Smoke and Mirrors (Spooks)

In the episode, Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfadyen) is being framed by thought-to-be-dead CIA agent Herman Joyce (Tomas Arana), as revenge for what happened to his daughter.

The episode begins in Miami, Florida, where three masked men break into the apartment of hitman Michael Karharias (Bruce Payne), who is under house arrest.

Later, in London, Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfadyen) and CIA liaison Christine Dale (Megan Dodds) meet at a hotel, where Christine hands Tom a telex from the CIA office where they receive intelligence of Karharias (not knowing he is dead) travelling to London to assassinate a member of the British Cabinet.

Because Christine has no clearance reading the file, and that the CIA does not intend to inform MI5 of the threat, Tom appoints a reluctant Danny Hunter (David Oyelowo) and Zoe Reynolds (Keeley Hawes) to run a secret operation to intercept the assassin without the knowledge of their superior Harry Pearce (Peter Firth).

Tom, meanwhile, follows CIA agent Herb Zeigler (Tomas Arana) to a dead drop, leading to a countryside farm house.

By this time, he learns that Sir John Stone, the Chief of the Defence Staff, was killed, with a sniper rifle left with his fingerprints on it.

Joyce's creation was inspired from the "great criminal minds" such as Karla from John le Carré and Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes.

[4] The episode also included Zoe being untrusting towards Tom, because Brenton wanted her to be resentful towards his affair with Dale, and placing allegiance with her rather than his team.

[5] In an interview on Top Gear in June 2008, Rupert Penry-Jones and Peter Firth commented on the near-death experiences on the characters.

Regarding Harry's shooting, Penry-Jones joked to Jeremy Clarkson, "Every time [Peter Firth] asks for more money or five day weeks, they start giving him scenes where he might die.

[10] Whilst reviewing the seventh series, Leigh Holmwood of The Guardian's Organ Grinder blog named "Smoke and Mirrors" his "favourite Spooks episode.

"[2] Michael Mackenzie of Home Cinema called the finale "chaotic", and that the chain of events leading to the ending was "extremely well set up.