A False Glimmer
- Episode aired Dec 20, 2015
- TV-MA
- 57m
The clock runs out.The clock runs out.The clock runs out.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe scene in which the Russians carrying Alison in the trunk of their car get ambushed, after being diverted into the woods by fake police, takes place in Poland. The police car and uniforms look exactly as they should.
- GoofsThe BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst, Federal Intelligence Service) is shown to arrest various people. Being an intelligence agency, it has no jurisdiction to do so. Only the Police is allowed to arrest somebody.
- Quotes
Peter Quinn: Carrie, I guess I'm done. And we never happened. I'm not one for words but they're coming now. I don't believe in fate, or destiny, or horoscopes, but I can't say I'm surprised things turned out this way. I always felt there was something, kind of, pulling me back to darkness. Does that make sense? But I wasn't allowed a real life or real love. That was for normal people. With you I thought, ah, maybe, just maybe. But I know now that was a false glimmer. I'm used to those, they happen all the time in the desert. But this one got to me. And here's the thing, this death, this end of me, is exactly what should have happened. I wanted the darkness. I fucking asked for it. It has me now. So don't put a star on the wall for me. Don't say some dumb speech. Just think of me a a light on the headlands, a beacon, steering you clear of the rocks. I loved you. Yours, for always now, Quinn
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.
- bob the moo
- Jan 22, 2017
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Filming locations
- S-Bahnhof Hackescher Markt, Berlin, Germany(place where Numan gets arrested by BND)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime57 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD