Smoke and Mirrors (Spooks)
Encyclopedia
"Smoke and Mirrors", known as "Pit of Secrets" in the United States
, is the tenth and final episode of the second series, and the 16th episode overall of the British
television series Spooks
. It first aired on BBC One
on 11 August 2003. The episode was written by Howard Brenton
, and directed by Sam Miller
. In the episode, Tom Quinn
(Matthew Macfadyen
) is being framed by thought-to-be-dead CIA
agent Herman Joyce (Tomas Arana
), as revenge for what happened to his daughter. After its original broadcast, the finale was seen by seven million people, a third of the television audience during its time slot. The episode, particularly due to its cliffhanger
, received critical acclaim.
, masked men break into the apartment
of Michael Karharias (Bruce Payne
), a known hitman. The head of the group asks him to kill a man in England
, but is going to have to "do it dead," before killing him. Later, in a hotel room, Tom Quinn receives news of Karharias' arrival, not knowing it is actually an imposter, by CIA liaison and girlfriend Christine Dale (Megan Dodds
). Since Dale had no clearance to read the file, Tom approaches fellow officers Danny Hunter
(David Oyelowo
) and Zoe Reynolds
(Keeley Hawes
) to run a secret operation to follow the assassin without the knowledge of their superior, Harry Pearce
(Peter Firth
). Zoe feels they should tell Harry, but Tom convinces her not to. During the operation, Danny follows Tom to an empty building. There, he finds evidence Tom is creating a legend without MI5's knowledge; when he and Zoe eventually approach Harry, he believes Tom may have become a traitor.
Tom, meanwhile, follows a man he believes is called Zeigler. Reluctant, Danny and Zoe join him and follow Zeigler to a farm
in the countryside, where they are later captured. After Danny is beaten, the group take Zoe. In that time, Danny confronts Tom about the legend he is creating, but Tom insists he was not making one and is being framed. Danny's suspicion is solidified when the masked men act as if Tom was on their side, by letting him go. They sedate Danny and Zoe and leave them to escape when they regain consciousness. They report back to Harry, where all three agree Tom has turned against them.
As this transpires, Tom is tricked into handling a Gepard M1
sniper rifle
to get his fingerprint
s on it and frame him for an assassination. He also learns that Zeigler is in fact Herman Joyce, a legendary CIA agent, and is plotting revenge against Tom after he recruited his daughter, Lisa Joyce; Lisa is currently in a mental hospital in Maine
, and by framing him, nobody in MI5 will believe his innocence. When they leave him, he runs towards a house and manages to phone Harry. There, Tom learns that Sir John Stone, the Chief Air Marshal, has been assassinated, and the rifle was left behind with his fingerprints. Harry, Danny and Zoe travel to the same house with the intention to apprehend him. When Tom insists Herman Joyce was the man responsible, he learns that Joyce died from a car accident five years ago. Realising Harry is going to call for back-up, Tom is forced to shoot him in the shoulder with a shotgun
, allowing him to escape into the North Sea
, where he starts to swim. In the end, the rest of the team assume he may have drowned
.
found writing the end difficult because the producers knew Matthew Macfadyen
would leave the series, but not whether he'd return in the beginning of the third series. He stated that the producers "didn't know whether Matthew was going to return to the series or not. We knew there'd be a third series, but we didn't know whether he'd be in it. So I said 'well, is he going to be in it, or isn't he'. And for some times it was, 'oh he's not going to be', so I kill him. And then he said he is gonna be in it, so I unkill him." Because of this, Brenton wrote twelve drafts of the episode. In the end, he wrote a "big cliffhanger, in which he could be dead, could be gone forever, or what." The character Herman Joyce was created by Brenton to become a worthy opponent to Tom. Joyce's creation was inspired from the "great criminal minds" such as Karla
from John le Carré
and Moriarty
from Sherlock Holmes
. Brenton thought the addition of Joyce would be a fitting end, so that if Tom was defeated, it would be by a master who would later be undone in some way with or without him.
