MI-5 (TV Series) The Lesser of Two Evils (2002) User Reviews

Spoiled Brat!

[scntyguy · 9/10 · 17 February 2022]

Why did Tom let Ellie's spoiled BRAT (who is covered in cookie dough and chocolate) use his swipe card to unlock the door! Why didn't he tell her "NO"!!!!

Then she plays with the card swiping it up and down jamming the system! Then she covers the card in cookie dough (to which her mother doesn't scold her or discipline her) and Ellie then gets cookie dough in the swipe pad from the cookie dough that her spoiled rotten brat had smeared onto Tom's swipe card!

This kid is in dire need of discipline!

👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎

A perfect episode! Gripping TV!

[KingConrad · 10/10 · 14 September 2008]

I normally don't comment on episodes but this one I had to.

This episode had everything in it... It had action, depth, love, and sorrow. The ending of this episode was one of the few that have made me come close to tears.

I am so glad that I found this show and started to watch it from season one...

The acting was ace, even the little girl is one of the best young actors I have seen in awhile

Of all the shows I've seen this is episode is one of the few that I would really give a perfect 10/10! That is going aside 24 season one and House MD...

Brave to everyone involved!

The Lesser of Two Evils

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 30 July 2021]

The Spooks team are contacted by Patrick McCann, who heads an Irish republican splinter group.

McCann tells them that they are involved with a middle eastern terrorist group. That group plans to bomb a power station and he requests that they are not watched for 30 hours.

Harry does not trust McCann, as he had a run in with him in the past.

Meanwhile Zoe confides to Harry about Teresa's activities. Danny improves security in Tom's house as Ellie and Maisie move in.

The main part of the episode is routine, thankfully we did not get a full frontal shot of both Tom and McCann when they meet.

We see Tom meeting the DG of MI5 who is hiding behind some curtains as he is having dental work done.

There is a very tense conclusion of the episode. Tom probably regrets having Danny to bolster the security in his house.

I think this really was a strong first series, there were several narrative threads that tie the opening series together.

I forgot how much strong language there was in this first series of Spooks including some four letter words.

Ridiculous technology

[xbatgirl-30029 · 2/10 · 21 November 2021]

I'm enjoying this show overall, but man, that key card scene is tough to watch 20 years later. I don't even think Tom's home security was cutting edge in 2002. I can remember working for a pharmaceutical company in 1999 and I think our badges were the type you just hold up to a sensor. So the idea that this top security agency was using bad hotel technology is way too stupid to be believable.

But, oh those melodramatic heartstrings, the ickle, cutesy girl got choc-wate on her key card and now the entire system has broken down!! Oh no! And there are no other cards and no other doors and no overrides. The whole scene is so stupid that it pretty much ruins the entire season. Plus there's that whole cliché that girlfriend characters exist in action or spy movies just to be killed or attacked, in order to give the male hero motivation. They exist purely to define the male. So so stupid and really hasn't aged well.

Poor writing

[pomona-91277 · 3/10 · 27 August 2022]

Nobody in a million years, and I mean nobody, would have a house that requires a key to exit/escape. It sets up a basic fire hazard. A simple kitchen fire could turn deadly if your key is in the kitchen, or you just can't find it. Especially because you can't open the windows. Imagine being stuck upstairs.

It's plain stupid. And completely unbelievable. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief, but this?

It was so stupid it nagged at me and undermined the episode.

Better writing could have easily gotten to the same place/ending.

In addition, the girlfriend and child were written as two dimensional stereotypes.

Nagging Mom and Annoying Kid

[Johnny_West · 5/10 · 3 August 2022]

The part of this episode that dealt with the IRA and the terrorism attack on the energy plant was great. The infighting about Patrick McCann and his killing of British agents was good stuff. Tessa got exposed as a corrupt agent, and that was good. The personal drama of the characters was boring.

Unfortunately, too much time was once again spent of Tom's nagging girlfriend ("How can I trust you") and her moronically annoying kid. At the very end, Tom brings a bomb into his house, because he does not do any minimal checking of a laptop he got from a terrorist (McCann). So the bomb is in the house with Ellie and Maisie, and Maisie such a dumb kid that she wipes the door scanner with chocolate fudge cream, so it is disabled. One more annoying thing about the kid is that she is clearly at least 12 or older, but they have her act like she is around 5 or 6.

Fingers crossed, I was watching with the hope that the two dud characters were going to blow up into tiny bits.

Weak episode

[grantss · 5/10 · 24 November 2022]

MI-5 is contacted by Patrick McCann, leader of an Irish terrorist group and a man high on MI-5's Most Wanted list. He has information about a potential Middle Eastern terrorist threat to a nuclear power station but in return demands MI-5 cease monitoring his group for 30 hours. This leaves the UK open to attack from his group. Most senior MI-5 personnel realise that the Middle Eastern attack is the greater threat and are willing to take the chance. Harry, however, is not willing to compromise and wants McCann eliminated.

An episode that from the start was a bit far-fetched and didn't make much sense. The idea of one terrorist group willing to trade information on another in exchange for favours and MI-5 willing to countenance such a trade is incredibly implausible. As we go along the plot holes and implausibilities just mount.

Even worse is the ending. Incredibly stupid and nonsensical.

Thank got it's then end of that annoying girlfriend and daughter

[lopezpatricia-06139 · 2/10 · 15 October 2020]

Sorry spoiler alert. But I was glad to see the annoying girlfriend and the silly little girl come to an irretrievable end. It would get 10/10 if it hadn't been for that sub storyline. NOT INTERESTED in their private life's and how hard it is to find a girlfriend when your MI5 and trying to explain to a six year old that your a spy. Stupid. but can't wait for season 2 now.

Really?

[grandeldress · 2/10 · 13 October 2023]

I like this show a lot. At this point the characters are falling into place & we the view is learning a bit about their lives off the grid; but Tom's personal decisions make me cringe. This girlfriend is awful & that daughter! Who tells a child that mommy's boyfriend in a spy? It's no wonder Tom has the problems he has in the future. This episode is a low point.

On the positive side, however, Zoe tells about Tessa's scam & she gets booted. At least for awhile. Danny is being drawn more to Zoe & Harry is shown more as the leader of the section where some of the earlier ones seemed to put Tom in that position.