"Underneath that hard shell you're just a great big softy."

[llywela]

Recapped for Prosfanfic

Today's story opens in the woods, in the middle of nowhere, on two nondescript cars peeling along a narrow mud track. The cars draw to a halt at a random spot that really doesn't look distinct enough to be pre-ordained, and Bodie hops out, gun in hand, followed by a Bearded Prisoner. He escorts the anxiously complaining Bearded Prisoner deeper into the woods on foot, and there really is no way this spot could have been pre-ordained verbally – 'we will meet at the 73rd tree to the west' – yet somehow Bodie seems to know when they have gone far enough. "Right, this is it."

But then, all of a sudden, it is apparent how Bodie recognised that they were in the right place, for is seems they have reached the edge of the woods and come out by a road, where another car is waiting. A bunch of shady looking types hop out of the car as Bodie and Bearded Prisoner appear out of the woods, and they all slowly walk toward one another, weapons at the ready. Bodie appears to be outnumbered, until a hand signal brings a whole bunch of other Random Agents into view.

Where is Doyle while his partner is off working with other agents like this? I mean, it's good insight to know that they can and do work separately at times as well as together, but it does raise questions since they work together almost exclusively the rest of the time. Also, where on earth is this meant to be?

"Check, comrade," Bodie cheerfully calls, having successfully not been outnumbered and outmanoeuvred, and gestures for Bearded Prisoner to continue forward without him. "Have a nice day."

Turns out, this is an exchange of prisoners. While Bearded Prisoner is greeted joyously by his people, Bodie and the Random Agents get another, Non-Bearded Prisoner in exchange.

Both sides begin to beat a careful retreat, but then Team Bodie spot a handful of soldierly types wandering toward them, and run like hell.

Titles.

While Agent Susan – in her first appearance, I believe – negotiates London traffic, Doyle sits in back with Cowley discussing the exchange that just took place. "Stefan Batak?" he exclaims, having clearly been kept out of the loop until this moment. Which again begs the question of just what he's been doing while Bodie was working on the exchange. Discretion and secrecy is a big part of CI5 work, even between partners, it seems.

That could be a good fic challenge, actually – come up with the story of what Doyle was doing while Bodie was off exchanging political prisoners at someone else's border, and why he didn't know about it. Maybe he was working another job of some kind, maybe he was injured – there are all kinds of interesting possibilities!

Doyle is amazed that Stefan Batak has been acquired, and Cowley agrees that Vashunin seems like a bad bargain in exchange. "If we'd given them bubonic plague it would have been fairer," Doyle snorts. Cowley exposits that for ten years Batak gave them more than anyone else – a double agent, apparently – but Doyle grumbles that he still wouldn't trust the man.

"Neither does MI6," says Cowley, which is why CI5 have been asked to handle the exchange and the debriefing.

Doyle is even more surprised to hear that CI5 are handling the debriefing as well. "I don't like it," he glumly proclaims.
"Nobody likes it," Cowley agrees. "That's presumably why the whole basis of the exchange is total secrecy on both sides."

Doyle disbelieves that an exchange like this can be kept secret for long, given that Vashunin's capture was headline news, and it has to be said that they are doing a good job of providing the exposition for the case in believable conversational format here, mulling over the case together. I always enjoy this kind of conversation between Cowley and Doyle, chewing over a case together. Cowley tends to treat Doyle a bit like his star student on cases like this.

Cowley feels that they will be able to muddy the waters sufficiently to keep the secret for a little while, and adds that there is a more pressing problem to be going on with. "And that is your problem."

He hands Doyle a photograph. Doyle lifts an eyebrow. "Very nice. Batak's daughter?"

Snerk. You've got to love that he can be a total dog about a pretty girl without ever dropping the businesslike manner. The picture is of Anna Hastings, Cowley explains, Batak's daughter – the result of a liaison over 20 years ago when he was first recruited.

"Passport held at present in the interests of national security." Doyle is amused to read that detail in her file. Cowley also looks amused, explaining that Anna, who is a music student, has been allowed to visit her father in prison once a year, and was due to visit him again this week. "What nobody wants to happen is for her to go over there and find he's disappeared."

Well, no: that would kind of put a crimp in the whole 'secret' thing, it's true.

As Cowley agrees that Anna is the only fly in the ointment, we cut to Anna herself, at university, practicing a piece of music: Chopin's Mazurka. Doyle enters the room and stands watching her for a moment, which is good because it allows viewers to watch him for a moment, and he is looking very fine indeed, in the suit and glasses. Got to love it when they go undercover.

Anna finishes the piece, and Doyle makes himself known to her, enthusiastically praising her playing, which is a theme he will keep up for the rest of the episode. Doyle appreciates classical music, clearly. Anna rolls her eyes and tells him she cheated, but Doyle continues to schmooze that she fooled him. Anna starts to play again, but stops once more when it occurs to her to wonder who Doyle is. He introduces himself as 'John Hare, Evening Star', and offers to buy her a coffee.

Elsewhere, Bodie and Batak arrive at a secret, high security CI5 location.

University. En route to the cafeteria, Doyle explains his cover story to Anna – that they are doing a series on Youth: the Positive Side, of which she is a shining example.

Anna: "I'm not going to be on page three."
Doyle: "You'd be a new kind of page three girl."

Safe house. Cowley is frowning over a large pile of paperwork when Bodie arrives with Batak, and the verbal fencing begins. Batak is anxious to see his daughter, and Cowley assures him that he will. "All in good time."

