The hour began in spectacular fashion but ended in tragedy for Section 20 on last night's episode of Strike Back on Sky1.
The fourth episode of the fifth and final season of the series was written by James Dormer and directed by Julian Holmes. Picking up from last week's cliffhanger, Scott, along with his son Finn, and Stonebridge, were both stranded in sticky situations.
Somewhat surprisingly, the pair were able to shoot their way out of trouble quite early in the episode. In the case of Scott and son Finn, we got to see a bit of father and son conversation between the pair as Scott skillfully neutralized the remaining forces tracking them through the jungle, and hailed a fishing boat to return to civilization. Scott quickly dropped the ball and chain on a bus back to the city and safety and continued alone.
In Stonebridge's case, a pair of CIA agents came to his rescue, taking out the remaining Yakuza forces that Richmond and Locke had already evaded. Agents Mason and Faber passed the background checks as legitimate CIA operatives, but played the Section 20 team as they piggybacked off their intel to locate their own target, Shiro, who had been working for Mei, who is now well cemented as the primary enemy in the Strike Back: Legacy story.
It turned out to be a wild goose chase for Section 20, however. Keen to put the brakes on the shipment of vanadium destined for Mei's home state of North Korea, Section 20 minus Scott were pointed in the direction of a decoy shipment, which they destroyed in spectacular fashion.
Twice in the hour, Scott called Stonebridge on a cellphone he bought from one of the fishermen. Good banter was had, with Stonebridge telling Scott that girlfriend Julia had 'moved on' in his absence. Later the couple spoke on the phone directly, but little did they know it would be their last time in contact.
While Martinez was planting explosives on the final decoy truck, Richmond became cornered as Mei's men pinned her down from multiple angles and wounded her. On Mei's orders, Richmond's life was spared, but only temporarily, as Mei took Richmond in her getaway vehicle, and ended up executing her and dumping her body on the road for Scott to find a short time later.
This was a really rough death, and came as a complete surprise. Even though it's more than 600 days since season 4 screened, the death of Rhonda Mitra's character Rachel Dalton is still surprisingly fresh in my memory, and her death came at the hands of the same writer and director, and in the fourth episode of that season too. Since Strike Back's first season I always enjoyed Julia Richmond and Michelle Lukes' depiction of the character. She was somewhat reserved, and the more introverted member of the team, though she was still a force to be reckoned with.
Despite this, I was pleased Richmond stood her ground, maintained her silence and integrity, and didn't reveal any information on Section 20 to Mei. Her final words were chilling, but do represent the risks that she and her teammates took in doing their job.
"I always knew I would die like this. In a place like this. I just didn't know who would pull the trigger"
The entire scene showcased an excellent piece of acting by Michelle Lukes too.
Given Strike Back is not known for long term relationships among its main characters, and Scott himself has been a womanizer since the beginning, I was really enjoying Scott and Richmond's relationship because it was so unique in that respect, and the chemistry between the actors and the characters has always been present. I'm not normally one to rave about character relationships, but what little we did see of this one is worth noting.
Nevertheless, despite hoping for a happy ending for the couple given it's the series' final season, Section 20 now have to pick up the pieces and move on. They have six episodes to seek revenge, and that will surely be much more satisfying to watch in the wake of last night's events. With Martinez now the only female lead, how her role changes in the team dynamics will be something worth keeping an eye on, as well as Scott's mindset thanks to his grief. I'll make an early prediction that it's Scott who returns the favor and dispatches Mei later in the season.
Thanks as always for reading! Do share your thoughts and theories in the comments below. I'd also love to hear your highlights from Julia Richmond's time on Strike Back.
jeez that felt like a season finale.i just knew in my "gut" she is gonna die when she drew the fire for martinez.
ReplyDeleteYeah it did have a finale feel to it in a way. I was more or less convinced she would be captured for a couple of episodes but obviously that was wrong.
ReplyDeleteSadly it wasn't a surprise to me - curse of actors being on twitter and in the social media. If somebody post messages from the other end of the world while the rest of the crew is still shooting, it is a telling sign.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jimmy, Michelle Lukes was very good in her more subtle role. She was practically the only one who "climbed up" on her own during the show. All the other female cast members were either obvious LIs of one of the two guys or were bosses. Julia Richmond at first was only a background technician, then we learned her name and she carveda bigger slice of attention in each season. I was very happy that up till the end of last season the kept her integrity (ie. didn't put her into anybody's bed). I would have preferred if they kept this way, but it's past tense now.
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ReplyDeleteA really good read, Jimmy. I appreciate the shout-out to Richmond's worth to the team, and that she died doing her duty. There have already been too many tweets and such about the show 'losing a piece of eye candy so soon after finally seeing her naked,' and I feel that undermines what a strong, crucial character she was to the whole show.
ReplyDeleteYou expect this to happen by now on Strike Back, and while I had my heart set on Richmond becoming the boss, or an implied Richmond-Martinez spin-off, at least she went out as a soldier, and for once they didn't show the actual event. They really love their headshots on Strike Back (if I recall correctly, every team member but Kate has gone out in that way), but I don't think I could've handled it with her.
Still not over Dustin Clare's mullet and accent, though. Holy moly.
Oh crap. I loved her character. I feard for Richmond already last season. She was the last one of the original crib team (cinemax run).
ReplyDeleteEven tough I loved Rebacca as Scott's girl, I liked Julia Richmond. But when we got that moment with Scott and Richmond talking about that special dinner, I knew she would die, I only was hoping it would happen later in the season. Even though the writers are now going to explore Scott's grief, which might be an interesting road, I feel like that they also are starting to dismantling the team, Richmond has been with them from the beginning, and her death is really sad. I liked Julia better as a technician than as Scott's girl friend. It was bit strange to see him happy and attached to someone. Scott always had a softer side, but he always kept his emotional distance. Scott's character development has been the biggest to me and I wonder where he will end up at the season and series finale. Stonebridge will stay in the military for sure, just might take a more leading position behind the lines.
ReplyDeleteThe last scenes were beautiful shot, Richmonds last words, Scott arriving too late and then Stonebridge standing next to him. The landscape so beautiful and peaceful was a perfect surrounding and and the same time a great contrast to the event. Well done, Strike Back is certainly going out with a bang. Julia Richmond you will be missed.
Good thoughts. Agreed on the beautiful landscape used in the final scene - the image of the alley of trees I used for the main photo of this review was a good example of that.
ReplyDeleteCheers, glad you enjoyed it @Kat F. There's no doubt Richmond was easy on the eyes but I'm pleased the writers have always kept the character strong and integral to the team. Not showing the actual death was, like you say, a bit of a deviation from the norm. I hope Richmond is the last main character to meet their demise but given this is the final season it's not something I'd put money on.
ReplyDeleteu see that is why they stand out .they dont mess around .
ReplyDeleteis it just me or is the quality of the stunts not on par with S3 and S4?
ReplyDeleteThough we did finally some proper swordsmanship on S5E2