DVD, BUGS S4 (Money Spiders)
Here it is, then. After over a year of going through this series, we come to the final two-parter of its final year. I find myself a little sad to be coming to the end so 'quickly' (in relative terms), because 'BUGS' was such a highlight of life in the late-90s and carries with it memories of good times, so it's quite a moment to come to the end of that revisitation of a series that has remained in my top two or three TV series' of all my viewing experience. I wouldn't have said this episode was one of the high points, but they were still finding new ways to tell the same kinds of stories. This time it becomes a study of the psychology of certain characters, interestingly the two lesser used main characters, Jan and Alex. Alex is finding preparation for married life might suggest things are going to be more difficult than she imagined (likely a realistic reading of the situation!), with her and Adam arguing over everything from style of cutlery to who they invite to the wedding. But it's Jan's self-recrimination at the death of a civilian who'd demanded to be involved in an operation that is the real interest. We've seen so many characters offed throughout the series, most without even a backward thought to their families and those around them that may be affected, but here we actually have Jan visiting Daniel Michaelson's widow, trying to find some kind of absolution for her mistake in allowing him to put himself in danger. I'm not sure I feel entirely positive about the direction the series was going in - we'd already had far too much soap and domesticity in Season 4, and now the characters are going to second guess themselves?
Yet it also gives Jan Harvey some of her best scenes, a chance to emote and play something other than strict business or being under duress and for that I applaud them. The series may have started to become bogged down by issues of realism that could have affected how the stories were written in coming years, if there had been any, but there weren't, so any speculation is purely academic for how such story points might have changed the series. Any long-running drama needs to adapt and allow new angles in order to keep things fresh, otherwise you'd just be rehashing the same plots or scenarios (which they had done on many occasion, to be fair!), so it was good that they were trying new avenues and ways to explore characters. And Jan was a character ripe for exploration since she'd remained a mystery for most of the time, only Harvey's performance to give us the impression there was much more to her than giving out assignments. I liked that they brought back her psychologist friend Simon from 'Sacrifice To Science,' another time she was concerned about the state of others. Now she's concerned with the state of herself, believing the position has made her callous and unfeeling, nothing of the real Jan, the real Barbara, left. Rather than become self-pitying and reclusive, this drastic guilt and self-doubt manifests in a sudden desire to get involved at the coalface, go on a mission with her team, but in that state of mind it may not have been the best time for it.
As we see, the mission goes awry and right in front of Jan's eyes one of her people, Ros, is shot and collapses in Ed's arms. If there was anything that could have made Jan feel worse, that was it! But if you want to push the characters and uncover them, you have to put them through the worst stuff. I don't remember if I thought Ros would really die in the last episode, but it's a common enough trope to me now, the life of a main character thrown into the balance and leaving the audience wondering. It shows the villains are reasonably bloodthirsty, not just removed, keyboard-tappers that deal out their villainy from the anonymity of the internet. Up to that point, though, things had been quite technical - an indication Wymark is of that generation of dot-com opportunists who saw the potential in the wild west wasteland of the online world before it had fully developed into what we know it as today. But it's his hard-faced woman, Zephyr, slightly mysterious, who seems like the real skill behind it all. She had the same hard pride that Morag had in the opening two-parter and it would have been interesting to see who would have won in a fight between them! She suggests a nasty piece of work, while Wymark is more of a user happy to blackmail and extort any way he can.
I'm not sure it's really about the villains, as such, at least in this first part. Yes, we see they've got a nice thing going with their free internet service and the ability to hack into systems through the junk mail they send, a cutting edge idea in the Nineties, a bit of industrial espionage leading to blackmail. No, it's more about Michaelson and the consequences of getting him involved. The big blue computer face in the room must be dealt with first, though: was it intentional to suggest Cyberax with the blue helmet avatar the villains use to communicate with Michaelson? It seems hard to believe it wasn't, even though the design is very different, just the idea of a computer-affected voice and this sinister blue 'cartoon' as Michaelson describes it, immediately brings to mind the classic AI villain of Season 2. It's not like they don't throw in regular callbacks to things in the series' past - even in this episode the team mention Jan's recent management course from 'Jewel Control,' Jan herself recalls how she felt when Ros went missing at the end of Season 3, Beckett jokingly asks if Ed's been promoted back to Bureau Chief when he finds him using his computer, and of course there's the beginning of the culmination of The Hive being featured, Mr. Dent returning for the third time after his surprise reappearance in the third episode of Season 4. There are even special moments like Beckett meeting Dent again for the first time since he was cast out of the organisation, and gets to be in a position of accusation when, after Dent's claimed the Hive building's impregnable, Beckett reminds everyone that with his record of internal security, such assurances aren't worth a thing!
But deliberately evoking memories of Cyberax? It seems... unwise. Unless they were preparing the audience for a spectacular comeback, then it would have all been worthwhile, and one reason I use as a suggestion for the identity of the mystery man at the end of the final episode. But that's for next time. It's a risky move because those episodes were the best in the series, the top trilogy of 'The Bureau of Weapons,' 'A Cage For Satan' and 'Renegades' (quadrilogy if you include the excellent 'Schrodinger's Bomb,' quint if you want the 'prequel,' 'Pulse'!), and you're setting yourself up for unfavourable comparisons if you go down that road. But they didn't go down that road, or didn't seem to, so maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Nah! The writers had proved they knew the series very well indeed with all the minute past references they included, or stories connecting with previous characters, organisations and events, that's one of the things I love about the series and has given added depth to rewatching it. I did like that the bike helmet of whoever met Michaelson (and judging just by size and shape, not to mention I suspect she had more gall than Wymark, I'd guess Zephyr), was the same shape as the digital face, it added a bit of visual continuity. And though it'd been done before, the surprise exit of a getaway bike out the back of a van (see 'Stealth'), the stunts in this one were a bit better.
There's a bit more of a feeling of the villains being on the same kind of technological level as Ros and the gang. I'm surprised Zephyr didn't react with surprise to find the famous Ros Henderson in their office, since people like them would surely know about a technological genius like her, especially after her recent high profile, or maybe it's just the name and she's kept her face largely hidden. On the other hand it's apparently a simple matter to check up on Bureau 2, as the Brazer twins did in the previous episode, so I'm sure they'd have done the same and found out who the opposition were. There's already a rivalry there since Ros whacked Zephyr to the ground, the reason she was so eager to take the shot as Ros hangs trapped halfway down her abseil, and she seems very much the type to hold a grudge. It's fascinating to see so many technological terms in their infancy that we take for granted now. Ros using a virus to infect the digital spiders and make them visible when they infect systems; the whole idea of junk email ('the Trojan Horse of the 21st Century'!); it's amusing that old Michaelson needs technical assistance to get rid of it; then there's Adam and Alex making a digital wedding presents list - I'm sure that's as common as muck now, but did people do that in 1998 (or '99 when the episode was finally shown)? One thing that can't be good is Alex covering her computer monitor in novelty woolly sheepskin, that would trap all the heat!
Alex has greater problems than her choice of computer accessory, however, as she demonstrates quite, shall we say, eccentric tastes when it comes to decor, cutlery, tea sets... Adam's very much the traditionalist, and as if to make more of a contrast they have her going for quite outlandish designs. Still, it was funny, and lightened the mood, which helped to cover the fact that yes, we are indeed watching an episode of 'BUGS' in which the main characters are shopping. Even Beckett gets in on the act as he tries to help Christa choose a hat for the wedding, and she couldn't be more girly and irritating! Beckett shows remarkable good humour throughout, but then he is enjoying her company, inexplicable as it may be, and there's even a thoughtful realisation that he'd never done anything like that with Ros. That's because shopping is boring and Ros is much more interesting! It made a nice change to see Ros and Ed go off together to break into Wymark International at the end, just as we saw Beckett and Ros scout out the place earlier, Beckett getting to be the one to go undercover this time (from the Internet Users Council). Ros has the bluster to make a good courier and that sequence was well done as Beckett has to stall them while Ros deals with the spiders.
While it is a little galling to see wedding shops, or scenes of Adam and Alex arguing over the guest list, there was enough of a mixing in more typical locations for a visually appealing variety: Wymark's is really only offices, but they have that more colourful 'BUGS' touch to them, bringing in those neon blues and yellows again (speaking of which, things are back to normal on the clothing front, too, with Ros mostly in her bright yellow shirt and some small round silver earrings, Beckett in blue shirt and tie under his suit jacket, and Ed... yep, bland t-shirts again!), and the sinister reds when the villains accuse and manipulate Adam in a car park, then there's a nice return to The Hive (they've obviously redecorated since 'Out of The Hive' as Dent's office is very different this time), including getting to see more of it than we ever had before: the sprawling basement area where they keep their main security vault, and even a little utility entrance where Alex pops out a little way down from the main building. But the best view must go to the beautiful three-hundred-and-sixty degree view of London from the rooftop garden where Dent introduces Michaelson to Jan and the camera swings round them taking it all in. There's Tower Bridge, and oh, a tiny cameo you wouldn't have expected to see again: it's the HMS Belfast in the background, from 'Assassins Inc'!
One thing that doesn't quite ring true is how Michaelson actually died. You get his boyish enthusiasm to get involved in all this spy stuff, a foreboding of his short future, but while he is champing at the bit to do something to the people extorting him, he does hang back and do what he's told, as much as it pains him. It's only when the team fail to predict the surprise getaway and focus is drawn away from him, that he takes independent action, trying to stop the biker. Trouble is it wasn't very clear where he was in relation to the bike and how he could have toppled right over the guard rail to the lower level, but it's more an issue with the directing of that moment in the scene. Something almost as troubling is that in that moment the team are clearly trying to capture the villain, yet later on when they break into Wymark's and are discovered, once they've overpowered the pair, knocking them to the ground, rather than stop and pick up their guns to hold them hostage, or arrest them, they flee for their lives. It's been done many times on the series and I suppose it can be put down to not wanting the characters to use guns if at all possible, but it always seems a little silly when they could halt the villains there and then. On the other hand if you pick up a gun you have to be prepared to use it, and they didn't know if there were other staff in the building with which they might need to have a firefight... Another odd moment is when Adam uses Dent's card to get into the vault area, and it only gives him a few seconds to run past that red laser barrier before it comes on again - I don't see Dent sprinting anywhere!
