MI-5 (TV Series) Gas and Oil: Part 2 (2006) User Reviews

Gas and Oil: Part 2

[Prismark10 · 8/10 · 23 October 2020]

It is surprising how much of British democracy and American democracy relies on various political actors sticking to unwritten rules or conventions.

The question is what happens if a Prime Minister or a President Trump thinks these rules do not apply to them.

Suddenly you may find that elected politicians start to openly contemplate if democracy is overrated or whether rights have gone too far and need to be trampled on.

Of course one of the big problems is us, the people. The ordinary people who display a fetishism for the strong man leader or even the Iron Lady. Happy to cede rights to essentially a bully. It is like writing a blank cheque to someone and hoping your bank account will not be cleaned out.

This episode might have looked slightly over the top back in 2006. The impetus for the story was a Republican administration in America and a Labour government in Britain, both united in the war on terror. It was a world of invading countries in the middle east, rendition and enhanced interrogation. The beginning of a slippery slope.

Harry Pearce is locked up in detention. A female human rights lawyer is hit in the face by a security official. It's something he has wanted to do for a long time.

Adam needs Ros Myers help to establish doubts with the conspirators. Suddenly a link to new Russian money is found.

Russia destabilizing a western democracy. How very prophetic.

Prescient and disturbing

[keysam-02610 · 10/10 · 18 February 2024]

The big problem with these two episodes is that frankly it feels like the writers have basically provided a blueprint for enacting a coup in the UK, but we know that IRL there's probably no one like Harry and his team looking out for us.

Watching the twofer again from the perspective of a country where the Govt has *already* legislated to restrict protest (using as their figleaf the protesters against big oil or in favour of decent insulation, not even faked-up terrorist attacks as depicted here) it all feels even more believable than it did back on the first showing, and it felt pretty darn believeable *then*!

The writers also clearly think the stance of the person at the top of the various organisations is crucial. Harry isn't having any of this nonsense and so neither are Adam and co.

Collingwood from MI6 is up to his paranoid power-hungry eyeballs in the whole thing and *his* staff seem to have fallen in line with little to no fuss, right up to murdering other agents (poor Colin). Meanwhile they portray the police as only too happy to point guns at the populace - is it too much to hope a lot of officers would simply refuse to go along with this? I really don't know any more.

At the back of all of it is Russian money. Spooks decides it's the mafia, I think the same plot now would simply say it was ordered by the head of that state; he's got form after all.

This is a brilliantly done warning. Let's hope it remains just a fiction.

What a dumb plot

[BarnettLP · 4/10 · 7 February 2008]

What a dumb plot - paranoia among the English populace while high-ranking members of government plot a coup. Only an idiot would think high-ranking members of the British government would try to take over the country while the prime minister lays low.

And where did they come up with this new character Ros Myers played by Hermione Norris? She is incredibly unattractive and unwatchable. She nearly makes the whole episode unwatchable.

Adam could have about any woman in Britain. So it's absurd to think he would even look twice at this new agent. And why would he recruit her after she had plotted against the government?