| Come Live with Me |
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| This is the second of what are generally seen as the Cass and Leroy eps but those of us with Cultish tendencies know better � these are major Cullen, and Cullen and Chandler eps. The episode opens with Cullen meeting Pennington in the foyer of Leroy�s hotel. They have a brief conversation notable only for (1) Alex�s offer to not tell SH about Leroy�s whereabouts and (2) Alex being intelligently surprised that Pennington wants to take him with him - not a fool our Alex, even if his head has been a little turned. To digress slightly from the characters - Ged just impresses me more and more. So much of Cullen is not in the scripted words as such but in the facial expression and voice - and Ged has the ability to express so much with such little changes. |
| Next we see Alex in a car with Pennington watching Leroy go into the bar. Pennington thanks him for the tip-off, intimates that he has not further use for him and puts him back in his place. Whatever he may have been thinking, from this moment on I don�t think Alex has any belief that he is going to get anything out of this. A tip-off's what a snout gives you, isn't it, guv. |
| I�m ignoring all the Leroy/Sam/Cass scenes here (They can be summed up as - have some sense, girl � he�s got trouble printed all over him/what�s she got to do, Sam? Carve no in your chest?) The next scene was an absolute classic - Tom and Jack in Tom�s office with Tom actually copping some of the flack for a change. Jack�s � again - throwing one because he'd been left out of the loop and Tom for once is on the side of the angels on that particular issue - but reluctant, as I read it, to admit that (a) he'd been outsmarted and (b) that if anyone�s fault it was Alex's. I think he was genuinely wrong-footed by some of Jack�s revelations that Alex hadn�t been in contact, and I think his - There�s no need to go down this road, Jack. - is genuine. Goodness only knows he must get tired of it. Finally we get to the crunch when Jack keeps demanding why he isn�t the NCS contact. *Sigh.* Do I have to spell it out for you, Jack? Pennington wanted Alex, not you. Tom seems tired in this scene � adding weight to this fan�s view that Alex is a friend, not just a convenience and the discovery that he is looking at leaving is a personal blow, not just a professional one. Alex and Jack then meet on the stairs. Jack, to poor dim (in this sort of regard) Alex�s surprise, is angry about what he sees as disloyalty. Alex is having one of his �isn�t watching rugby about rugby?� moments and doesn�t see he�s done anything wrong. I didn't see there was a conflict of interest. Now come some of the big �Alex� moments for us dedicated Cult-ists. We briefly see a conference about the case where Pennington asks for a four man team and specifies that he thinks Alex should lead it. Alex does his best unreadable look while Tom gives his approval with the air of a man who has to hand over a favourite toy. As Pennington leaves Tom follows home out into the corridor outside CID for the famous �inscrutable� scene. Are you grooming Alex Cullen for something? Nothing specific � part of my brief is always to be on the look out for likely recruits. I think Alex might have the requisite qualities. Which are? An analytical mind, discretion, a certain�. inscrutability. Is this the definition of inscrutability? Mmmm, well, he�s certainly got that in spades. Sometimes he can be very difficult to fathom. [Clearly still brooding about Alex wandering off with NSC without his say-so] Well, that might be an advantage for us. Indeed. [Looks towards CID office, very thoughtfully] I hope you don�t think we�re poaching. No, no, no � not at all! I was just interested in view of Alex�s past record. [DCI Slime practically salivates] Is there something else I should know? Classic sharp headshake. No. No, no � please go on. Well, because he can be so inscrutable it sometimes leaves a question mark over his loyalty. |
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| Significant looks are exchanged and Pennington leaves. The look Steven Hartley gives the camera as Pennington left after that discussion was straight out of the Paul Darrow school of acting (he played Avon in Blake�s 7) � give the viewer nothing and let them work it out for themselves. It wasn�t a happy nothing, though. Inscrutable... sigh... honestly, I could have written this script, I really could have. Mysterious and impenetrable - haven't I been saying that for months? You may of course speculate as wildly as you choose as to what this question mark might be. My feeling is that it is the current situation of flirting with the NSC but others prefer a dark secret in their shared past approach and I can�t gainsay the appeal of that. I�ve got to admit that Chandler was being a devious little so and so in this discussion but then there were rather a lot of shades of Burnside hanging around - remember when he didn't want one of his to go off to Northern Ireland? We see Alex in a brief scene congratulate Sam on his info (some brownie points for manners even if he didn�t reveal his source to Pennington), offer Sam some overtime and give Sam some information about the current direction of investigation which Sam later passes to Cass. Alex, Pennington and Hanbury meet at the movies again � so inconspicuous, I don�t think, when clearly no-one else ever attends this movie � Summer Solstice. Hanbury is scared � he wants out, Pennington is a cold and slimy b*****d who is prepared to suck him dry to get the info he wants � and Alex is inscrutable but concerned. You need any backup from Sun Hill, you know where to find me - any time. We�re only