I noticed for certain the various computers used, including the Bureau's, were operating on Windows, although Ros does go back to the old operating system that we're used to when getting round Wymark's admin password via a tiny laptop. It's another time Dent's voiceprint was misused as Adam does here - that's how the baddies put Beckett under suspicion by using Dent's voice to call him to his office in the first ever episode. And Alex seems particularly insensitive when she asks Ed to be the one to give her away at the wedding. We learn her Father's dead, and it was nice of her to say he was her best friend (although this season I'm not sure we'd seen much evidence of that - and what about her life before Bureau 2, she was a martial arts teacher don't forget, so didn't she have other close friends?), but it was a bit much to go down the route of the symbolic giving away! And what's going on - there wasn't a single explosion! Can this really be the series we knew? No, in some ways it isn't, but it's best to just breathe it in and enjoy it because after one more lonely episode the journey would be over. Forever.
***
Friday, 19 August 2022
Thursday, 11 August 2022
Twin Geeks
DVD, BUGS S4 (Twin Geeks)
'Twin Geeks': 'Twin Peaks' - yes it was another pun for a title after 'Jewel Control' (just the previous episode!), started the ball rolling (though I'm not sure 'Twin Peaks' would have been quite as in the zeitgeist by the late Nineties as it was in the early). Fortunately this would be the second and only time they pulled that. More importantly, it's the start of Season 5, whoopee! At least, I thought it was back in 1999 when this was shown. Sadly, I didn't know then that this was actually the first of three episodes rescheduled from 1998 when Season 4 was cut cruelly short, but in those days I didn't understand narratives, serialisation and the ins and outs of TV production, otherwise I'd have realised what a poor choice this would have been 1) for starting a new series of stories, and 2) for encouraging new viewers into the fold. But then it wasn't meant to be, hence why this particular episode seems especially 'mythology' heavy with vast amounts of references to series lore, continuity and history. That's also why it's a fascinating watch if you are well versed in the 'BUGS' world (and if you've been following along you will be by now!), because few episodes before it have packed in quite so much self-referential material, characters or storylines. But before I delve into any of that, on this specific occasion one thought was in mind as I watched: is that... Valentine Pelka? It is Valentine Pelka! When I first saw the episode I would have had no interest in the name (he'd never been in 'Star Trek' you see!), and even in the subsequent viewings, but this time I came to it having watched all of 'Highlander: The Series' and knew the actor as one of the key recurring villains. When I was watching that I felt I recognised his face, but I'd never put it together (despite other actors who'd been in 'BUGS' showing up in that series, too), so that was a fun new perspective.
He plays Leigh Vaizey, Chief Executive of CET (Communications and Electronic Technologies), the latest company to be put at threat of extortion as in the old episodes of the series. So right there it's got a feel of the old freelance days about it, and the fact the villains are both bald with glasses can't help but suggest Jean-Daniel, at least in aesthetics, as well as them being geniuses capable of all kinds of technological inventiveness. Ros, herself something of a genius in the tech world, as we know, finds herself in some sympathy with them as the parallel story of Channing selling his company and all assets, including Ros' product licences to a Mr. Tachibana of Haichiku Corporation, has some similarity, the difference being that Ros chooses the self-sacrificial way of damage limitation for the sake of her friend, Graham Hurry, who's staked all to raise the cash for her to exercise a time-limited buyout clause and keep her designs her own. Seeing the episode now I wish there had been more depth in this part of the story to connect it to the twins, perhaps they hear and understand her position and there's some kind of sympathy between the parties, even though they've chosen the way of crime and revenge rather than reluctantly (and tearfully), submitting to the realities of the business world as Ros eventually has to. But I will say that there was more to it than some episodes this season and I was impressed how the writing duo of Colin Brake and Alex Stewart were able to throw in everything but the kitchen sink (or should that be refrigerator - no they threw that in as well), and managed to keep it all coherent.
Maybe the story doesn't have those spikes of exhilaration as much as past seasons, but they certainly achieved the vital building of tension at the end, calling on all the plot threads to advance and reach boiling point in impressive fashion. The episode didn't start that way, the buffing machine bomb looking most weedy when it goes off, another indication of the Season 4 softening or weakening of the series' vitality. The van which served as the twins' rolling headquarters for a while, and which Ed and Beckett have to leap out of and run for their lives, blew up real good, part of it wheeling toward camera, and nicely caught from multiple viewpoints, a classic explosion in the series' best mould, and Ros' car, a coasting, flaming wreck after being blasted by Beckett's reverse proximity explosive, was another great visual (and callback, as yet another of Ros' cars to be destroyed, a sort of running joke for the series). And if the majority of the episode isn't as exciting, there's so much to keep track of that it doesn't disappoint in the way that perhaps the last couple of episodes did. Let's see then, what lore was touched upon, a rundown is in order: the big one, though it doesn't really feel that way, is bringing back a character from way back in Season 1, not that that was unprecedented this year as they'd already brought Dent and his Hive back into the story (we visit it in this episode, and while Dent doesn't appear, he is mentioned again), but Graham Hurry wasn't one of the more memorable folks our people had dealt with, though 'Down Among The Dead Men' is a fine example of the series.
You notice they don't trouble the audience with backstory, Ros just mentions obliquely that she helped him and he owes her a favour. It's a real deep cut for the series that unless you had been following very closely would have gone over your head. It is a touch strange that they would bring back Hurry and the investment bank he works for, Kamen & Ross, but I expect it was more something they thought of after the story was planned and remembered him and the company, deciding to tie it to internal continuity rather than settle for something new. It would go over the heads of most people, though I suppose the series had come out on video in the late Nineties (not sure when exactly), so there may have been more opportunity for devotees to rewatch earlier episodes than I'm giving credit for. But still, it was a surprising character to bring back, just a shame they couldn't get the original actor, with a guy sporting a full head of hair replacing the original balding Hurry (if it had been the other way round you could believe it, but then again in the 'BUGS' world they do have all kinds of advanced technology...). I have the feeling Hurry had been slightly sweet on Ros then, but I can't remember for sure - here he's really head over heels, risking his bank's money, his career, even prison for his faith in her and the desire to help her out, although it must have been partly he felt he owed her since we learn he's advanced to a seat on the board. Mind you, having someone like Ros indebted to you would be a very good thing, because she has a first class mind and a lot of integrity to go with it (unlike the Brazer twins, Michael and Marcus, like evil versions of her - maybe there should have been more of a pitting wits against each other to have Ros more involved in defeating them?), which is the reason why Tachibana was interested in acquiring Channing's company in the first place.
It makes sense that the business world would seek to capture Ros because she is a force and resource to be tapped and they were laying down possibilities for where the story might have gone in future years if the series had continued. Actually, I'd forgotten Ros had such issues and it may be they get resolved before or during the final episode, but it was certainly a great new spin to put the character into. But Hurry and the bank weren't the only connections in an episode rife with references: Ros' Mo... monetary advisor (and Mother!), Coral Henderson, returns after being introduced at the beginning of the season as a place Beckett went in his search for Ros. Usually I rail against the domestic settings of this particular season, but there was something reassuring and pleasant about seeing Ros' Mum in her house helping her daughter (seems uncharacteristic of Ros not to know all the legal stuff in her contract), and this wouldn't be her last appearance. Bureau 2 is mentioned by the Brazer's when they look up the opposition CET have brought in against them, commenting that it was a reincarnation of the old Bureau of Weapons Technology –I need to break off there because maybe it's just me being too close to the series, but there are a sprinkle of clues that suggest they wanted to evoke thoughts of Jean-Daniel and Cyberax, that whole sequence of events that closed out Season 2 and 3, in these finale episodes: it's maybe going too far to say the Brazer's were designed to look reminiscent of JD, they're just generic stereotypical boffins, the baldness and glasses goes with the territory, but also mentioning the old Bureau, and then other things in the last couple of episodes would be reminiscent of Cyberax and JD...
I was wrong. That is, I was mistaken in my belief that the Armed Response Squad Jan calls up in 'Pandora's Box' was what I associated with SSD, because it was in this episode that the memory of black-clad soldiers being at Jan's beck and call as they drive down between some nondescript buildings came from. It was a far cry from the old SSD agents in their suits and overcoats, and they weren't SSD, they were a bomb disposal unit, presumably army, but this was the moment I'd thought SSD had some input, and it turns out it wasn't them at all. They were quite realistic actually - I'm thinking of when the disposal expert barks at Jan, Vaizey and another soldier to stand still when they're clumping about and talking loudly mere metres from his examination of the bomb! Other connections to the past include Beckett's history with Naval Intelligence - he visits an old colleague, Iain Keating, at the Naval Engineering Stores, to get some background on a piece of equipment the twins were using in one of their bombs (previous viewings led me to believe that was a big oversight because it seemed it was the timer for the bomb in the van, but you clearly see it in Beckett's hand when he exits), and it's good to see him use his contacts for once. There's also the reminder of how Ros and Beckett met when Ros tells Christa it was he that got her into all this (as we saw in 'Out of The Hive'), and her statement that her independence is very important to her is a throwback to the beginning of Season 3 when Jan was trying to bring her into the Bureau. The Channing connection is another big part of that season (shame he didn't come back, but you can imagine the scene, Ros getting angry, Channing apologetic but defensive). Her affection for Beckett is also key as she says his safety is more important than her money issues, which leads to the big dramatic destruction of the case in her car that has the Hurry money that will get her out of the Tachibana deal... (a bit like the ending of 'Hell and High Water' when Jan blows the car with the money in the back).
