Whirling Dervish

DVD, BUGS S2 (Whirling Dervish)

Much like 'Manna From Heaven' which I'd previously considered the worst entry in Season 1, but on this viewing found to be better than I remembered, 'Whirling Dervish' was the one in Season 2 that I didn't think of particularly fondly in the past, but on this occasion really enjoyed. Part of that must be low expectations, and those came from the fact I had no prior connection to the episode before seeing it on DVD in 2004, many years after its original transmission (much as I came to the majority of Season 1 for the first time on DVD). You would think that after being thrilled by 'Bugged Wheat' the previous week I wouldn't have forgotten a series that was to become my favourite English TV series ever, to this day! But I was out playing with friends and consequently missed it. One of those friends moved away that same year, so I suppose it was for the best that I enjoyed a Saturday evening running around in the fresh air, especially as I got the best of both worlds by being able to not only see this episode, but own it in the following decade. At the same time I do think there is an added attraction to things you watched when you were young, adding an extra layer of nostalgic appreciation. That I enjoyed it so much on this viewing suggests that it was simply a well done episode, regardless of any previous memories. At the same time I fully realise that the gap between first seeing this in 2004 and today is more than double that between 1996 and 2004, so perhaps there is still some nostalgic value to be gleaned after all!

Enough about the circumstances of my original viewing experience, it's now that counts, and I was quite impressed with this. It's a typically bizarre 'BUGS' story in that the villains are trying quite radical plots in order to achieve something, namely putting Tyson Strate and his Strate Air out of business. I'm not sure if one apparent malfunction that destroyed a passenger plane would be enough to bring down the whole airline, especially as you'd think the black box would have registered what was going on, but I suppose that was the point: this Dervish fighter plane was invisible to radar and was equipped with Stormburst missiles that would ignite a gas cloud to take down the plane without any obvious sign of attack and make it appear it was the plane's fault. So maybe the plan wasn't so bad anyway. I'm not clear on how Hector Jerome, the big baddie of the piece, got hold of it, maybe they glossed over that, nor why he could get a Khazbek plane, but not anyone to translate the language onboard to English, or even hire a Khazbek pilot (there probably wasn't a khazbekpilotsrus.com to go to, but still…). If we're talking inconsistencies and mistakes then there are the usual selection to choose from, I very much doubt any episode of the series was entirely watertight or immune from criticism, but as the story went, it hung together reasonably well, and the key to diverting our attention from any flaws was in the acting and direction, both of which were very good.

Right from the teaser when we see Jerome and his henchman Fisk try to implicate Strate Air employees in a disastrous explosion at a refuelling dump, and you get the shot of the fuel trickling along the ground to its trigger point, as the boots of the villains accompany it, I immediately noted a strong visual directing style, and this was something that continued and excelled throughout the production - the shot of Bixon, the team's apparent liaison with the CGEE (Committee for Global Economic Equilibrium), as he stalks down the stairs at Gizmos, his dour reflection glaring back from a reflective surface; the vertigo-inducing camerawork high up on the edge of the building Ed breaks into as we see his feet from his point of view, right next to a long drop to the ground; the camera stuck on the front bumper of Fisk's large, aggressive vehicle, which lifts as he drives, swivelling around to show Fisk in the driver's seat; the orange flare of explosion silhouetting Beckett and Selina as they run from the building, seemingly firing out close behind them… It all demonstrated a confident flair from the Director, interested in playing with the look of a scene. I'm not saying these things hadn't been done before, one of the series' traits was its dramatic style of shot-making, and this one felt fresh and exciting for it (so it's strange the writer isn't credited).

