Before the titles: Ros's memories of shooting Jo wake her; Lucas stirs next to Christine-Dale-alike Sarah Caulfield after troubled dreams of prison. It's a relatively tame start to proceedings, given the crazy pre-title mini-adventures of recent weeks.
This week's mission: Stop the detonation of a terrorist bomb in the UK. There is one man who knows where and when - Oleg Darshavin – but he was also Lucas's FSB interrogator, and tortured him for four years while he was in a Russian jail. Now Darshavin's turned up in Britain, asking for a passport and $1m in return for information on the terrorists who he says the Russian government are keeping to themselves, even sponsoring. And he will only deal with Lucas.
The bomb plot clearly isn't enough, however – although, notably, it would have been seen as plenty in previous seasons – and so the show pretty much ends up following three major plots: the Sudanese Muslim terrorists being run out of the Onelight charity in north London; Lucas and Sarah's relationship; Lucas coming to terms with his torture and torturer (and freeing Sarah from his grasp). Then there's also the disappearance of a geeky asset who appears to know what's going on. And the shadowy rogue agents meeting in Switzerland. If you ask me, that's one too many plots for an hour of Spooks. It was tightly plotted, deft and exciting and the final twist was marvellous, but the action seemed slightly at the expense of everything else.
Lucas's psychological scars have been hinted at for some time, and undigging all of that should have made for a cracking episode. Instead, despite the promise of proper spookery rather than bish-bash-bosh capers, it all seemed rather a missed opportunity. There was so much to pull together that a lot of the dialogue was reduced to exposition, and Lucas was left only with awkward non-eye contact and flashbacks to explain his conflicted emotions.
Perhaps that is harsh. I did, for instance, very much enjoy the classic spying methods in evidence in Waterstones; the economy with which the tension between Harry and Ruth is being played out; the moment when Sarah let herself into Lucas's flat – and threw her boss over the stairwell when he came close to uncovering her (my Christine Dale post-plastic-surgery unmasking theory is beginning to seem not quite so outlandish now). But I'd also have liked to see Richard Armitage given a bit more space to explore Lucas's feelings – without him always jumping into cars or tramping across moors. Anyone else agree?
The Ros chill factor 7/10
One for the fact she's back at work already – but the cold front appears to be thawing. If anything, Ros was quite caring in tonight's episode as Lucas started to lose the plot. An extra six for practically sitting on a bomb as the clock counts down to two seconds.
Ruth's amazing brain
Everyone else is pegging about after KGB theories. She finds out about Onelight, tracks down their special delivery, notices the missing asset, breaks his code, finds where the bomb is. Basically, the rest of the team were free to have their individual breakdowns, because Ruth pretty much had things wrapped up. Apart from the timer code, admittedly. But still.
The dirty bombshell
No advice as to grime-factor of the bomb, but I think we can safely assume it wouldn't have been sparkling clean.
Bodywatch
Two: one of the terrorists; the CIA's Samuel Walker
Spook near-death experiences
One: Lucas at the hand of Darshavin
Ridiculous-o-meter: 4/10
One twist too many to be totally plausible – and I'm pretty sure Lucas wouldn't have been entrusted with meeting Darshavin. The Russian double-crossing seemed a bit more likely, however, although the idea of Sarah killing Walker – and leaving him splatted – convinces me rather less.
Jumping the shark spring-o-meter: 4/10
Ach. The doubters have been out in force this week – and the BBC's new (but, I think rubbish) show Paradox has more than a sniff of Spooks about it. So are they right?
Next week
The end for Ros?
