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sangerin.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ship_manifesto2004-12-12 11:41 am
sangerin.livejournal.com) wrote in ship_manifesto2004-12-12 11:41 am
Tinker, Tessa, Zoe, Spy...
Title: Tinker, Tessa, Zoe, Spy
Author: Sängerin (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sangerin)
Fandom: Spooks (aka MI-5)
Pairing: Tessa Phillips/Zoe Reynolds
Email: sangerin@livejournal.com
Spoilers: Through to the end of season two. Season Three is almost complete in the UK, but it hasn't yet been scheduled to air in Australia. As with all my current contributions to Spooks fandom, I ask that comments to this essay, should there be any, not contain season three spoilers of any shape or form (including icons). Much appreciated.
Well, here is Australia it is December 12, so I'm posting my essay. Enjoy!
The Show
I have the feeling that Spooks (or MI-5, as it’s known to those who see it on the A&E Network in North America) isn’t as well known as a lot of the media commented on here at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ship_manifesto, so there will perhaps be a little more detail on the show than in other essays. Take it from me, it’s a show well worth watching: I hope people are inspired by this essay to take a look.
Spooks was first broadcast in Australia in 2003, but began in 2002 in the UK. In the USA it shows on the A&E Network. Two seasons have been broadcast in all three countries. (Season three has begun in the UK. As I am spoiler-phobic when it comes to Spooks, this essay contains no spoilers past the end of season 2.)
Spooks is, as the producers themselves have said, a "precinct" drama. Like The Bill and ER and Law & Order, it’s a show that follows a group of colleagues around their daily work. The difference is the precinct in which it is set: MI-5 -- the British Security Service. Unless I’m mistaken, the very existence of MI-5 (and its "sister service", MI-6, which handles overseas intelligence) was an official secret in the UK until as few as ten or fifteen years ago. Not that people didn’t know it existed - everyone knew it existed. One just wasn’t supposed to.
Nowadays, however, the appointment of a new head of MI-5 is debated in the British newspapers, and MI-5 has a website, which received a huge increase in hits after Spooks began to air. (Apparently recruitment enquiries have tripled since the show started.)
Spooks is pretty much set in the real world. Tony Blair is PM of the United Kingdom. George W Bush is President of the United States. Australia doesn’t get a mention, but if they did, I bet John Howard would be PM. But did you know that Air Force One almost crashed into the Welsh Mountains due to the actions of a fringe terrorist group that had acquired the assistant of a rogue MI-5 agent (played marvelously by Anthony Stewart Head)? Or that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and his two children were killed by a bomb blast? Or that the Foreign Minister of the UK (okay, I’m fudging my terminology on that one: there may be a more formal title for that person) had been passing information to the CIA for years, and was rewarded with a chair in either history or politics (or possibly economics) at Harvard when his activities in the UK became known and he was forced out of the country? Or that a militant anti-abortion activist from Florida began seeding groups in the UK, accompanied by 20 pipe bombs smuggled in via the Liverpool docks?
This is the world in which Spooks takes place.
The Characters
It seems only fair to give you a quick introduction to the other main characters before turning to my two favourites.
The head of Section B (our chosen precinct) is Harry Pearce (Peter Firth, no relation to Colin as far as I’ve been able to discover.) Harry is married, although we’ve never seen his wife. He lives in quite a nice house with quite a nice security system. Much good it did him in episode 7 of season 2... He served in Ireland in some capacity, and has a fair bit of "history" there.
Tom Quinn is the focus character of the show (at least in the first two seasons. Those of us remaining spoiler free for season three don’t actually know whether or not he’s alive.) He was recruited young, and then did at least one op at the London School of Economics. Whether he was only recruiting during that op or not has never really been established. Tom likes the ladies, but simply cannot keep a relationship going for more than five episodes. He had the makings of a beautiful family with Ellie and her daughter Maisie (first season), but stuff that up royally before attracting the psychotic attentions of Vicki, a doctor at a major London emergency ward. She was replaced by Christine Dale (official liaison to MI-5 from CIA London Station) who had been making moves on Tom since episode one of first season. Cross-service liaisons of the non-professional kind being frowned upon, however, Tom was ordered by Harry to break off the relationship. He didn’t, and then he died (or did he?). Tom is something of a second-in-command to Harry. Sort of. We’re never quite sure. (Of course, he’s also the Emergency Executive Officer for the whole of Thames House (MI-5’s headquarters), overruling Harry in an emergency situation...)