There's all this detail, but they also bring in the other plots of Christa and Adam, and I felt none too badly considering the pair of them were usually intrusive, irritating characters. Christa progresses from the car park of Bureau 2 right up to the offices themselves when she 'makes a scene' demanding to know what's happened to Beckett, who's been kidnapped by the twins. And Adam is starting to show some suspicious activity when a designer watch he bought for Alex isn't the fake she thinks it is, plus Ed sees some of his bank statements when rescuing the pair from a freezing room at the Electric Freezer Company and notices large payments coming in... (how did he find time to photocopy them - was there an old model he could hot-wire hanging about the place?). I'm pretty sure we never got to find out what happened with Adam, whether he was being blackmailed or whatever, because of the cliffhanger ending in two episodes' time, which is annoying, but at least what happened here all made sense, even if the final scene where Alex comes in and announces her and Adam's engagement couldn't have come at a worse time with the team all shellshocked from what's just happened: Ros is tied to Tachibana, Beckett's had to be honest with Christa and admitted it was all over between him and Ros a long time ago, and Ed's reported Adam's suspect riches to Jan. Still, they all put on a brave face and wish the happy couple well. I don't know if this was deliberate, but both Ros and Beckett wear blue at the end of the episode as if in sympathy for each other. Otherwise, Beckett's in red shirt and red silk tie under his suit, Ros in a black suit with skirt and spiky silver earrings, and Ed's inconspicuous as ever in black t-shirt and sometimes the blue jacket.
The episode probably is an improvement partly because Ed isn't as integral to the story, and in the bits he does get it's less talk and more physical. As you'd expect, he makes sure to save both Alex and Adam, despite any personal issues. Oddly, he's become much more technological, carrying around a tiny laptop or organiser which has a crossword puzzle cheater program on it, not the sort of thing you'd have associated with him previously, as if they'd forgotten what sort of guy he is. The old Ed would have been making fun of the 'geeks' right before stepping in one of their traps, but there's no lightness of touch or wit to this version of Ed. Alex, too, doesn't have much involvement other than her subplot with Adam and The Hive software, but still, everything is integrated and nicely put together. And I like that they did get the parallels of it all being about technology and the all-important licensing and control. Perhaps they weren't the most serious villains the team have ever come up against, very much emphasising their quirks over ruthlessness, but ex-employees with a grievance was a different approach, and there is threat because they don't mind killing if it'll get their point across, though they don't seem to have much of an end goal in place other than revenge, taking down the company that exploited them and left them with nothing. We see their character in that game of draughts where Michael cheats as soon as Marcus looks away - they'll even do each other a mischief if it serves them, so no wonder they ended up as villains attacking the system. I also liked the musical tone of using a small piece of the Asian theme associated with Tachibana when Ros says she knows how they feel.
I know it's dramatic convention, but it was a bit odd how Jan, Alex and Ros discuss the twins' history, how they were ahead of their time and all that, all while searching for the bomb at CET. You'd think they'd be showing a little more focus and concern since it's due to go off any time soon, but it's information needed to get across to the audience. The same can be said about Ed and Beckett talking about Adam while also hunting for the bomb, and it does show that the soapy side of things didn't suit the action-driven nature of the stories. But still, it's enjoyable, even if I can see why it would have put general viewers off when it's so heavily bound up with the series' details and so much going on, and to then plonk it down a year later and expect people to be able to keep up, well, it was like you'd stumbled into the middle of a season instead of the start, which you had really! At least it was nicely directed, and though there were lots of broken down old locations, as is their wont these days, they also got in the occasional shiny 'BUGS' building, too - I loved the watery abandoned warehouse area that Beckett's left in, the reflective floor really making it appeal visually. This is essentially the last single story of the series, since the following two are a two-parter, and it's a good one to go out on.
***
'Twin Geeks': 'Twin Peaks' - yes it was another pun for a title after 'Jewel Control' (just the previous episode!), started the ball rolling (though I'm not sure 'Twin Peaks' would have been quite as in the zeitgeist by the late Nineties as it was in the early). Fortunately this would be the second and only time they pulled that. More importantly, it's the start of Season 5, whoopee! At least, I thought it was back in 1999 when this was shown. Sadly, I didn't know then that this was actually the first of three episodes rescheduled from 1998 when Season 4 was cut cruelly short, but in those days I didn't understand narratives, serialisation and the ins and outs of TV production, otherwise I'd have realised what a poor choice this would have been 1) for starting a new series of stories, and 2) for encouraging new viewers into the fold. But then it wasn't meant to be, hence why this particular episode seems especially 'mythology' heavy with vast amounts of references to series lore, continuity and history. That's also why it's a fascinating watch if you are well versed in the 'BUGS' world (and if you've been following along you will be by now!), because few episodes before it have packed in quite so much self-referential material, characters or storylines. But before I delve into any of that, on this specific occasion one thought was in mind as I watched: is that... Valentine Pelka? It is Valentine Pelka! When I first saw the episode I would have had no interest in the name (he'd never been in 'Star Trek' you see!), and even in the subsequent viewings, but this time I came to it having watched all of 'Highlander: The Series' and knew the actor as one of the key recurring villains. When I was watching that I felt I recognised his face, but I'd never put it together (despite other actors who'd been in 'BUGS' showing up in that series, too), so that was a fun new perspective.
He plays Leigh Vaizey, Chief Executive of CET (Communications and Electronic Technologies), the latest company to be put at threat of extortion as in the old episodes of the series. So right there it's got a feel of the old freelance days about it, and the fact the villains are both bald with glasses can't help but suggest Jean-Daniel, at least in aesthetics, as well as them being geniuses capable of all kinds of technological inventiveness. Ros, herself something of a genius in the tech world, as we know, finds herself in some sympathy with them as the parallel story of Channing selling his company and all assets, including Ros' product licences to a Mr. Tachibana of Haichiku Corporation, has some similarity, the difference being that Ros chooses the self-sacrificial way of damage limitation for the sake of her friend, Graham Hurry, who's staked all to raise the cash for her to exercise a time-limited buyout clause and keep her designs her own. Seeing the episode now I wish there had been more depth in this part of the story to connect it to the twins, perhaps they hear and understand her position and there's some kind of sympathy between the parties, even though they've chosen the way of crime and revenge rather than reluctantly (and tearfully), submitting to the realities of the business world as Ros eventually has to. But I will say that there was more to it than some episodes this season and I was impressed how the writing duo of Colin Brake and Alex Stewart were able to throw in everything but the kitchen sink (or should that be refrigerator - no they threw that in as well), and managed to keep it all coherent.
Maybe the story doesn't have those spikes of exhilaration as much as past seasons, but they certainly achieved the vital building of tension at the end, calling on all the plot threads to advance and reach boiling point in impressive fashion. The episode didn't start that way, the buffing machine bomb looking most weedy when it goes off, another indication of the Season 4 softening or weakening of the series' vitality. The van which served as the twins' rolling headquarters for a while, and which Ed and Beckett have to leap out of and run for their lives, blew up real good, part of it wheeling toward camera, and nicely caught from multiple viewpoints, a classic explosion in the series' best mould, and Ros' car, a coasting, flaming wreck after being blasted by Beckett's reverse proximity explosive, was another great visual (and callback, as yet another of Ros' cars to be destroyed, a sort of running joke for the series). And if the majority of the episode isn't as exciting, there's so much to keep track of that it doesn't disappoint in the way that perhaps the last couple of episodes did. Let's see then, what lore was touched upon, a rundown is in order: the big one, though it doesn't really feel that way, is bringing back a character from way back in Season 1, not that that was unprecedented this year as they'd already brought Dent and his Hive back into the story (we visit it in this episode, and while Dent doesn't appear, he is mentioned again), but Graham Hurry wasn't one of the more memorable folks our people had dealt with, though 'Down Among The Dead Men' is a fine example of the series.
You notice they don't trouble the audience with backstory, Ros just mentions obliquely that she helped him and he owes her a favour. It's a real deep cut for the series that unless you had been following very closely would have gone over your head. It is a touch strange that they would bring back Hurry and the investment bank he works for, Kamen & Ross, but I expect it was more something they thought of after the story was planned and remembered him and the company, deciding to tie it to internal continuity rather than settle for something new. It would go over the heads of most people, though I suppose the series had come out on video in the late Nineties (not sure when exactly), so there may have been more opportunity for devotees to rewatch earlier episodes than I'm giving credit for. But still, it was a surprising character to bring back, just a shame they couldn't get the original actor, with a guy sporting a full head of hair replacing the original balding Hurry (if it had been the other way round you could believe it, but then again in the 'BUGS' world they do have all kinds of advanced technology...). I have the feeling Hurry had been slightly sweet on Ros then, but I can't remember for sure - here he's really head over heels, risking his bank's money, his career, even prison for his faith in her and the desire to help her out, although it must have been partly he felt he owed her since we learn he's advanced to a seat on the board. Mind you, having someone like Ros indebted to you would be a very good thing, because she has a first class mind and a lot of integrity to go with it (unlike the Brazer twins, Michael and Marcus, like evil versions of her - maybe there should have been more of a pitting wits against each other to have Ros more involved in defeating them?), which is the reason why Tachibana was interested in acquiring Channing's company in the first place.