Cafeteria. Doyle and Anna make themselves comfortable at a table that hasn't been cleared since its last occupants vacated, and Doyle begins the interview. Anna, it seems, is a past winner of the Warsaw prize, for which she was listed as Bulgarian. Anna cheerfully explains that her mother was English and that she uses her name, being illegitimate. "We won't use that," says Doyle in his guise of journalist wanting a positive story to tell, rather than scandal, but Anna blithely assures him that it wouldn't matter. She's very comfortable with her illegitimacy, considering what a scandal it would have been around the time she was born. Her mother died two years ago, she continues, but her father is very much alive, and she offers his name quite openly, along with the information that he is in the Eastern Block.

CI5. Cowley and Batak are hard at it with the verbal fencing, Cowley probing deeply, trying to establish what Batak does or doesn't know – if he really is who he claims to be.

Cafeteria. "So, Father went back behind the Iron Curtain and Mother stayed here with me," Anna concludes her life story for Doyle, just as another man wanders over to join them at the table. She introduces 'John Hare' to her friend Michael, happily explaining about the article Doyle is supposedly writing about her. Michael is suspicious on her behalf, questioning Doyle closely on whether he's ever heard Anna play and how good he thinks she is. "What do you think of Chopin, Mr Blair?" That's a lot funnier than it should be now, almost 30 years later and after 10 years of Tony Blair's government.

Doyle: "Hare."
Michael: "Hair like head? Or like rabbit?"
Doyle: "Like Burke. And."
Heh. Now there's a pop culture reference someone older than me will have to explain…

CI5. Batak's de-brief/interrogation continues, he and Cowley dancing around one another, probing and testing.

Cafeteria. Doyle asks Anna where her parents met. "New York. They both worked for the United Nations. Obviously, I wasn't expected," she tells him, quite openly. "In fact, I suppose my appearance wrecked the whole affair."

Friend Michael sniffily excuses himself at this point, and Doyle wonders at his hostile attitude, asking if he is a boyfriend. "No, but he gets ten out of ten for trying," Anna wryly tells him, explaining that Michael studies at London University, but they do a linking course, which is why he is there. Wherever there is supposed to be.

Meanwhile, Michael has made his way to a payphone. "Contact's been made. Claims to be a journalist."

Clearly more agencies than CI5 have an interest in Miss Anna Hastings.

CI5. Verbal fencing of the political variety continues.

Cowley: "You know a great deal, Mr Batak. You are a lucky man."
Batak: "Lucky to be alive."

They bandy a few more semantics around the fact that Batak was facing the death penalty a year ago when Vashunin was captured by the West, and Batak mildly points out that Cowley is setting very obvious traps for him with his line of questioning, trying to trip him up.

Cafeteria. Doyle asks where Anna's father is now, and she rolls her eyes. "In jail… You know what these countries are like. He said the wrong thing to the wrong person."

Doyle plays the part of bumbling journalist to the utmost, all wide-eyed shock at this scandalous little story, and asks what her father did before he was jailed. "Civil servant," Anna tells him. Such a useful and meaningless little phrase – 'civil servant' can mean just about anything, from top class spy to the most junior of flunkies. Batak, according to Anna, was in the police department, she has been over to see him several times since her mother died, and would be going again in a few days if the passport office weren't being so difficult. "I spend half my life in that concentration camp down in Petty France, pushing them when I should be practicing. Hey, if you do this story you could mention it. That might do the trick."

Doyle genially agrees, knowing full well that he will be doing nothing of the sort.

Outside, Michael lurks furtively until he is joined by an older, balding man.

Interview concluded, Doyle takes a contact number for Anna, and makes all the right noises about how the final decision on whether to run the story or not is up to his editor.

Anna: "In this racket you can't start publicity too soon."
Doyle: "Racket? I thought it was supposed to be art."
Anna: "Oh, hang on to your illusions – I can't afford to."

Heh. It's hard not to like Anna – she seems very open and genuine, passionate about her work and philosophical about the circumstances of her life. But, of course, that's the point – she is supposed to be likeable. And Doyle has to try to work out whether she really is as genuine as she seems.

Michael rejoins them just as they say their farewells, Doyle cheerfully wishing Anna luck with the exam she is about to take. Then he asks Michael for directions back to his car, venturing into the realm of man-gossip about the torch Michael appears to be holding for Anna.

Michael: "Is it that obvious?"
Doyle: "Yeah."
Michael: "She's head over heels in love anyway."
Doyle: "With her piano?"
Michael: "Right."

Everyone is making all the right noises so far, which only goes to make Doyle's job that much harder – it would be so much easier if the bad guys wore lapel badges or something to identify them.

Michael's directions lead Doyle into a stairwell, and he has no sooner begun to ascend than a voice from above shouts down to him. "Mr Hare?"

Doyle reacts immediately, flinging himself back against the wall for cover, as the disembodied voice continues that there is a bigger story connected to Anna than he can imagine.

"Like what?" Doyle wonders, cautiously beginning to ascend once more, toward the unseen owner of the voice. As the voice continues that Anna's father is Stefan Batak, and Doyle points out that she told him that herself and that the name means nothing to him, he covertly checks his gun and returns it to the hidden shoulder holster, poised and ready to draw if need be.

The disembodied voice continues the story of Batak's arrival in Britain in exchange for Vashunin. Doyle keeps up his act of bumbling reporter, feigning surprise, the added wariness not so assumed. He's looking very nice, it has to be said.

Having divulged as much information as he is willing to, the dark figure of Michael's colleague peels back from the banister and vanishes off through a doorway. Doyle promptly sprints upstairs in pursuit. Nice directorial use of spiral staircase and music in this scene, which culminates in Doyle bursting in on a small orchestral group in rehearsal, and resignedly realising that he has lost the man he was chasing.

CI5. The continuing de-brief of Stefan Batak is interrupted by Bodie. Cowley gathers up his papers and leaves the room – leaving the tape recorder running, which seems a waste of good tape to me.

