S01.E04: Tout

[AnimeMania]

Brendan unearths a mole in the IRA's ranks.

Premiere Date: November 14, 2024      FX on Hulu  

[Danny Franks]

Maybe Jean was a tout, maybe she was just trying to stay out of it, or maybe the fact that she was raised Protestant and married a Catholic meant she was always viewed with suspicion. But the way that Divis Flats turned its back on her children is so cold that it completely undermines all the chatter about how Divis Flats was a community where everyone looked out for one another.

The focus on how Kitson and the British managed to turn people, and sow doubt and paranoia in the IRA was really interesting. When you only have a small number of fighters, a meagre collection of weapons, silence really is one of the most powerful weapons you can have.

Especially when one side can do forensic testing to find out who has handled explosives and the other side has to carry out robberies just to have enough resources to keep fighting.

Again, we have to take Brendan's account with some scepticism - he promised Seamus and Kevin that they could live, but Gerry sent them for execution. Maybe. I don't doubt that Gerry knew of every person sent for execution, but Brendan likely wasn't the bleeding heart he claims to have been.

"Never put the men before the cause."

"The men are the cause!"

Interesting clash of perspectives, from a strategic planner and a front line soldier. But we're starting to see just how betrayed by Adams men like Brendan Hughes must have been - all that coldblooded ruthlessness, violence and killing, only for Adams to become a very wealthy politician.

Seamus and Kevin's bodies were found and identified, in 2015.

Edited November 21 by Danny Franks

[meep.meep]

I'd sure hate to be known as the person who drove others to be killed.  For people who say nothing, a lot gets said.