Part of that may have come from the low light levels, another episode, inline with the first three, that took place mainly at night, or indoors (space being a big part of that representation in the opening two-parter). That impression extends to the more muted colours the team are wearing this time, far from the vibrant outfits they'd been sporting for much of the season and series so far: Beckett and Ros both have a very light blue shirt or jacket respectively (Ros' is so pale it's almost white), while Ed has the same blue-grey woollen jumper under his leather jacket, though he's often seen with the leather zipped up or in a dark flight suit. The villains (aside from Fisk's shock of white hair), also dress in rather muted fashion, indeed only Selina, their ally from Mindscope, wears the kind of bright colour we're used to, in her green suit jacket. I assume this was all deliberate as part of the visual identity of the episode, because even Ros' bright yellow car is barely seen, to the point I was trying to work out whether she had driven it or was in some other vehicle when she chases after the beacon where Fisk is directing the Strate plane off course. We do see it quite clearly just before Ros has to make a fast reverse to get out of the way of Fisk's muscly vehicle, but it's surprising because usually we get a strong sense of what vehicles are being used.

That's not to say we don't get a strong sense of the characters, and this is where the episode really comes alive in a way that it was only borderline in the previous episode: Ed, Ros and Beckett are really well handled. We see Ed doing the kind of Ed stuff that we expect, whether that be firing a grappling hook across to another building so he can zip-line across to it, showing his expertise in computer games again (on the gyro flight sim outfit), or arriving at Jerome's place on a motorbike, as he should, it being his travel mode of choice (when not using a helicopter, about the only Ed trait missing, but that's because he gets to pilot a stealth fighter jet instead!), it all rings very true to the guy they've established. One thing about him that we'd never know, however, was what his surname really was! I don't know what the mystery was, maybe Craig McLachlan himself asked them to leave it out so people would always wonder, but here we're given a tantalising clue that it may begin with a 'K,' as we see his name marked as 'Ed K' on the computer profile he's made for himself (his digital skills have certainly improved a lot since 'All Under Control,' but then they needed to, Ros could have been killed in that scenario just because he didn't even know what a mouse was!). The key part of that sentence is 'made for himself,' so it could be a complete fabrication on Ed's part. If you look closely, there doesn't even appear to be another letter after the K, so maybe they didn't bother creating the whole name knowing it wouldn't be seen! On a lighter note, McLachlan apparently joked his name was Ed 'Case' in an interview, but perhaps it is 'Kase'? The mystery continues, and it's one of those like 'who kidnapped Ros and Beckett' in the finale that we'll never know…

Talking of which, there have been a number of suggestions for who the mystery kidnapper was in 'The Enemy Within,' among them Jean-Daniel, Amanda Courtney, even Ballantyne (my contribution), but it struck me here: what about Bixon? He's one of those few villains that lived and he's such a mysterious fellow. We think he's the team's employer for this mission, but we find out later he doesn't work for the CGEE at all, he operates from some underground bunker like something Gene Hackman would approve of in 'Enemy of The State,' heightening the tension by telling Ros unless she's successful in preventing Fisk from messing with the beacon, Air Contingency Command will scramble fighters to shoot down the Dervish Ed's piloting! We're told when Bixon visits JD at the end that he's his cousin, though all we have are his word and the fact that they're both bald with scary, piercing eyes, so he could have simply been a hired associate like the bazooka henchmen from '…Must Come Down.' I'd like to think they really were related as it's one more piece of information on JD and his criminal family, I just wish Bixon had been brought into it again, Peter Woodward is excellent in this double-crossing role (and I've come to know him better as Galen from 'Babylon 5' spinoff 'Crusade' since last watching 'BUGS'), and if he is a relation of JD you'd think they'd have brought him back later in the season, or even in a later one, unless they were trying to move away from past associations with JD by then?