Danny Hunter has his most enjoyable op as a young stud in the London financial markets. You get the feeling he fancies himself as a young stud much of the time even when he’s not on an op, but it never overpowers his character, which is essentially likeable. He follows Crystal Palace (at the insistence of the actor who plays him, David Oyelowo), and is sweet to his flatmate, Zoe, with whom he is not romantically involved. Although they came close, one drunken night, only to be interrupted by psycho-Annette, and then by Tom, and then by psycho-Annette again...
I could give more information on characters such as Christine Dale, Malcolm and Colin, the tech-geeks, Sam Buxton, Helen, Ruth Evershed and Jools Siviter, but they’re not why you’re really reading this essay. You’re reading it -- just as I am writing it -- for these two:
Tessa Phillips: Played by Jenny Agutter. In her late 40s or early 50s, Tessa is of the same vintage as Harry Pearce. It may not ever be said in canon, but in commentary to season one the comment was made that Tessa wanted Harry’s job and didn’t get it. Within MI-5 she is clearly a member of B Section, and appears to be of an equal rank to Tom, but sideways a bit in a more research-based job. It’s never really clear.
Her canon relationships (that we know of) include a pre-show relationship with Johnny Marks, an Irish terrorist who went freelance/in-it-for-the-money, and who was presumed dead. In their relationship, which was probably twenty years before the show, Tessa was pregnant with their child. She miscarried, but knows that the child was a girl. Tessa was also seriously involved with Richard Maynard, the Cabinet Minister who turned out to be a CIA mole. During episode 1.5 Tessa and Maynard have sex in the corridors of MI-5 (and are almost discovered by Malcolm), but when Maynard is given his walking papers by the country, he is completely unregretful at leaving Tessa behind.
Tessa has been running phantom agents (collecting expenses money for agents who don’t exist and fabricating information from them when necessary) for quite some time before the show opens. At the end of season one she is exposed, and is expelled from MI-5. She appears briefly in two episodes in season two: at the end of episode 2.9 she has left the UK for Majorca -- one assumes permanently.
Zoe Reynolds: Clearly brilliant (she studied at Oxford, but is also shown to be highly skilled at the work of MI-5) but also lacking in confidence, Zoe (played by Keeley Hawes) is one of the trio of young agents in B section. In episode 1.4 it turns out that she is superior to Danny, and in episode 2.5 we discover that she is weapons qualified where even Tom isn’t. In some ways, Zoe is the Xander of the Tom-Zoe-Danny group. She is the heart (yes, there are some terribly traditional casting choices going on here...makes you see what a fantastic thing Joss managed with BtVS) of the group. She is the one who ends up keeping both Tom and Danny’s feet on the ground much of the time. This isn’t to say she’s a saint. She can be petulant (episode 2.6, when Christine calls her the QEII -- which is a boat, for those who may not be aware), stubborn (in episode 2.3 she’s undercover as an English teacher, and ignores Danny and Tom trying to discuss the op because she’s preparing a lesson on Chaucer) and there’s that annoying lack of confidence in her own abilities, particularly in season one and early season two. By episode 2.8, when she has to co-ordinate a shipment of nuclear waste traveling by road instead of the usual train, she’s doing well. (Even when it gets hijacked...)
Zoe’s canon relationships are the oh-so-close "almost-kiss" with Danny in 1.5, and a relationship with an Italian banker that became sexual, but they probably only slept together once. (This was because it turned out the banker worked for a dubious Swiss bank under surveillance by MI-5, and Zoe got caught on tape.) She also has to flirt quite a bit on ops: with a high school history teacher, a Serbian consular official, and a Turkish travel agent, who convinces her to pretend to be his wife -- and pregnant -- in order to impress the Turkish Ambassador.
The Pairing
I think I’d better admit this at the outset: I suspect one of the main reasons that I started shipping Zoe/Tessa was that I was just shipping Zoe/f. And that was because of Keeley Hawes’ fantastic performance as Kitty Butler in Tipping the Velvet. This led me to think about the idea of Zoe and Steph-the-firefighter in episode 2.5. At some point between that episode and the original Australian broadcast of ep 2.9, I went back and re-watched the first season on DVD. That was when it hit me. Right between the eyes. There is definitely something going on -- whether it’s just URST or a full-blown affair -- between Tessa Phillips and Zoe Reynolds.
