This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them or letting them go and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.
The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and grim official statistics. Watched it about a month ago having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season has to be right up there among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.
Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe it can’t get any worse, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects in the concluding part of the season. Absolutely had to relax following that!
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise the whole episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be!
Nothing I have seen has been as tense compared to my initial viewing the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Superb programming. Never bettered.
The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to a nearly intolerable level, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.
Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.
I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
Elara is a passionate writer and photographer who shares insights on creativity and mindful living through engaging storytelling.
