"Regret is part of being alive. But keep it a small part."
REVIEW: Tanith Lee's name pops up on screen and I'm, like, the famous fantasy writer?! I'm intrigued, but also wary. I imagine it will be well-written, but the mix of fantasy and sci-fi hasn't fit the Blake's 7 universe very well in the past. I was right on both counts, but thanks to Fiona Cumming's original direction, it works more than it doesn't. The opening sequence, with almost seven minutes of cultural dumb show, is pretty brazen, if unconvincing. The funereal ritual is pregnant with meaning, but when we eventually see the color-coded figures as the cast wearing hallucinatory habits, all assumptions are reassessed. What I first thought was some kind of mythology, or Jungian meme, turns out to be far more mundane - the roles of various servants - and confusing (like I'm not sure that truly explains the black figure to be incarnated by Avon). It's still a triumph of design, and definitely in line with Lee's lyrical fantasy stylings.
The tomb, or ship, or genie's lamp, is sent into space and centuries later, found by the Liberator. The dead alien is still alive in mind alone and contacts Cally in order to steal its form, and transform her colleagues into servants. It's a chance for Jan Chappell to stretch her acting abilities, playing this alien figure who, while ruthlessly selfish is also pretty tragic. The best thing about the episode is how it uses its conceit to explore the Cally/Avon relationship. Early on, she's moping about the loss of Auron (so they DO address it) and Avon makes her smile. I've been saying for a while now, but I ship them. When he and Vila are in danger aboard the tomb-ship, her fierce protectiveness of them could go beyond mere loyalty to the original group, and when Tarrant goes after her, Avon tells him to shut up. But as the alien sharing her mind, she pretty much confirms deeper feelings. She says Cally wants Avon to live, and that he's not to be a servant, but a consort. They share a kiss, though Avon is merely playing her to steal her ring of power. But she still responds like Cally would because she is becoming Cally and says as much. The ending, with Cally's smile at Avon perhaps tells us she remembers the alien's actions. His complete lack of response at that is more ambiguous. I guess that's what happens when you fall for a total sociopath. I still ship them.
Much of the power of the episode comes from the direction, which shows us the ship like I feel we've never seen it before. Moody lighting is applied to long shots that make everything seem BIGGER. The human figures smaller, in the face of this psionic force. Cumming also does a great job with superimposed images, in particular placing the skeletal corpse over Cally to show the alien. Really creepy, and hard to achieve with the cameras and mixing of the day. And that's all on top of the difficulty of bringing the alien culture to life, judging when visions of our characters in alien drag should be used, etc. We even get a short song out of it, sung by Josette Simon/Dayna.
Cumming makes this a strong visual experience, but the script is an oddity, which I think is acknowledged by Boucher's script editing job on it. To his credit, he leaves its lyricism alone, but there are a couple of key scenes that have his fingerprints all over it. One is Tarrant making a play for the captaincy, overtly declaring himself the new Blake and restoring the old dynamic. It feels like new Blake's writer Lee might have submitted something for an older version of the show and this is a way to make the scene fit while also helping the status quo. The other is the final exposition scene where Dayna and Vila try to work out just what happened. It doesn't feel entirely necessary, or else doesn't explain ENOUGH, but then, these characters can only give us conjecture from their point of view. Whether Boucher or Lee, the dialog is generally very strong. It's not your typical Blake's 7 story, but between the acting and design, I think that's okay.
NOT MY FEDERATION: The black cast member singing a song on the show immediately put me in mind of Uhura on Star Trek, but the episode's resurrection of a hostile alien culture where the characters have to take on mythical roles would show up in TNG's "Masks".
WHO?: Fiona Cumming again. We're a couple years out from "Four to Doomsday", which also feels like a cultural variety show at times.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium: A hybrid that's not entirely successful, but it really goes for it, which is worth some points, as is the focus on Cally and her relationship to Avon.
Comments
The plotholing between Dayna and Vila at the end is an annoying info-dump, yes, but the truth is, so was the previous scene with Avon confronting the alien. I get the feeling that almost no one notices it, but the moment the entity disappears is still part of the SAME scene as when Tarrant arrived to confront her about ten minutes earlier! Seriously, the scene just goes on forever, with a lot of awkward exposition from Darrow and Chappell. They needed to break it up into smaller chunks to make it more digestible.
The opening scene with everyone in circus outfits (almost literally) also goes on far too long, and works even less well for the opposite reason; it doesn't explain ANYTHING. The audience hasn't a damned clue what's going on. Dayna's Song, a very generic and uninspired chant about space being similar to night, or something, also feels out of place, as though it's been slotted in just to fill up some runtime.
The gloom aboard the Liberator and the growing animosity between Tarrant and Avon mean this is never unwatchable, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who ultimately comes away thinking, "Cally possessed by a powerful alien yet AGAIN...? Meh." And, "A duplicate of Cally yet AGAIN...? Double-meh."
It also isn't helping that Avon is being increasingly mis-portrayed in season 3, as a kind of infallible super-hero figure. Every time the crew is in any kind of trouble, Avon is always on hand to save the day. His relationship with Blake in the first two seasons never established either of them as always right or always wrong. But throughout the third season, Avon seems almost to be wearing underpants on the outside of his trousers, and a bright red cape from the back of his neck. He may remain cold and harsh-mannered, but demeanour aside, he is no longer the anti-hero he was previously.
Still, it's a good addition to Cally's arc in it quietly confirms that she really does love Avon after all, and she was just angry at something he said when she suggested that she has no affection for him in 'Children Of Auron'. And the powerlessness of the crew creates a lot of tension, even if Zen being shut down by a hidden power has been done before as well e.g. Time Squad, Orac, Redemption etc.
It's watchable, but... no, it just feels like it was transplanted from a different series.