Among what I see as key scenes/events are:
Episode 1.2: Tessa ‘borrows’ Zoe from Tom for an operation with Customs relating to people smuggling. Zoe looks caught in the middle, especially when Tessa says witheringly, "I’m not stealing her." But she also looks pleased. Later in the episode Tessa brings Zoe coffee while she works, and it turns out that Tessa knows that Zoe drinks decaf. Zoe -- who only the previous episode used the coffee trick on a target -- is unsettled. Later again, Zoe gives Tessa some information she’s dug up on the routes used by the smugglers and Tessa congratulates her while Zoe beams. Danny notes that "someone’s rosy." Zoe retorts "Well, it’s hot in here!" To me, that final line smacks of someone trying to hide the extent of the admiration they feel. The whole exchange between Zoe and Tessa is very flirtatious, and each time I see it I can’t work out how I didn’t notice the flirting the first time I saw the episode.
Episode 1.4: Tessa is in a meeting with Harry at which she is directed to get in touch with a particular agent of hers. As I recall, it’s not a particularly loud meeting (unlike some in later episodes), and yet Zoe keeps looking over her shoulder into the office. At the time, Zoe and Danny are trying to get their stories straight over an MI-5 agent who turned up unexpectedly among protestors at an anti-Bush rally. Zoe’s nervousness could easily be read simply in relation to her discussions with Danny (which do get them into trouble later on). But her glances are always at Tessa, and to me it looks like concern for a close friend/lover who has been called in to see the boss. Zoe at this point doesn’t know about the false agents Tessa has been running. Neither, by the way, does an unspoiled audience.
Episode 1.5 is notable for many reasons: Tessa’s corridor sex-scene, Zoe’s almost-kiss with Danny, the appearance of Mad Annette... and Zoe’s reaction to discovering Tessa’s false agents. Zoe gets drunk. Seriously drunk. She tells Danny how much she admired Tessa, how she modeled herself on Tessa and look up to her. Zoe is seriously disturbed by the revelations of Tessa’s activities. Danny (man-like, I’m tempted to say) really doesn’t get it. He’s coming at the situation from a whole different angle: one that doesn’t involve Zoe throwing her lover to the wolves.
Episode 1.6 is when it happens. Zoe goes to Harry and, in floods of tears, gives Tessa up. Without the assumption that Zoe is betraying her lover, one would almost think "oh, no, Zoe’s crying again." If the viewer is looking through Zoe/Tessa-colored glasses, however, the scene becomes poignant, particularly when Harry tells Zoe to go out and go straight to Tessa: talk with her and laugh and be relaxed. If I recall correctly, we see Tessa’s eventual departure through Harry’s eyes, rather than Zoe’s, but I’m fairly sure there’s a reaction shot in there somewhere, in which Zoe is very unhappy.
Season Two - As mentioned in the character outline, Tessa is only a regular in season one. She appears twice in season two: in episode 2.2, where she has a brief scene with Tom, and in episode 2.9, which manages to include subtext on both Tessa/Zoe and Tessa/Harry. She is also mentioned once in an awkward scene in episode 2.1 after Zoe and Danny have found Tom sitting in their flat in the dark. Danny says something about Tessa. Tom, after an awkward pause and a glance in Zoe’s direction (I’m not making this up), says "Tessa’s not someone we talk about anymore." Zoe looks down, embarrassed, and the conversation moves on.
In episode 2.9, Zoe has been making friends with a particularly attractive Columbian woman, Mariella. (Tom also finds Mariella particularly attractive.) Tessa -- using the pseudonym "Durbyfield" -- sets up a meeting with Zoe to pass on information and they meet in Oxford Circus. Zoe doesn’t appear to be expecting the contact to be Tessa, and she is distinctly wary: moreso than you’d expect simply in terms of a semi-disgraced ex-colleague whom one knows was contacted for a prior operation.
