Snow – As the fifth episode of A Spy Among Friends begins, Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) looks out of his window towards the room where Iris (Jennifer Marsala) was killed. Anthony Blunt (Nicholas Rowe) takes a bath. He uses his toe to stop the water from dripping out of the faucet. Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) tells Lily Thomas (Anna Maxwell Martin) that he let Philby go because he is trained to consider himself about the law in exigent circumstances. He tells her what she should tell Sir Roger about them being trained to believe they belong to a higher order. The aim is to draw Sir Roger out and force him to defend himself. Lily tells Sir Roger Hollis (Adrian Edmondson) what he said about letting Philby go to save SIS from a public trial that would’ve inflicted more harm on the country than good.

Nicholas tells her to wait and let them address the elephant in the room. Flora Solomon (Anastasia Hille) changes the conversation by talking about the weather. As Nicholas said, Roger addresses it by saying they believe Elliott found out about Blunt. Arthur Martin (Rick Warden) says they had lunch at Elliott’s club yesterday. During the old meeting, Nicholas argues it is time to use James Angleton to their advantage. In the present, Lily wonders if SIS told Nicholas about Sir Anthony only to be told that SIS doesn’t know. She learns that Michael Straight told the Americans who passed it on to the MI5 and not SIS. Flora wonders if Philby told Elliott about Blunt in Beirut. When asked how she doesn’t know about Elliott and Blunt meeting for lunch yesterday, she reminds them she is a debriefer and not a watcher.

Arthur remembers it was her idea to let him off the lead so she could watch him. The other spy is taken out of his cell and restrained in a chair. Nicholas meets with Vladimir (Denis Khoroshko) who has bad news from Moscow before the spy is killed. Galina (Monika Gossmann) makes Kim a drink and tells him it is going to snow. In a flashback, James Jesus Angleton (Stephen Kunken) meets with Philby during a funeral to give him his condolences. A placard shows that the funeral is for Kim’s mother. James and Nicholas visit him later since they think he could use some company. Kim says his mom died all alone in there before he begins blaming himself. He asks who they have revealed their true selves to outside of their small circle of friends. Nicholas decides to take them out. Flora talks to Lily about what Nicholas said before learning that she has never worn makeup.

Flora questions why Lily was the one assigned to Nicholas Elliott, but Lily insists she doesn’t know. She tells Lily that she told Sir Roger she was the right person for this because she is good at what she does. She also thought Nick might find her intriguing. Flora questions what she isn’t telling them. Lily insists there is nothing. Then, she tells Lily that makeup can sometimes help hide the truth. Lily doesn’t know what she knows and doesn’t know as of yet. Flora warns her that Sir Roger is going to take her off the case because he says she looks tired. Lily learns that there is nothing more to be done. Nicholas wakes up James with breakfast. He admits he knows about the bug in his house and he understands why it was necessary. Nicholas suspects James didn’t tell them that he really came so he could be within radio frequency range of his people in Moscow.

James claims he is in management now. Nick tells him about the KGB raiding a flat in Moscow last night. While the man surrendered, the woman went down fighting and died. Nick tells him about Kim being a traitor and how he had him fooled since they met in 1940. He knows it is difficult, but they need to come to terms with the fact that one of their own was a traitor. He urges him to go back to Washington today. Nick tells him to cover his tracks in Moscow and destroy evidence of his blind faith in Kim and they never talk about it again. James asks Nicholas what he is doing to redeem himself. When Nick leaves, he is watched by a man. James gets mad and wrecks his room. Kim asks Galina if she knows the name of the woman they killed last night. When she doesn’t say, Kim has a drink for her, his mother, and Aileen. She suggests she might be next.

Nicholas meets with Arthur Martin who tells him that Lily is no longer assigned to his case. Arthur reveals he came to speak to him about Anthony Blunt. He wants to know why Nicholas had lunch with Blunt at his club. They discuss Blunt and who should be in charge of examining MI5’s handling of him. Arthur makes it clear that he should not go anywhere near Anthony again. Nicholas reminds him that he was personally responsible for the inquiry that overlooked Blunt ten years ago when they shared source intelligence with them. Once Arthur storms out, Nicholas wants to get in touch with Lil. James leaves that night only to seemingly be followed. Nicholas’s wife says she thinks all of this is just an endless game to him. She admits she was a player in the game during the war but it wasn’t a game then. Nicholas gets a call saying they haven’t been able to get in touch with Lily.