It makes sense that the business world would seek to capture Ros because she is a force and resource to be tapped and they were laying down possibilities for where the story might have gone in future years if the series had continued. Actually, I'd forgotten Ros had such issues and it may be they get resolved before or during the final episode, but it was certainly a great new spin to put the character into. But Hurry and the bank weren't the only connections in an episode rife with references: Ros' Mo... monetary advisor (and Mother!), Coral Henderson, returns after being introduced at the beginning of the season as a place Beckett went in his search for Ros. Usually I rail against the domestic settings of this particular season, but there was something reassuring and pleasant about seeing Ros' Mum in her house helping her daughter (seems uncharacteristic of Ros not to know all the legal stuff in her contract), and this wouldn't be her last appearance. Bureau 2 is mentioned by the Brazer's when they look up the opposition CET have brought in against them, commenting that it was a reincarnation of the old Bureau of Weapons Technology –I need to break off there because maybe it's just me being too close to the series, but there are a sprinkle of clues that suggest they wanted to evoke thoughts of Jean-Daniel and Cyberax, that whole sequence of events that closed out Season 2 and 3, in these finale episodes: it's maybe going too far to say the Brazer's were designed to look reminiscent of JD, they're just generic stereotypical boffins, the baldness and glasses goes with the territory, but also mentioning the old Bureau, and then other things in the last couple of episodes would be reminiscent of Cyberax and JD...
I was wrong. That is, I was mistaken in my belief that the Armed Response Squad Jan calls up in 'Pandora's Box' was what I associated with SSD, because it was in this episode that the memory of black-clad soldiers being at Jan's beck and call as they drive down between some nondescript buildings came from. It was a far cry from the old SSD agents in their suits and overcoats, and they weren't SSD, they were a bomb disposal unit, presumably army, but this was the moment I'd thought SSD had some input, and it turns out it wasn't them at all. They were quite realistic actually - I'm thinking of when the disposal expert barks at Jan, Vaizey and another soldier to stand still when they're clumping about and talking loudly mere metres from his examination of the bomb! Other connections to the past include Beckett's history with Naval Intelligence - he visits an old colleague, Iain Keating, at the Naval Engineering Stores, to get some background on a piece of equipment the twins were using in one of their bombs (previous viewings led me to believe that was a big oversight because it seemed it was the timer for the bomb in the van, but you clearly see it in Beckett's hand when he exits), and it's good to see him use his contacts for once. There's also the reminder of how Ros and Beckett met when Ros tells Christa it was he that got her into all this (as we saw in 'Out of The Hive'), and her statement that her independence is very important to her is a throwback to the beginning of Season 3 when Jan was trying to bring her into the Bureau. The Channing connection is another big part of that season (shame he didn't come back, but you can imagine the scene, Ros getting angry, Channing apologetic but defensive). Her affection for Beckett is also key as she says his safety is more important than her money issues, which leads to the big dramatic destruction of the case in her car that has the Hurry money that will get her out of the Tachibana deal... (a bit like the ending of 'Hell and High Water' when Jan blows the car with the money in the back).
There's all this detail, but they also bring in the other plots of Christa and Adam, and I felt none too badly considering the pair of them were usually intrusive, irritating characters. Christa progresses from the car park of Bureau 2 right up to the offices themselves when she 'makes a scene' demanding to know what's happened to Beckett, who's been kidnapped by the twins. And Adam is starting to show some suspicious activity when a designer watch he bought for Alex isn't the fake she thinks it is, plus Ed sees some of his bank statements when rescuing the pair from a freezing room at the Electric Freezer Company and notices large payments coming in... (how did he find time to photocopy them - was there an old model he could hot-wire hanging about the place?). I'm pretty sure we never got to find out what happened with Adam, whether he was being blackmailed or whatever, because of the cliffhanger ending in two episodes' time, which is annoying, but at least what happened here all made sense, even if the final scene where Alex comes in and announces her and Adam's engagement couldn't have come at a worse time with the team all shellshocked from what's just happened: Ros is tied to Tachibana, Beckett's had to be honest with Christa and admitted it was all over between him and Ros a long time ago, and Ed's reported Adam's suspect riches to Jan. Still, they all put on a brave face and wish the happy couple well. I don't know if this was deliberate, but both Ros and Beckett wear blue at the end of the episode as if in sympathy for each other. Otherwise, Beckett's in red shirt and red silk tie under his suit, Ros in a black suit with skirt and spiky silver earrings, and Ed's inconspicuous as ever in black t-shirt and sometimes the blue jacket.
The episode probably is an improvement partly because Ed isn't as integral to the story, and in the bits he does get it's less talk and more physical. As you'd expect, he makes sure to save both Alex and Adam, despite any personal issues. Oddly, he's become much more technological, carrying around a tiny laptop or organiser which has a crossword puzzle cheater program on it, not the sort of thing you'd have associated with him previously, as if they'd forgotten what sort of guy he is. The old Ed would have been making fun of the 'geeks' right before stepping in one of their traps, but there's no lightness of touch or wit to this version of Ed. Alex, too, doesn't have much involvement other than her subplot with Adam and The Hive software, but still, everything is integrated and nicely put together. And I like that they did get the parallels of it all being about technology and the all-important licensing and control. Perhaps they weren't the most serious villains the team have ever come up against, very much emphasising their quirks over ruthlessness, but ex-employees with a grievance was a different approach, and there is threat because they don't mind killing if it'll get their point across, though they don't seem to have much of an end goal in place other than revenge, taking down the company that exploited them and left them with nothing. We see their character in that game of draughts where Michael cheats as soon as Marcus looks away - they'll even do each other a mischief if it serves them, so no wonder they ended up as villains attacking the system. I also liked the musical tone of using a small piece of the Asian theme associated with Tachibana when Ros says she knows how they feel.
I know it's dramatic convention, but it was a bit odd how Jan, Alex and Ros discuss the twins' history, how they were ahead of their time and all that, all while searching for the bomb at CET. You'd think they'd be showing a little more focus and concern since it's due to go off any time soon, but it's information needed to get across to the audience. The same can be said about Ed and Beckett talking about Adam while also hunting for the bomb, and it does show that the soapy side of things didn't suit the action-driven nature of the stories. But still, it's enjoyable, even if I can see why it would have put general viewers off when it's so heavily bound up with the series' details and so much going on, and to then plonk it down a year later and expect people to be able to keep up, well, it was like you'd stumbled into the middle of a season instead of the start, which you had really! At least it was nicely directed, and though there were lots of broken down old locations, as is their wont these days, they also got in the occasional shiny 'BUGS' building, too - I loved the watery abandoned warehouse area that Beckett's left in, the reflective floor really making it appeal visually. This is essentially the last single story of the series, since the following two are a two-parter, and it's a good one to go out on.
***
The Last Man
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (The Last Man)
Other than the last few minutes, which followed the pattern you'd expect for a season-ending cliffhanger, this was quite different to what I was expecting. It's pretty much a standalone story right in the middle of this big 'Save Teyla' arc, which leads me to wonder if they felt forced into treading water regarding the story maybe they felt the need to have a cliffhanger. Because they could have resolved it if this episode had been following on from the previous episode. Instead, it's a very science-fictional story that reminded me of the finale to 'SG-1' in that it was its own thing. I wonder if they knew they were getting a Season 5 or not, and if that played into their decision here as it could have morphed into a conclusion to the series if they weren't going to make more. As it was, although I generally warm to these high-concept ideas I felt fairly certain it was all going to turn out alright and have no real bearing on the ongoing story. Of course it has one major effect: that they're able to find the location Michael took/will take Teyla to have her baby, so it was a long-winded way of pulling that solution out of the hat, though as we see, it didn't end too well for them as they activate a boobytrap which collapses the building around them, leaving them in who knows what situation.
Sheppard's sudden leap into a future Atlantis buried in sand forty-eight thousand years in time was the kind of story I've seen done in Trek (I think especially of 'The Visitor' as one of the best ever episodes anywhere), and 'SG-1,' but never as a season finale. In one sense it was brave and bold, but it also has the downside of an impression of lacking purpose. We see in flashback all kinds of strange and sad endings for the characters: Teyla's gutted after her baby has been removed; Carter dies in a final stand after she's got her own ship (the Phoenix - I know she ends up a ship's Captain in 'Universe' so it'll be interesting to see if it was the same one...); Ronon finds himself going down with the unlikely ally of 'Todd' the Wraith as they blow up one of Michael's major facilities; and Rodney quits the SGC and ends up with Jennifer Keller, who then dies of complications from the Hoffan virus, and then spends the rest of his life working out how to reverse what happened when Sheppard went through the 'gate and ended up so far into the future. His old age makeup as a hologram was good (ironically, Robert Picardo as Wolsey, best known for playing a hologram, becomes the boss of Atlantis - I was really hoping he'd play another hologram!), and it was eerie that it's just Sheppard and this aged version of someone we know in the long abandoned shell of the city we know so well, the kind of story that might have worked better in the middle of a season rather than as a seeming stopgap between serials, and a convenient solution to their problem.
I don't judge it too harshly, it did provide some stirring moments such as when Carter stands alone on the bridge of her ship as she rams into an enemy vessel, or Ronon and Todd finding common ground as they prepare to die for the greater good. McKay's brainy sister even has a small cameo as she tries to help with his calculations, and of course it's always good to see Dr. Keller, who I feel should really be bumped up to main cast for the final season. It's been another standout year for the series after the first two were variable, and like Season 3 they found a good mix of stories and events. In retrospect the addition of Carter to the main cast didn't work as well as I'd imagined it would, and as I've said many times I don't think the character is best suited to command, but more as tech backup, dependable support, like McKay, the one to get us out of jams (a shame Zelenka barely gets a cameo as he brings McKay a drink and barely see him, though that's sort of the joke). The chemistry wasn't quite right and it made me feel that actually I'd have preferred Weir to stay and for Carter to be a recurring character drafted in from time to time - honestly she wasn't in every episode anyway so I'm not sure it would have made that significant a difference.