I don’t see Zoe/Tessa as a particularly happy pairing. In fact, I usually refer to them as my "One True Power Play", and I certainly don’t see them as having a happy-ever-after any time soon. As far as my knowledge of canon goes (and I accept the fact that almost the entire season three has shown in the UK now, so I may be out of date) Tessa is now in Majorca, while Zoe is in the UK, doing her duty as a member of the Service.
My theory - and the basis to most of my Zoe/Tessa fic, although not all - is this: At some point after episode 1.2 (possibly even in a post-Helen context), Zoe and Tessa got together. Zoe by that stage was flat-sharing with Danny, and I don’t think Tessa would dare have Zoe come to her very flashy-looking flat. Which leaves them meeting in B&Bs, not unlike Tom and Christine in season two. A pre-established relationship explains the glances of concern in episode 1.4, and the extent of Zoe’s feelings of betrayal in 1.5. It doesn’t necessarily work in well with Tessa’s antics in the corridor with Richard Maynard in that episode, but given the canon relationships of each woman, I have to accept that they are both bi-oriented. (Of course, if Tessa did have a heart (unknown) and did care for Zoe, then picking up with Richard Maynard again could be a sort of rebound after what was presumably a rejection on Zoe’s part. Or, this being Tessa, it could just be all about the power. Because that’s really her raison d’etre.)
It also makes the Italian banker - who Zoe meets during episode 2.1 - something of a reaction to Tessa’s departure. Which also explains a lot of Zoe’s conduct, particularly her recklessness in episode 2.4.
My alternate theory is what ended up in my story "Theme, Variation", in which sex is part of Tessa’s blackmailing scheme following Zoe’s discovery that Tessa is running phantom agents. There are a lot of reasons why it works, but it ignores a lot of the little things that I noticed in earlier episodes after I’d written "Theme, Variation".
The Fandom
As previously mentioned, it’s a small fandom compared to many, but I've collected up the following links.
The Grid - recently updated, and relatively understanding of the spoiler-phobic among us, I would recommend this site above the official one as a starting point for any curious new fan. This site also archives the fic sent to The_Grid yahoogroup, and represents the majority of the fic written in the fandom (although there are a few writers out there who don't archive at The Grid).
The official BBC website - Good character info, episode summaries, and actor interviews, but contains season three spoilers that are hard to avoid.
The Grid After Dark - Archive of the "Sister Service" of The Grid, "The Grid After Dark" archives fic rated above R whether Het, m/m or f/f. Very small at the moment, but I owe them a couple, I think...
Spooky Doings - the Livejournal Spooks community.
Spookschallenge - A Spooks challenge community, for fic, icons, essays, whatever people think of that fits the fortnightly (or so) challenge.
Keeley Hawes: Between the Lines - because I can't get enough of Keeley. Screencaps from Spooks episodes as well as Tipping the Velvet, various magazine photoshoots, and just generally lots and lots of Keeley.
The Fic
I have a confession to make. When I signed up for this pairing, I assumed that someone else had written it. It turns out that, as far as I’ve been able to find, I’m the only one writing it (I told you the fandom is small). If anyone knows of other Zoe/Tessa stories, please let me know: I’m posting links to two of my personal favourites that are purely Zoe/Tessa, one Tessa-centric fic that is mine, and a fantastic Zoe-centric fic that isn’t mine. And I apologise for the appearance of self-pimping. I really thought there were more of us Zoe/Tessa shippers out there. There certainly should be, and I hope I’ve managed to convince a few of you out there, at the very least, that this is a show worth watching.
Theme, Variation - set between eps 1.4 and 1.5, this story is my alternate theory of how Zoe and Tessa got together. The first Zoe/Tessa I wrote, and therefore as far as I know, the first one ever written... (rated R)
Conflicted Interests - set during episode 2.9, which is a brilliant episode on so many levels. Zoe/Tessa, but Zoe wants someone else... (rated R)
Five Images of Exhibitionism - this is one of those "five things" stories, and is mostly Tessa backstory. The final pairing is Tessa/Zoe, and basically sets out my usual theory of their relationships. (Contains five pairings, three f/f and two m/f) (rated R)
Stories written by others:
Devotee by Sangga - this is marvellous Zoe-centric fic tracing through the first two seasons (rated R)
melwil has written a lot of very good Spooks fic, but I have yet to get a Zoe/Tessa out of her. Instead, here’s the link to a seriously good Tessa/Christine Dale (CIA Liasion) fic: Dangerous: (rated R)
Author: Sängerin (
sangerin)Fandom: Spooks (aka MI-5)
Pairing: Tessa Phillips/Zoe Reynolds
Email: sangerin@livejournal.com
Spoilers: Through to the end of season two. Season Three is almost complete in the UK, but it hasn't yet been scheduled to air in Australia. As with all my current contributions to Spooks fandom, I ask that comments to this essay, should there be any, not contain season three spoilers of any shape or form (including icons). Much appreciated.