Bixon's role does raise questions about what was actually going on in the episode, another reason this one stood out a little more to me. I guess the team didn't get paid this time, then, as Bixon just disappears and wasn't working for what they thought he was. It seems the team were directly under the thumb of JD this time - previously he'd raised cash betting on their success, investing in the companies they were tasked with protecting, but on this occasion he's apparently manoeuvring them into position himself! What Machiavellian machinations, it makes him seem even more dangerous than before when we realised in 'Pulse' he was more than just a bazooka-carrying henchman, but was actually the brains of the operation! Unlike last time it isn't made clear exactly what was going on - we get a sprinkling of scenes at the prison through the episode, the first example of anything more than a mere tag scene at the end, and the first time the suspicious Prison Guard speaks, warning JD he's not going to pull the wool over her eyes (and when he eventually does, it would be in the most bizarre manner!). But we never learn what JD and Bixon discussed - I know the prisoner was being given more and more privileges, but surely JD couldn't have met him face to face, they have to have glass or wire netting between them, don't they? I like the way it's left ambiguous, that Bixon is revealed to be his cousin, then it ends, it's a powerful final moment and really adds to the ongoing sense of doom that was building in each episode and that solidified JD as one of the most memorable villains of TV.

We can assume that he had invested in Strate Air and so was making sure the team did everything they could in order to defeat this cartel - perhaps this organisation was even an enemy of his own family syndicate. There's so much behind JD that we never knew, but which is ripe for speculation. The villains he's operating against aren't up there with the best in the series, but they're okay, Jerome this sharply dressed business type, while his associate is more of an unassuming lunk who never seems to show any emotion, though not unintelligent since he goes about attending to technical things such as setting up the electrical cabinet to short out in the fuel dump guard's face, setting off a chain reaction that blows the dump entirely. Then he has the technical knowledge to mess with the beacon. But he wasn't the brightest when it ultimately came down to it, and there was something just about him meeting his end by electrocution since he'd caused the death of an innocent guard in that way at the start. But why did he try to ram Ros and her car into the electrics? Surely he'd know that that would have spread to his vehicle, too? Unless he didn't notice the electrical generator behind her position and was simply attempting to crush her!

Ros' much criticised car skills are once again proved to be invaluable, and I love that whole sequence, from the moment she's on her way (reminds me of the beacon she had to singlehandedly deal with in the opening two-parter), to stealing Fisk's vehicle, then he manages to leap in the back and she has to drive ferociously to keep him off balance, eventually screeching to a halt to send him smashing through the windscreen. Then as she has to keep her mind on inputting the correct code for the beacon we see Fisk perfectly framed in the window behind her, slowly waking up, then the lights flash on, she spares a glance, but has to finish the code, and then a squeal of tires and she has to reverse at the last second! Ros, after seeming not quite there in the previous episode, is back on top form. Not everything goes perfect for her (how did Bixon manage to install a bug in Gizmos), but she seemed more like her usual self. Beckett, too, is his usual self, flirting with Selina, this older woman, who fortunately was no Irene Campbell (another time a client proved to be less than honest), and in fact turned out to be very brave: even at gunpoint she refuses to help Jerome correctly operate the Direct Cerebral Encoding machine, much to her credit, and Ed is forced to use some violent psychology to move the villains' plot along, while at the same time making him more trustworthy to them. How? By threatening to kill Beckett! I love the worried look Beckett gives him, though they're sort of nodding and winking by the end of the scene so we know everything's okay!

The technological aspect of the episode is as enjoyable as ever, and it often seemed as if they had to have some kind of sci-fi device to play around with, or that drove the plot. In this case it's this DCE machine that can transfer data directly to the brain, so Ed learns to read Khazbek and Beckett memorises an entire romance novel in seconds. I wish we'd had a bit more information on it, such as whether the knowledge was permanent (they're still joking about it in Gizmos at the end, so perhaps it is), or would eventually fade and require a top-up to remain effective. I love how Ed is so matter-of-fact about it, while Beckett is much more into it, quoting passages from the book (and accepting that he's the obvious choice as guinea-pig since Ros' brain is probably full already!). I think more of a danger should have been emphasised since you play with the brain at your peril, and I also think they should have worked the tech into the Cyberax storyline as that would seem to be an ideal connection since that was all about connecting AI with real brains, but I don't think it was ever brought up. That could also have been part of the motivation JD was more involved with this escapade, maybe he needed the DCE machine for later? I liked Selina, which isn't the case for all the team's allies, she knew what she was doing, even if it was a bit risky setting up the DCE machine to explode when you've got a bomb (or was it another Stormburst they were chained to?), in the next room!

