"Avon's idea of diplomacy is like breaking someone's leg then saying 'Lean on me'!"
REVIEW: Blake's 7 hasn't been this dark since, well, maybe since the first couple episodes. Avon's PowerPoint presentation to the various warlords, in and of itself, showing a Logan's Run mall society with numbers tattooed on their foreheads, pacified by the Federation's wonder drug, not reacting to being shot for fun by Fed troopers... But our crew has the anti-toxin and Avon is looking to create an alliance of border worlds to mass-produce and use it to free affected planets. Seems they will only be convinced if Zukan, a pirate leader who has the most resources to pledge to the effort, actually comes through. Make no mistake, this is an episode about funny HAIR, but it's also about BETRAYAL.
Because it soon becomes clear that Zukan is hiding something. He's way too upset about his daughter Zeeona having smuggled herself to Xenon Base to see her ex, Tarrant, and by the time he leaves Xenon in his ship, he's telling his men staying behind to set up the anti-toxin factory "I salute you" in a way that sounds rather final. Indeed, he's booby-trapped the base with bombs and a "radioactive virus" that looks like you're getting electrocuted (the show is terrible at selling its biological technobabble). ANNNNND he's sent Avon and Soolin to his homeworld to check out the factory, but all that's waiting for them is a desert and an ambush by trampoline-powered sand commandos! Well, good thing Soolin is as good a shot as she is. This is actually a very good episode for her - we get a bit of her tragic backstory (better late than never), she quickly thinks of posing as Zeeona to get the better of the commandos, etc.).
And it's not just Soolin. This is one of those rare episodes that gives everyone something to do. The rest of the crew are on a bombed-out Xenon, trying to survive entombed in the central command chamber. They make you think they've killed Orac (but I guess he'll pull through). And of course, Servalan is revealed to be behind Zukan's treachery. And not to be outdone in that department, she leaves a bomb on her ally's ship before she leaves. And then HE turns around and sacrifices his first mate Finn, throwing him out the airlock with the explosive! His ship is still damaged though, and he has the temerity to call Avon for help. Avon himself remotely figures out how to give his crew oxygen again, taking Zukan's bargaining chip away from him.
It's all quite satisfying - and looks quite cool, with good use of CSO, model shots, and a very mobile camera - all except Zeeona's final sacrifice. What's hinted is that she takes responsibility for her father's actions, but it's not explicitly said, and it seems strange that she would fix the viral problem and then commit suicide by exposing herself to it. She and Tarrant had revived a flame, her operation was a success, and she certainly stood to inherit her father's resources and could have used them to help the Seven. It seems the episode is bending over backwards to preserve a status quo it isn't going to need in an episode's time. (Even if there'd been a fifth season, the show tends to undo its status quo in its season finales.) So we save Orac, we save Xenon Base, and we can't have Zeeona join the group even temporarily. It's a little annoying.
MIGHT BE MY EMPIRE: Zukan's ship looks like a tiny version of a Star Destroyer (from the back especially). An ambush on a desert planet is also something we've seen in a galaxy far, far away.
WHO?: Boorva wears the Seal of Rassilon, or in reality a Vogan uniform from Revenge of the Cybermen. Roy Boyd (Zukan) played Driscoll in The Hand of Fear. Dean Harris (Finn) would much later play Victor Kennedy (the Absorbaloff) in TARDISODE #10, a prologue to Love & Monsters (Peter Kay plays him on the episode itself). Rick James (the leader with the beehive hairdo) was Cotton in The Mutants.
REWATCHABILITY: High - Despite the puzzling reset at the end, this is a fierce tapestry of betrayals and counter-betrayals, which is just what Blake's 7 should be like.
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