Spooks – Series 10, Episode 5 – Dork Review

This is it: the penultimate Spooks review. Next week, ten years of spy melodrama comes to a (hopefully) explosive climax, and all they need do first is get us all excited in advance of the big bang.

So do they manage it? Are we ready for the culmination of literally everything ever to happen in the world?

Harry And Ruth’s Masterspy Theatre

Well, after giving a bit of spotlight to other cast members in the last few weeks, we are now back squarely in The Sir Harry Pearce Show. The great lion of MI5 straddles this episode like a colossus, making mistakes, having schemes and telling everyone what to do, all the while exhibiting a strange sadness which, one suspects, will come to a head next week.

In the meantime, our hero has some fine British moments, such as pouring away the milk before going to meet his destiny. Also showing off local appeal is Simon Russell Beale as Home Secretary, who has been on good form all year, but gets extra screentime here, and delivers some excellent one-liners.

And a whole episode of Harry, of course, means more spy-crossed romance with Ruth. I’ll be honest, I got sick of this a year or two ago, but since it’s been running for so very long, obviously they’ll want to resolve it. And it seems clear that next week either they will get together or one of them will die.

The Spies Left Out In The Cold

Fans of characters who are not Harry and Ruth will have a frustrating time watching this, as none of them do much of anything. But at least Dimitri and Erin got their spotlight episodes in past weeks and Calum… well, he got screwed, but two out of three isn’t bad.

Which only leaves next week’s big ending. Will someone die? Will any old characters make a surprise return? Surely Malcolm could manage a cameo? Is it still possible that spy-turned-terrorist Juliet Shaw from earlier series might be the big villain? Since she escaped without any reprisal in series 6 and I’ve been waiting for them to revisit her ever since?

We’ll see. One way or another, the penultimate Spooks did an adequate job of raising the tension, so check it out on iPlayer, post your predictions below, complain about the lack of major fatalities and next week, join us back here for… the ultimate Spooks?

More Spooks on Dork Adore | Spooks: Series 10, Episode 2 – Dork Review

Nick Bryan

Nick learned to read and write at an early age. This has developed into an unhealthy need to either write stories or consume them for later dissection. He reviews film and TV on Dork Adore and The Digital Fix, lives in London and enjoys a nice white beer.

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