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The threat to national security increases and
the need to thwart the activities of terrorists operating
within the UK becomes urgent. Tom and the team find themselves
in the heart of the action and must deal with the psychological
fallout of leading such dangerous double-lives...
Volume
Two of MI-5, or Spooks as the series is known
in the UK, builds well on the first series. This time around
the BBC has upped the number of episodes from six to ten.
America
is the only country to have changed the show title to MI-5
- all other countries use the original Spooks title.
And to complicate maters even further they also decided to
change most of the episode titles. A huge bonus for American
fans though, is the fact that this region 1 edition DVD box
set includes the original 59 minute cut of each episode -
they were cut down to 44 minutes for broadcast in the USA
The
second series starts with what is possibly its weakest episode.
Legitimate Targets picks up where series one left off.
Tom's family are trapped in their house with a bomb about
to detonate. What I didn't understand about this was the fact
that even though his family survive, they are hardly ever
heard from again... so, why didn't the writers just have them
killed in the first place? This would also help to explain
Tom's rather irrational and antiestablishment attitude as
the series progresses. But,
once we've discovered that Tom's family are fine, we are whisked
off to deal with a rather dull threat from a Serbian warlord.
It is only really from episode two onwards, that things start
to get interesting.
The
Nest of Angels stars Alexander Siddig (Who Trek
fans will recognise as Doctor Bashir in Deep Space Nine)
in a controversial episode about extremist fundamentalists
in the Muslim community. Siddig is amazing in his role - totally
believable as he tries to infiltrate the Mosque. Quarie Marshall
is also chillingly convincing as the head of the Mosque.
Blood
and Money is the only episode in series two that sees
David
Oyelowo at the centre of the action - something which should
have happened a lot sooner - as he takes on the role of a
market trader. His mission to uncover any information about
a missing trader, who MI-5 know is dead and had swindled his
employers out of a huge amount of money.
I
Spy Apocalypse is interesting as the whole episode is
set inside the MI-5 building. Has there really been an attack
on London with millions of people killed? Or is this a training
exercise? When people start to get ill and die it is obvious
to those involved that this is for real.
Strike
Force sees a possible threat to national security when
word reaches MI-5 that a maverick Major is planning to get
the army to strike for better working and pay conditions.
This episode brings an old familiar face back to our TV
screens. The role of Major Curtis is played by Reece Dinsdale
who played Matthew Willows opposite John Thaw in the 1980s
sitcom Home to Roost. This is a great episode which
keeps you guessing as to whether Curtis really is up to no
good, or has been misjudged.
Smoke
and Mirrors, the final episode of series two, is all a
bit of a shock to the system. Obviously, not wanting to spoil
anything, I'll say no more, but nothing is what it seems.
It was also great
to see Mac
McDonald
(Red Dwarf's captain) appear briefly as a member of
the CIA.
There
are heaps of extras including Controversy (an 11 minute
featurette on the controversial episode The Nest of Angels);
The Martyr's Shroud (an eight minute look at the creation
of the music for The Nest of Angels)... In fact, to
save you reading this list - which will just go on and on...
there are over 30 extras and each disc has one main (10 minutes
plus) featurette and then a collection of extras specific
to the episodes on that disc. These
include interviews with cast and crew, audio commentaries,
and a featurette on each episode.
However,
the first disc does slightly spoil something from the final
episode... it's nothing major and shouldn't spoil your enjoyment,
but it was still something that the DVD producers should have
picked up on.
I
also really loved the interactive menus for this collection.
Each disc starts with a mysterious intruder breaking into
the MI-5 building and searching a desk. By moving the cursor
around the screen, you can click on certain objects - the
phone allows you to change the audio settings, files allow
you to access the extras and a pile of discs lets you watch
the episodes. While this is a little confusing to begin with,
if you listen to the voice-over on the main menu it soon becomes
apparent how to access all of the sub-menus. However, by the
time you get to the third disc, it does become a little annoying
when all you want to do is watch the episodes.
Not
only is this a fantastic show, but the BBC have given fans
one of the best DVD packages I've seen in a long time. This
is awesome.
Nick
Smithson
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$55.99
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