Going back to this episode, I wasn't entirely convinced that Sheppard's absence would have allowed Michael to take over the entire Pegasus Galaxy, but I do understand that it's more about the lack of information on where Teyla was being held, which had a knock-on effect that our people couldn't stop Michael carrying out the completion of his hybrid experiments in time, leading to him getting the upper hand, but it was still all a little hard to believe. I also wasn't clear on how putting Sheppard in stasis for several hundred more years would enable him to go back, but I assume it was something to do with when the phenomena would affect the Stargate again. Maybe? I should have paid more attention to the technobabble! It wasn't a bad episode, but ultimately came across as largely inconsequential and while fun to see alternate futures for the characters, I wasn't completely convinced by it all. Especially Lorne, and no disrespect to him, ending up as General over the SGC! No matter, nothing that happened in this episode can detract from the quality of the season overall and I will look forward to getting back into it soon, probably much sooner than later since I don't have anything to review between seasons now that both 'SG-1' and 'Smallville' are all done and dusted...
**
Other than the last few minutes, which followed the pattern you'd expect for a season-ending cliffhanger, this was quite different to what I was expecting. It's pretty much a standalone story right in the middle of this big 'Save Teyla' arc, which leads me to wonder if they felt forced into treading water regarding the story maybe they felt the need to have a cliffhanger. Because they could have resolved it if this episode had been following on from the previous episode. Instead, it's a very science-fictional story that reminded me of the finale to 'SG-1' in that it was its own thing. I wonder if they knew they were getting a Season 5 or not, and if that played into their decision here as it could have morphed into a conclusion to the series if they weren't going to make more. As it was, although I generally warm to these high-concept ideas I felt fairly certain it was all going to turn out alright and have no real bearing on the ongoing story. Of course it has one major effect: that they're able to find the location Michael took/will take Teyla to have her baby, so it was a long-winded way of pulling that solution out of the hat, though as we see, it didn't end too well for them as they activate a boobytrap which collapses the building around them, leaving them in who knows what situation.
Sheppard's sudden leap into a future Atlantis buried in sand forty-eight thousand years in time was the kind of story I've seen done in Trek (I think especially of 'The Visitor' as one of the best ever episodes anywhere), and 'SG-1,' but never as a season finale. In one sense it was brave and bold, but it also has the downside of an impression of lacking purpose. We see in flashback all kinds of strange and sad endings for the characters: Teyla's gutted after her baby has been removed; Carter dies in a final stand after she's got her own ship (the Phoenix - I know she ends up a ship's Captain in 'Universe' so it'll be interesting to see if it was the same one...); Ronon finds himself going down with the unlikely ally of 'Todd' the Wraith as they blow up one of Michael's major facilities; and Rodney quits the SGC and ends up with Jennifer Keller, who then dies of complications from the Hoffan virus, and then spends the rest of his life working out how to reverse what happened when Sheppard went through the 'gate and ended up so far into the future. His old age makeup as a hologram was good (ironically, Robert Picardo as Wolsey, best known for playing a hologram, becomes the boss of Atlantis - I was really hoping he'd play another hologram!), and it was eerie that it's just Sheppard and this aged version of someone we know in the long abandoned shell of the city we know so well, the kind of story that might have worked better in the middle of a season rather than as a seeming stopgap between serials, and a convenient solution to their problem.
I don't judge it too harshly, it did provide some stirring moments such as when Carter stands alone on the bridge of her ship as she rams into an enemy vessel, or Ronon and Todd finding common ground as they prepare to die for the greater good. McKay's brainy sister even has a small cameo as she tries to help with his calculations, and of course it's always good to see Dr. Keller, who I feel should really be bumped up to main cast for the final season. It's been another standout year for the series after the first two were variable, and like Season 3 they found a good mix of stories and events. In retrospect the addition of Carter to the main cast didn't work as well as I'd imagined it would, and as I've said many times I don't think the character is best suited to command, but more as tech backup, dependable support, like McKay, the one to get us out of jams (a shame Zelenka barely gets a cameo as he brings McKay a drink and barely see him, though that's sort of the joke). The chemistry wasn't quite right and it made me feel that actually I'd have preferred Weir to stay and for Carter to be a recurring character drafted in from time to time - honestly she wasn't in every episode anyway so I'm not sure it would have made that significant a difference.
Going back to this episode, I wasn't entirely convinced that Sheppard's absence would have allowed Michael to take over the entire Pegasus Galaxy, but I do understand that it's more about the lack of information on where Teyla was being held, which had a knock-on effect that our people couldn't stop Michael carrying out the completion of his hybrid experiments in time, leading to him getting the upper hand, but it was still all a little hard to believe. I also wasn't clear on how putting Sheppard in stasis for several hundred more years would enable him to go back, but I assume it was something to do with when the phenomena would affect the Stargate again. Maybe? I should have paid more attention to the technobabble! It wasn't a bad episode, but ultimately came across as largely inconsequential and while fun to see alternate futures for the characters, I wasn't completely convinced by it all. Especially Lorne, and no disrespect to him, ending up as General over the SGC! No matter, nothing that happened in this episode can detract from the quality of the season overall and I will look forward to getting back into it soon, probably much sooner than later since I don't have anything to review between seasons now that both 'SG-1' and 'Smallville' are all done and dusted...
**
Jewel Control
DVD, BUGS S4 (Jewel Control)
Very punny title. We haven't seen one like that since... actually we've never had a pun for a title (jewel control: dual control...), so that's a first for the series at this late stage, but it wouldn't be the last. I suppose, other than the fact our Mr. Diaz wants control over the jewel smuggling business, it refers to his hold over the hapless Richard Blenco, this season's Mark Schumann (or was it Mark Curtis, I can never remember?), who in turn has exerted his 'charm' over Ros' old school friend, Sorrel Mandrake, in order to marry him and then he'll have leverage over her Father, Owen. I suppose. Watch enough episodes and you begin to see patterns, or at least repetitions in story and character - the obvious one is, as I mentioned, the 'happy couple' from Season 3's 'Happy Ever After?' They had it right down to the conman who only marries the woman to get to her Father in the government, both times the connection is a friend of one of our team (Jan with Sir Anthony, Ros with Sorrel), both times the little woman is kidnapped by the conman's associates and both times they get some physical comeuppance from their rage-blushing bride (a vicious kick in the shins from Julia, a solid double-handed slap from Sorrel). I don't recall who wrote the former episode, but if it was either Colin Brake or Stuart Doughty (this episode's co-writing team), they have some explaining to do. Not that I'm complaining about the lack of originality, it's fun to note the parallels and gives me more to examine! Another, less conspicuous similarity is in setting the teaser in a foreign country, this time what looks like the favelas of Columbia, scene-setting that reminded me of the desert opening to 'Schrodinger's Bomb,' something that adds a greater sense of scale, geographically speaking. And the International Emerald Exchange with its overconfident head of security reminded me of Jacobs Doyle from 'Down Among The Dead Men.'
The biggest connection to past episodes, however, must be the realisation of another 'Action Jan' story with our Jan off on her own much of the time, the older woman given the chance to show her initiative and resourcefulness, courage, and application of the very practical experience she's been claiming make the very assessment she's been assigned to complete, an irrelevance. Books are no substitute she claims and does come off a touch entitled and arrogant, or would do if we didn't know better, have seen her abilities, knowledge, connections and dedication. If we didn't know her (as fellow assessee, Melissa doesn't), and if she wasn't given the opportunity to prove herself in fine fashion when Diaz and his mob, The Three Amigos, come a-calling. It is ridiculous that a woman who's served in the intelligence services for twenty-five years would be called upon to complete a course, let alone alongside fresh young things who must be straight out of college, but perhaps forbearance and patience were part of the test? We later learn she has to be assessed every five years, but judging from the way she reacts to this particular assessment we can conclude this was different to what she'd gone through before, unless she was simply tired with the procedure and felt her age and experience should count for something, which it should! It was probably a cost-cutting measure from the government: just chuck in old hands with new recruits, that'll save money. But it was a bit demeaning, especially when you consider Jan and her team have saved civilisation as we know it on more than one occasion!
The important thing, and one more reason why the episode works, is that she's given her chance to show what being in the field is really like: under fire or in danger of death, guerrilla tactics, using mind and body to take on the enemy to the best of her ability in spite of scant resources (why would the Harding House facility have no weapons - you'd think arms training and testing would be par for the course!), just like in 'Identity Crisis,' hence another parallel with the past. Jan isn't put through the wringer quite as much as she was in that episode, but she's certainly tested, paired with the only available asset in the aforementioned Melissa, a 'bright young thing' very receptive to whatever new ways and ideas the current regime claim as best operating procedure. At first you can see where she's coming from, facing an attitude like Jan's when she doesn't see the point of using a rowing machine because she's never in all her years been required to row for her country, but as Melissa points out fitness is important in the field (or an attitude to that effect), as Jan knows only too well. But the really important things are mind and willpower - the ability to make the right decision when faced with threat and without much time to contemplate. Boldness, striking at the right moment in the right way. Melissa just comes to pieces when faced with this reality - she does get one moment to shine, to show she has potential (and if the series had continued it would have been great if they could have brought Naoko Mori's character back, perhaps in the Alex role as she moved up - Alex could even have been a sort of mentor), her knowledge of the tech manuals means she knows how to open the blast doors trapping the others in a room with a time bomb, and showing that book-learning has its place too. But for the most part she ably demonstrates that simulation can't match up to reality.
