>The point of the story was to repeatedly put Callan between a moral
>rock and a hard place.
I think that almost all of the better British spy fiction, whether it's the
Sandbaggers or any of John Le Carre books, is based on that premise.
There is generally a man with a tortured conscience because of all the
slimy things that he has to do for Queen and Country.
The thing about Callan, was that he had to do things that were even more
slimy than usual. The series seemed to me almost a parody of the
British spy story in the way that the filth of Callan's job was
exaggerated out of reasonable proportion. Each episode his job got more
disgusting. He even had a helper who had horrible body oder.
*************** CALLAN SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ***********
I remember one particular episode in which Callan had actually formed a
relationship with an attractive woman. Of course, she hated the work that
he did. Not only did she get to see Callan carry out his assignment
(which was of course killing someone) but he ended up killing the person
with a barbed harpoon usually used by undersea divers. She was so
disgusted by the whole thing (even though Callan saved her life) that she
ended the relationship on the spot.
The series was well done with all of its exaggeration and I'd love to see
it again.
Ed Ehrlich <eehrlich@shani.net>