(no subject)

[serene]

MI5 ("Spooks" in the UK; understandable why they changed the name for US consumption) sure doesn't fuck around, does it?

No spoilers, but damn.

(there may be spoilers in comments, however)

Comments

[djm4]

Have you just watched episode 2? ;-)

(I've only really seen up to the end of series 2 myself; keep meaning to catch up.)

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I had just watched episode 4 of series 1, but yes. Episode 1 made me say to Guy, "Well, they sure don't start off light," and episode 2 made me say "Okay, they're not fucking around." And now it's lather, rinse, repeat.

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

The first three series are excellent. It then jumps the shark quite spectacularly and series 5 is so bad it's funny, at least in between the icky death and torture bits.

Being a civil servant working next door to the MI5 building (the building used in the show is actually Freemasons' Hall, which I find amusing, but it's a similar grey brick), I found it particularly entertaining - all the bureacracy and office attitudes were exactly like my job, except with somewhat less risk of death.

[gramina.livejournal.com]

I hope it's your job that has less risk of death, and not the MI5 show? Because nobody who posts to my flist should be having a higher death risk...!

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Yes, don't worry!
Although given that I was accepted by the civil service but then they wouldn't say for ages what department, rumours started that I was going for MI5. Then Defra offered a job but wouldn't say what, to the extent of trying to get me to sign a contract before telling me what the work would be. So when the Spooks pretend to be working for Defra as cover, I find it very entertaining.

MI5 has had some rather interesting jobs I've considered applying for, but not the sort of stuff the Spooks do - analysis of our transport systems, that kind of thing. Nice and safe!

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Hee! I thought the same thing.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

What's your theory on why they changed the name? Just curious. All my UK friends are completely weirded out by it.

-J

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Because "spook" is essentially equivalent to "nigger" in the US.

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Really??!!

The BBC sure didn't mention that when they refer to how the programme's doing in the US and being called MI5. The explanation they gave was that in the US Spooks are irredeemably linked to the CIA, especially some of their more unsavoury activities in the past.
It made sense as that's the only times I've every heard 'spook' in American stuff - X-files etc.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Yep, really.

You should see people here when I tell them that my mom had two black cats when I was growing up, and named them "spook" and "shadow" -- the jaws, they drop.

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Blimey!
So does that mean the use of 'spooks' meaning CIA guys is intended to be hugely insulting? Or just coincidence?

I'm used to understanding fluent American even though I can't speak like one, so it's always surprising when I discover new word uses like this, especially as they're at increasingly infrequent intervals. My parents keep thinking about moving back to the US, which will be most odd if it happens - it's wierd enough that since cheap phone calls came in, my mother has totally regained her American accent, which she didn't have for the first 25 years of my life!

Note to self: remind mother again that 'paki' has much the same effect in the UK as 'nigger in the US, and that referring to the corner shop as "that shop you won't let me call the Paki shop" may reduce her life expectancy...

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Coincidence, I think. In books from the '50s, I see them called that a lot, but in this country in the '50s, we had a lot of racially biased turns of phrases that no one thought twice about. We pay more attention now.

"that shop you won't let me call the Paki shop"

Oh, dear. ;-)

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

*slaps forehead* Of course. I've only heard that usage a few times, and so that explanation honestly never occurred to me. I always thought it was just because the U.S. doesn't have the British connotation.

-J

[wimsey70.livejournal.com]

Wow, am I a jerk. You answered my question :)

I missed that MI5 was coming back. Now I must go find it.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Silly, you're not a jerk.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Once, when I was a market research droid, I'd been doing a survey with a nice little old lady when we got to the demographic bits. I said "I've marked you down as retired. Would you mind telling me what you did for a living before you retired?"

"I used to debrief spies for MI5 after the war."
"Um. I'll put you down as civil servant, shall I?"

That made her laugh, which is pretty rare when you're doing market research.