You'd think a phobia of needles would be on her bio if the services are as forensic about potential agents as Adam thought they were, nervous about his Anarchist Society membership at university. Perhaps she didn't declare it or they decided that wasn't reason enough not to accept her on the programme. And it is meant to be a comedy moment when, after all her excelling at the physical and mental rigours of the assessment she falls down in the face of a needle, literally fainting at the feet of a bemused Diaz. I must say, he seemed like a particularly humane villain, for all his bluster, at least up until he leaves the gang with the bomb, but it's more that he comes across pretty stupid in all his dealings. He has these unrealised ambitions of being Big Shot Emerald Smuggler, yet he allows himself to be taken in by the singularly unimpressive Blenco. He won't delegate all this to underlings, maybe he doesn't trust them to do things right, and comes to England with the promise of an emerald haul from the IEE (would they really store such expensive gemstones loose in little plastic trays in the vault?). But he seems very keen not to kill anyone unnecessarily, even going to the trouble of bringing along drugs and needles to sedate the inhabitants of Harding House when he also had automatic weapons and could easily have mown them all down without a second thought, even telling Ed to back off when he chases him at the end, when he has him in his sights (if he had killed off Ed it would definitely have changed the series, some might say for the better in this case!), as it seems he might have from Jan's perspective when she hears the rattle of gunfire - that was a moment she could have had second thoughts and simply done everything to escape and save her own skin, but she has an innate sense of responsibility and the guts to do what's necessary. In contrast, Blenco is quite gutless, seemingly no motivation other than money, while Diaz isn't much better - money, but prestige as well. They aren't the greatest team of villains our team have ever dealt with, but they do at least have the edge of intimidation thanks to Diaz' three heavies, especially when they smash into Sorrel's house to take her and Ros prisoner (recalling the guy who smashes through a glass door trying to get to Ros in 'A Sporting Chance'). As ever, while most would run away, Ros runs towards the danger, intent on using herself to slow down the adversaries so her friend can get away in typically selfless, heroic fashion.
More could have been made of the connection to Ros' past that Owen and Sorrel represented, especially the elder Mandrake, for it seems that he was the one that first gave spark to her interest in electronics in the first place - it's just thrown into dialogue that when she was twelve Ros liked horses until Owen showed her how radios work, setting her on the course of her life! That's quite a momentous thing, and I'm not saying she wouldn't have found her interest and line of work without that, but this is how it happened so you'd think there'd be a little more poignancy and affection between them. Ros seems to have reverted back more to her Season 2 reserved persona, perhaps because of the soapy side of this season which must have affected how Griffiths played her. Once again we sense an undertone of tension underlying the interactions, what with Ed complaining Adam isn't right for Alex, who's spending a lot of time with him socially (and so has apparently taken a bit of a backseat in recent episodes when it comes to meaningful participation in the adventure), while Beckett becomes inexorably closer to the invasive Christa, going so far as lying to the team about where he was going in black bowtie and dinner jacket, Ros seeing him picked up by Christa on CCTV when he claimed he was heading to an all-male Naval reunion. How dense can he be? Why change into the outfit at the Bureau, why let Christa pick him up from there, and why claim it was an all-male do in the first place? It seems cut from the same cloth of soap-silliness designed so Ros can be sad, an end scene that must be the worst of the season. How can you make it so negative?
Even worse for the series, though I'm sure they wouldn't have had an inkling at the writing stage, was that back in the day this was effectively the Season 4 finale! The BBC was mistreating the series, shifting it around the early evening Saturday schedule instead of the prime time slot it deserved, and then the ultimate indignity of indignities, they didn't have room for the final three episodes, shunting them off to an entire year later, August 1999, perhaps deliberately in case the finale drew in big figures and highly favourable audience reaction as 'Renegades' had achieved, buying the series a stay of execution. They wouldn't let that happen again, which is unfathomable since they didn't have to recommission for a fourth year anyway, so why do that, then not support it? Perhaps if the writers knew this episode would be a kind of mid-season finale they might have done things differently, made it a bit of a cliffhanger to leave people bubbling with speculation over what it could mean, not concluding on such a downer! Despite the poor ending, the soapiness was still kept to a minimum, thankfully, meaning the episode, though still one of the lesser instalments of both series and season, was still mostly inoffensive and enjoyable to watch - I certainly had the urge to get into it. While I'd place previous episode 'Pandora's Box' a small notch above, this at least is more visually colourful than that drab-looking example: we have the team dressing in colour, Beckett in light green shirt, green tie under his suit; Ros in a red or orange top beneath her black suit (complete with gold star earrings, perhaps as a comment on her boss, Jan's rating, though I suppose two stars isn't very flattering!); and even Ed remembers his dark blue jacket. The palette extends to some of the locations with yellow lighting in the RSG (Regional Seat of Government) bunker, and blue lighting in the IEE security office which did look like a proper 'BUGS' location, all blue-tinted metal walls and a bank of monitors - it could almost have been Gizmos, if we're allowed to mention that name! Sorrel's house, too, with all its glass, was very 'BUGS'-ian, especially in contrast with Beckett's flat and the RSG is just the kind of secret underground bunker our team should be at home in!
One area the episode didn't deliver was the disappointing explosion - up to that point they handled the traditional escalation of events rather well, problem after problem overcome, all dashing out, but then it looked like a lot of stock footage, in close so you didn't get the sense of proximity to the characters. If anything, the much smaller air explosion when an escape hatch is revealed in a wall outside the vault for Diaz to exit through (from the Kanin school of exits, if you remember the guy from 'Blackout' who blasted his way into Gizmos to save time ringing the bell!), was more effective because it was a surprise. For once there aren't a great deal of direct references, but Beckett does mention SSD early in the episode - according to them Diaz travelled with an Englishman. Ed continues his climbing exploits, entering Diaz' hotel room up the inside of the atrium while Beckett's there as eyes and ears (actually giving him an order to get out at one point!), though you wonder how no one saw him climbing with all those windows about! They seem to have stopped using the old Operating System that was based on The Hive's systems right from the very first episode, and now it looks more like a version of Windows - perhaps this is all part of the changes in relations across the services. Maybe Hive agents noticed Bureau 2 were using their system when they came in to help search for the sword last episode? I certainly hadn't noticed them use a different OS before. Beckett seems to be fairly handy setting up the intruder alarm in his flat (but not quite as with it when it comes to his house key - he rushes out without one as far I could see), but I suppose that's small potatoes compared to the technology he's used to dealing with - handy that it cements his 'electrician' cover for Christa. Also funny when the villains make Owen fix the RSG controls, Ros offering to help because she 'knows a little bit about electronics,' the understatement of the year!
There's a little bit of tantalising history for the Bureau when Jeff the security guard says he once knew a former Jan that almost came to blows with her assessor, and she became chair of covert operations. So there had been at least one female Jan before... Jan. Maybe it was the one before Roland, maybe it was Mrs. Gardner, you never know? Melissa does warn the service is changing, and by featuring an older character in the mix with Jan Harvey it gave them more ground to explore if they chose to, as they do a little bit here: the threat of tried and true methods being replaced, probably because younger minds simply want change for its own sake and to feel superior to those with more experience than they have, to feel they have an edge of their own making - Jan's even threatened with demotion to a non-operational post if she quits, though I'm sure Commander Cordray was just blowing hot air - they wouldn't want to lose someone like her with a proven track record for results. I loved seeing her save Melissa's life when they take on one of the goons, and then not to be outdone, Beckett saves Jan's life. Teamwork, that's what I like to see! Maybe going down the route of old tech again (especially after the focus on centuries past in the previous episode), the RSG from forty years ago might not have been the best idea, and there really haven't been a great deal of techy sci-fi stories in this final year, which makes it a bit less 'BUGS,' but at least in this case we got our quotient of 'BUGS' buildings and no sign of housing estates, schools or any other such mundane locations. At the same time you can see the elements aren't quite gelling: negative soapiness, less technology, generally more grounded, 'realistic' locales, and Ed still comes across too stilted and unnatural in his interaction. But it's still 'BUGS,' it's still pretty good and it's better than nothing.
***
Very punny title. We haven't seen one like that since... actually we've never had a pun for a title (jewel control: dual control...), so that's a first for the series at this late stage, but it wouldn't be the last. I suppose, other than the fact our Mr. Diaz wants control over the jewel smuggling business, it refers to his hold over the hapless Richard Blenco, this season's Mark Schumann (or was it Mark Curtis, I can never remember?), who in turn has exerted his 'charm' over Ros' old school friend, Sorrel Mandrake, in order to marry him and then he'll have leverage over her Father, Owen. I suppose. Watch enough episodes and you begin to see patterns, or at least repetitions in story and character - the obvious one is, as I mentioned, the 'happy couple' from Season 3's 'Happy Ever After?' They had it right down to the conman who only marries the woman to get to her Father in the government, both times the connection is a friend of one of our team (Jan with Sir Anthony, Ros with Sorrel), both times the little woman is kidnapped by the conman's associates and both times they get some physical comeuppance from their rage-blushing bride (a vicious kick in the shins from Julia, a solid double-handed slap from Sorrel). I don't recall who wrote the former episode, but if it was either Colin Brake or Stuart Doughty (this episode's co-writing team), they have some explaining to do. Not that I'm complaining about the lack of originality, it's fun to note the parallels and gives me more to examine! Another, less conspicuous similarity is in setting the teaser in a foreign country, this time what looks like the favelas of Columbia, scene-setting that reminded me of the desert opening to 'Schrodinger's Bomb,' something that adds a greater sense of scale, geographically speaking. And the International Emerald Exchange with its overconfident head of security reminded me of Jacobs Doyle from 'Down Among The Dead Men.'
