Take 4 TV: MI-5, Volume Two

MI-5: Volume Two (2003)

Overview: This five-disc BBC TV series (which goes by the name of Spooks over in the UK) follows the goings-ons within England's counterpart to our CIA: the government agency known as MI-5. The action/drama revolves around the group of spies that we were introduced to back in Volume One of MI-5: Tom, Zoe, Danny, and their boss Harry. This season, the three undercover agents struggle with things that many of us deal with on a day-to-day basis: finding a good work/life balance, questioning job security, and tracking down missing nuclear armaments halfway across the European subcontinent.

Recommended Reading: My prior review on Season One of MI-5.

Familiar Faces: Unless you regularly watch obscure shows from the BBC, you probably won't recognize any of these actors. The primary actors from the first season are back, and you have a few new additions to the team this year, including Ruth, the computer networks expert who comes off as slightly crazy but is damn good at her job, to Sam, the obligatory cute girl who brings a nice naive, innocence to the mostly serious government agency. Oh...if you're watching the current season of 24, you will see a familiar face in the second episode of the season. Hint: He plays a terrorist...again.

And I Quote...: Zoe: "This came from Christine Dale, didn't it? And you're protecting her. What do you see in her, Tom?" Tom: "Well..." Danny: "Californian, bright, hard bod." Zoe: "Yeah, thank you, Danny..."

Life Lessons From MI-5: 1) Not only do you get to meet all sorts of interesting people as a spy, you get to be all sorts of interesting people. Like...apparently...video store managers and secretaries. 2) The government has the bandwidth to create very realistic emergency training simulations. 3) Improvised explosive devices fail to explode 37% of the time.

Random Trivia: In the Season Two finale, "Smoke and Mirrors," the film being watched in the teaser is The Third Man (which I reviewed a ways back). Many of the themes of that film are echoed in the episode, including the appearance of a previously thought dead character.

Curt's Take: Not a Priority - Rating an entire season of a television series can be tricky. With MI-5, I enjoyed an episode here and there in the first season, and it was pretty much the same with Season Two. There were some really good ones, but many of them seemed to drag a bit. So, I'd say that catching an episode or two should be on your "To Do" list, but an entire season? Not really a priority.