Elizabeth (Lucy Akhurst) worries that his desperation to repair all the damage Kim’s done will make things worse. Lily has dinner with Robert (Gershwyn Eustache). Nicholas gets a call learning that Angleton didn’t do what was asked of him and instead traveled north. Kim contemplates writing a letter to Nicholas calling himself a bloody fool. He starts another by saying he sold him a rope that he mistook for a lifeline. Kim hopes everything that has happened during their friendship hasn’t caused too much discomfort and inconvenience. He takes off his ring and puts it in the case with the medal. Anthony is followed with his moves being noted. He is watched as he leaves the restaurant. Lily ends up waking Robert when trying to make him comfortable. She gets a call about Anthony before Nicholas receives a call about it too. Lily tells him that they lost them somewhere near Grosvenor Square.

Nicholas tells his wife that MI5 has lost Blunt. Kim goes for a walk and remembers what Nicholas said about despising him now. Nicholas accuses him of cowardice while Kim admits he is starting to worry about Nick. Nick tells him he has 24 hours to get back there with a signed confession because there is nothing else he can do. Desmond (Jolyon Coy) and Nicholas try to track down James. Kim sits down on the stairs nearby before a Russian man offers him a drink. When he wakes up, he finds the man standing over him so he tries to get him to stop. James joins Nicholas in the car and insists he was going to bring him in on the illegal CIA abduction of a known communist agent. Nicholas tells him this isn’t the way to save himself and he is the only friend he has right now. Again, he urges him to return to Washington before it is too late and leave Anthony to him. James gets out.

Anthony gets in, thanks Nick, and says he didn’t tell them anything. A Russian cop finds Kim passed out in the snow. Anthony is taken to a room where Lily is waiting for him. He quickly tells them that he is not the third man. Nick claims Kim would be the third so Anthony is the fourth. Anthony reveals he went through all of this last night with Sir Roger Hollis last night. Nick asks if he has told the Russians that his cover is blown. Anthony says no before saying he is telling them this because he knows Nick cares about what happens to Kim. When asked what instructions he had for when his cover was blown, Anthony says there were none. Nick warns him that he doesn’t care how much it’ll embarrass the Queen to expose him as a spy. After being threatened with being handed over to the Americans, Anthony says his instructions were to go to Hollis and inform him that he was blown.

It was hard to say how he reacted when he was told. Roger told him to do nothing until he got back to him. Nicholas suspects it was Philby who told him to go to Roger Hollis. A distraught Kim wakes up in the hospital and thinks he is fighting with Nick. Once Nick kicks him into the pool, Kim calms down in the hospital. Nicholas returns home where he learns that Roger is there to see him.

 

A Spy Among Friends Review

With the finale coming up, it is hard to be enthusiastic about A Spy Among Friends. The series lacks focus since it started by focusing on Kim Philby and his betrayal before switching to Anthony Blunt and now Roger Hollis. At this point, I feel like I know less about the Cambridge Spy Ring now than I did when I started watching it. The series is like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with pieces from multiple puzzles.

There might be a story underneath the surface, but the viewer would need Ralphie’s Secret Decoder Ring to figure it out and they’d probably be disappointed just like Ralphie Parker. It is very difficult to know what the intention was when A Spy Among Friends was created because it feels purposeless through five episodes. The performances are good when you can actually see the character’s faces and they’re not obscured by darkness, a wall, or a shoulder.

It is hard to recommend A Spy Among Friends which is ultimately a very flawed, frustrating experience. At least viewers will likely have a few laughs with The Ipcress File which was far more entertaining. This episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of A Spy Among Friends can be found on Reel Mockery here. We’re an independent website with an independent voice. If you feel independent critics and news are important, consider supporting us here.