down the road. It�s not politic to say it � it advances him not one jot in Pennington�s eyes � but it is very Cullen. My biggest problem with this episode was that Alex genuinely offered to help that bloke - and then wandered off into the night with his mobile turned off. It didn't seem very Alex - he's a conscientious type. I suppose one could assume he was in full cry up a rugby field or in the middle of a 20x50m on 1 minute in a pool somewhere... I also thought Kate was remarkably unconcerned when Hanbury panted in just this side of hysterical and demanding to see her DI - even I don't think she's that useless. (Like her new hair do much better though!) At the beginning of the episode Cullen was wearing a bluish aqua tie that I didn�t recognise. In the next Alex scene a new day is signified by him wearing his nice deep blue shirt (fascinating choice if you care to accept my hypothesis that Chandler bought it for him) and a pale blue tie with a diagonal lattice pattern on it � also unfamiliar to me. Alex and Pennington are in a car watching the warehouse and Alex then launches the raid on it by saying �Go, go, go� in his delightfully unemphatic way. Alex also appears briefly in a scene with Paul, Sam and Sam�s tart with a heart � who turns out to be a Special Branch agent with a heart ;-) Another spin-off point for those so inclined comes from Alex�s identification of her in the previous episode. Did he think she was a hotel hooker or did he correctly surmise -or recognise - what she was? Hanbury has turned up dead and embedded in aThames mudflat by now. There�s a de-brief in Tom�s office with Alex, Pennington and Tom present. Pennington oozes unctuous sympathy for Hanbury�s death while sleazily sliding all the blame on to him � saying that he was inclined to be too brave and wouldn�t come out of cover. The look on Alex�s face is expressive to say the least. I would have liked to have seen Alex denounce him as the lying twisting little mawworm that he is, but Alex is a realist and nothing could be gained by it. Some of the smile is wiped from Pennington when Tom breaks the news that no heroin was found in the furniture they seized. Tom then walks Pennington out � not, I regret, to kick his butt out of Sun Hill but for sneaky purposes. How low you think his actions are will depend on how you see his motivation. Does he want an Alex slave he can expect total support from or is he motivated partly by concern for Alex � who�d be on the breakfast buffet in no time at all at NCS - and partly out of a desire to keep his only true friend at Sun Hill. Oh, will you be requiring the services of Alex Cullen any further? Nooo � the intelligence he gathered for us didn�t exactly bring home the bacon in this case. Alex is a very good officer � but perhaps more suited to the day to day investigations of local CID rather than the workings of a sophisticated intelligence environment. I did try to express my reservations earlier � but equally I didn�t want to stand in his way if you had felt he was NCS material. Sure, but you only discover someone�s aptitude by observing them in the field. [Nod] DI Cullen should really have questioned the value and veracity of the information he was being fed. [A little more discussion of the operation follows and then Pennington leaves. There is a cute little flicker of a smile on Chandler�s face as he watches him go.] |
| Now for one of my all-time favourite Alex - or indeed TB - scenes. I particularly enjoyed Tom's genuine frustration (IMO) that after all this time Alex still doesn't see the hidden agenda. Alex and Tom are in the Superintendent�s office. I�d say Chandler has probably come straight back up from seeing Pennington off. Again you�ll have to judge Chandler�s motivation and actions for yourself, but I see friendship. |
| I�ve told Pennington that you shouldn�t be made the scapegoat of the operation; I�ve also told him that it shouldn�t affect your chances of a transfer in the future. [Good thing he�s not Pinocchio or his manly beauty might be spoiled for good and all!] Yeah, some hope � I know how adept people like Pennington are at passing the blame down the line. [Neither tone or body language suggests it but it is difficult not to speculate that it is close association with one Thomas Chandler who has taught him about that perfidy.] |
| Tom is suddenly animated � genuine feeling here, not the polished half-truths of a moment ago: Yeah, well, if you will sup with the devil, Alex! I didn�t ask to be considered in the first place. He just [shrug] kinda took me under his wing. [Ed: Yeuch!] Yeah, well, I suppose it didn�t occur to you that he was looking for a fall guy for when it all went wrong? Quite clearly it hasn�t. Alex rolls his eyes, sighs and then bows his head a little as Tom moves in for the kill � clearly frustrated that after all his lessons Alex is still a political innocent. Well, no matter how glamorous the tag of the NCS may seem, the politics of their hierarchies is just as dirty as anywhere else in the Met - if not even dirtier, mate! Alex looks down. Well, there�s no harm done � it wasn�t our operation anyway. You�ve put a few noses out of joint � but nothing that can�t be fixed. [Pause, little nod] And I just want you to know that you�ve still got my full backing. Thumps Alex on the arms and turns away to his desk. Thanks... sir. Tom watches him walk out and smiles broadly. Finally, we see Sam sit down in an aeroplane seat next to Leroy and tell him that he isn�t going anywhere. When Leroy looks up, it is into the implacable face of our DI who leans on a seatback above him with the look of an eagle who has spotted prey. |
| Tie Rating |
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