Well, here is Australia it is December 12, so I'm posting my essay. Enjoy!
The Show
I have the feeling that Spooks (or MI-5, as it’s known to those who see it on the A&E Network in North America) isn’t as well known as a lot of the media commented on here at
ship_manifesto, so there will perhaps be a little more detail on the show than in other essays. Take it from me, it’s a show well worth watching: I hope people are inspired by this essay to take a look.Spooks was first broadcast in Australia in 2003, but began in 2002 in the UK. In the USA it shows on the A&E Network. Two seasons have been broadcast in all three countries. (Season three has begun in the UK. As I am spoiler-phobic when it comes to Spooks, this essay contains no spoilers past the end of season 2.)
Spooks is, as the producers themselves have said, a "precinct" drama. Like The Bill and ER and Law & Order, it’s a show that follows a group of colleagues around their daily work. The difference is the precinct in which it is set: MI-5 -- the British Security Service. Unless I’m mistaken, the very existence of MI-5 (and its "sister service", MI-6, which handles overseas intelligence) was an official secret in the UK until as few as ten or fifteen years ago. Not that people didn’t know it existed - everyone knew it existed. One just wasn’t supposed to.
Nowadays, however, the appointment of a new head of MI-5 is debated in the British newspapers, and MI-5 has a website, which received a huge increase in hits after Spooks began to air. (Apparently recruitment enquiries have tripled since the show started.)
Spooks is pretty much set in the real world. Tony Blair is PM of the United Kingdom. George W Bush is President of the United States. Australia doesn’t get a mention, but if they did, I bet John Howard would be PM. But did you know that Air Force One almost crashed into the Welsh Mountains due to the actions of a fringe terrorist group that had acquired the assistant of a rogue MI-5 agent (played marvelously by Anthony Stewart Head)? Or that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and his two children were killed by a bomb blast? Or that the Foreign Minister of the UK (okay, I’m fudging my terminology on that one: there may be a more formal title for that person) had been passing information to the CIA for years, and was rewarded with a chair in either history or politics (or possibly economics) at Harvard when his activities in the UK became known and he was forced out of the country? Or that a militant anti-abortion activist from Florida began seeding groups in the UK, accompanied by 20 pipe bombs smuggled in via the Liverpool docks?
This is the world in which Spooks takes place.
The Characters
It seems only fair to give you a quick introduction to the other main characters before turning to my two favourites.
The head of Section B (our chosen precinct) is Harry Pearce (Peter Firth, no relation to Colin as far as I’ve been able to discover.) Harry is married, although we’ve never seen his wife. He lives in quite a nice house with quite a nice security system. Much good it did him in episode 7 of season 2... He served in Ireland in some capacity, and has a fair bit of "history" there.
Tom Quinn is the focus character of the show (at least in the first two seasons. Those of us remaining spoiler free for season three don’t actually know whether or not he’s alive.) He was recruited young, and then did at least one op at the London School of Economics. Whether he was only recruiting during that op or not has never really been established. Tom likes the ladies, but simply cannot keep a relationship going for more than five episodes. He had the makings of a beautiful family with Ellie and her daughter Maisie (first season), but stuff that up royally before attracting the psychotic attentions of Vicki, a doctor at a major London emergency ward. She was replaced by Christine Dale (official liaison to MI-5 from CIA London Station) who had been making moves on Tom since episode one of first season. Cross-service liaisons of the non-professional kind being frowned upon, however, Tom was ordered by Harry to break off the relationship. He didn’t, and then he died (or did he?). Tom is something of a second-in-command to Harry. Sort of. We’re never quite sure. (Of course, he’s also the Emergency Executive Officer for the whole of Thames House (MI-5’s headquarters), overruling Harry in an emergency situation...)