"Whoever it is, they know Batak's free and in London," Bodie grimly says of Doyle's anonymous tip off at the university.
"And they want to blow the whistle," Doyle adds, equally grim, since all this complicates an already complicated case so much more than anyone would have liked.

The question is – who are 'they'? They all start bouncing ideas off one another in fantastic conversational fashion, establishing that the Bulgarians are the most likely suspects, although they have so far kept the secret about having Vashunin back, and that they have to know that the d-notice on the press won't protect the Batak secret for long. So they are in a hurry – but why and for what?

Doyle wonders how Batak is shaping up. Cowley hasn't made up his mind yet and is still checking – he's made a few slip-ups that could be significant, or could just be natural human error.

Cowley: "He's still confusing his Russian shipping reports."
Doyle: "Yeah, well we all do that sometimes."
Bodie: "What about that guy Michael, the girl's boyfriend?"
Doyle: "You busy?"

Bodie rolls his eyes, realising he just volunteered himself. Doyle grins at him, and he has to grin back, and it's the first time this episode they've been in the same room, and the first hint of that partnerly banter we love so much. But Cowley nixes that idea, telling them both to back off for the time being because everything is still going to plan. "We stand by our side of the bargain as long as they stand by theirs."

Bodie wonders how Doyle's anonymous tip off fits into that, and Cowley smirks that if they don't act on it, he might try again.

On the roads of London. Bodie and Doyle are driving Batak to a new location. "Somewhere safe, where you'll be living for the next few weeks," Bodie helpfully informs him when he asks. Batak again wonders when he will be allowed to see his daughter, and is told that there are complications in that department. Batak is confident that his daughter's discretion can be trusted.

"Would you take that risk in our position?" Doyle asks him, quite frankly, and he has to admit that he probably wouldn't. Doyle has just started to tell Batak about his meeting with Anna, and how much he admires her music, when Bodie has to swerve and brake sharply to avoid a van parked in the middle of the road, right at the corner they were just turning.

"Idiot," Bodie snarls, while Doyle reaches the obvious conclusion ahead of him and yells that he doesn't like this, hauling Batak down onto the seat just in time as a sniper takes out the rear windscreen.

While Batak cowers in the car, Bodie and Doyle both peel out, guns in hand, and take cover, trying to work out where the sniper is firing from. Once the location is identified, Bodie bellows those immortal words – "Cover me!" – and takes off at a sprint while Doyle provides covering fire to protect him from the sniper. Classic! Love it.

Bodie doesn't manage to catch the sniper, though, as the gunman hotfoots it out to a waiting car and away. He hauls out the R/T to convey this failure to Doyle and check on Batak, and is dismayed to hear the sound of sirens.

Bodie: "Oh hello, what's that noise?"
Doyle: "Sound of a d-notice biting the dust."

A large crowd has gathered to gawk at proceedings, apparently not the slightest bit concerned for their own safety, despite all the bullets that were flying around just moments ago. Bodie and Doyle pull CI5 rank to get the newly arrived police officers to back off, bundling Batak back into the car – but don't manage to make their getaway before a couple of journalists have materialised out of thin air to snap a few hasty shots of Batak.

CI5. An irate Cowley shouts down the phone and slams the handset back into the cradle just as Bodie and Doyle arrive, and asks after Batak.

Bodie: "He's old, he's tired, and he's just been shot at."
Doyle: "They shot at the car."
Bodie: "Missed his head by inches."
Doyle: "The first one was on target, but the other ones, once you got out, were all over the place."
Bodie: "Don't have to tell me, I felt them."
Doyle: "And if a real professional had done it, he'd have stayed on target, wouldn't he, and sprayed the back of the car."
Bodie: "He'd also have chosen a better place."
Cowley: "The point is, whether or not it was a serious attempt to kill him, it was a successful attempt to get his name wired around the world."

I always enjoy it when they brainstorm like this, chewing over a problem out loud and together, pooling thoughts and ideas. With public suspicious over Batak's whereabouts aroused, hundreds of agents around the world are going to be in danger, Cowley grimly notes. Until they confirm it, one way or the other, Doyle adds. So what are they waiting for? Bodie wonders.

What they are waiting for, it seems, is absolute confirmation that the man they have truly is Stefan Batak, and not all of the answers he has given during his de-briefing have checked out.

University. Anna is practicing furiously when her friend Michael interrupts to show her a front-page headline proclaiming her father's possible presence in London. "Everything's going according to plan," Michael tells her. Anna looks startled and conflicted. And viewers start to wonder just how much Anna knows, and whether or not she is as innocent as she seems.

Doyle is also hanging around the university, and calls to Anna as she rushes past, wondering if she's seen the papers and asking if they can talk.

Watching, Michael gets straight onto the payphone to tell his contact that: "they've picked her up now."

Doyle's car. With Anna in the passenger seat as he drives along, Doyle radios in to say that he's bringing Anna in. It's worth wondering exactly what he told her to get her in the car.

Anna: "You're not really a newspaper reporter, are you, Mr Hare?"
Doyle: "Not really."
Anna: "I suppose you're not even Mr Hare."
Doyle: "I suppose not."
Anna: "Well, it explains all the trouble about my passport."

I like how philosophical she is about it all – with her father a renowned double agent who has spent years in prison in the Eastern Block, she'd have to be. She wryly berates herself for falling for Doyle's claim to be a reporter. Vanity, see. Doyle tries to cheer her up by telling her that the way she plays the piano she doesn't need publicity.

"You think so?" Anna quietly asks, sounding a little vulnerable all of a sudden.
"You don't even need a piano." Doyle flashes his most dazzling grin at her, absolutely rocking the sunnies and that dark green jacket, and looking mighty fine. Who could resist?

