"Learn from the past and look to the future."
REVIEW: The Searcher is on an errand of mercy, evacuating a very small group of survivors from volcanic upheaval - in other words, the series ends without EVER finding or even really looking for the Lost Tribes of Man, so it's absolutely ridiculous for it to restate the premise every once in a while, but aren't you glad this is the last time I'll mention it? - and Buck and Hawk pick up a young Dorian girl who is on the run from her own people, no questions asked. No questions asked, and further, they don't mention the security risk to Admiral Uselessov, so he's as surprised as anyone when the Dorans aggressively come a-knocking play with the ship's thermostat until alleged murderer Asteria is given over to them.
Of interest is the Dorian look and culture - they are "mutants" who wear masks to hide their faces, and for whom it is taboo to even look in a mirror. Since Asteria is beautiful and so is the son of the Dorian leader who advocates for her, Buck rightly wonders what the big secret is. The twist is less a matter of mutancy (their word) than it is of clonency (mine), and we're left to wonder if it really would make us descend into madness if we all had the same faces (unaging faces, as it turns out, as the show couldn't be bothered to age the father compared to the son even a little - and also, they can have different voices, it's not airtight). Asteria's real crime was conducting a taboo maskless affair with the now-dead eldest son, and the murder mystery as such isn't too difficult to figure out. Whether a maskless movement is born here or not, it hardly matters since the Dorians probably wouldn't have ever returned even if the show had.
Grafted to this fairly simple plot is a paranoid thriller where the refugees turn one each other trying to figure out who the wanted woman is in their number, and finally throwing her to the wolves themselves. It's not that there's no value in this idea - there's almost something about holding up a mirror to humanity's worst traits as a theme - but that very bad writing is needed to make it happen. In the "unbelievable" column, we have: The refugees are never under guard even once their mob mentality is made obvious. They have a big screen TV that shows them all the communications between the Searcher and the Dorian ship. They are all grouped right next to the airlock that leads to the Dorian ship for ease of kicking Asteria out. The door is neither guarded nor locked. It's a problem that none of the regular cast are present during the majority of these scenes, leaving it to a random commercial pilot to be the voice of reason, an ineffectual pseudo-Buck. The worst of it is that they were right in their logic. If Asteria is sent back, she may or may not die, but they will live. If they don't, then assuredly everyone dies from the Dorian weapon. Yeah, she lived with some astute advocacy from Buck, and everyone survives the temperature changes. Bravo, mob agitators. Their only punishment is some indignant speech-making by Wilma and Buck about their behavior, and the episode thus ends on its heaviest moment ever. No natural nor forced laughter, not even a smile in the final freeze frame. It's almost like finally having lost all its humor, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - the series - has no choice but to end.
STAR GAZING: Devon Ericson (Asteria) has another notable SF credit, Night of the Comet.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium-Low - The show goes out on a dull, if not entirely pointless whimper. The level of writing was never high on Buck, but it had gotten particularly shoddy and was unable to counterbalance the tatty production values of the second season's lower budget. Apparently, Gil Gerard wanted the third season to be about Buck, back on Earth, visiting bombed-out villages and lending a hand, which would have made it even more of a western. For some reason, I don't think that would have saved the show...
Comments
I hope this wasn't too trying an experience and that you could get at least some enjoyment out of it. Although I wonder which one's more rewatchable – Buck Rogers Season 2 or Galactica 1980? Or is the question pretty much the same as would you prefer to be kicked in the testicles or punched...
Does the episode end with BR telling the refugees they were supposed to hang in there? I recall my teenage self getting to the ending and saying, “What?” when Buck delivered the final line.