Brenton chose the name of an assassin, Mickey Karharias, because "Karharias" is Greek
for Shark
; the producers thought that Karharias was a "real villain name." Having him killed in the beginning to set up the episode was influenced by The Man Who Never Was
. The episode also included Zoe being untrusting towards Tom, because Brenton wanted her to be resentful towards his affair with Dale, and placing allegiance with her rather than his team. In an interview on Top Gear in June 2008, Rupert Penry-Jones
and Peter Firth
commented on the near-death experiences on the characters. Regarding Harry's shooting, Penry-Jones joked to Jeremy Clarkson
, "Every time [Peter Firth] asks for more money or five day weeks, they start giving him scenes where he might die."
The love scene between Christine Dale and Tom Quinn were one of actress Megan Dodds
' favourite to film because she was relaxed. There was a discussion beforehand on how much clothing each of the actors are comfortable with removing. The scenes set in Miami took place in Peckham
. Also, one scene where a shop owner props up water from the shelter and almost missing Macfadyen was not in the script, and was shot by accident. However, it was decided the incident would be useful.
on ITV1
, which received 4.6 million viewers in the same time slot. According to the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, the finale received final ratings of 7.32 million viewers, making Spooks the sixth most seen broadcast on BBC One, and is the 16th most seen broadcast in total the week it aired..
In the "Best of Drama" viewer polls at BBC Online, the cliffhanger was voted the second in the most "Favourite Moment" category. The scene was beaten only by the return of "Dirty Den" Watts
in Eastenders
. Whilst reviewing the seventh series, Leigh Holmwood of The Guardian
's Organ Grinder blog named "Smoke and Mirrors" his "favourite Spooks episode." In review of the DVD
boxset of the second series boxset, Dennis Landmann of MovieFreak reacted very positively to the finale, noting that the drama and intensity of the second series builds until the last episode. Landmann stated, "the last thirty or so minutes had me on the edge of my bed, [...] and the last five minutes were so powerful they affected how I felt for the next couple of days; I kept thinking about [Tom Quinn] and the tragic events that happened to him." Michael Mackenzie of Home Cinema called the finale "chaotic", and that the chain of events leading to the ending was "extremely well set up."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, is the tenth and final episode of the second series, and the 16th episode overall of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television series Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
. It first aired on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 11 August 2003. The episode was written by Howard Brenton
Howard Brenton
-Early years:Brenton was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, son of Methodist minister Donald Henry Brenton and his wife Rose Lilian . He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys and read English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. In 1964 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal...
, and directed by Sam Miller
Sam Miller
Sam Miller is an English television director. He is best known for his work on the BBC television dramas Cardiac Arrest and This Life. -Filmography:-Actor - Filmography:...
. In the episode, Tom Quinn
Tom Quinn
Tom Quinn is a fictional character in the BBC espionage television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division of MI5. He is portrayed by British actor Matthew Macfadyen. In the first two series, Tom is the chief of Section D...
(Matthew Macfadyen
Matthew Macfadyen
David Matthew Macfadyen is an English actor, known for his role as MI5 intelligence officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks and for starring as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.In June, 2010 Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting...
) is being framed by thought-to-be-dead CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
agent Herman Joyce (Tomas Arana
Tomas Arana
-Life and career:Arana was born in Auburn, California. He grew up in San Francisco and studied classical theatre at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater and at the City College of San Francisco. Afterwards he relocated to New York and acted in off-Broadway productions...
), as revenge for what happened to his daughter. After its original broadcast, the finale was seen by seven million people, a third of the television audience during its time slot. The episode, particularly due to its cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
, received critical acclaim.
Plot
In Miami, FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, masked men break into the apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
of Michael Karharias (Bruce Payne
Bruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne is an award winning English character actor and producer and was a member of the 1980's Brit Pack. Although he is best known for his villainous roles, Bruce Payne has played characters across the spectrum...
), a known hitman. The head of the group asks him to kill a man in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, but is going to have to "do it dead," before killing him. Later, in a hotel room, Tom Quinn receives news of Karharias' arrival, not knowing it is actually an imposter, by CIA liaison and girlfriend Christine Dale (Megan Dodds
Megan Dodds
Megan Lynne Dodds is an American stage and television actress.-Biography:Megan Dodds was born in Sacramento, California, and after High School she enrolled in a community college where she was cast as Bananas in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves...