CI5. Doyle and Anna arrive. It is the same place that Bodie brought Batak to earlier, so what happened to the safe location they were taking him to earlier? Given up as a bad job after the sniper incident? Surely if that one was compromised by the incident then so was this one? Why backtrack on their plans at that stage?

Anna is nervous, only now thinking to ask where they are and who exactly Doyle is. Didn't her mother teach her not to get into cars with strange men? Doyle affably tells her not to worry, that he is going to take her to someone who can answer all her questions. He ushers her into the building that CI5 have been using as their HQ for the Batak interrogation, wherein she is startled by Bodie's looming presence on the stairs, and only slightly reassured by Doyle's assurance that Bodie is "one of ours."

Anna is shown into a small room to wait, while Bodie tells Doyle that Cowley wants him. With one last wink of reassurance for Anna, Doyle slopes off, leaving Bodie to watch Anna. Bodie leans against the door, arms folded; Anna pokes around the room a bit, looking a little bored and annoyed with all this high security when all she wants is to see her father.

Anna: "Are you another journalist, like him?"
Bodie: "He's a music reporter."
Anna: "Oh, and what are you?"
Bodie: "Fashion. Haute couture."

Heh. Yeah, he wishes.

Elsewhere in the building, Cowley and Batak are listening to the tape of Batak's de-briefing earlier. Both are silent, so it is unclear what the exact purpose of this is. Maybe they've just run out of things to say. Maybe Cowley is waiting for Batak to correct himself on some of the points he got wrong earlier when he hears them back. Doyle arrives, as ordered, and silently communicates with his controller via reciprocal meaningful nods. Cowley then phones through to the waiting room, and Bodie answers with a smirk and leaves the room without so much as a word to Anna – doesn't even spare her a glance. Anna rolls her eyes at his departing back.

Bodie pops his head around the door of Batak's interview room, which is Cowley's cue to conclude their little tape-listening exercise and depart with Bodie, leaving Doyle to suggest to Batak, with a friendly clap on the shoulder, that he make his own way back through to the other room. Doyle is very affable and good-natured in this episode. Batak wearily nods and wanders off.

In yet another room, Cowley and Bodie are watching a 1970s version of CCTV footage, showing Anna staring out of the window in boredom, having been abandoned in the waiting room. Doyle shows Batak into the room, and then hotfoots it to the darkened surveillance room to join them. Why must all surveillance rooms be so dark? To avoid pesky glare on the screen? Doyle arrives just in time to witness the guarded reunion of father and daughter. So guarded, in fact, that at first it seems suspicions over Batak's true identity were well founded, but then Anna's reserve melts and the affection with which she hugs him seems to put all doubts to rest.

Doyle: "Had me worried for a minute."
Bodie: "Well, we're not all as demonstrative as you, are we?"

Is it just me or is there something…off about this episode? It doesn't feel as well balanced as it could be, the plot is patchy, and a lot of the banter seems forced, although the fantastic chemistry of the actors still sells the hell out of it.

The reunion of father and daughter continues. Watching, Bodie is disgusted. "How can a creature like that have a daughter like her?"

"Well, we're not quite sure about her yet, are we?" Doyle notes, eyes glued to the screen. 'Tis interesting, the way Doyle is with and toward Anna, because he gives every outward sign of liking and trusting her – he's consistently reassuring and friendly, doing everything in his power to put her at her ease. And yet his professionalism underlines that kindliness throughout, never losing sight of the fact that her trustworthiness remains in question.

"I'll tell you one thing, she doesn't know much about her father – makes my flesh crawl just to watch him," Bodie growls, lip curling. His visible antipathy toward the double agent stands as a strong visual contrast to Doyle's more even-handed game face. There is a reason Doyle is usually the one Cowley talks political strategy with.

"Joseph Stalin was a family man," Doyle observes, taking great delight in playing devil's advocate.
"Look what happened to his daughter," Bodie grunts.
Doyle snorts. "You know your trouble, don't you? Underneath that hard shell you're just a great big softy."
"Maybe so, but it's the outside that slays them, isn't it?" Bodie grins. And they both smirk their mutual amusement at one another, and the chemistry manages to sell an otherwise flat scene. Got to love it.

The Lads then announce their verdict on the father-daughter reunion, deciding that they buy it and are convinced Batak is who he claims to be. That's good enough for Cowley, who promptly gets on the phone to arrange a press conference, somewhere spectacular. The Savoy is booked for the occasion. Nice and swanky.

Later.

"You'll be fine," Anna assures her father, stroking her fingers through his hair, as he wonders what he is to say – or rather, not to say – at the press conference.

"I've got a note of areas to avoid," Cowley tells him, hefting a fat folder. "Which means practically everything." Yeah, I bet.

Anna sharply inquires when she will see her father again and where he will be staying, but is given the brush off as Batak is ushered out of the room and away, a random unnamed agent assigned to take her home.

A suitably anonymous catering van has been acquired for the journey to the Savoy. "So, I am to be delivered with the famous roast beef," Batak muses, amused by the prospect. Un-amused, Cowley dourly assures him that the Savoy has a nice, private tradesman's entrance for them to use. Cowley and Doyle ride in the back of the van with Batak, while Bodie drives.

Batak: "I may only say: 'I'm sorry, I cannot discuss that'."
Cowley: "As often as possible."
Batak: "The freedom of the western press."
Cowley: "They can print what they like, but we don't have to give them information."

Ah, such a beautifully Cowley-ish answer. Is it wrong to enjoy how dour he is?

