3-07. God Help Your Friends.

Mark Tedder (Michael Jayston) and Beth Lampton (Stephanie
Beacham).A happy couple - but not for much longer...

Air Date: June 3, 1970. Written by: William Emms. Directed by: Peter Duguid. Produced by: Reginald Collin.


THE PLOT:

Beth Lampton (Stephanie Beacham) works as an interpreter and is soon to attend a NATO conference, where she will have access to classified information. She is newly engaged to Mark Tedder (Michael Jayston), a sometime journalist suspected by The Section of having ties to Moscow. Which makes their marriage Section business; if Tedder is connected to the Russians, then the marriage will give him access to the exact kind of information they don't want the Opposition to possess.

"This marriage is not on!" Hunter declares, assigning Callan and Cross to break up the happy couple. Callan finds a promising line of attack in Jeanette Valden (Rachel Herbert), Tedder's beautiful former editor who clearly retains strong feelings for him. He sends Lonely to retrieve old love letters exchanged between Tedder and Jeanette, and then delivers them to Beth, hoping to drive a wedge between the two.

"Two people want to get married, but now they don't trust each other anymore... (Now) all we do is sit back and watch the bloody poison work."

Lonely shows Callan letters "of an intimate nature."

CHARACTERS:

Callan: Is disgusted by the assignment, even snapping to Hunter that "it's not our job anyway!" He is clearly unconvinced that Tedder has sold any secrets, pointing out that they are basing their suspicions on a handful of assumptions. He and Cross continue to clash over Callan's age and Cross's inexperience: Cross thinks Callan has gone soft and is past his prime; Callan thinks Cross behaves rashly and doesn't fully analyze situations.

Hunter: Though he is emphatic about needing fast results, he cautions Cross and Callan that he doesn't want anything "untoward" done to either of their targets. He endorses their plan to try to break up the couple by playing on Tedder's past affairs; when this doesn't work, however, he lays the blame squarely on them and pushes even harder for more effective efforts.

Cross: Another way in which Cross differs from Meres in the first two seasons is that Cross is a True Believer. In A Village Called G, Cross insisted that what The Section does is important, and that he wouldn't be doing it otherwise. In this episode, when Callan presses him about the way they are planning to hurt Beth, Cross almost reflexively responds that he's "doing it for her" as much as anybody. I believe his patriotism is genuine. He isn't wrapping himself in the flag to justify violence; he's willing to do violence because he has fully bought into the idea that he's serving a greater good.

Lonely: "Mr. Callan, I'm still on parole!" Perhaps it's just because this episode is weaker than most, but I am now officially tired of this declaration. Thankfully, Russell Hunter so inhabits the character that he can't help but deliver some good bits. Mostly nonverbal ones: He grins as he reads Tedder's intimate letters.  Later, when he is nearly busted leaving the apartment, he loses his temper with Callan, throwing the flowers he's holding onto the table with Callan's model soldiers - only to immediately freeze as he realizes that he's crossed a line.

Poisoned trust: Beth and Tedder, after being on
the receiving end of The Section's worst efforts.

THOUGHTS:

God Help Your Friends has one genuinely interesting element: We never know whether Tedder is guilty of any misconduct. We're left with the same information as Callan and Cross: That a caller pressed him for information that might have to do with Beth's job or that might just have to do with his journalism work; and that he'd had been adjacent to breaches that Hunter observes "could have been him - just could have." Even at the end, we can't be certain if he was using Beth or if he was genuine in his feelings for her.

Unfortunately, the rest of the episode doesn't hit the mark. There are a couple decent scenes between Callan and Cross, and the script gets a lift from good performances by guest stars Stephanie Beacham and Michael Jayston. But it's all depressingly predictable. Ten minutes in, I knew exactly how the episode would end. Forty minutes later, I was proved right.

Also, regardless of politics or espionage... Beth and Tedder really shouldn't get married. She clearly is not as sanguine about his past affairs as she claims. He is too quick to tell "white lies" to her, and even quicker to make accusations and behave resentfully. As the episode proves, neither one of them trusts the other. Had The Section stayed out of it, I wouldn't have given their marriage more than two years. Given that our sympathies are clearly meant to lie with them - or at least with her - it undercuts emotional engagement when the viewer has so little investment in them as a couple.

In the end, God Help Your Friends is entirely watchable, but also pretty mediocre. Which makes it well below average for a series where even the weaker episodes usually have some substance to them.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

Previous Episode: Act of Kindness
Next Episode: Breakout



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