The biggest connection to past episodes, however, must be the realisation of another 'Action Jan' story with our Jan off on her own much of the time, the older woman given the chance to show her initiative and resourcefulness, courage, and application of the very practical experience she's been claiming make the very assessment she's been assigned to complete, an irrelevance. Books are no substitute she claims and does come off a touch entitled and arrogant, or would do if we didn't know better, have seen her abilities, knowledge, connections and dedication. If we didn't know her (as fellow assessee, Melissa doesn't), and if she wasn't given the opportunity to prove herself in fine fashion when Diaz and his mob, The Three Amigos, come a-calling. It is ridiculous that a woman who's served in the intelligence services for twenty-five years would be called upon to complete a course, let alone alongside fresh young things who must be straight out of college, but perhaps forbearance and patience were part of the test? We later learn she has to be assessed every five years, but judging from the way she reacts to this particular assessment we can conclude this was different to what she'd gone through before, unless she was simply tired with the procedure and felt her age and experience should count for something, which it should! It was probably a cost-cutting measure from the government: just chuck in old hands with new recruits, that'll save money. But it was a bit demeaning, especially when you consider Jan and her team have saved civilisation as we know it on more than one occasion!
The important thing, and one more reason why the episode works, is that she's given her chance to show what being in the field is really like: under fire or in danger of death, guerrilla tactics, using mind and body to take on the enemy to the best of her ability in spite of scant resources (why would the Harding House facility have no weapons - you'd think arms training and testing would be par for the course!), just like in 'Identity Crisis,' hence another parallel with the past. Jan isn't put through the wringer quite as much as she was in that episode, but she's certainly tested, paired with the only available asset in the aforementioned Melissa, a 'bright young thing' very receptive to whatever new ways and ideas the current regime claim as best operating procedure. At first you can see where she's coming from, facing an attitude like Jan's when she doesn't see the point of using a rowing machine because she's never in all her years been required to row for her country, but as Melissa points out fitness is important in the field (or an attitude to that effect), as Jan knows only too well. But the really important things are mind and willpower - the ability to make the right decision when faced with threat and without much time to contemplate. Boldness, striking at the right moment in the right way. Melissa just comes to pieces when faced with this reality - she does get one moment to shine, to show she has potential (and if the series had continued it would have been great if they could have brought Naoko Mori's character back, perhaps in the Alex role as she moved up - Alex could even have been a sort of mentor), her knowledge of the tech manuals means she knows how to open the blast doors trapping the others in a room with a time bomb, and showing that book-learning has its place too. But for the most part she ably demonstrates that simulation can't match up to reality.
You'd think a phobia of needles would be on her bio if the services are as forensic about potential agents as Adam thought they were, nervous about his Anarchist Society membership at university. Perhaps she didn't declare it or they decided that wasn't reason enough not to accept her on the programme. And it is meant to be a comedy moment when, after all her excelling at the physical and mental rigours of the assessment she falls down in the face of a needle, literally fainting at the feet of a bemused Diaz. I must say, he seemed like a particularly humane villain, for all his bluster, at least up until he leaves the gang with the bomb, but it's more that he comes across pretty stupid in all his dealings. He has these unrealised ambitions of being Big Shot Emerald Smuggler, yet he allows himself to be taken in by the singularly unimpressive Blenco. He won't delegate all this to underlings, maybe he doesn't trust them to do things right, and comes to England with the promise of an emerald haul from the IEE (would they really store such expensive gemstones loose in little plastic trays in the vault?). But he seems very keen not to kill anyone unnecessarily, even going to the trouble of bringing along drugs and needles to sedate the inhabitants of Harding House when he also had automatic weapons and could easily have mown them all down without a second thought, even telling Ed to back off when he chases him at the end, when he has him in his sights (if he had killed off Ed it would definitely have changed the series, some might say for the better in this case!), as it seems he might have from Jan's perspective when she hears the rattle of gunfire - that was a moment she could have had second thoughts and simply done everything to escape and save her own skin, but she has an innate sense of responsibility and the guts to do what's necessary. In contrast, Blenco is quite gutless, seemingly no motivation other than money, while Diaz isn't much better - money, but prestige as well. They aren't the greatest team of villains our team have ever dealt with, but they do at least have the edge of intimidation thanks to Diaz' three heavies, especially when they smash into Sorrel's house to take her and Ros prisoner (recalling the guy who smashes through a glass door trying to get to Ros in 'A Sporting Chance'). As ever, while most would run away, Ros runs towards the danger, intent on using herself to slow down the adversaries so her friend can get away in typically selfless, heroic fashion.
More could have been made of the connection to Ros' past that Owen and Sorrel represented, especially the elder Mandrake, for it seems that he was the one that first gave spark to her interest in electronics in the first place - it's just thrown into dialogue that when she was twelve Ros liked horses until Owen showed her how radios work, setting her on the course of her life! That's quite a momentous thing, and I'm not saying she wouldn't have found her interest and line of work without that, but this is how it happened so you'd think there'd be a little more poignancy and affection between them. Ros seems to have reverted back more to her Season 2 reserved persona, perhaps because of the soapy side of this season which must have affected how Griffiths played her. Once again we sense an undertone of tension underlying the interactions, what with Ed complaining Adam isn't right for Alex, who's spending a lot of time with him socially (and so has apparently taken a bit of a backseat in recent episodes when it comes to meaningful participation in the adventure), while Beckett becomes inexorably closer to the invasive Christa, going so far as lying to the team about where he was going in black bowtie and dinner jacket, Ros seeing him picked up by Christa on CCTV when he claimed he was heading to an all-male Naval reunion. How dense can he be? Why change into the outfit at the Bureau, why let Christa pick him up from there, and why claim it was an all-male do in the first place? It seems cut from the same cloth of soap-silliness designed so Ros can be sad, an end scene that must be the worst of the season. How can you make it so negative?
Even worse for the series, though I'm sure they wouldn't have had an inkling at the writing stage, was that back in the day this was effectively the Season 4 finale! The BBC was mistreating the series, shifting it around the early evening Saturday schedule instead of the prime time slot it deserved, and then the ultimate indignity of indignities, they didn't have room for the final three episodes, shunting them off to an entire year later, August 1999, perhaps deliberately in case the finale drew in big figures and highly favourable audience reaction as 'Renegades' had achieved, buying the series a stay of execution. They wouldn't let that happen again, which is unfathomable since they didn't have to recommission for a fourth year anyway, so why do that, then not support it? Perhaps if the writers knew this episode would be a kind of mid-season finale they might have done things differently, made it a bit of a cliffhanger to leave people bubbling with speculation over what it could mean, not concluding on such a downer! Despite the poor ending, the soapiness was still kept to a minimum, thankfully, meaning the episode, though still one of the lesser instalments of both series and season, was still mostly inoffensive and enjoyable to watch - I certainly had the urge to get into it. While I'd place previous episode 'Pandora's Box' a small notch above, this at least is more visually colourful than that drab-looking example: we have the team dressing in colour, Beckett in light green shirt, green tie under his suit; Ros in a red or orange top beneath her black suit (complete with gold star earrings, perhaps as a comment on her boss, Jan's rating, though I suppose two stars isn't very flattering!); and even Ed remembers his dark blue jacket. The palette extends to some of the locations with yellow lighting in the RSG (Regional Seat of Government) bunker, and blue lighting in the IEE security office which did look like a proper 'BUGS' location, all blue-tinted metal walls and a bank of monitors - it could almost have been Gizmos, if we're allowed to mention that name! Sorrel's house, too, with all its glass, was very 'BUGS'-ian, especially in contrast with Beckett's flat and the RSG is just the kind of secret underground bunker our team should be at home in!
One area the episode didn't deliver was the disappointing explosion - up to that point they handled the traditional escalation of events rather well, problem after problem overcome, all dashing out, but then it looked like a lot of stock footage, in close so you didn't get the sense of proximity to the characters. If anything, the much smaller air explosion when an escape hatch is revealed in a wall outside the vault for Diaz to exit through (from the Kanin school of exits, if you remember the guy from 'Blackout' who blasted his way into Gizmos to save time ringing the bell!), was more effective because it was a surprise. For once there aren't a great deal of direct references, but Beckett does mention SSD early in the episode - according to them Diaz travelled with an Englishman. Ed continues his climbing exploits, entering Diaz' hotel room up the inside of the atrium while Beckett's there as eyes and ears (actually giving him an order to get out at one point!), though you wonder how no one saw him climbing with all those windows about! They seem to have stopped using the old Operating System that was based on The Hive's systems right from the very first episode, and now it looks more like a version of Windows - perhaps this is all part of the changes in relations across the services. Maybe Hive agents noticed Bureau 2 were using their system when they came in to help search for the sword last episode? I certainly hadn't noticed them use a different OS before. Beckett seems to be fairly handy setting up the intruder alarm in his flat (but not quite as with it when it comes to his house key - he rushes out without one as far I could see), but I suppose that's small potatoes compared to the technology he's used to dealing with - handy that it cements his 'electrician' cover for Christa. Also funny when the villains make Owen fix the RSG controls, Ros offering to help because she 'knows a little bit about electronics,' the understatement of the year!
There's a little bit of tantalising history for the Bureau when Jeff the security guard says he once knew a former Jan that almost came to blows with her assessor, and she became chair of covert operations. So there had been at least one female Jan before... Jan. Maybe it was the one before Roland, maybe it was Mrs. Gardner, you never know? Melissa does warn the service is changing, and by featuring an older character in the mix with Jan Harvey it gave them more ground to explore if they chose to, as they do a little bit here: the threat of tried and true methods being replaced, probably because younger minds simply want change for its own sake and to feel superior to those with more experience than they have, to feel they have an edge of their own making - Jan's even threatened with demotion to a non-operational post if she quits, though I'm sure Commander Cordray was just blowing hot air - they wouldn't want to lose someone like her with a proven track record for results. I loved seeing her save Melissa's life when they take on one of the goons, and then not to be outdone, Beckett saves Jan's life. Teamwork, that's what I like to see! Maybe going down the route of old tech again (especially after the focus on centuries past in the previous episode), the RSG from forty years ago might not have been the best idea, and there really haven't been a great deal of techy sci-fi stories in this final year, which makes it a bit less 'BUGS,' but at least in this case we got our quotient of 'BUGS' buildings and no sign of housing estates, schools or any other such mundane locations. At the same time you can see the elements aren't quite gelling: negative soapiness, less technology, generally more grounded, 'realistic' locales, and Ed still comes across too stilted and unnatural in his interaction. But it's still 'BUGS,' it's still pretty good and it's better than nothing.