Discussion of what Batak may or may not discuss freely is interrupted when the man himself clutches at his chest and doubles over in pain. Well, that's one way to get out of a public speaking engagement, I suppose. Cowley gets on the intercom to tell Bodie to divert to the nearest hospital. And that's a good way for the show to get out of having to mock up the Savoy or shell out for its use as a location! Bodie speeds, while Cowley provides impromptu first aid of the extremely basic variety, and Doyle gets on the R/T to put the hospital on stand by.

A lorry inconveniently blocking the road does not help with the dash to hospital. Bodie instantly fears a set-up along the lines of the sniper attack earlier, but this time it's just a case of wrong time wrong place. In back, Batak just about manages to mutter the word 'betray' in Cowley's ear before giving up the ghost. Cowley seethes over the vagueness of this parting message.

Hospital. Later. "Well, there won't be many flowers on his grave," Bodie remarks as the intrepid trio exit the building, having deposited the inconvenient corpse. The question is – how was he killed?

"Whatever they said back in there, we know he was got at," Cowley states, categorically. In this situation, foul play has got to be the first assumption, I suppose. Just how he was got at, though, has got them stumped, what with Batak having been kept very securely under CI5 protection since his arrival in the country. The only person who has been near him, of course, is his daughter, which makes her an automatic suspect. They all share a flashback of Anna stroking her fingers through Batak's hair, to inform the audience of just how they suspect the poison might have been administered.

"She'd have to be good with her hands," Bodie doubts.
"She's a concert pianist," Doyle reminds him.
"She's good with her hands," Bodie agrees, and the Lads share another of those moments of private amusement that seem to be more to do with the actors sharing a joke than the characters sharing a joke.

Five groups of poison have already been eliminated, Cowley announces, getting off the R/T. That was fast work by forensics. Only another five to go…

Bodie goes to collect Anna once more and deliver the bad news about her father's suspected heart attack. Doyle, meanwhile, lurks outside the university in his car and spots Anna's friend Michael hanging around, also watching them go. Michael flags down a taxi, and Doyle follows. It's worth wondering why they've switched assignments at this stage –it would make far more sense for Doyle to be the one to talk to Anna, given that they've already established a rapport.

En route back to CI5, Anna wonders why anyone would want to kill her father. Bodie, who has already been established as feeling very antagonistic toward the double agent, can't believe she's serious. "You mean who've no idea? You don't know who your father was?"

Doyle, meanwhile, follows Michael to a large manor house called Keen Lodge, pulls out a nifty little 1970s camcorder, and starts filming.

"He was personally responsible for the deaths of over 100 agents." Bodie takes it upon himself to enlighten Anna. She pouts and refuses to believe it, so Bodie goes into a little more detail about Batak's past. "Recruited by the CIA in New York. That's when you were born. Ten years later he crossed over and scores of agents were eliminated. After another ten years he changed sides again. This time it was their turn – their agents hit it."

Keen Lodge. Michael heads back to his car. Doyle maintains his surveillance.

Bodie radios in to say that he's taking Anna to his place and to ask for some back up. Why is it that CI5 agents end up using their own homes as makeshift operational headquarters so often? Don't they have enough official premises to use?

Doyle continues to covertly follow Michael around, this time to an up-market street in London, Redman Square. He has to drive quite a way before he finds a place to park, though, as there is a wedding going on at the church opposite the house Michael has entered, number 8.

Bodie's place. Anna is ranting her disbelief over Bodie's allegations against her father when Cowley rings to tell Bodie that the toxin has been identified as 'triadine' – fatal within 20 minutes of being administered. Well, that would seem to very definitely put Anna in the frame.

Streets of Covert Surveillance. Doyle has finally managed to park the car, and legs it back toward 8 Redman Square, nifty little camcorder in hand. The overgrown churchyard opposite the house provides excellent cover from which to secretly film. However, the presence of a zealous lookout with binoculars inside the house isn't so excellent, and Doyle is spotted as he makes his way into position.

Bodie's place. Bodie comes right out and accuses Anna of poisoning Stefan Batak. "We've got you on film doing it."
Anna's eyes go wide with shock. "That's absolutely insane," she protests.

Churchyard of Surveillance. Doyle films Michael and another man as they exit the house and walk toward a nearby car. It's the same balding man who went to the university earlier to offer 'John Hare' that tip off about Batak. As Doyle films, a random thug with a very large knife sneaks up behind him. Luckily, Doyle's senses are very finely honed and he reacts before the man can stab him, his free hand whipping out to grab his assailant by the wrist, and then the fight is on.

The director clearly had a lot of fun putting this sequence together, as Doyle's fight with the random thug is inter-cut with shots of the happy wedding party leaving the church. Since he was taken almost by surprise, and has his camera to defend, Doyle takes quite a beating – especially as it turns out that there are two random thugs for him to fend off, not just the one. One of them makes off with the camera, but Doyle swiftly downs the other and gives chase. He succeeds in retrieving the camera, and takes off at speed – right through the middle of the shocked wedding party.

Reaching his car, Doyle throws himself and the camera in and makes a hasty getaway. Amusingly, his hair is full of confetti. He's also got a long scratch down one cheek, and looks very stiff and sore as he radios in to Cowley.

Doyle: "To love, honour and obey."
Cowley: "Four-five?"
Doyle: "Till death us do part!"
Cowley: "Four-five, you're not making any sense."
Nope, he sure isn't.
Doyle: "I've just discovered I'm married to my country, you know."
Cowley: "Doyle, are you all right?"
Doyle: "You know, I think we ought to go into the film business. We've got the world exclusive rights to something here."
Cowley: "Four-five, do you need help?"
Doyle: "No, I'm coming back to base. Out."

