S03.E05: Cleaning Up

[aghst]

  Quote

Taverner and Tearney face off for control of MI5. River and Louisa find themselves caught in the crossfire.

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Penultimate episode, these seasons go quick but this seems even quicker.

It's kind of surreal, Taverner and Tearney having some expensive scotch together, talking casually about how they plotted against each other, while Tearney has ordered a team to kill several UK citizens, including MI5 agents.

If their convo got out, it should be a huge scandal?  Or is it accepted that spies will be spies and they will order their own agents and citizens to be killed to serve their ambition?  If these were American spies, they'd be citing national security rationalizations, like my rival has to be killed or stopped because of ... national security!"

I would think that if it was known that the top two leaders in MI5 was routinely and casually having MI5 agents killed, it would kind of kill morale within MI5 rank and file.

Or is it that River and Louisa aren't really MI5, they're Slow Horses and Douglas was just a librarian?

I guess Duffy and that other Dog are goons, so they don't have solidarity with other agents nor they with the Dogs.  Marcus didn't want to work for Duffy -- how convenient that Marcus is some tactical weapons ninja, whom River and Louisa are going to need since they're outnumbered and having grenades thrown at them.  Shirley also has some kind of battle experience as well.

River and Louisa don't even seem that shocked that MI5 are trying to kill them either.  At first River though those are our guys until they cut off power and communications and blocked off a hatch.

Again, maybe this is a genre convention, that British spooks routinely turn on each other?

Meanwhile, Lamb goes to rescue Standish she's asking him whether MI5 would kill each other.  She didn't think they would while Donovan made her wonder.  Looks like the big secret will come out.

 

[nameless slob]

The fact they have season 4 already taped makes me think there will be a cliffhanger. Love Taverner, she fooled me last episode with her "women united" facete. Great actress. 

[abbyzenn]

This season has just been great.  The episodes go so fast they only seem like 15 minutes long.  Poor Douglas - he was goofy and harmless.  I hope Duffy gets killed.  Also sad that Alison's brother was killed.

I can't wait to see how this season ends so  I actually went to the library and got the next book in the series (they didn't have the one for this season) just to see which characters if any are still alive in book 4.  

[aghst]

  On 12/24/2023 at 8:43 PM, abbyzenn said:

I can't wait to see how this season ends so  I actually went to the library and got the next book in the series (they didn't have the one for this season) just to see which characters if any are still alive in book 4.  

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My library has physical books, ebooks and audio books.

I think the physical books were all checked out when I checked a couple of weeks ago.

The voice acting on the audio books were great for the first two.

[7-Zark-7]

It’s hard to believe that librarian was ever trained by MI5. He came across as shockingly clueless. A librarian at a local branch would have more savvy, make more of an effort to save themselves, and not blurt out any old thing that could get them killed. Why would MI5 hire a blurter? Aren't secrets their thing?

[aghst]

If Tearney was worried about the file inside that facility, why is security so light?

Oh I guess Taverner was in charge of that facility and she's the one who tipped Sean off that that was where the file he wanted was stored.

Maybe normally there's more security but she got rid of it?

Also it was literal paper.  You'd think modern intelligence agencies would have that stuff all digitized and encrypted so that it couldn't fall into the wrong hands.

Instead it's in some deserted area and manned by a librarian who controls the camera and the front door and that's it?

Beyond the securing physical paper files, you have to worry about fire or water damage, not to mention the physical decay of paper.  These aren't books which are several hundred years old, which would be prone to becoming illegible or irretrievable over time.  But maybe papers which are several decades old wouldn't hold up too well.

[Rickster]

  On 12/25/2023 at 2:27 AM, 7-Zark-7 said:

It’s hard to believe that librarian was ever trained by MI5. He came across as shockingly clueless. A librarian at a local branch would have more savvy, make more of an effort to save themselves, and not blurt out any old thing that could get them killed. Why would MI5 hire a blurter? Aren't secrets their thing?

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I agree. I thought the character might have been thrown in for some comic relief, and was really out of sync with the tone of the rest of the series.

[Xantar]

  On 12/25/2023 at 2:27 AM, 7-Zark-7 said:

It’s hard to believe that librarian was ever trained by MI5. He came across as shockingly clueless. A librarian at a local branch would have more savvy, make more of an effort to save themselves, and not blurt out any old thing that could get them killed. Why would MI5 hire a blurter? Aren't secrets their thing?

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This probably makes me evil, but I cheered when Duffy shot Douglas. He was such an irritating person. I don't know if we were supposed to feel sorry for him, but I certainly didn't. 

[quirkygal]

I rationalized Douglas' ineptitude away. He's not an mi-5 agent but is support staff - very young fresh out of school support staff.

[Sundazed]

  On 12/25/2023 at 2:27 AM, 7-Zark-7 said:

It’s hard to believe that librarian was ever trained by MI5. He came across as shockingly clueless. A librarian at a local branch would have more savvy, make more of an effort to save themselves, and not blurt out any old thing that could get them killed. Why would MI5 hire a blurter? Aren't secrets their thing?

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In the book, it's made clear Douglas is clerical worker and not an MI5 employee.  Guess that detail didn't make it into the show. 

[Kel Varnsen]

  On 1/7/2024 at 5:33 AM, Sundazed said:

In the book, it's made clear Douglas is clerical worker and not an MI5 employee.  Guess that detail didn't make it into the show. 

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That was my sort of read on him. It was just a clerical/admin type job not much different from any other government job other that the fact that you might get paid a bit extra on account of needing a security clearance to get the job. 

One thing I really liked was how River and Louisa were able to hold off Chieftain for longer than you might expect, since it goes with what Duffy said about how these private security guys just aren't as good as real agents.

Although one thing that did make me laugh was when Allison's brother said he could use a gun because he was in the TA. That is the Territorial Army and the only reason I know that was because Gareth (UK version of Dwight) from the UK version of the office was in the TA. So that is what I think of when I think of them, and then of course the brother gets shot almost instantly.