So yesterday, the missus and I enjoyed a lazy Sunday on the sofa. At one point, one of Lisa’s friends (who has had some health issues recently and was just in the hospital for a small ‘procedure’) called the house line. Lisa went outside to talk to her, so I turned off whatever it was that we were watching to catch the last few minutes of last Thursday’s Burn Notice. As luck would have it, Lisa wasn’t on the phone for very long, so she came back inside and got back on the sofa. After watching about 30 seconds of Burn Notice she declared it “garbage” and asked how I could watch crap like that.
Well, I don’t think Burn Notice is garbage, and I’m apparently not alone: it’s one of the highest-rated shows on basic cable. It’s funny, though, that Lisa would call it garbage… because just a couple of hours later I watched a show that is indeed garbage:
Actually, the show is called Spooks: Code 9 and it’s a spin-off of the BBC’s popular show Spooks. Sadly, however, while Spooks was an excellent show in its heyday, Spooks: Code 9 is a steaming pile of poo.
Here’s the plot: terrorists detonate a small nuclear bomb in London during the 2012 Olympics. The British government has been moved from London to Manchester, and much of southeast England has been quarantined. MI-5 (the version you know for the original show) has been dismantled and broken up into small “field offices”. So instead of one giant spy agency, there are now 10 or 12 “mini-MI-5s” in the UK.
The main problem with the show is that the cast is made up of nothing but beautiful twentysomethings. If you will, imagine the overall look and feel of Spooks (albeit on a much tighter budget), but with British versions of the cast of The Hills or Gossip Girl playing spies (if you’re actually British, imagine Spooks recast with the kids from Skins). While the acting is barely passable, the plots are inane, and the fact that every character has a “specialty” is hackneyed and contrived. The show lacks the cohones of Spooks. For example, we have no idea who set off the nuclear blast. While Spooks would have immediately blamed Al Qaeda, an IRA splinter group, or some other (mostly plausible) terrorist group, Spooks: Code 90210 apparently doesn’t want to offend anyone by assigning blame.
And it’s not just me thinking the show sucks. The Telegraph wondered if the nuclear bomb had killed everyone over 40 in London. The Times said that the show is “to Spooks what Torchwood is to Doctor Who” (i.e., not as good). It further called the plots “daft and unconvincing” and “too ludicrous to work as well as similar spin-offs”.
Don’t get me wrong. I could look at Ruta Gedmintas (who plays former police officer Rachel Harris on the show) all day long. But not in this crap. This is awful!