It's a really odd little scene, and reeks of bad writing – but, alternately, you could argue that it reveals a lot about the psyche of a CI5 agent. Or at least about Doyle, and how he feels about his job, which involves getting beaten up for the sake of other peoples' safety, while those same people he is risking his life to protect remain blissfully ignorant of his efforts. And it's always nice to see/hear Cowley showing concern for his men.

Having ended the conversation, Doyle grimaces his discomfort once more, and petulantly starts brushing all that confetti off himself.

Bodie's place. Anna insists that she did not kill her father, while Bodie plays Bad Cop for all he's worth. Anna asks if he honestly believes she could kill her own father.

"No," says Bodie. "Of course you wouldn't. How could you? Where's the real Anna Hastings? Or did you use the triadine on her, too?" Oh, and he's doing that menacing thing again, same thing he did with Kathie in Hunter Hunted, where he sits real close, right up in her personal space, and brushes the hair back off her face in a way that would be tender if it wasn't so threatening. Classic Bodie, huh.

CI5. Doyle is being checked out by the doctor. This is a good thing, because it gives us Topless!Doyle to enjoy. Not to mention all the wincing and hissing and general discomfort with being poked and prodded in tender bruised areas. Feast your eyes while it lasts, folks.

"I was following her boyfriend, and somebody didn't approve," he tells Cowley, who is hovering around in the background, not because he is concerned for Doyle's health, but because he doesn't want to waste any time getting on with the job. He's on the phone as they talk, no time to lose.

"That was the lab report. You over-exposed, as usual," Cowley dourly grumbles. Doyle grumbles right back at him before the doctor pronounces that there is nothing broken and he will live. Doyle glowers at him while cradling his sore ribs, because only someone who doesn't have bruised ribs can afford to be so flippant about them. Then he and Cowley talk a bit about the manor in Hampstead, Needs Lodge, which apparently had been under surveillance previously.

"We staked it out for ten weeks, nothing," Cowley protests.
"Well, you should just see it now," Doyle tells him. "Heavies with bulging overcoats, guard dogs, the lot."

They talk some more about the running around Michael had to do to find the man he was looking for. Cowley suspects they will be looking for Anna, and Doyle agrees that they did seem panicked. The question is: why? With Batak dead, the mission should be over – they should be disappearing underground once more. Something is wrong here.

Bodie's place. Bodie goes through Anna's handbag, and she is infuriated. Then he goes downstairs to let a random fellow agent in to watch her while he goes out, first delivering a stringent warning about the need for extreme caution. "If she gets rough, watch those claws – could be deadly."

In the car, Bodie radios his lack of progress in to Cowley, explaining that Anna has clammed up like a real pro. "I got tired of the sound of my own voice. I left her with six-two, I'm going out to check her flat."

Six-two is the number later reassigned to Murphy, isn't it? Or am I getting my call signs confused?

Cowley warns that Anna's flat is probably being watched, but Bodie blithely assures him that "I'll just use my Bulgarian mojo…it's a cross between a force beam and a poisoned umbrella."

Cowley actually chuckles to himself as he puts the phone down, which is a relief – he's been almost completely humourless throughout this episode, so it's always a relief when he actually gets the joke! He's usually bemused by the Lads' humour, and alternately either indulges or stomps on it.

CI5. Doyle and Cowley are watching Doyle's over-exposed video footage. Neither recognises Michael's bald companion. It stands to reason that there must be something important on the film, or those two thugs wouldn't have been sent after it, but they can't work out what.

Bodie goes to Anna's house to have a poke around. Michael and his Bald Companion watch him go in, and are satisfied that he will eventually lead them to her.

CI5. The tape is playing again. While Cowley phones through to the lab for a blow-up of Michael's Bald Companion, Doyle answers the other phone, which gives a nice air of CI5-at-work to the scene, with so much going on. Doyle's call tells him that the car on the tape was a cash rental, so no clues there; Cowley suspects it will have been got rid of already. "Well, maybe they don't train them as well as you do," Doyle cheerfully ripostes.

Michael and Baldie follow Bodie to CI5 HQ and watch him go in.

Cowley asks about the Hampstead place, and Doyle reports that it is having building work done, which is a good disguise for all the coming and going. Bodie arrives to show Cowley a photograph he found in Anna's flat, and mildly asks what happened to Doyle, seeing the dressing on his face.

"I was doing some cinema verite, somebody hit me with the kitchen sink," Doyle equally casually replies. All in a day's work, really.

The photograph – an old one of a young couple – isn't Batak, Cowley is sure of it. They ponder possible identifications, whether it even means anything, and then decide that it isn't proof of anything anyway. Getting frustrated with the lack of progress, Cowley sends Bodie to bring Anna in and get her flat sealed off, and instructs Doyle to keep watching the tape in case something crucial jumps out at him after repeated viewings.

Bodie's return home means the random replacement agent is free to go. Michael and Baldie watch him leave. Inside, Bodie escorts Anna downstairs. "Would you believe it – I'm taking you to see my leader," he dryly informs her.
"Haven't you played this silly game enough?" Anna complains.
"The silly game, sweetheart, was played by you," Bodie unsympathetically tells her. "You had a life, a career ahead of you, and now you've blown it."

Having to share the lift with a third party makes for further awkwardness, but Bodie nevertheless continues to press for information, very quietly in her ear. "What was it? Money? Blackmail? Or maybe it was love."

Anna maintains her steely, indignant silence. Downstairs, the third party politely allows them to exit ahead of him, and as they reach the door the reason for this becomes clear – he's one of those random thugs accompanying Michael and Baldie. Three against one, they overpower and incapacitate Bodie with ease, and make off with Anna.

CI5. Cowley is trying without success to raise Bodie on the R/T, presumably worried about his non-appearance with Anna, when Doyle comes rushing in. It turns out that repeated viewings of that videotape really have turned up a vital clue, after all. Sharp-eyed Doyle.

