I started watching Spooks/MI-5 from the beginning, series 1 episode 1, like a responsible fan. Tom Quinn, Zoe Reynolds and company were interesting, but could I really wait until series 7 to meet Lucas North?
The answer is no, of course. I skipped ahead after just a few episodes…and got hooked instantly!
Lucas: They told me I could come home if I spied for them.
Harry: what did you say?
Lucas: I said yes.
We meet Lucas North in the midst of an intelligence agency exchange between England and Russia, where Lucas has been imprisoned for the past eight years. He looks a bit malnourished, exhausted and all around disheveled, in his worn baggy clothes with his shaggy hair and facial scruff. Lucas leans his weary head towards the car window, watching the blurry city lights fly by like the lives of those he once knew, the years having flown by without him. Harry asks how he was treated in prison, Lucas replies:
“sometimes well, sometimes not.”
So sets the tone for this entire episode, where Lucas constantly tries to put others at ease. They don’t seem to know how to act towards their fellow Spook, who has sacrificed much by suffering very real horrors in honor of his country.
Yet, he’s the one who comforts them, he’s the one who lightens the tone, he’s the one who shares his fish & chips!
When Lucas encounters his former co-worker, Malcolm, he immediately asks how his mom is doing…I mean, how can you not like him instantly?!
Yes, things come into play during series 8 and 9 that may make one change their tune…blah, blah, blah. Lucas North, to me, is that man we saw in those first few episodes; struggling to incorporate himself back into society.
He may seemingly have transitioned back into the capable spy rather quickly, but the Lucas I first met has always been visible to me, just under the surface.
Me: They asked me if I ever really knew you at all.
Lucas: What did you say?
Me: I said yes. Chip?
Lucas: Cheers.
Nowhere in Particular RA 
Awwww! That’s the Lucas I love, too 🙂
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that lovely smirk he gives after saying “I said yes” is pure sunshine
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Oh no! Now I can’t get “you are my sunshine, my only sunshine” song out of my head 😀
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well, he does make me happy when skies are grey!
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Love. Yes. Lucas. Chips. Of course!
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exactly! I had to elaborate a bit though, or else it would’ve been a very short post 😉 😀
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LOL! I know. Comments get down to the basics. 🙂
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Who could say no to Luscious Lucas?? 😉 I hope you’ll forgive me but I came across this again today. I haven’t watched it for ages so when you posted this I couldn’t resist sharing! Hope no-one objects!! 🙂
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I’ve not seen that fan-vid before, thanks for including it! *sniffles* it was kind of sad though; Lucas needs a hug 😦
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The video has always tugged at my heart strings especially scenes when he is still so thin. 😦 Even though we don’t hear him speak a word he is able to convey a multitude of emotions with his eyes, facial expressions and body language alone. I found that scene with his ex-wife Elizaveta on the street hard to watch as we witness his pain. As Ros (Hermione Norris) said, he is simply “sublime” as Lucas North.
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do we know what happened between Lucas & Elizaveta, why and when they broke up?
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From what I can gather – maybe it was from Richard’s own character “biography” that he seems to write (don’t quote me on that) – but I think they met and married in Russia before he was captured. IIRC, in the scene when she comes home to find Lucas in her house he asks when the Russians “turned” her to work for the FSB, it was because they had shown her pictures of “his skin”, I’m guessing that meant his tattoos. So it seems to me that she divorced him while he was in prison. My feeling, from things he said and did, is that he was still very much in love with her. I’ll have a look later at the extras from S7 and see if I can glean anything from that.
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I thought she possibly divorced him while he was away too, since he’s like a lovesick puppy for her when he comes back
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Yes, Elzvieta obviously (to me) divorced him without his consent, perhaps even without his knowledge. (He certainly looks sick when he sees her in the park for the first time with her child. It seemed to me that he might not have known anything about the divorce until after it happened).
he says that he thought of nothing but her, day and night, for eight years. I imagine the memory of her and whatever happiness they shared must have been the only thing keeping him alive at some point, and maybe the thought that he could persuade her to come back to him. It’s obvious (again, obvious *to me*) that he is hoping for something like this to happen until he sees her with the child. Even later, when he meets her on the street and tells her how he’s missed her, I think he is hoping that she will change her mind and realize that she loves him still.
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There is absolutely no doubt that he is still in love with her. And this isn’t just fan interpretation, because reviews and synopses of the series always say exactly that (ie, that Lucas is still in love with Elzvieta)
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I think the implication is that when he was arrested and disappeared, she waited a bit (but not too long, based on the age of that child!) and then filed for divorce.
I thought the phrase “I love(d?) love, but I love Russia more” made her decision about feeling betrayed by his actions.