Danny Hunter has his most enjoyable op as a young stud in the London financial markets. You get the feeling he fancies himself as a young stud much of the time even when he’s not on an op, but it never overpowers his character, which is essentially likeable. He follows Crystal Palace (at the insistence of the actor who plays him, David Oyelowo), and is sweet to his flatmate, Zoe, with whom he is not romantically involved. Although they came close, one drunken night, only to be interrupted by psycho-Annette, and then by Tom, and then by psycho-Annette again...
I could give more information on characters such as Christine Dale, Malcolm and Colin, the tech-geeks, Sam Buxton, Helen, Ruth Evershed and Jools Siviter, but they’re not why you’re really reading this essay. You’re reading it -- just as I am writing it -- for these two:
Tessa Phillips: Played by Jenny Agutter. In her late 40s or early 50s, Tessa is of the same vintage as Harry Pearce. It may not ever be said in canon, but in commentary to season one the comment was made that Tessa wanted Harry’s job and didn’t get it. Within MI-5 she is clearly a member of B Section, and appears to be of an equal rank to Tom, but sideways a bit in a more research-based job. It’s never really clear.
Her canon relationships (that we know of) include a pre-show relationship with Johnny Marks, an Irish terrorist who went freelance/in-it-for-the-money, and who was presumed dead. In their relationship, which was probably twenty years before the show, Tessa was pregnant with their child. She miscarried, but knows that the child was a girl. Tessa was also seriously involved with Richard Maynard, the Cabinet Minister who turned out to be a CIA mole. During episode 1.5 Tessa and Maynard have sex in the corridors of MI-5 (and are almost discovered by Malcolm), but when Maynard is given his walking papers by the country, he is completely unregretful at leaving Tessa behind.
Tessa has been running phantom agents (collecting expenses money for agents who don’t exist and fabricating information from them when necessary) for quite some time before the show opens. At the end of season one she is exposed, and is expelled from MI-5. She appears briefly in two episodes in season two: at the end of episode 2.9 she has left the UK for Majorca -- one assumes permanently.
Zoe Reynolds: Clearly brilliant (she studied at Oxford, but is also shown to be highly skilled at the work of MI-5) but also lacking in confidence, Zoe (played by Keeley Hawes) is one of the trio of young agents in B section. In episode 1.4 it turns out that she is superior to Danny, and in episode 2.5 we discover that she is weapons qualified where even Tom isn’t. In some ways, Zoe is the Xander of the Tom-Zoe-Danny group. She is the heart (yes, there are some terribly traditional casting choices going on here...makes you see what a fantastic thing Joss managed with BtVS) of the group. She is the one who ends up keeping both Tom and Danny’s feet on the ground much of the time. This isn’t to say she’s a saint. She can be petulant (episode 2.6, when Christine calls her the QEII -- which is a boat, for those who may not be aware), stubborn (in episode 2.3 she’s undercover as an English teacher, and ignores Danny and Tom trying to discuss the op because she’s preparing a lesson on Chaucer) and there’s that annoying lack of confidence in her own abilities, particularly in season one and early season two. By episode 2.8, when she has to co-ordinate a shipment of nuclear waste traveling by road instead of the usual train, she’s doing well. (Even when it gets hijacked...)
Zoe’s canon relationships are the oh-so-close "almost-kiss" with Danny in 1.5, and a relationship with an Italian banker that became sexual, but they probably only slept together once. (This was because it turned out the banker worked for a dubious Swiss bank under surveillance by MI-5, and Zoe got caught on tape.) She also has to flirt quite a bit on ops: with a high school history teacher, a Serbian consular official, and a Turkish travel agent, who convinces her to pretend to be his wife -- and pregnant -- in order to impress the Turkish Ambassador.
The Pairing
I think I’d better admit this at the outset: I suspect one of the main reasons that I started shipping Zoe/Tessa was that I was just shipping Zoe/f. And that was because of Keeley Hawes’ fantastic performance as Kitty Butler in Tipping the Velvet. This led me to think about the idea of Zoe and Steph-the-firefighter in episode 2.5. At some point between that episode and the original Australian broadcast of ep 2.9, I went back and re-watched the first season on DVD. That was when it hit me. Right between the eyes. There is definitely something going on -- whether it’s just URST or a full-blown affair -- between Tessa Phillips and Zoe Reynolds.