). Since Dale had no clearance to read the file, Tom approaches fellow officers Danny Hunter
Danny Hunter
Danny Hunter is a fictional character appearing in the first three seasons of the BBC television series Spooks, known as MI5 in the United States. The character, played by British actor David Oyelowo, is a Junior Case Officer in Section D, the counter-terrorism department of MI5...
(David Oyelowo
David Oyelowo
- Background :Oyelowo was born in Oxford, England of Nigerian descent. He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo and they have three sons.Oyelowo first attended a youth theatre after being invited by a girl to whom he was attracted. He then studied Theatre Studies for A level and his teacher...
) and Zoe Reynolds
Zoe Reynolds
Zoe Reynolds is a fictional case officer in the counterterrorism department of MI5, featured in the British television series, Spooks, also known as MI5 in the United States. The character was played by Keeley Hawes...
(Keeley Hawes
Keeley Hawes
Keeley Hawes is an English actress and model, known for many television roles. She is best known for her roles as Zoe Reynolds in Spooks and Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes and Lady Agnes in the remake of Upstairs, Downstairs...
) to run a secret operation to follow the assassin without the knowledge of their superior, Harry Pearce
Harry Pearce
Sir Henry James "Harry" Pearce KBE is the fictional head of the Counter-Terrorism department of MI5, featured in the British television series, Spooks...
(Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
). Zoe feels they should tell Harry, but Tom convinces her not to. During the operation, Danny follows Tom to an empty building. There, he finds evidence Tom is creating a legend without MI5's knowledge; when he and Zoe eventually approach Harry, he believes Tom may have become a traitor.
Tom, meanwhile, follows a man he believes is called Zeigler. Reluctant, Danny and Zoe join him and follow Zeigler to a farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
in the countryside, where they are later captured. After Danny is beaten, the group take Zoe. In that time, Danny confronts Tom about the legend he is creating, but Tom insists he was not making one and is being framed. Danny's suspicion is solidified when the masked men act as if Tom was on their side, by letting him go. They sedate Danny and Zoe and leave them to escape when they regain consciousness. They report back to Harry, where all three agree Tom has turned against them.
As this transpires, Tom is tricked into handling a Gepard M1
Gepard anti-materiel rifle
The Gepárd anti-materiel rifles are a family of Hungarian weapons designed to destroy unarmored and lightly armored targets. These long range, large caliber rifles have high accuracy as well as high muzzle velocity. The Gepárds originate from World War I anti-tank rifles developed by the Germans to...
sniper rifle
Sniper rifle
In military and law enforcement terminology, a sniper rifle is a precision-rifle used to ensure more accurate placement of bullets at longer ranges than other small arms. A typical sniper rifle is built for optimal levels of accuracy, fitted with a telescopic sight and chambered for a military...
to get his fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s on it and frame him for an assassination. He also learns that Zeigler is in fact Herman Joyce, a legendary CIA agent, and is plotting revenge against Tom after he recruited his daughter, Lisa Joyce; Lisa is currently in a mental hospital in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, and by framing him, nobody in MI5 will believe his innocence. When they leave him, he runs towards a house and manages to phone Harry. There, Tom learns that Sir John Stone, the Chief Air Marshal, has been assassinated, and the rifle was left behind with his fingerprints. Harry, Danny and Zoe travel to the same house with the intention to apprehend him. When Tom insists Herman Joyce was the man responsible, he learns that Joyce died from a car accident five years ago. Realising Harry is going to call for back-up, Tom is forced to shoot him in the shoulder with a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
, allowing him to escape into the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, where he starts to swim. In the end, the rest of the team assume he may have drowned
Drowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
.
