Wow, I'd actually forgotten that scene. Clearly I need to buy CR. Stat! I think they handled all the female characters better this time around, but M definitely. I wonder if in the first film, they didn't know what they had yet, because QoS puts more on M's shoulders than did CR. QoS gave Judi Dench a bit more to work with, and a little more room in which to build a good performance.