7th November, 2019.
Yes: I’ve been officially baby sitting my nephew, Jude, tonight.
Believe it or not … ?
We’ve been eating pizza: and watching the assorted Youtube adventures of a gamer called Mr Crainer.
Along side Slogoman and Jelly.
Frankly?
There were a lot of electronic cows involved.
Oh, and exploding cows, chickens, pigs and sheep.
It has to said, it’s one of the few times where I’ve had a deeply passionate conversation about whether that’s an exploding TNT cow, or an exploding TNT sheep.
It was a sheep, so you know.
The thing got sheared.
Look, it makes sense, when you’re eight … and convinced your uncle’s missing the important stuff*.
At any rate, after Jude went home?
I got the TV set to myself.
I fancied something with a distinct lack of electronic animals.
The fourth episode seemed appropriate.
~≈^≈~
Episode 4 — Breakthrough — opens with Craven (Bob Peck) heading back home after a stay in a psychiatric hospital.
Coming home not to a warm fire … but to the enraged McCroon (Sean Caffrey): the man who murdered Emma (Joanne Whalley), Craven’s daughter.
Unfortunately?
McCroon is shot by a police marksman: just on the point of confessing some serious information.
Leading Craven … ? To co-opt an old friend into sneaking Craven into MI5’s HQ: to the one terminal that has information on Northmoor, its activities, McCroon’s role in it …
And a map of the waste facilities that Emma Craven had broken into … and ultimately been killed for raiding.
You know, some people wouldn’t be that concerned about that map.
Craven† isn’t ‘some people …’
~≈^≈~
Now … what did I think of Breakthrough … ?
Yep: it’s another fantastic episode.
We have hints that Craven’s job in Northern Ireland was nastier than we though.
McCroon, it seems, is one of a handful of informants Craven trained: who were then abandoned by the their handlers when Craven left the job to tend to his ill wife, Anne.
There’s action: breaking into MI5 to get to one specific terminal, to get information out. I can’t help but compare that to the most recent episode‡ of Mr Robot I’ve seen. The action is as high, even though the technology is incredibly different.
Breakthrough^?
Is engaging stuff: engaging … and heading for a show down …
* One of these days I’m going to convince Jude that watching a movie will be a good idea: he really didn’t fancy the idea of Detective Pokémon Pikachu or Spiderman: Far From Home. Any VOD suggestions would be gratefully received.
† Just as a thought? Breakthrough features Joe Don Baker as Darius Jedburgh: the CIA man help Craven, and whom Craven asks for help, at the end of the episode. I’m a Terry Pratchett fan: you knew that, yes? I’m also a Terry Pratchett fan that thinks Joe Don would be perfect as Mustrum Ridcully!
‡ If I’ve understood things correctly? Craven breaks into the MI5 HQ to get to one specific terminal: the only one that has a copy of the information that’s needed. In 405 Method Not Allowed, Elliot and Darlene break into a company’s server farm, in order to establish a systems administrator account: so that they can ‘legitimately’ access the server, remotely, later. The way I’ve understood the differences in technology? Back in the 1980s, local computer networks — like the MI5 one in this episode — couldn’t be easily accessed from the internet, or any external network.
^ Just as one last thought … ? The unpixeliated extra in this shot: of a nameless police diver? Is in fact, Mat Irvine, Dr Who’s visual effects man for many years. And they say Clive Barker’s a Renaissance Man!
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