What Goes Up…

DVD, BUGS S2 (What Goes Up…)

Ah, Season 2, the year I came to 'BUGS' and for many reasons my favourite of the four. Right away you can tell they're going in all guns blazing, Ed, Ros and Beckett look sharper and more stylish than ever, they're involved with something far bigger than a simple call-in from a blighted business, no less than a country's fate and fortune are on the line and you can't go bigger than an adventure in space itself! Leaving aside the trappings for the moment the thing that stood out for me is how many times people get trapped in rooms and the number of explosions ripping through the episode - we get two deaths by dangerous ignition key, or at least apparent ones, as we'll discuss later, the second is much more dramatic than a person being blown up in their own car; a variety of other blasts, and not only that, they're all proper bangs, none of these wind fans and debris that seemed to be the method used for the attack on Gizmo's in the previous episode and season ender, 'Pulse.' Let's just rewind to people being trapped in rooms, as this sets the tone for the story: Ed is inside the shuttle simulator when a fire breaks out within and the door mechanism fails to respond. It's fortunate that electronics genius Ros is on hand to dash to the rescue and blow the door from its hinges. The next time it happens it's Beckett stuck in the fuel cell testing module where scientist McNair locks him in and turns on the depressurisation, sucking the air out, Ros forced to go against her usual methods and try brute force with a whacking great wrench to shatter the door. Whacking is the right word!

It's a good job Ros was there in both cases, but in case we get the impression the guys are useless, she's not available for Lock-In Part III: this time it's Beckett again, tricked into entering a cubbyhole in the basement at STA, the Space Technology Agency thanks to the double-dealing of on-site tech expert Zito, who zaps him with a taser, the first of many this season. Zito obviously doesn't know every inch of the place because once Beckett has recovered enough to be able to stand up again (and I did like that the shock had an effect on him instead of him waking up and being right as rain), he finds a utility exit in the floor. I don't know why there were so many moments of people being trapped, and I suppose we can add to that tally Ed being caught in the cargo hold of the shuttle during launch when he needs to pull out a sabotaged fuel cell before the heat causes it to explode, but I quite like the repetition - it probably had something to do with this being the first ever two-part story of the series so there had to be a few blind alleys to keep the momentum going before the story was wrapped up. Effectively you have to juggle the characters and keep them in the air for the running time instead of following the standard formula of reaching the required goal of foiling the villain's plans by the end of the episode.

It being a two-parter almost certainly enabled them to put more money on the screen since they could reuse the sets and actors, amortising the cost of such a bold idea across two segments instead of one, enabling them to pull off the kind of ambition you'd not associate with the series after seeing Season 1 where each story was self-contained and the worst there was to worry about was a guy or gal with a gun. If you look at it realistically it's probably totally silly that Ed could go through some astronaut training as a cover to track down a saboteur within the programme and then find himself as the only other possible candidate for a mission into space, but they do at least hit it home that he's done countless simulations and training to the extent he feels it's not necessary for his true mission. Was Zito deliberately trying to tire him out and discourage him with the amount of training sessions so he'd be less likely to track down the villain, because if so he shot himself in the foot by making Ed qualified! Let's also not forget that he's always been shown to have a natural aptitude for anything that involves flying or reaction-based activities, as he proves once again by smashing the record for the shuttle arm-deployment simulation. I so wanted him to reprise his line from the first episode, 'Out of The Hive,' about how they say videogames aren't any good for you!

This mission to space could be seen as the statement of intent for the season since it is a big idea to take on, while also creeping into the realms of science fiction in some ways. It has that visual impression of so much happening at night that would go on to be common, whereas Season 1 was generally much lighter and brighter. The colour comes, as before, from the wardrobe of the main cast, Ros in a chic yellow suit and large earrings that feature someone's face on them, Beckett in his smart jacket and purple shirt. Ed isn't seen out of his blue trainee uniform or red space suit, but it all conspires to make the series look stylish and smart. We get the usual 'BUGS' buildings of glass and metal, the fast-paced action and dangers out of nowhere, not to mention a glimpse of the new, red-walled Gizmos, complete with its bowl of jellybeans for added colour. I'd love to know why they changed that set, which I don't believe was ever actually referred to as Gizmos - did they decide to change locations after Jean-Daniel tracked them down for a visit with Mr. Bazooka? The look of the place isn't yet established, but it would become the HQ that I knew so well, even if it did only last for this season. There's just as much playful camaraderie between the three leads as there ever was, including little hints of their lives, such as Beckett reluctantly admitting he knows about Kituma, the country which is dependent on the success of the RX44 sub-terrestrial geological survey satellite launch, and Ros chips in that he knows someone out there in a teasing tone which we don't learn the significance of until part two.

The series is also able to shock as before, such as when a minibus full of shuttle crew explodes all of a sudden, in the midst of a quite different altercation between Ed and Susan Vornholt, his fellow astronaut to be. Actually it sounds like she's got more experience than most as she talks about going up into space previously so I'm not sure why she seemed to be among the trainees. She's a typical hard case who Ed's charm eventually wins over - his flirtatiousness is in evidence again as one of his traits, though he keeps things businesslike with Vornholt, I noticed, as would make sense for someone whose life is interdependent with his own. All the characters have plenty of challenges to take on, whether it's Ros climbing a very tall transmitter (which is nicely referred to as an automated auxiliary Hive listening post, a great way to reference Beckett's former employer), Beckett and his run in with Zito (who uses a gun when his captive has escaped which amps the threat up from mere tasering), and Ed going into space - the weightlessness was brilliantly enacted, though there is a major flaw at the end of the episode when the Starshield satellite fires on their shuttle and suddenly they're walking around the cockpit as if it's normal gravity. It was especially jarring because they'd achieved the zero gravity effect so well earlier in the episode.