Among what I see as key scenes/events are:
Episode 1.2: Tessa ‘borrows’ Zoe from Tom for an operation with Customs relating to people smuggling. Zoe looks caught in the middle, especially when Tessa says witheringly, "I’m not stealing her." But she also looks pleased. Later in the episode Tessa brings Zoe coffee while she works, and it turns out that Tessa knows that Zoe drinks decaf. Zoe -- who only the previous episode used the coffee trick on a target -- is unsettled. Later again, Zoe gives Tessa some information she’s dug up on the routes used by the smugglers and Tessa congratulates her while Zoe beams. Danny notes that "someone’s rosy." Zoe retorts "Well, it’s hot in here!" To me, that final line smacks of someone trying to hide the extent of the admiration they feel. The whole exchange between Zoe and Tessa is very flirtatious, and each time I see it I can’t work out how I didn’t notice the flirting the first time I saw the episode.
Episode 1.4: Tessa is in a meeting with Harry at which she is directed to get in touch with a particular agent of hers. As I recall, it’s not a particularly loud meeting (unlike some in later episodes), and yet Zoe keeps looking over her shoulder into the office. At the time, Zoe and Danny are trying to get their stories straight over an MI-5 agent who turned up unexpectedly among protestors at an anti-Bush rally. Zoe’s nervousness could easily be read simply in relation to her discussions with Danny (which do get them into trouble later on). But her glances are always at Tessa, and to me it looks like concern for a close friend/lover who has been called in to see the boss. Zoe at this point doesn’t know about the false agents Tessa has been running. Neither, by the way, does an unspoiled audience.
Episode 1.5 is notable for many reasons: Tessa’s corridor sex-scene, Zoe’s almost-kiss with Danny, the appearance of Mad Annette... and Zoe’s reaction to discovering Tessa’s false agents. Zoe gets drunk. Seriously drunk. She tells Danny how much she admired Tessa, how she modeled herself on Tessa and look up to her. Zoe is seriously disturbed by the revelations of Tessa’s activities. Danny (man-like, I’m tempted to say) really doesn’t get it. He’s coming at the situation from a whole different angle: one that doesn’t involve Zoe throwing her lover to the wolves.
Episode 1.6 is when it happens. Zoe goes to Harry and, in floods of tears, gives Tessa up. Without the assumption that Zoe is betraying her lover, one would almost think "oh, no, Zoe’s crying again." If the viewer is looking through Zoe/Tessa-colored glasses, however, the scene becomes poignant, particularly when Harry tells Zoe to go out and go straight to Tessa: talk with her and laugh and be relaxed. If I recall correctly, we see Tessa’s eventual departure through Harry’s eyes, rather than Zoe’s, but I’m fairly sure there’s a reaction shot in there somewhere, in which Zoe is very unhappy.
Season Two - As mentioned in the character outline, Tessa is only a regular in season one. She appears twice in season two: in episode 2.2, where she has a brief scene with Tom, and in episode 2.9, which manages to include subtext on both Tessa/Zoe and Tessa/Harry. She is also mentioned once in an awkward scene in episode 2.1 after Zoe and Danny have found Tom sitting in their flat in the dark. Danny says something about Tessa. Tom, after an awkward pause and a glance in Zoe’s direction (I’m not making this up), says "Tessa’s not someone we talk about anymore." Zoe looks down, embarrassed, and the conversation moves on.
In episode 2.9, Zoe has been making friends with a particularly attractive Columbian woman, Mariella. (Tom also finds Mariella particularly attractive.) Tessa -- using the pseudonym "Durbyfield" -- sets up a meeting with Zoe to pass on information and they meet in Oxford Circus. Zoe doesn’t appear to be expecting the contact to be Tessa, and she is distinctly wary: moreso than you’d expect simply in terms of a semi-disgraced ex-colleague whom one knows was contacted for a prior operation.
I don’t see Zoe/Tessa as a particularly happy pairing. In fact, I usually refer to them as my "One True Power Play", and I certainly don’t see them as having a happy-ever-after any time soon. As far as my knowledge of canon goes (and I accept the fact that almost the entire season three has shown in the UK now, so I may be out of date) Tessa is now in Majorca, while Zoe is in the UK, doing her duty as a member of the Service.