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Yes, that scene on the street with Elzvieta is heart-rending.
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That’s one of my favorite fanvids ever! Thanks for posting it!
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So happy you liked it! 🙂 I’m glad I found it again. Since doing so I’ve watched it several times and downloaded the music to my iPhone so I can think of Richard/Lucas when I listen to it! 😉 Of course that’s not hard to do any given day, is it? 😀
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I have the fan vid on my iPhone and iPad actually 😉
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I haven’t had my iPhone very long so I still haven’t worked out how to do that! 😦 Nor am I very technically minded but I’m learning slowly! 🙂
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You can download that fanvid from rafanvids.com and add it to your iTunes so you can sync it later to your videos 🙂
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Thanks a million! I’m going to give it a try but to be on the safe side I think I’ll wait until one of my tech savvy grandkids is available to keep an eye on me when I do it the first time! 🙂
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Another Lucas S7/8 lover!
Yes, Lucas 7.1 is the ultimate Lucas for me too.
May I add to your quotes:
“Is it really eight years?”
” Oh, it flew by! These Russian prisons, they’re like holiday camps, they’ve got mattresses and everything.”
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When they pulled that hood off his head and we were given our first look at Lucas, he captured my heart. I have to say he’s had it ever since. I have watched S7 & 8 so often I almost feel I know it word for word. Obsessed? Who me??? 😉
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Couldn’t agree more… And thanks for the video too. I hadn’t seen that one.
Kelbel, thanks for brightening my day as always 😉
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glad I could brighten your day! Richard’s characters make it easy 🙂
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I’ve only watched series 7-9 in full once, because I’ve been waiting for my husband to catch up. (he’s only on season 3) I’m getting impatient though! *grrr*
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yep, always trying to put others at ease 😉 the man asks for one thing Malcolm, ONE THING: a simple cup of tea, and all you do is stare at him!
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Yes, *that* is the Lucas everyone loves
OT and on a personal note, the line about “holiday camps…they’ve got mattresses and everything” always makes me think of a dig I was on where we slept on camp cots 3 inches off the ground, with no mattresses or padding, had no running water and electricity from a generator for an hour or two a day. (And our dig director’s assistant had a lot in common with Darshavan) So there’s my “Lucas” experience
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you had a cot and electricity, what are you complaining about? just kidding! was it in a hot, dusty place?
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Why yes it was. :p
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Oh yes!:) my beloved Lucas7
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You caught Lucas 7 perfectly, in pictures and comments. 🙂 He did capture more than a few minds and hearts!
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I am glad to hear you started at the beginning. I was into Spooks before Richard when it came on my PBS station. I knew about Adam’s death before I had seen it. My PBS station never did air 7- 10, so I bought them. I was mad about Adam’s death, but had to wait so long that by the time I saw it I was into Richard. I couldn’t wait to see Lucas that Adam’s death didn’t bother as bad as it could have.
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from the beginning, I’ve only gotten as far as season three. so I had just been introduced to Adam & was starting to like him, when I skipped ahead and saw him die! but I got Lucas, so I’m okay with it 😉 my husband and I are almost done with what we have been watching lately, and agree that we need to get back into Spooks next.
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Go back and watch from where Adam comes on board. I liked Adam more than Tom, but I like Rupert Penry-Jones too. I do like RA better , but RPJ has to come in second for me. Adam has a complex but a good story. It starts out where everything is good but will get bad for him and he is a walking car crash, but still good. No more spoilers for you, I would hate to spoil it for you.
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I only got into Spooks after seeing S7 and 8 on PBS. Later I saw Series1 – 6 in Costco at a fantastic price one day and bought all six series and I’m glad I did. Naturally I had to then buy S7&8 for myself then later S9&10 as I felt I needed to have them to complete the whole set. I did pluck up the courage to watch S9 twice, only because of Richard superb acting, but S10 was hardly worth watching without him and I doubt I would have kept on watching if they had continued with the series.
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I wonder what the movie will be like? I assume it’s going to focus on Harry. (I’ve only seen the first 2 episodes of series 10) it would be awesome if they did some flashbacks with characters that have died, or even bring back the few that haven’t 🙂
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😛 I join you on the skipping the first seasons to get to season 7 and meet Lucas. And this is definitely the Lucas that conquered me and for all the reasons you stated I cannot reconcile this person with what they want to make us believe in season 9. I’ll always cherish season 7 and 8 Lucas.
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I’m not one of the many fans who skip series 9 when recalling Lucas; Richard’s acting is too impressive to pass it up! I’m of the opinion that John became Lucas out of necessity but then morphed into a better version of himself because of it. Lucas has always been Lucas to me, but his struggles are what made him into who I revere, so I can’t just discount them.
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