MI-5, new season, great themes

[Eurobabe]

This was all recorded in 2004 (I believe) boy were they prophetic.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. This has to be one of my favorite shows of all time

I just finished watching Season 4 of this drama about the British intelligence services on Netflix.

What I love about it is its complexity and subtlety. Yes, the characters mostly follow orders, but not always, and they have moral qualms about what they're doing at times, or they disagree among themselves. Main characters resign, get killed, or turn traitor. They have personal lives that affect their work, and vice versa. For a show about spies, they take what looks to an American like a left-leaning view of the world situation, and one that is highly critical of the Bush administration's policies on terror. The plots play with conspiracy theories.

Season 4 has just ended with a cliffhanger, as have all the others: one main character being shot by a sniper and another being aimed at.

This being MI-5 and not a U.S. show, I have no idea who is going to survive. They have killed popular characters before.

Because of the Labor Day holiday, I won't get Season 5 till Tuesday. :-(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. I've seen Season 5 now--no wonder they didn't show it on U.S. TV

It's still gripping, well-acted, and intelligently written, but this season is full of government-business-military conspiracies, a false flag operation, and the departure of two sympathetic characters, one being killed off, the other being forced to disappear. Given the controversial nature of some of the subject matter, I can fully understand why both A&E and BBC America were afraid to show it.

Season 5's last episode wasn't exactly a cliff-hanger--the immediate danger was resolved before the end of the episode--but I found it implausible, for reasons that you will understand if you ever see the episode.

Now Season 6 is scheduled to be released in the U.S. in January. I can hardly wait.

[Longhorn]

3. Thanks for the recommendation!

We really enjoy British crime dramas such as Prime Suspect and Wire in the Blood so I just put MI-5 Season I in our queue at Netflix. We have to finish Season II and III of The Closer first. I've seen it but my husband is catching up. :)

:hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. It starts out as a fairly conventional spy series and gets

edgier and edgier as time goes on.

Don't be put off by the second episode. That contains an act of violence that was controversial even in the UK.