My theory - and the basis to most of my Zoe/Tessa fic, although not all - is this: At some point after episode 1.2 (possibly even in a post-Helen context), Zoe and Tessa got together. Zoe by that stage was flat-sharing with Danny, and I don’t think Tessa would dare have Zoe come to her very flashy-looking flat. Which leaves them meeting in B&Bs, not unlike Tom and Christine in season two. A pre-established relationship explains the glances of concern in episode 1.4, and the extent of Zoe’s feelings of betrayal in 1.5. It doesn’t necessarily work in well with Tessa’s antics in the corridor with Richard Maynard in that episode, but given the canon relationships of each woman, I have to accept that they are both bi-oriented. (Of course, if Tessa did have a heart (unknown) and did care for Zoe, then picking up with Richard Maynard again could be a sort of rebound after what was presumably a rejection on Zoe’s part. Or, this being Tessa, it could just be all about the power. Because that’s really her raison d’etre.)
It also makes the Italian banker - who Zoe meets during episode 2.1 - something of a reaction to Tessa’s departure. Which also explains a lot of Zoe’s conduct, particularly her recklessness in episode 2.4.
My alternate theory is what ended up in my story "Theme, Variation", in which sex is part of Tessa’s blackmailing scheme following Zoe’s discovery that Tessa is running phantom agents. There are a lot of reasons why it works, but it ignores a lot of the little things that I noticed in earlier episodes after I’d written "Theme, Variation".
The Fandom
As previously mentioned, it’s a small fandom compared to many, but I've collected up the following links.
The Grid - recently updated, and relatively understanding of the spoiler-phobic among us, I would recommend this site above the official one as a starting point for any curious new fan. This site also archives the fic sent to The_Grid yahoogroup, and represents the majority of the fic written in the fandom (although there are a few writers out there who don't archive at The Grid).
The official BBC website - Good character info, episode summaries, and actor interviews, but contains season three spoilers that are hard to avoid.
The Grid After Dark - Archive of the "Sister Service" of The Grid, "The Grid After Dark" archives fic rated above R whether Het, m/m or f/f. Very small at the moment, but I owe them a couple, I think...
Spooky Doings - the Livejournal Spooks community.
Spookschallenge - A Spooks challenge community, for fic, icons, essays, whatever people think of that fits the fortnightly (or so) challenge.
Keeley Hawes: Between the Lines - because I can't get enough of Keeley. Screencaps from Spooks episodes as well as Tipping the Velvet, various magazine photoshoots, and just generally lots and lots of Keeley.
The Fic
I have a confession to make. When I signed up for this pairing, I assumed that someone else had written it. It turns out that, as far as I’ve been able to find, I’m the only one writing it (I told you the fandom is small). If anyone knows of other Zoe/Tessa stories, please let me know: I’m posting links to two of my personal favourites that are purely Zoe/Tessa, one Tessa-centric fic that is mine, and a fantastic Zoe-centric fic that isn’t mine. And I apologise for the appearance of self-pimping. I really thought there were more of us Zoe/Tessa shippers out there. There certainly should be, and I hope I’ve managed to convince a few of you out there, at the very least, that this is a show worth watching.
Theme, Variation - set between eps 1.4 and 1.5, this story is my alternate theory of how Zoe and Tessa got together. The first Zoe/Tessa I wrote, and therefore as far as I know, the first one ever written... (rated R)
Conflicted Interests - set during episode 2.9, which is a brilliant episode on so many levels. Zoe/Tessa, but Zoe wants someone else... (rated R)
Five Images of Exhibitionism - this is one of those "five things" stories, and is mostly Tessa backstory. The final pairing is Tessa/Zoe, and basically sets out my usual theory of their relationships. (Contains five pairings, three f/f and two m/f) (rated R)
Stories written by others:
Devotee by Sangga - this is marvellous Zoe-centric fic tracing through the first two seasons (rated R)
melwil has written a lot of very good Spooks fic, but I have yet to get a Zoe/Tessa out of her. Instead, here’s the link to a seriously good Tessa/Christine Dale (CIA Liasion) fic: Dangerous: (rated R)