"Murder without guilt. Death without loss."
REVIEW: Chris Boucher is back after letting a few oddball scripts from novelists get made, but Death-Watch is also a bit of an oddball. I guess I will always think this when the show pushes a universe populated by a lot more governments than just the Federation that seemed so monolithic in Series A and B. Here, the United Planets of Teal and the Vandor Confederacy both abutt the Federation, and go to war with each other every twenty years or so. That certainly precludes them being newly formed territories in the wake of the Federation's decimation. But very interestingly, Servalan has a plan to trick them into breaking their treaty, really go at it, and come in as an "ally" to mop things up. We've seen this kind of thing before (in Bounty), but it's a great Servalan-type plan. Because you see, these two powers have a very peculiar way to wage war - they have their champion fight it out in a reality TV show, winner takes all proposed concessions. Servalan will make them break the rules, replace one champion with a super-fast android, then as guest arbiter, ask for a medical to prove one side was cheating, thereby sending the area into a real war she can exploit. It's pretty brilliant.
As the episode begins, we meet Deeta Tarrant, and if you're not paying close attention, you might forget OUR Tarrant is called Del and think this is maybe his secret origin. Deeta survives a couple of assassination attempts from Vandor as he is to be the Teal champion (doesn't sound sporting, could this have also been engineered by Servalan?). Great big set with CSO windows, part of the money spent on this episode which also includes new ship interiors and flying cameras, though that set does return as a "battleground" later to keep costs down. You quickly realize Deeta is not Del even though both are played by Steven Pacey, and this isn't the past, but the path of these two brothers (who somehow served different empires) is going to intersect thanks to the Liberator's computer-mandated R&R. See, these wars are big media events, with big parties (although it seems, not that big, the crew soon returns to the ship to watch it on TV, and anyway, the battles don't seem to last long at all). Vila - whom everyone seems to loathe in this episode, I don't like it - doesn't seem to have the inside track on where the fun is.
A cool sci-fi quirk of the proceedings: The citizens of both territories can "watch" from inside the champions' heads, with telepathic disks on their foreheads. This way, they can all fight in the war, if vicariously. This is also how part of the crew experience the war, as Avon has already confronted Servalan about her scheme - he just doesn't know WHAT major violation she's prepared. At this point, I think it would have been very interesting to use the conceit to place Del and Dayna (who is monitoring the other champion) in the action physically - since this is way too much about "other people" - but the fight is quick, it hardly matters. We're told by Deeta's handler Max that, to them, this isn't a game, but Deeta can't shoot a man in the back (despite sneaking up on him) and foolishly accepts an offer to duel, western-style. A duel he loses because of the android's lightning reflexes. Del gets to experience his brother's death, his last thoughts a kind message to him. Intense.
Avon's solution, with major help from Orac - in fact, I think the computer is too present in this, why take away the humans' agency? - is really clever. Dayna has already identified that her champion had no instinct, which reveals his true nature in the wake of Servalan suddenly asking for a medical examination (to be "thorough"). Avon invokes blood feud rules to get Del a revenge match against the android BEFORE he can be outed as a mechanical, and given some clues as to what to expect through Cally's telepathic contact ((I'm glad she has something to do because otherwise, it just feels like neither she not her actress want to be there), vaporizes the villain and all the evidence with him. Further, Orac figures out a loophole for the war to be relitigated, and there's a funny moment at the end when Del realizes he's the new Teal champion and ought to teal it out of there.
So it's all quite clever and interesting, and puts some meat on Del Tarrant's bones (turns out he can't shoot someone in the back either). Everyone gets a little something to do, too, so though it's Pacey's episode, others are well served. I do think the relationship between Avon and Servalan is bizarre, almost like they're working together, but are also at odds. It's hard to parse. The kiss they share was apparently unscripted, and it's certainly not the first time Avon has used this as a distraction. He's also quite adamant that Dayna not fulfill HER blood feud and kill Servalan. At least they remember that the villain killed Dayna's father, and it's played to good effect. There's also a Holmesian comedy double act - the TV presenter and his producer - that I would have liked to see more of.
NOT MY FEDERATION: So right next to the "Federation" is a space called the "United Planets"? Boucher seems to know what he's doing as he also uses the phrase "Space, the final frontier...". The battleground seems to be a holodeck of sorts.
WHO?: Stewart Bevan (Deeta Tarrant's second, Max) played Clifford Jones, the man who married Jo Grant in The Green Death. The Commentator is played by David Sibley who was Pralix in The Pirate Planet.
REWATCHABILITY: High - A lot of good sci-fi ideas, but it's the character work that makes it shine. Seeing as a lot of this episode is the cast having a Superbowl party in front of a giant screen, it could have gone terribly. But no, it's one of the funnest episodes of the season.
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