The idea of the RF interference affecting the countdown added so much tension to the standard trope of trying to escape from captivity and that whole sequence was another part that really worked, culminating in that terrific explosion. It seems the interference wasn't the only thing the DCE tech needed ironing out - I know Selina says there's some kind of safety measure that can be disabled, but still! Other tech that's used to good effect are the bugs Ed has on his person - whatever he's doing this time he seems to be miked and camera-ed up, though I did spot an inconsistency when he arrives on his bike: the tiny camera is on his lapel, but you can see that's turned inward so the camera would be dark, yet we see a perfect image of the security gate opening as if it's coming from the front of his helmet. And did he have a mic actually in the collar of his t-shirt, since he appears to be talking into that, which is a new one on me. I like that he uses brains as well as brawn on this one and he's certainly been developed into a more rounded character this season where in Season 1 he tended to just be the jokey action man, here he can deal with computers, flight, pretty much whatever's thrown at him - I like the way he tricks Erhardt into walking on the dangerous roof, even if it probably led to his death!

The team don't actually kill anyone in this episode, well, not directly, but they are very close to it! As noted, Erhardt probably died from falling through the roof, and while Ed wasn't responsible for him failing to observe safety precautions, and Ed's life was at stake at the time, he sort of was responsible… Then there's Jerome - could he have ejected as Ed did, or was there not enough time? So maybe Ed did actually kill him by setting off the missile as he ejected, I think that's what happened. Fisk was responsible for causing his own death, Ros is far less to blame (though if I were her, for her own safety I wouldn't be standing so close to the aftermath of the accident since it was still sparking with electricity!). Granted, the main villains were shown to be cruel and careful in their planning of the fuel dump explosion and had no compunction about killing an entire passenger and crew complement of a plane, so they were merciless and got their just deserts. At the same time we don't expect the team to straight out kill them on purpose because they are the good guys, and as difficult as it makes their life, good guys should find a way to stop the villains without loss of life. But that's one reason why the episode worked as well as it did, the stakes were suitably high, both the bigger picture of a plane full of people, and the personal, with Ed in danger, and it was all very well portrayed.

I felt Ed missed a trick when Ros talks to him as he parachutes down, asking if he's fallen out with Jerome. I was expecting him to make a quip that Jerome didn't fall out, but he got a good moment of humour at his expense, anyway, as he admits he likes being in control as the parachute drops over his head. I felt the Captain (Jack), of the plane, was a little too subservient to his boss, Mr. Strate, when he wants to remain in the cockpit, replying that he's the boss, implying he can do what he wants, but surely a Captain of a plane or a ship is the boss aboard it, even if there's an official there? Probably reading too much into it, it was only to set up a human face to the plane which would otherwise have remained anonymous if they'd left it to stock footage. There's an issue: the footage they used of planes was mostly great, except we see the Dervish flying over mountains. Do we know where they were at that point, because it clearly wasn't anywhere in England! There's a definite mistake in Erhardt's name as on the printout they show his name as above, but on a later computer screen it's 'Erhard,' and I think Jerome even refers to him as 'Erhat,' so that was quite amusing. Was that a naval knot Beckett used to tie off Ed's grappling hook? We see the villains use Tasers again, I suppose because killing that innocent technician at Mindscope might have been too much, perhaps? Plus, Beckett and Selina are later incapacitated by the same electrical bolt-firing weapons. And MP-TV News was the same channel or programme seen in 'Out of The Hive' - great continuity!

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