4 anyway (hey, no maybe about it, this is Spooks), but it's somewhat disconcerting to imagine that whoever survives gets blown into kingdom come by a bomb.) This being said, I came to like several of the youngsters, notably Kylie, who is played by Georgia Moffet (and paradoxically looks a decade older than Georgia-as-Jenny on Doctor Who, in a show where everyone else looks younger; it's the red hair and the general demanour, I suppose), and was close enough to London to be dying of radiation sickness now, which makes her enjoy what life she has left all the more now (Joss Whedon would approve); and Rachel, the ex-cop, who is all cool competence versus Kylie's energy buzz. Rachel and geek-turned-leader Charlie, who doesn't just have a Beatles hair cut but looks like one of them in their very early days so I constantly expect him to become black-and-white, are the closest the show has to an official love story, and this makes me suspicous (I remember Tom Quinn's love life, and the annoyance of same), but so far they haven't made me roll my eyes. Jez, the ex-criminal-turned-spy, does one of those things early on where you wonder why on earth he doesn't get fired immediately, but then I wondered that in the first season of Torchwood all the time, and I suppose I've become numb by now in this regard. Though it did make me want to slap him instead of going "poor Jez" (but then I wanted to slap Ianto in Cyberwoman instead of going "poor Ianto", so go figure). Otherwise, I liked Jez as well, and I came to like Rob, who doesn't get fleshed out until the later episodes.
In conclusion: a good way to pass the time, but not addictive yet.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-09 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-09 05:17 pm (UTC)I was also disappointed with the lack of development for Vik, he seemed to be solely used as a sounding board for Charlie & Jez. Maybe a longer second season could shed some light on him.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-10 11:18 am (UTC)Rob's subplot seems to have been set up for the second season to resolve, which makes sense to me since they need another mystery there (if they get another season, that is).
Vik was, but we didn't get immediate depth or development for all characters on Spooks, either.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-10 07:53 pm (UTC)True, but I'm not sure it has the dramatic weight for a season long mystery.
It's been so long since I've seen early Spooks (a situation I should think about recommending) I'll have to take your word for it. I just hope they get a chance to explore the entrepreneur turned spy angle, it looks like it could have potential.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-09 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-09 08:27 pm (UTC)Richard Armitage is coming on board in season 7, so I'm reserving judgment.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-09 10:05 pm (UTC)Yeah, for me too.