Why I can't be a spoiler-phobe

[vaznetti]

Last night I got a message from BH, who had just finished watching the most recent episode of Spooks. "Oh my God," he cries. "They killed Fiona! Those bastards!" We do this to each other whenever there's a character death in a show we both watch, although I'm not downloading Spooks at the moment.

Anyway, I burst out laughing when I got the message. Geek love! We also say, "My coffee, your coffee, my coffee, your coffee," whenever one of us picks up the other's cup of coffee in the morning.

I suppose at some point I may start downloading Spooks, as I doubt he's been taping them for me. I've just never managed to get attached to the show -- I had too much cordial disinterest in the main characters of the first two seasons.

Comments

[rhymephile.livejournal.com]

I just thought I'd weigh in with an interesting tidbit you probably already know about...

Here in the U.S. "Spooks" aired (or still airs, I'm not sure) on a cable network called A&E. It's part of a basic cable package that anyone who has cable can get.

Anyway, when it crossed the Pond, the series was renamed "MI-5," because in the U.S., a "spook" is a derogatory name for a black/African-American person.

[vaznetti]

Is that why they changed the name? I didn't know that.

FYI, I hear that the A&E versions of the episodes tend to be cut down rather drastically, because BBC shows can take a full hour, but of course and "hourlong" American show these days is around 43 minutes, and A&E need *some* room for commercials. I tried to watch another UK favorite, Waking the Dead (either on A&E or on BBC-A, I can't remember) and had to give up in sorrow as all my favorite bits had been cut.

[cofax7]

Yes, they cut them terribly. The entire Tess subplot was eradicated from the first season or two, which made her departure something of a surprise. *g*

Download is my friend, and I'm liking season 4 a lot so far.

[vaznetti]

Yes -- whole characters and subplots do kind of disappear when you lose a quarter of every broadcast. Grr.

[cassandre.livejournal.com]

Oh fucking hell. You said don't click. I clicked.

I watched most of the episode but then Charlie started crying and so I had to go upstairs and nurse him and missed the end.

Fiona died? Please tell me it's not true!

[vaznetti]

Apparently there were Syrians involved somehow? Unless Adrian is lying to me, of course. You can always phone him and ask -- he's pretty good at telephone recaps.

Sorry. I didn't know when in the hour it happened.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

I think you'd like the new mix. I think you'd even like the way they eased out the old group and brought in the new one. Personally, I really enjoyed the show with Tom and Danny and Zoe, but I've loved it since Adam came in.

Anyway, I can't send you the third and fourth series right now, but someone else might be able to. The downloads would be a bitch and a half to do all at once; at 700 MB, each file is twice the size of a standard "hour" show.

[vaznetti]

BH tells me that they're the Worst Spies Ever (well, they always have been) and that the show is clearly a subversive plot to undermine confidence in the security services. Not that that's a bad thing.

I suppose I could go looking online -- it's just never been a show I really warmed to, you know?