Spoiler alert: Don't read on if you haven't watched the seventh episode of Rubicon on BBC4. If you've seen later episodes please be aware that many UK viewers have not – and don't post spoilers
Vicky Frost's episode six blog
The truth will out
I can't help but wish that Rubicon had progressed at the pace it's now maintaining a bit earlier: nothing seems madly rushed, questions are still allowed to hang, and there's space to explore the personal relations running beneath the mysteries – but the storyline unfurls at a satisfying lick. This week's episode, while largely contained within the retro, minimalist walls of the API, manages to cover an decent amount of ground and leave plenty to discuss – not least Will's increasingly risky behaviour. Going for a quick rifle through your bosses desk? That's a bad idea in any situation, let alone when your boss is an intelligence chief.
The death of David Hadas
Not only is Will's apartment bugged, but so is his office – thanks in part to a bug in David's brass owl. (Which I may have mentioned last week in passing …). Which gives rise to two questions – who managed to ensure that the bug was removed for the FBI and then replaced? And was the owl also bugged when it belonged to David?
My (quite probably completely) wrong thoughts on the owl bug: Maggie has easy access to Will's office, gave him a cryptic response about having secrets earlier and has form on spying on the team for Ingram. So far as David goes, the record of his conversation with Ed makes it clear that Hadas knew someone was keeping tabs on him. What else did we learn from that recording? David thought that Spangler was running some kind of unsanctioned op, and that if Will started investigating, Ed should warn him off. The conversation ends with David's: "Oh, God, there's someone …".
Will's quick forage through Spangler's drawers (arf arf) also produces pictures of Will and David at a sports game, and a picture of David and Ed playing chess. But possibly the most important clue is left out on Spangler's desk for all to see: that Atlas MacDowell "happy holidays" paperweight. I really enjoy this detail – the idea of a shadowy, presumably evil company sending out Christmas paperweights, that then form a slightly absurd trail of clues for Will to follow.
The polygraphist gave him another one, mentioning David's "reinvestigation polygraph". Interesting …
A few notes on Ingram. He was sharp with Will this episode in a manner that suggests he has plenty to lose if Will's investigations end badly, but I do still wonder about the double-bluff. And then there's the question of why he was going into Spangler's office when he interrupted Will. And why he completely closed down Will's question: "Atlas hired Edward Roy. So who are we working for?" "The United States government."
The death of Tom Rhumor
Having spent the evening going through the annual reports of Atlas MacDowell, Katherine hears people in her house. Nothing is missing, but she notices a bug on her fireplace. Throwing her keys into the bushes, she leaves the house. I thought this whole episode a little surprising to be honest. If it was Roy and co, surely they'd have been more careful. Katherine was quite obviously in the house and the lights were on …
Inside The API
Lots of lovely stuff about Grant, Miles and Tanya this week. I liked seeing the more human side of Grant, trying to juggle home, kids and relationships, and it was good to see more of Tanya, who seems to have faded from view a little of late. It was a clever conceit, the polygraph, allowing us to discover more about API's colleagues at pace.
Miles coming to terms with the end of his marriage, and Ingram's hesitation before answering whether any of his analysts were capable of running a covert operation were well done – but the line about Grant having "cheated on his wife in his mind" was ridiculous. Never mind the polygraph, it should have set off the clunky exposition emergency klaxon. I don't know what we were meant to have made of Tanya's inability to say her name without apparently lying. Should we take that at face value, or attribute it to nerves and presume that the writers' point that she'd taken illegal drugs? If so, I'm not sure that's particularly earth shattering.
The George Boeck investigation
Tanaz Sahar, the woman George Boeck was talking to at the wedding, heads up an NGO the Afghan Rehabilitation Foundation, which has received more than $1m in small amounts. The team come to the conclusion that Sahar is the third person with Boeck and Yuri Popovich in the picture.
Thoughts and observations
• Even if his (not particularly strong-looking) filing cabinet was locked, you'd think Spangler might use code words, rather than just naming the file "David Hadas".
• Spangler has realised someone has been looking at his files, yes? He recovered himself in order not to make it obvious, but he does still know. Thoughts?
• Where are Katherine's children? I thought at first they were just at school/ in bed when we saw her. But apparently not.
• I'd quite like to be a polygrapher. Imagine the stuff you'd find out!
• "This is not the leak we're looking for". Maybe the FBI have been watching too much Star Wars.
• This flirty, painting lady. Is she actually observing Will or just eyeing him up?