Now that I think about it, it might have been better if Ros and Beckett's roles had been switched as that would have been three for three if she'd been locked in a room as her friends had been. Then that would have been much more of a challenge if Beckett was the one to climb the tower since we know he has a fear of heights, and it would have been a nice connection for him to be at a Hive facility, too. Not that it matters overall, it's still a great episode and Zito is a terrific villain, all shining round glasses and evil smirk. They keep us in the dark for some time over who is setting up these sabotage attempts, but you can tell it's a man's hand, which removes Vornholt from suspicion even though she's acting hostilely towards Ed. That gives her an arc as she ends up positive towards him, so it works fine, but perhaps they should have used a gloved hand so we had no clue to the gender of the villain. And as every great villain should, Zito has his prepared escape route, dashing into the air vents from his secret hideaway down in the bowels of the building. I have to assume he had that fireproof suit down there somewhere and must have changed into it before jumping in his car, I can't imagine he puts it on every day just in case he needs to 'die' to take people off his tail!

Ros and Beckett really should have stuck around instead of driving right off. I suppose they wanted to get back to find out how Ed was doing in space, but couldn't they have alerted the fire service that there was a burning wreck on the street with a body inside? For that matter it makes you wonder why Zito didn't simply jump out of his moving car since his pursuers lose sight of him for part of the chase when they take a shortcut, but then he didn't know they were going to do that and probably planned to execute the car explosion whatever happened. Of course if they had bothered to put the fire out they'd have found him alive and well, or later, that the body was gone. It must also be some special suit to be able to not only withstand the extreme heat of the fire, but also protect against the initial explosion! Of course you're not meant to think about it that much, it's just a shocking and brilliant twist that you think, as Ros and Beckett do, whoever he was working for has taken his revenge as with McNair. And the episode is excellent at creating an impression of bigger things going on behind the scenes, even if that's apparently undercut by Zito surviving, so maybe he's the main man after all. The music, this time credited to both Gavin and Simon Greenaway, is superbly portentous and moody as it would be for the season, one of things that I love about it.

The guest characters are also pretty good, although Colonel Stone, boss of the STA, is one of those that isn't quite convincing. His liaison with the Kituman government, Joy, is fine and believable, but Zito is the meatiest role by far, although McNair was quite fun - he's a typical scientist, getting into his discussion with Ros, a fellow enthusiast and leaving Beckett behind, but it's also the fact that you can tell he's about ready to bolt at any moment. It fitted in perfectly with his impractical nature that the way he chooses to try and kill Ros is to drop a box of tools on her head, a stunt that was expertly carried off as whoever doubled Ros (probably Nrinder Dhudwar), really does have to leap out of the way at the last second as a bunch of heavy tools fall from on high! Terrific stuff, and probably the most impressive moment of the episode simply from the fact you can see it was done for real, whereas Zito's exit from the flaming car was great, but you know there was no one in it when the explosion went off. McNair's death by car bomb was one of those unexpected shocker moments as it happens when Ros is pursuing him and you assume it's going to be a chase, then Kaboom! I wonder when the explosive device was planted, or was that always the plan for McNair once he'd finalised the fuel cell? Most likely.

It makes a change for Ed to go up in a helicopter and not be the pilot, but he does so in this episode as one of the astronaut crew being transported to a plane to Guyana, the location of the launch control for Shuttle Excalibur. Usefully, Ros sends him off with a long range transceiver, something that comes in very useful when the launch needs to be aborted. Thanks to Zito, Ed and Vornholt can't contact Mission Control, but Ed is able to at least do something about the dodgy fuel cell before it ends the mission prematurely - it reminded me of the first episode in which Ros gave him a tracker. He's learned to be a bit more appreciative of Ros' gadgets these days although he has to scoff at the idea that its range is long enough to reach space. Ros just sees it as a field test and as usual, she's right. So much of the space stuff comes across realistically, it's not a comic book version. While I mentioned the flaw of gravity at the end, for the most part the reality of going into space is portrayed right down to technical details such as there being no way for sound to travel in the vacuum of space so we see, but don't hear, the explosion of the fuel cell (which handily fits perfectly into the waste ejection chute!), and the production design of every aspect is very well realised.

Perhaps it would have been a better cliffhanger if we'd ended on Zito nonchalantly stepping out of his fiery vehicle and pulling off the hood to reveal he's fine, but maybe more danger in space for Ed and Vornholt was necessary? The Starshield part of the story is the only bit that rings a bit false, this mothballed defence system that's just adjacent to the main control room at STA. The satellite had been launched at some time, clearly, but Stone doesn't want to talk about it. At the same time, it does add further menace amid the already potent air of things going on beyond what our team knows about, and the creepiness is furthered by Beckett saying that whoever's behind all this, they're not going to give up now, setting up part two for a continuation of the story, but one that would also continue on across the season if we take it that this was part of Jean-Daniel's handiwork. One of the joys of the series is that it does have its own internal world, and with the references (like Ros managing to keep up with the launch remotely and Beckett saying even The Hive had never been able to crack all STA's codes - not sure why they had to be out of the loop, though, since their man is on the shuttle!), in this episode that helps tie it to what came before. But there's also the little touches of things that have happened before, such as Beckett leaping into Ros' car and shouting: "Drive," just like he did when they first met, which I assume was a deliberate reference back to that, especially happening in the first episode of the season. Being trapped in a place where the oxygen is dropping, as Beckett is, also repeated Ros' position in 'Manna From Heaven,' and while it's easy to say they're just redoing old ideas, I like the return to previous adventures, even if it was unintentional.

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