"Something's happened to Bodie, I can't raise him," Cowley frets en route to the video room.
"Probably taking piano lessons." Doyle dismisses his controller's concern completely. And it's details like that that put me off this episode. The plot could be worse, and the banter is amusing in places, but…there's no heart. Any connection between the partners is coming from the actors when they are together in a scene, not the writing, and as a result the whole thing falls flat.

Anyway. "It wasn't anything to do with keeping Baldie out of the gossip columns," says Doyle, pointing to a shadowy figure who can just barely be made out in an upstairs window of the house. "I think that's the man in the photograph," he declares.

Later. The lab has come up trumps – enlarging and enhancing that shadowy image into a very distinct picture, and there is no doubt about it. It is the same man in the photograph from Anna's flat – her father, Stefan Batak, Doyle believes.

"The dead man had his prints!" Cowley protests, deeply frustrated with this case.
"Could have been switched," Doyle points out. "The dead man's for Batak's, years ago."

Which means he could still be alive – and in London. Cowley is relieved that things are finally starting to make sense, musing that he could never understand why the Bulgarians would want to give up Stefan Batak, and now he knows – they didn't.

Bodie's place. Having come around at last, Bodie runs water over his sore head.

CI5. Cowley: "All that publicity – we announce we have him back, we certify him dead…"
Doyle: "Batak's free to do his dirty work."

Cowley gets on the phone and orders all units to Redman Square, where the real Stefan Batak was last seen. Then he and Doyle are just on their way out when the phone rings again. It's Bodie, sounding all groggy and concussed as he confesses to having lost the girl. Cowley's concern for his agents re-surfaces as he asks if Bodie is all right, but no sooner has Bodie begun to explain that he has just taken a "crash course…" than he is cut off by an irate controller, who doesn't have time for this. The big mistake, see, is saying the immortal words: 'I'm all right'. Cowley snaps at him to meet them at Redman Square, where they have a rendezvous with Stefan Batak. Then he hangs up, no doubt leaving Bodie extremely confused, since Batak was dead the last he heard.

In the car, Cowley drives while Doyle continues to mull over the case aloud. These two seem to quite enjoy brainstorming together – they do it often enough. I think Cowley likes Doyle's brain. At this stage, they suspect that having replaced Batak, the Bulgarians would have also replaced Anna, that the Anna they have been dealing with was a phony all along. They still believe that she poisoned the fake Batak, but are puzzled as to why the Bulgarians would then go to so much trouble to snatch her back. They obviously don't believe in honour among spies, if they think the Bulgarians would plant one of their agents as Anna and then abandon her as soon as the job was done. It's all way too much double and triple-think for me.

Doyle: "A little human emotion among the mechanics?"
Cowley: "Enough to risk their lives against the likes of Bodie?"

Nice faith in his agent, there. But seriously – three against one with the element of surprise really wasn't that much of a risk. Bodie never even got the chance to fight back. And I don't think it's that far-fetched for the Bulgarians to want to retrieve a valuable agent – no more so than what actually transpires, that they are going to these lengths to abduct Batak's daughter just because he wants to see her.

Doyle: "Maybe his reputation doesn't extend as far as Sofia."
Cowley: "It's about time you took the Bulgarians seriously."

Needs Lodge. Random Thugs hop into their car and depart. Inside, Michael and Baldie usher Anna into a sitting room, wherein her real father is waiting to greet her. Relieved to see him at last, she rushes across the room for an affectionate hug, and the other two leave them alone to catch up. "You have saved my life," Batak tells her.

But Anna is troubled, wondering who the other man was. "Anna, there are a lot of things you do not know about, important things," says Batak, attempting to brush her off in true paternal fashion. But Anna insists on being told, worried that what she was told about the other man being murdered was true. And this isn't an act for CI5's benefit – she clearly is completely in the dark, rather than being the cold-blooded murderer she is suspected to be. How she came to be involved with Michael and what he told her about his work and who he is remains a mystery. Batak insists that Fake!Batak wasn't murdered. Despite the fact that fast-acting poison was found in his body.

Team CI5 rock up to Redman Square. "What's going on?" Bodie wonders, reasonably enough, as he double parks alongside Cowley's car.
"I'll fill you in later," Cowley unhelpfully tells him. I know they are mid-operation, but if he's expected to play a meaningful role here, it might help if he knew a little bit about it.
"You just can't keep your women, can you?" Doyle teases. He can get away with that because he doesn't know about the blow to the head, or how long his partner was unconscious. The lack of partnerly concern is disappointing, though, given the length of time Bodie was out of contact.
"She had to be dragged away from me," Bodie snips, and then Cowley returns their minds to the task at hand, giving the order to move in.

As they all move off, Doyle can be seen quietly asking if Bodie is okay, and being given an affirmative answer, which is a nice touch given how unfeeling a lot of the interaction comes across – this episode tends to be a bit by-the-numbers, rather than having a true feel of the characters about it. It isn't clear, though, if this was scripted or ad-libbed by the actors as the scene ended. It's so tiny and throwaway, just barely caught by the camera, that it looks ad-libbed.

Getting no answer when he rings, Doyle picks the lock. It's probably wrong how much I enjoy seeing that kind of thing. The raid, however, is a complete bust – the house has already been vacated. Unsurprising, really, given that the Bulgarians know Doyle got away with that video footage they were so anxious to retrieve from him.

Cowley radios into base to have all ports and airports put onto full alert for Batak under a false identity and with the new description. Next stop – Needs Lodge. Everyone legs it back to their cars, and Bodie does that thing of his where he pulls off without bothering to close the door, so that momentum swings it shut for him. Doyle travels with Cowley again. This episode doesn't have Bodie and Doyle together often enough. A new viewer could be forgiven for thinking that Bodie works solo while Doyle partners Cowley!

