Flukes...

It's time for the Spooks Series Blog the third and yesterday's was a classic example of Spooks formula. Pre-credits bloodbath, running, techy talk, exposition, pouting, world-ending chemicals inexplicably being stored in Central London - the LOT.

At the opening, all eyes were on the Azakstan Freedom Front (Azakstan is a bit like Kazakhstan only slightly more fictitious, one assumes) as they attempted ot break into a research facility before being promptly shot dead by balaclav-clad men including our very own Lucas.

Yup, it was a Russian-themed episode which can only mean comedy Russkie accents ahoy (one of Spooks' real vices) and plenty of terrifying bioweaponary. Harry (Peter Firth is literally the best actor in the world when it comes to being singularly uimpressed by everything) is eventually persuaded to allowed well-dressed FSB agent Viktor onto the grid to track Azis Aibek (who you will also remember as definitely non-Russian, non-handicapped Anderson in Sherlock, one of several facts to the detriment of his credibility as a terrorist from the ex-Soviet Union) an escaped AFF member with a gammy leg who was attempting to unleash an implausibly name but incredibly potent chemical weapon.

Lucas, Beth, Viktor and Dimitri (yes, even Dimitri was let off tea-making duties for this one) headed to the Tube to stop him in his tracks. Which brings us neatly on to This Week's Missed Topical Touchstone - The Tube Strike. Imagine the beauty of Aibek arriving at Charing Cross with his bag of bioweapons only to find that all major lines were closed. Instead This Week's Topical Touchstone seemed to be the Cold War (and to an extent the Georgia/Russia conflict over South Assetia) neither of which are topical per se. All parties eventually found Aibek (surprisingly nippy for a man with a limp) who dropped his bag (which was in fact empty anyway) and headed for the surface, with both Lucas and Viktor (two men of athletic build without limps) somehow failing to catch him up.

He was heading for Doctor Kirby (who some of you will remember as Kemp, the werewolf-exploding priest cum evil genius of Being Human series 2, one of several facts to the detriment of his credibility as nice guy scientist who just happened to help invent one of the most dangerous chemical weapons in the history of humanity) (Donald Sumpter seems to play a lot of 'K' characters, perhaps that's where the first K went from 'Azakstan'...) to demand the location of his beloved bioweapons. He refused and was promptly beaten up (again impressive from a man with a limp) leaving limpy to take his anger out on Kirby's daughter.

Lucas, Beth and Viktor nearly caught Aibek at Kirby's daughter Meg's house, but he mananged to get out. Lucas and Beth left Viktor to console the poor girl. Viktor's idea of 'consoling' appeared to in fact be 'murder'. Yeah, that's right. Whodathunkit? That the FSB agent would turn out to be a wrong 'un? Aibek was caught and Beth's suspicion was suitable arounsed by Viktor smoking, sat on the bath with a dead Meg lying on the floor next to him.

Lucas and Viktor (fully equipped with spy camera to record the destruction of the bioweapon) travelled to the location where the dangerous chemical was cryogenically frozen and attempted to retrieve it, only for Aibek (bloody handy at escaping the authorities for a disabled man) to club them both over the head and make off with the bioweapon (when will you learn MI5?!). I say 'make off', he made it as far as the roof where Viktor followed him and shot him... just before Viktor himself was shot by Beth and the recorded footage cleverly put through Windows Movie Maker (presumably by Tariq) to make it look like Aibek murdered Viktor and made off with the swag (bioweapon) and then shown to the Russian ambassador.

Right at the end Laila Rouass turned up again (I've forgotten her character name already, I want to say 'Maya'?) - you'll remember that in this she's playing a doctor, like in Primeval, except for this time a real doctor rather than a 'doctor' specialising in the already dead or extinct species, which is surely cheating for a doctor, isn't it?- and kissed and made up (literally) with Lucas/John, who explained that he'd been in prison for 8 years (neglecting to mention that the 'prison' was run by the FSB and he was subject to torture and interrogation at every possible opportunity).

Quote of the Week
'Target's made a drop' Lucas North. Because sometimes even spy jargon has to sound like a euphemism for defecation.

Real Life Credibility Cameo of the Week
Kirsty Wark - To paraphrase a classic opening, they say you appear on Spooks twice in your career, once on the way up and once on the way down. Good to see a Newsnight presenter on again...