After a marathon 594 days between the season 4 finale and season 5 premiere, Strike Back returned with many big bangs last night in the UK on Sky1. Sadly, if you're a US viewer, you've got a full 8 weeks to wait until Strike Back screens on Cinemax on July 31.
The premiere of the final season, fittingly titled Strike Back: Legacy, was fantastic. The latest assignment for Section 20 began in Thailand, where the abduction of Chloe Foster, the daughter of British ambassador Robin Foster spurred the team into action. In what was a brilliant opening few minutes, lead duo Damien Scott and Michael Stonebridge emerged from the murky river beneath the kidnappers' hideout, with Kim Martinez distracting the crew by killing the power generator, and Julia Richmond and Philip Locke leading the operation remotely.
Once all hell broke loose, ringleader Ray McQueen's right hand man escaped with Chloe on a boat, with Scott on their tail on a jetski and Stonebridge close behind on a dirt bike. While the action scenes are one of Strike Back's strongest attributes, Director Michael J. Bassett, who also co-wrote the episode with Tim Vaughan & James Dormer, went to town with the camera positions and cuts, with some awesome GoPro style shots putting the viewer right in the middle of the action.
This trend continued right through the hour too, and the numerous stunts and fight scenes looked noticeably more refined alongside a well utilized bunch of extras and brilliant set design, with the locations such as the night club and crowded streets looking outstanding. The production quality was a massive overall step up for Strike Back, which was already one of the finest in its class.
Though the river pursuit ended in a fiery crash for Scott, Chloe remained at large with her captors, and the fun and games on the negotiation front swung into action. Chloe's father Robin wasn't satisfied with Section 20's handling of the attempted rescue and decided to go autonomous instead, using his position of power to walk a bomb into the embassy to decimate some North Korean diplomats. With just 15 minutes before the bomb detonated, Scott and Stonebridge had the unenviable task of pressing into gang territory to rescue, with Richmond also showing up at the last minute and saving Stonebridge from a grueling hand to hand engagement.
Despite their best efforts, the bomb detonated seconds after Locke shouted through the door to Robin that his daughter was safe, albeit minus a finger which was mailed to him earlier. It was too late for Robin to escape, though most of the North Koreans along with Locke succeeded in escaping the blast. It's early days but it looks likely that the final season of Strike Back will see some more North Korean involvement.
In summary, it's such a good feeling to see Strike Back return to the television world. The wait was worth it for the step up in production quality alone. I'm going to miss one of television's best bromances in ten weeks time, but it looks like these ten weeks will be one of the highlights of 2015 for me. One tiny criticism is the shortened title sequence. I really enjoyed the new graphic design, but the soundtrack is so good that shortening it kind of ruins it!
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