My main issue with Vesper, despite a great performance by Eva Green, is that by the end of the film, the main takeaway I got from her character is that she literally cannot do her job because all she cares about is saving these dudes/love interests in her life. As for the conversation about why Ferguson in MI5 is given a pass, I felt like her character showed that she was a fully competent agent who was going to do her job no matter what and that felt like a more respectful portrayal to me as a woman.