Sully and Philip play brilliantly off each other. You'd never know it's probably been at least 2 years since they portrayed those characters together. Unfortunately, Novin and Reynolds both seem a bit unimpressed with our intrepid duo as they banter about something that took place in Sao Paolo that distracted them from chasing down Lowery and the Atlas. I want to know what the writer's had in mind for what took place! Or what Sully and Philip think happened. What did Mikey get himself into that Damien would probably use against him in the future?? We will likely never know.
Reynolds gets a call from Wyatt with news that they know where the Atlas is. With her and Novin being closer, they decide to head out to the island where it is being kept. Stonebridge and Scott agree to hold off Stillwater so that the women can get away. Before they take off though, Stonebridge tosses Reynolds a cell phone telling her to keep in touch.
Now, something I don't get. Scott asks Stonebridge if they are still going to steal the Atlas from the new team when/if they get it. Why? Don't they work for the same team? Do they only get paid if they hand it over? The dialogue just seems out of place.
Guns once more ablazin', our duo makes their way out. It's also great to see Sully and Philip easily slip back into the weapons handling habits they learned on the show. Granted, Sully keeps his a bit honed thanks to Blindspot but the deadliest thing Philip gets to pick up now is probably a letter opener on SVU.
While the new Section 20 is oh so close to the Atlas, the dirty Russians are able to make off with it. Disheartened, knowing the Atlas is their only hope of keeping the section and themselves alive, Reynolds makes use of the cell phone Stonebridge gave her and calls him for backup.
We join five of our heroes at a old KGB safehouse now bar to figure out their next step. Five?? Wait... where is Scott? Late as usual, according to Stonebridge. In reality, mother nature kept Sully away from some of the filming so we missed out on one of the now infamous Scott shagging scenes.
But first things first. In episode 8, the team lost one of its members. Will Jensen (pronounced Yen-sen), the computer tech/comms guy, got taken out by the team's CO at the orders of Whitehall. Novin, particularly attached to him, grabs glasses and a bottle of liquor to mark his death. It made me tear up. I adored Jensen. He reminded me so much of Baxter, who also met a tragic end. And then I got mad remembering Scott & Stonebridge's Section 20 never marked Baxter's death. I blame the writers 100% for this.
Stonebridge remains quietly in the background, knowing all too well what it's like to lose a teammate and a friend. Even if you didn't know Stonebridge had lost far too many of them to count, the beautifully, subtle facial and eye expressions by Philip would tell you he's touched by what he is witnessing.
The team has no idea where to find the Russian GRU Black Ops who took the Atlas so they decide to find something to trade. And, low and behold, not too far from where they are is a Russian data bank of servers. All they have to do is break in and steal them. Except for all those pesky security protocols. Unless, Stonebridge suggests, they take out the power grid to give themselves a window during which only the barest of security will be online. The team thinks this is a great idea, except for Wyatt, and convince the reluctant Stonebridge to handle that part of the plan.
Scott suddenly bursts into the bar and is greeted by the barrels of 5 guns pointed at him. Much to his chagrin, Stonebridge ushers him out of the bar without so much as a drop of beer to inform him of the new plan.
The new teams heads to the GRU site and the last we see of our dynamic duo, they are shooting up the power station to bring down the grid. And with a toss of his phone into the burning equipment, Stonebridge says they should head back to Sao Paolo.
The new team does steal the server and makes a trade with the GRU, unceremoniously dumping the server rack out of the back of a truck and causing my techie/geek heart to cry a little. In true covert ops fashion, the Russians turn on them and try to kill them after the trade. The episode ends as they take off in the truck still in a firefight with the GRU team.
It was just announced this week that Strike Back was renewed for a 7th season. Will we see Stonebridge and Scott back again? Never say never but both Sully and Philip have made it clear they come as a package. I loved seeing the boys together again, loved their banter, and how beautifully they play off each other. I'd love to have this every week again but, they've cheated death too many times already. I'd rather have them never be on the show again and know they're alive than see them again and worrying they may die. Besides, the new team has built their own dynamics and adding them into the mix shifts everything around.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but it's the new team's Strike Back now. Dan MacPherson, Alin Sumarwata, Warren Brown, and Roxanne Mckee have worked hard and gave it their all. They really started to gel over the last half of season 6. As they head out for destinations not yet unannounced for the new season, I can't wait see how much better it gets with them.