Needs Lodge. Batak produces American passports for himself and Anna, promising her a fresh start: a new life for them both together. Starting in Texas, where he will be 'working'.

Now, as fond as Anna seems to be of her father, it seems pretty clear from what we've heard of his past that she's never actually lived with him – or if she did, it was when she was very young. She knows him only as someone she visits once a year. Her reluctance to drop everything and fly to the other side of the world with him is, therefore, understandable, especially after the way the last few days have gone for her.

Baldie drops in to hurry them along, which means that Anna has got a big decision to make, very quickly.

In the car, Cowley takes a call from HQ – the autopsy on Fake!Batak has revealed a slow-release capsule under his skin which was the real source of the toxin; it would have taken four days for it to kill him. This means that he definitely was murdered, whatever Real!Batak wants Anna to think, and regardless of whether or not he was already terminally ill – as Batak will later claim – which you'd think the autopsy would have revealed.

Doyle: "Bastards."
Cowley: "When Bodie picked him up at the border he was already as good as dead. She didn't kill him."

Which border did Bodie pick him up at, I wonder? It clearly wasn't in the UK, given their roadside meeting, as all UK borders are ports. Must have been across the Channel someplace. The Bulgarian border itself, even.

Doyle: "They get Vashunin, we get a corpse."
Cowley: "And they used the real daughter to clinch it."

They have no more evidence of Anna's identity than they did the last time they spoke, other than confirmation of how Fake!Batak died. And yet they have now decided, based on that fact alone, that she is the genuine article.

Doyle gets on the blower to give Bodie this latest news, but only the bare bones of it. Bodie really is being kept out of the loop in this episode, while Doyle works closely with Cowley. What's up with that?

Cowley: "You think that'll restore his faith in human nature?"
Doyle: "It may shatter his convictions."

Needs Lodge. "When I pretended that man was you, did I or did I not condemn him to death?" Anna demands to know. She is a very cool and collected character, has been throughout, but the strain of all this subterfuge is starting to show.

Batak tells her that the other man was already dying of an incurable disease. Well, that was convenient, then. "He was a martyr for our country."

Except that Anna doesn't consider herself to be Bulgarian, we already know that. Anna sadly tells him he is lying to her. Batak insists that he isn't. But he was a professional spy all his life, a double agent – how can anyone ever tell whether or not he is telling the truth? Anna certainly doesn't know. Michael and Baldie burst back in to escort Batak out to the car, Baldie snapping something curt at Anna in Bulgarian, which is rude because he knows that she doesn't understand the language. The men all leave and close the door behind them, leaving Anna alone. Outside, Batak pleads with Baldie to give him more time to talk her around, but Baldie insists that there is no time. "It was part of the deal!" Batak protests.

Baldie suggests that Michael try. "He's her friend, she trusts him," he says. Well, she might have trusted him when she believed he was her friend, and she clearly knew that he was involved with this plan to get her father into the country secretly, but given everything that has happened, I suspect her trust might not be as firm as it once was. As Michael heads back inside, Baldie calls after him and slyly slips a gun into his hand. "Kill her," he instructs the man. Yeah, that'll do wonders for keeping Batak on side. Michael looks reluctant, but nods his assent.

As Team CI5 race through the streets of London toward Hampstead, Michael finds Anna pacing fretfully. She whirls around on him the moment he enters, demanding to know where her father is being taken now. Didn't her father just tell her that the plan was to go to America? I'd say it was pretty obvious that he'll be making that journey sooner rather than later, what with CI5 being on the case and all. No time to waste. Anyway, she harangues him furiously to tell her, angrily protesting that he'd assured her no one would get hurt. Rather than just shooting her on the spot, Michael takes the time to try and calm her down and see reason. Or at least, reason as he sees it.

Outside, Batak is worried about the non-appearance of both Michael and Anna, and Baldie is getting impatient. Inside, Michael sits Anna down and tries to soothe her, trying to pluck up the courage to go through with executing her. It seems Michael really does have feelings for her beyond his job after all.

Baldie gets fed up of waiting and starts to drive, prompting Batak to try and grab the wheel off him, not wanting to go without his daughter. Then CI5 show up to the party, blocking their escape anyway. Batak promptly hops out of the car and hurries back to the house in search of his daughter, while Baldie gets into a shoot out with the approaching CI5 cars. Notice how Cowley, in the lead car, ducks and cringes, while Doyle leaps out and starts shooting back.

Inside, Anna hears the shooting and tries to make a run for it, only for Michael to grab her. It's rather an action-packed last few minutes, really.

While Doyle takes Baldie down, Bodie sprints to the house just in time to save Anna, whose cool exterior has finally crumbled. She clings to him and weeps. And Bodie was the one who was mean to her and didn't want to give her the benefit of the doubt even to her face, never mind behind her back.

So, Baldie is dead and Michael is dead, and the real Stefan Batak has finally been apprehended. "At last. Great Uncle Bulgaria," Cowley dryly greets the double agent. "Welcome to England."

So, at the end of the day it all racks up as a good result for CI5, after they'd been given the run around for so long.

"You going with him or with me?" Bodie asks his partner, as they amble back out of the manor.
Doyle looks at Anna, sitting in the front passenger seat of Bodie's car, and sighs. "I suppose I'd better go with the Boss."
"Why not?" Bodie smirks his fondness for that plan.
"Try not to lose her this time," Doyle suggests by way of farewell, and Bodie cheerfully assures him that he will do his best.

And that's the end of that. It's a shame, really, because there are a lot of good ideas in this one, and some lovely little moments. But overall the episode is a bit of a let-down.