The War Between the Land and the Sea: The Deep

 "If you're trying to keep the peace, you've already failed."

The third episode maintains the quality by pushing the tension even further, daring to pace things slowly in a way that really works. There's so much superb characterisation here in both script and performances, but malevolent forces are lurking behind the scenes and the shock ending (if not that detail!) feels both earned and inevitable.

The scenes with Barbara and Kirby, with TikTok calling Barclay both a fool and a traitor, shows us just how much pressure he's under, as well as how awful humanity can be in this age of far right culture war. And I have to admire how the slow descent is dwelt on, with some superb and very real characterisation alongside the building up of tension. This takes up a huge chunk of the episode and, in pure plot terms, is technically padding. Yet it's utterly gripping, the atmospheric pressure of the deep an apposite metaphor for the pressure felt by Barclay.

Yet, on the surface, all is not well. Kate is overworking, to the concern of Colonel Ibrahim, while the prime minister tries to subtly exclude her, himself being manipulated by the dark forces of the military-industrial complex.

The home of the Sea Devils (and other races) is quite the sight. We, and Barclay, are fed a little more lore- the Sea Devils are nomadic, and seem to count dolphins amongst the many aquatic races! And Barclay and Salt have blatant sexual tension. A mammal and a reptile...!

The end comes as a huge shock, though. The assassination attempt on Kate, Ibrahim taking the bullet for her and dying, her anguish as her soulmate dies in her arms- Jemma Redgrave is extraordinary here. And then we see why Ted was so nervous all along... he was a suicide bomber, and we know who he's broadly working for.

Wow. It's all kicking off. This is gripping stuff, still.

The Way: The Wait

 "It affects everyone in a family, doesn't it? When one person is suffering."

Well then. Where do I even start with this materpiece?

Obviously, on the surface at least, this is all about the small boats, the obsession of those of a certain ilk who, you know, don't want to do the obvious solution of just bloody processing refugees properly. And, of course, it's a simple role reversal, that obvious satire trope that we know so well, with Owen wryly asking Anna what the Poles will make of all these Welsh people going over there, taking all their jobs.

And, of course, the episode really runs with this, with a refugee camp on the Kent coast, trying to get to the Continent. It's very well done. And yet... there's far more subtext than this.

Slowly, over the course of the episode, the character arcs resolve. Dee and Geoff reach a mutual understanding and closeness, Geoff finally realises that he has ironically done to his son what his own father did to him. Owen is no longer emotionally numb, and he and Anna are in love. He forgives Thea.

And Geoff, of course, redeems himself in the inevitable way.

Yet even this is part of a deeper subtext. Oh, there's the irony of the Welsh Catcher being himself Welsh- plilosophical, no fool, but disdaining the luxury of principles. There's the worrying idea of AI being used for "predictive policining". But, deeper than this, there's the need for new stories, not the same old tired ones that have the glitching Internet revealing that the human imagination is stuck on nostalgia, stuck in the past. Huimanity cannot keep reliving old stories. It must throw away the weight of history, of old tropes, and live in the present. 

This is inspired... and very, very Adam Curtis. And so the various Arthurian and mythical references are pointedly thrown back in the sea.Wow.

I understand this wasn't a hit. I don't care. It's genius.