The Last Enemy is a BBC TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and featuring Robert Carlyle and Max Beesley which first aired on 17 February 2008.
Set in a near-future United Kingdom beset by terrorism and illegal immigration, it features the introduction of “TIA”, a centralised database that can be used to track and monitor anybody effectively by putting all available government information in one place. The story deals with a political cover-up centred around the emergence of a deadly virus, as well as the moral, social and privacy concerns (and even merits) of such a system in a post-9/11 world. The story is told through the eyes of a mathematical genius who is portrayed as a recluse and showing some signs of OCD.
I’ve always been a fan of espionage, ever since I read the Robert Ludlum novels at a tender young age of 10. This is one of the reasons why I’ve stopped reading them, since they simply followed a tried and tested formula. It got repetitive after 10 novels or so. I got really interested in Tom Clancy novels after that.
The Last Enemy is really interesting. In the future, the UK has become a Big Brother like society. It’s not really as extreme as that epithet leads you to believe. It’s the beginning of the end of free will to protect the society from imagined or real terrorism. It draws a disturbing parallel with what is happening in the US right now. That’s not to say that this isn’t happening in Europe as well.
I enjoyed the show. It’s about TIA. What’s TIA? Total Information Awareness. It’s a gigantic DB that links all of the other DB that have been compiled in the UK into one real time accessible system. Meaning that you can track anyone at anytime thanks to satellite coverage and CCTV cameras, as well as tracking their purchases and habits through their spending.
In this episode, we see that Stephen’s brother Michael isn’t dead. He’s on his way back into the UK. It’s not that easy since the UK is rapidly becoming a police state in this mini-series, thanks to TIA. They are still trying to find out what happened with the vaccine and the deaths in the refugee camps in Afghanistan.
There are a lot of conspiracies, the main one involves the government covering up a nascent plague in the Middle East since they believe that they caused it in some fashion through some vaccines. I really like this series. It’s compelling, disturbing and original. I recommend it.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
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Stephen wakes up in the lab. He sees the deceased Morden. He hears someone coming. He grabs the gun. He sees a camera and tries to clean up the gun. He runs off. He runs into Russell in an elevator.
The assistant gets a field report from her agents. They got Morden, but didn’t get Yazim. someone is looking at. Stephen calls Brooke. She’s in the House of Representatives in session to for the TIA bill. She tells him that she can’t talk tonight. He should check into a hotel. In the hotel, he hears the report that more refugees are dying on the Pakistani border. A creepy man from the hotel barges in and wants to clean his shoes. He takes them away. Stephen watches Brooke in session. An alarm is heard. He runs off. He is abducted in the parking garage. He was abducted by Russell. Russell says that 15 microbiologists have died in the last 3 years. They didn’t die from natural causes. Morden was just the last in a long line.
Russell asks him about Nadir. Russell looks dangerous so Ezard tells him what he knows. Russell gets violent when Ezard tells him that he is only looking for Yazim. Russell deduces that he banged Yazim. Russell says that she played him like a fish and disappeared. Russell releases him. He thought mistakenly that Ezard was a player.
Minister Brooke’s bill passed. She is trying to contact Ezard, but he is missing. The PM’s assistant Barbara Turney is talking with the George Gibbon about the possible fallout. She says that they have to wait to assess how to handle Ezard.
Ezard is dropped off at his hotel. He sees news footage about Morden’s death. Naturally the security services planted a tracer in Ezard’s shoes. He meets with Brooke. He tells her what happened. She says that Morden’s death was suicide. She dismisses his fears. She tells him that Russell must have been from the security services.
At the Afghan-Pakistani border, Nye is investigating the death of Micheal Ezard. Their hit on him was apparently unsuccessful. By now, he’s back in the UK. Russell is using his own version of TIA. He’s spying remotely on Nye doing his investigations.
Stephen is on a BBC panel to defend the TIA. He didn’t do too badly. The people loved his total lack of interest in the panel. He came across as honest. As Ezard makes his way home, Yazim has followed him. Minister Brooke phones him to tell him that the police won’t be interviewing him. The cameras weren’t working at the lab. He’s in the clear. She congratulates him on his performance on the panel.
Yazim wants to know why he was following Morden. He says that he was following her. Yazim says that the receptionist at the lab was killed because she looked like her. Michael was trying to find a link between a Hep B vaccine and the sickness that was spreading in the refugee camps. She got sick when she stuck the vaccine into herself to prove to kids that it was safe. Morden was researching this. Yazim wants to have Nadir autopsied. She thinks that Laurence Cooper could help her. She needs evidence. Stephen says that he’ll check Cooper out with the TIA.
Someone is looking for Yazim at the Queens Hostel. They find out that Ezard was looking for her as well.
As Nye makes his way home via helicopter, Russell calls Scylla, Nye’s fixer in Pakistan. He’s got Scylla covered by a gunman and a camera. He wants information. They’ve just finished burning the bodies of the infected.
Ezard is missing from a meeting. He’s researching Cooper. Turney comes to get him. She interrupts him on purpose. Why does someone from the PMO’s office has a Level 1 access into TIA? From her profile, she looks like the PM’s assistant. Turney immediately trawls what Ezard has been working on.
Ezard comes home to find Batz. He’s from an anti-ID group. Yazim says that Batz has found a clinic where she can perform her autopsy. Ezard says that Cooper might be worth a try. He’s planning on going to one of his lectures. Cooper says that Morden was unlikely to commit suicide.
The refugees arrive in London via a container on the Thames. Michael is with them. They make it through. Michael splits from the group of refugees. Gibbon is watching Ezard meet with Cooper. Turney is briefing Gibbon. There is a mystery man on the hill.
The man looking for Yazim has found her trail. He’s following Yazim and Ezard. Before he can get close to them, Russell abducts them and has them strip. He wants to get rid of any trackers. Russell says that Michael’s jeep was hit with two RPGs. Russell has to start shooting before they start talking. Russell has them dig up Nadir’s body. They find Batz’s body in the coffin and not Nadir. Russell says that Nadir was his daughter.
Michael goes home to his flat. He takes a shower and shaves.
Someone is waiting for Ezard and Yazim with a silenced gun.
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