Very disappointing...

Sick Product of a Sick System

Good concept, poorly executed.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I first saw this show on PBS then on Netflix until it was pulled just because of being on too long. It's called "Spooks" in Britain and it is basically their version of 24 but more espionage goes on than just touring people. Considered to well acted and even had celebrity guests like Hugh Laurie and sometimes even better than 24.Uses the side by side scenes like 24 but a bit better. Then again I didn't watch 24 that much since I thought it was just about torching people. That seemed like at times "Might Makes Right" even though it doesn't always work like that. Also Kiefer Sutherland is Canadian with surprises me at times since he doesn't have an accent.Anyway it's also about their jobs and life's outside of MI-5 that I think makes it good because they have something to fight for. The final episode of this series is when the lead commander guy of the MI-5 team gets deported to America because he was born there technically.Also heard in some article that MI-5 will make a comeback in a mini series. Where the guy and his new team handle some of the stuff in America. Which sounds pretty cool even though I didn't see many episodes but the description for them were pretty amazing. This show is also on Hulu Plus if you ever want to take a look at it and stuff or wanted 24 to have more of a brain sometimes.

This is one of the best TV series of its kind. Most spy stories are far-fetched tales of brave heroes who single-handedly save the planet from villains ready the blow up the whole world, and of course they do it all by themselves, by sleeping with beautiful women, jumping from 50 metre tall buildings, killing an army of villains with just one revolver, etc etc etc - think of the 007 and the Mission Impossible movies, for example.This is way more realistic. Of course there are some holes in the plot, but in general this TV series tends to be about team work by a group of ordinary people who happen to work for MI5, and whose work, in fact, takes its toll on their private lives. The actors of this TV series will plant bugs in a house, try to infiltrate terrorist cells, do intelligence work etc all to stop the villain in each episode, but it is all quite realistic: there isn't a computer analyst that can retrieve everyone's school records from 50 years ago in 10 seconds, like in Criminal Minds, nor unrealistic heroes of the kind played by Sean Connery, Tom Cruise, etc. Nonetheless, or, actually, because of this, the stories are never banal and, in fact, most episodes are mini-thrillers: you think you figured it all out but only in the last ten minutes do you realise that you, in fact, hadn't.Another aspect I really appreciated is that it doesn't try to portrait security services as the 'good guys' against the 'bad guys' who simply 'hate us for our freedoms'. In many episodes of the show, for example, the motives of the villains are related to things like war atrocities committed by Britain and by Nato. You will hardly find any of that in American shows. Take '24', for example: that show is all about 'us' vs 'them', about how the end justifies the means, and about how it is right to torture prisoners, etc. Spooks is entirely different, which is one of the many reasons it is one of the best TV series of its kind, ever.

I love a good series, and especially one that grabs you in just from the word go and thrills you. Spooks does exactly that. I watched it right from the first episode, being intrigued by what it aimed for but not expecting it to be as good as it was, and I have been a faithful fan ever since.The acting is definitely a high point. Rupert Penry Jones, Hermione Norris(one of those actresses who brings everything to her roles no matter the overall outcome of the show/drama), Miranda Raison and Matthew McFadyen also gave wonderful performances. But as of late, the revelation has been Peter Firth, Harry is a very interesting character and as of now the heart of the series without dominating too much that we don't care for anyone else and much more of one than you'd think.Firth handles the brooding, gruff persona brilliantly. The cast are helped by a vast majority of things. The characters have depth and are actually intriguing, I see great characters who you identify with and keep identifying with, I see characters that are interesting to start with but lose something later on or I even see characters that are little more than cardboard cutouts. The characters of Spooks from start to finish, yes even in the secondary characters(which my previous point was mainly referring to), fit in the first category.The writing is also wonderful, the idea at the start was always an interesting angle and the writing explores this in an intelligent manner, without feeling formulaic. The story lines are always thrilling and well-constructed, while I also love the stylish filming, crisp editing, assured direction and authentic sound quality.All in all, an amazing series, one of my favourites. 10/10 Bethany Cox

good if not unrealistic in some aspects are mi5 officers armed was under the impressions there supposed to be more invisible and unarmed and un able to arrest anyone lol but the last series was absolute rubbish was hard to stay interested .....im British but feel that at times it seems so anti American its hard to believe it gets put on TV in the USA....and the Russians seem to always be out manoeuvring them ...as irritating as it may be at times its a shame its being cancelled and as usual its been cancelled without a replacement in place maybe they should re brand it and set it in the cold war could be more interesting......it was more interesting when there was one story line per episode rather than dragging a main story line out over the whole series and the constant changing of the main character is irritating i find my self losing track of some of them not to mention how many times they change the home secretary its like 7 in 10 years ......its good but flawed in some aspects sometimes u just have to put your brain to sleep and watch personally id rather watch the first few series and not bother with the last 2 and the ending was a bit disappointing