Production
Writer Howard BrentonHoward Brenton
-Early years:Brenton was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, son of Methodist minister Donald Henry Brenton and his wife Rose Lilian . He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys and read English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. In 1964 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal...
found writing the end difficult because the producers knew Matthew Macfadyen
Matthew Macfadyen
David Matthew Macfadyen is an English actor, known for his role as MI5 intelligence officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks and for starring as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.In June, 2010 Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting...
would leave the series, but not whether he'd return in the beginning of the third series. He stated that the producers "didn't know whether Matthew was going to return to the series or not. We knew there'd be a third series, but we didn't know whether he'd be in it. So I said 'well, is he going to be in it, or isn't he'. And for some times it was, 'oh he's not going to be', so I kill him. And then he said he is gonna be in it, so I unkill him." Because of this, Brenton wrote twelve drafts of the episode. In the end, he wrote a "big cliffhanger, in which he could be dead, could be gone forever, or what." The character Herman Joyce was created by Brenton to become a worthy opponent to Tom. Joyce's creation was inspired from the "great criminal minds" such as Karla
Karla (fictional character)
Karla is a fictional character in several novels by John le Carré. A Soviet Intelligence officer, he most often appears as a distant antagonist of George Smiley...
from John le Carré
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
and Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
from Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
. Brenton thought the addition of Joyce would be a fitting end, so that if Tom was defeated, it would be by a master who would later be undone in some way with or without him.
Brenton chose the name of an assassin, Mickey Karharias, because "Karharias" is Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
for Shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
; the producers thought that Karharias was a "real villain name." Having him killed in the beginning to set up the episode was influenced by The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was is a nonfiction 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 Second World War war film, based on the book and dramatising actual events...
. The episode also included Zoe being untrusting towards Tom, because Brenton wanted her to be resentful towards his affair with Dale, and placing allegiance with her rather than his team. In an interview on Top Gear in June 2008, Rupert Penry-Jones
Rupert Penry-Jones
Rupert William Penry-Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as Adam Carter in the British television series Spooks, also broadcast under the title MI-5.-Family life:Penry-Jones was born in London on September 22, 1970...
and Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
commented on the near-death experiences on the characters. Regarding Harry's shooting, Penry-Jones joked to Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
, "Every time [Peter Firth] asks for more money or five day weeks, they start giving him scenes where he might die."
The love scene between Christine Dale and Tom Quinn were one of actress Megan Dodds
Megan Dodds
Megan Lynne Dodds is an American stage and television actress.-Biography:Megan Dodds was born in Sacramento, California, and after High School she enrolled in a community college where she was cast as Bananas in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves...
' favourite to film because she was relaxed. There was a discussion beforehand on how much clothing each of the actors are comfortable with removing. The scenes set in Miami took place in Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
. Also, one scene where a shop owner props up water from the shelter and almost missing Macfadyen was not in the script, and was shot by accident. However, it was decided the incident would be useful.
Broadcast and reception
"Smoke and Mirrors" was initially broadcast on Monday, 11 August 2003 on BBC One. The finale was seen by a third of the television audience during its time slot, receiving overnight viewership of seven million. The episode beat Diamonds Are ForeverDiamonds Are Forever (film)
Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh spy film in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the sixth and final Eon Productions film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films...
on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
, which received 4.6 million viewers in the same time slot. According to the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, the finale received final ratings of 7.32 million viewers, making Spooks the sixth most seen broadcast on BBC One, and is the 16th most seen broadcast in total the week it aired..
In the "Best of Drama" viewer polls at BBC Online, the cliffhanger was voted the second in the most "Favourite Moment" category. The scene was beaten only by the return of "Dirty Den" Watts
Den Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
in Eastenders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
. Whilst reviewing the seventh series, Leigh Holmwood of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's Organ Grinder blog named "Smoke and Mirrors" his "favourite Spooks episode." In review of the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
boxset of the second series boxset, Dennis Landmann of MovieFreak reacted very positively to the finale, noting that the drama and intensity of the second series builds until the last episode. Landmann stated, "the last thirty or so minutes had me on the edge of my bed, [...] and the last five minutes were so powerful they affected how I felt for the next couple of days; I kept thinking about [Tom Quinn] and the tragic events that happened to him." Michael Mackenzie of Home Cinema called the finale "chaotic", and that the chain of events leading to the ending was "extremely well set up."
External links
- Series 2, Episode 10 at bbc.co.ukBbc.co.ukBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
- Episode 10 at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...