"In my position one never approves anything until it is an undisputed success."
REVIEW: Yes, the return of Servalan! Her scenes are always so well-written, full of wit and stinging satire! Despite her dissatisfaction with Travis' track record to date, she must really believe that he's going to succeed this time to travel all that way and see it personally. But there is a cruel streak in her that might want to see him fail. From the moment she walks in with her giant furs to when she leaves with Travis on the ground groveling to no one in particular, she always makes a statement. And yeah, he's going to fail again (of course), and you almost believe you won't see him again. She relieves him of duty pending an inquiry. The despair is real. The promise to destroy Blake, a dubious one to keep.
The bad guys' plot is pretty devious, however. They massacre the rebels on Hoth (or wherever), but leave their beacon on to lure Blake into their trap. They WANT him to breach the compound and rescue Avalon - another famous resistance leader - but they've replaced her with a life-like robot who will unleash a terrible virus that strips the flesh off your bones in a minute. Then they can have the Liberator and be rid of this thorn in their side once and for all. A lot of people die, but not the ones they want dead. The ploy, revealed bit by bit does explain the drawn-out and ineffectual firefight in the halls, but it doesn't make it any more exciting. There's just too much of it, and while, fine, the guards are armed with nerfed guns (I bet they don't know it), but that doesn't excuse Jenna missing so many shots. And since I'm on the villains here, are the mutoids all female? Or does Travis just prefer the company of women, even cybernetic ones? His head henchwoman isn't the one from Duel, so no unspoken relationship here.
It's not all about the villains' smarts and wit. Avon and Vila get some great lines too, and Blake is his unflappable self when confronting the baddies at the end to exchange one Avalon for another. He figures out this was too easy (except for having to wait for the Liberator to be back in orbit, but that's more of an Avon problem), and though he first falls for a red herring (Chevner is set up by the camera work to be the traitor, but you can't fool the audience on this one), he and his crew manage to bring down the super-strong android in a fierce, claustrophobic fight. Using the virus against Travis and especially Servalan gets him what he wants. He's such a cold bastard, he breaks a guard's neck at one point. That situation is probably the weakest in terms of strategy, trusting that guard to play along... They should just have stolen his uniform. I mean, why does only Avalon have to strip to her bare essentials? Truth is, the ladies don't do so well. Jenna can't hit the broad side of a barn. Cally gets knocked out by the robot (I do find it amusing that she possibly can't stand Vila, much like Avon, though her best chemistry is with Jenna - I'm not saying it's Sapphic, but I'm not saying it isn't). And while Avalon proves her mettle in the examination scene, decidedly unimpressed with Travis, they still have her naked on a table with a couple of Fifth Element straps for cover. And then she becomes a mere pawn in the Federation's scheme. With all the mutoid warriors and her being some kind of equal to Blake, it almost felt a bit feminist there, but not for long.
Quick word on special effects: The wintry planet is well-realized on the available budget, and I like the tingling virus ball. The open head of the robot, done as an optical, doesn't really work, but it's a cool idea. I'm happy to give it points for ambition and effort.
NOT MY FEDERATION: The Feds now have life-like androids; no word on whether their brains are positronic.
BUT MIGHT BE MY EMPIRE: The firefight in the corridors is allegedly based on the beginning of Star Wars, in theaters then. They wish.
WHO?: I missed it last episode, but now it's hit me - the mutoids' plastic coiffe is based on the mold used for the female Eldrad's hat/head in The Hand of Fear. The cave scenes were filmed in Wookey Hole, the same location used for the Doctor Who serial Revenge of the Cybermen, which was also directed by Michael E. Briant. David Bailie (Chevner) was Dask in The Robots of Death, the serial we coming back to over and over, but also notably played the Celestial Toymaker in Big Finish's Doctor Who audios. John Baker, the scientist, appeared as Adelphi in Colony in Space, Ralph in The Visitation, and a mediator in Planet of the Spiders. John Rolfe, who plays the traitor Terloc, was a Captain in The War Machines, Sam Becket (no relation) in The Moonbase, and Ralph Fell in The Green Death.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium - Some of the action beats are overlong or just don't work, but even a middling episode has a lot of great dialogue and character moments.
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