Wow. Now, I have enjoyed Spooks for many years, and have said on numerous occasions that Harry Pearce is one of the all-time great spies on television. But now? Forget your Bauers and other gung-ho Americans that fill the screens with quips and one-liners, Sir Harry is up there with George Smiley as far as I’m concerned. Throughout the season, we’ve seen a shadowy cabal of agents plotting to derail talks between Russia and the UK, and finally, it seems that all the plots, plans and potential traps were set up by Harry’s former friend Jim Coaver, an intelligence head at the CIA. We left last week with Harry all but accusing Coaver of running the cabal, and in unsubtle terms threatening him. Harry then has Coaver disappear while he tries to get to the bottom of the situation. However, not everyone is on board with the idea, and while the newer recruits are happy to go along with Harry’s plan, Ruth, in her new role as liaison to the home secretary, is split between love and commitment to Harry, as well as her new role (it’s a good role, she even has a PA called Margot). So when Harry orchestrates Coaver’s disappearance, Ruth is left to pick up the pieces, leaving the entire team in a predicament, and a very difficult situation for both Harry and the intelligence service as a whole. This, of course, leads us all the way back to the Gavrik family, with Ilya, Sasha and even Elena all now in the spotlight to potentially be the boss, controlling the rogue network of terrorists. With an attempt made on the home secretary’s life, and a bomb threat in Russia, the entire team is put on high alert as the talks are on the edge of breaking down. The laptop Ruth retrieved, it seems, was important, but for the wrong reasons, as Sasha finally finds out who his father is, and that his mother may well have been lying to him all his life. With Ilya trying to mend bridges, Elena keeping quiet and Sasha finally pushed over the edge, the suspects are lining up for the big reveal next week. Who is the main villain of the season, and could the operatives still eluding the Spooks team bring about a terrorist threat on a huge scale? Will he make it to America, save the day and finally get the house in the country to retire to? Well, we’ll all have to wait and see…
You can read our review of Spooks series 10 episode 4 here.
