As much as I enjoyed the fourth season of this show (freed up from its ties to its origin plot), the final episode (and scenes) was so weak that it put me off returning. Ironic then that the same situation repeats itself in that the fifth season is really engaging for what it does, but then delivers a final episode which is anti- climactic at best, and befuddling in its content at worst.
To give context to this fifth season, there is a lot about it to dislike, or at least be a little put-off by. The most obvious is that it has found itself becoming increasingly timely – even to the point that it had to put up warning text before an episode which paid respect to the victims of the Paris attack before showing an episode featuring the planning of such an attack (and what an awful time when I saw that episode ages after I had taped it, and wondered "which Paris attack?"). This timeliness does occasionally feel like opportunism, and for sure it is not shy about using radical Islam as an all-present and ominous baddie. It only highlights itself doing this further when it has some non-radical characters, as if to say "some, we assume, are good people". The second thing to deal with is that, despite this timeliness, it is not as nuanced or as filled with commentary as it would like to think. For sure it is more balanced than Fox's 24, however at its heart it is essentially 24 but dressed up a bit to get the BBC4 crowd to cast an eye its way.
These things in mind though, this season does deliver in a way that engages. It is a little awkward in the set-up, and in how it gets all the characters back in play, but once you are through this, it all starts moving pretty nicely. Whether or not you want to accuse it of being prescient or opportunistic (I think it is a bit of both), the real life echoes do add to the drama – although of course the portrayal of a world filled with Islamic threat also feeds back into the real life, which is why people have issues with the show. The various threads do not always convince, and for sure there is quite a smack of convenience about some of it, but it moves forward with grit and determination that makes the viewer go along with it, and buy into each twist as it goes.
As I mentioned, the final episode has the slight feeling of anticlimax as the various threads are resolved with reasonable ease and cleanliness; and the 'personal' character stories are for some reason brought to the fore again. However it doesn't diminish an enjoyable season, which is more real with each passing attack, and as a result has a lot of heft even though it does channel 24 in its heart.
To give context to this fifth season, there is a lot about it to dislike, or at least be a little put-off by. The most obvious is that it has found itself becoming increasingly timely – even to the point that it had to put up warning text before an episode which paid respect to the victims of the Paris attack before showing an episode featuring the planning of such an attack (and what an awful time when I saw that episode ages after I had taped it, and wondered "which Paris attack?"). This timeliness does occasionally feel like opportunism, and for sure it is not shy about using radical Islam as an all-present and ominous baddie. It only highlights itself doing this further when it has some non-radical characters, as if to say "some, we assume, are good people". The second thing to deal with is that, despite this timeliness, it is not as nuanced or as filled with commentary as it would like to think. For sure it is more balanced than Fox's 24, however at its heart it is essentially 24 but dressed up a bit to get the BBC4 crowd to cast an eye its way.
These things in mind though, this season does deliver in a way that engages. It is a little awkward in the set-up, and in how it gets all the characters back in play, but once you are through this, it all starts moving pretty nicely. Whether or not you want to accuse it of being prescient or opportunistic (I think it is a bit of both), the real life echoes do add to the drama – although of course the portrayal of a world filled with Islamic threat also feeds back into the real life, which is why people have issues with the show. The various threads do not always convince, and for sure there is quite a smack of convenience about some of it, but it moves forward with grit and determination that makes the viewer go along with it, and buy into each twist as it goes.
As I mentioned, the final episode has the slight feeling of anticlimax as the various threads are resolved with reasonable ease and cleanliness; and the 'personal' character stories are for some reason brought to the fore again. However it doesn't diminish an enjoyable season, which is more real with each passing attack, and as a result has a lot of heft even though it does channel 24 in its heart.