***
Thursday, 28 July 2022
Pandora's Box
DVD, BUGS S4 (Pandora's Box)
For an episode that features the inauspicious debut of Christa, Beckett's dozy neighbour, and the next appearance of Adam, it's not bad. They get the soapy-dopey stuff out the way early when Ros shows up at Beckett's flat to find him deep in conversation with that woman, and similarly, when Ed comes to inform Alex that Jan wants them, she's on the phone to Mosby fixing up their evening plans. While the negativity and tensions between these two pairs have yet to degenerate (actually I've been fairly pleasantly surprised how Terry's death hasn't affected the atmosphere as much as in memory), this episode is more attuned to a story, and a very low-tech one at that, so the camaraderie of the characters isn't as much in evidence as they're mostly off doing different things. In one sense this is a boon for the above reasons, but it also means that when there are moments where it should be apparent, the charisma vacuum that is Houghton's Ed is more noticeable - take the moment when he's been captured and he hears someone returning to his cell: he hides behind a locker with a handy metal bar the villains forgot to remove and takes a swing at his visitor, who turns out to be Beckett. All the banter and character comes from Birdsall, Houghton's just blank!
The story itself, about a 6th-Century plague unleashed, potentially from King Arthur's tomb, is strangely un-'BUGS'-like, and while it's not bad, and it's good to have a different kind of story, this is most certainly one to watch because you like the characters and their interactions rather than a thrilling story. We do get a nice scene between Ros and Beckett when she shows her concern that he's putting himself in danger because they don't know for sure this virus does only affect people with blonde hair and blue eyes, and it's nice to see him notice - much better than tension between them. Other than that there didn't seem to be a lot of character interactions between our main cast, which, coupled with the lack of tech, makes it one of the lesser examples of the season. It's quite a grey, bland sort of story, visually speaking, what with even the clothing mostly grey (Ros wears a grey suit and rectangular silver earrings, Beckett a grey boiler-suit under his hi-vis waistcoat, and Ed wears grey trousers with his now-trademark white t-shirt), with the only colour being Ros' blue top under the suit, and at the end the primary colour palette is completed by her wearing a yellow top and Beckett a red shirt under his painting gear. To recap so far: very little technology, lacking the usual colour, and once again in this especially lacklustre locations season we see the most mundane everyday settings that almost make you forget what this series is about! Raymond's bike shop, the school gates, a playground, housing estate, hazardous waste dump... Okay, so that last one is more in keeping, but even there Saniman Waste at Athersbury Point (or Arthur's Burgh), is mostly the dig site with its higgledy-piggledy mesh fencing, mounds of soil, festoon lights and a JCB, which gets a starring role at several points.
Connors, one of the workers, is first to have a go, losing it while driving (never operate heavy machinery while ill!), allowing Beckett a heroic moment of getting aboard and steering it away from the toxic barrels. Not sure why he couldn't just hit the brakes, but I'll assume Connors was covering the controls. Later, Ed uses the ever-useful JCB to deal with Witcher, Eli Cameron's right-hand man, though the man must be very slow not to get out of the way of a swinging digger arm! Finally the great yellow beast provides a hoist to get Beckett out of the pit, so they certainly got their money's worth out of it! For once Witcher and Cameron, the main villains as it were, weren't the worst: partner Vigo is the real nasty, but even then all he does is clonk his boss or partner in the head and steal the sword. His crime is more of stupidity and ignorance, unwittingly unleashing the plague on the populace by his actions, all for petty greed. He's happy to accept a mere £15,000 for the sword as his payoff, and when you think how much the hoard would have been worth had they found one, he seems quite small-time and not very forward-thinking. Even if Cameron went legitimate and reported the find I think they'd have been due fifty percent of the value. As it was, the hoard was long gone, and maybe Vigo was in a spot of financial bother and simply needed some fast cash, we'll never know.
A shame Cameron wasn't played by Tony Robinson - I imagine 'Time Team' may have started by that time (checking up I find it began even before 'BUGS': 1994! So maybe there was some basis for comparison there...), and that would have been funny! Like Vigo, it's not that Cameron is a particularly evil villain, it's more that he's uncaring for the fate of his workers or the dangers he's put them in, completely focused on the prestige of uncovering this fabled treasure. Witcher's the one who seems little more than a lackey happy to shoot anyone that stands in the way, although it's Vigo who brings out the automatic weapon when he and Cameron meet with the Saniman board - I thought it was going to be a repeat of 'Blackout' where Lacombe sprayed bullets into the security guards, but just as every other element of 'BUGS' appears to be a touch watered down or softened this season, things here are pretty tame, too. We do get a pretty good bloom of explosion at the end when Beckett, Ed, Witcher and Frane (I assume - the other henchman), run from the detonation of the site which had been set up to bury the plague. I always think they're going to dive into that trough of water in front of them, and no matter how many times I watch it, they never do. I assume it was filmed that way to get a lovely reflection in the water, as Brian Grant does inject a few noticeably attractive shots, such as the camera moving in on Cameron while the background shifts and Vigo and Witcher cross behind him, or the shot from the wheels of the gurney as we find the collapsed nurse at the hospital - he added inventiveness to a relatively unexciting story.
Something that stands out is the heroism of Ed and Beckett in saving Cameron's lackeys. Lesser good guys may have felt justified in leaving the woozy pair to their fate and not wasting time risking their own lives, especially as they'd tried to kill them, Witcher actually shooting at a fleeing Ed, not to mention it was his fault the detonation went off uncontrolled (hope they had time to remove all those sensitive waste barrels!). But no, they use up valuable escape time working out how to get the pair out by carrying them on a forklift. Cameron isn't so fortunate, and if the message about the blinding power of greed to all other concerns couldn't be clearer it's in the moment he refuses to leave the underground burial tomb and is covered in a fall of earth, fittingly. Despite all this saving of the villains there aren't many of the series hallmarks you'd expect - we're not exactly inundated with explosions, there's the one countdown to detonation, but you notice, other than the rising danger of the plague and the more personal stakes of a child at risk (young James, who finds the sword dropped by Bjorn's buyer was played by Tom Felton, an actor who'd go on to fame in the Harry Potter films, but whom I know from the Joseph Fiennes film, 'Risen'! You’d think his Mother would have qualms about him picking up a life-sized sword from the street…), there wasn't a lot of tension and things take a turn for the even more low-tech when Ros ends up assisting Dr. Hemmings with creating a cure by using antiquarian methods of preparation - a naked flame, pestle and mortar, that kind of thing. It's a good concept, but I'm not sure how realistic it is (I'll look forward to hearing the 'Fusion Patrol' podcast’s view when they get around to that episode!), nor am I sure Ros has the qualifications to be dealing with medical matters for all that Beckett describes her as 'a bright spark' when they're pretending to be electricians as cover for Christa’s sake ('very progressive electricians'), and are there no hospital staff like Hemmings?
If the story isn't very typical it does feature quite a few indirect connections to other episodes. I say indirect because other than The Hive agents seconded to Jan's search for the sword, we don't get specific references, but there are, as often is the case, a few connections to previous examples: I already mentioned the surprise gun appearance, as in 'Blackout,' but we have another instance of Alex going undercover, this time as an investigator of the Hazardous Materials Agency (though she goes in with Ed, so it's not quite the same), the briefcase with a camera in it was used on more than one occasion (I always think of the one in 'Pulse'), and this time Beckett takes such a device on his interview at Saniman (didn't they have CRB checks in those days? Cameron asks if he'd been in prison 1994-1998 as his CV was blank! Should have put 'exploring other career options'!), and I'm sure Ros teasing Beckett through his earpiece because he can't answer back had been done before ('Buried Treasure' maybe?), and it was a sort of inverse of Alex' first undercover operation in 'Blaze of Glory.' There's stock footage of a lift shaft which must come from 'A Sporting Chance' (though the size doesn't match with that wide example in this episode which has enough room for a forklift!), and even the idea of a virus that targets specific people had been done before ('Assassins Inc'), even this season ('Sacrifice To Science')!
I had thought we'd be free of Adam this time as they'd done the obligatory reminder he's about with Alex' phone call early on, and with her falling victim to the plague (not the last of the main cast to spend most of a story in a hospital bed this season...), but they wanted the drama of him finding out she's one of the affected infected, but strangely he still doesn't take much of a role, only seen going about with Ros while Beckett and Ed do the heavy duty stuff. He doesn't even warrant a scene at the end with his girlfriend, though I think he was there when she opened her eyes, but in reality the poor use of him was for the better because we don't want him interfering in stories, and it was quite nice to see our four main people meeting up at Beckett's flat - for once Christa makes a wise move and leaves Beckett to his friends. Interestingly, the tag scene is another more pleasant one than silly or cheery as it really is lovely to see Alex pop her head round the corner, fine again, although the only downsides are that we never got to hear the actual Viking translation of the stone they left behind on plundering the tomb. And Jan isn't there to complete the picture. Once again she seems to be bringing together the various organisations in a spirit of cooperation, something I've already commented upon this season. Obviously Hive agents joining in was one aspect, but we also get an 'Armed Response Squad' which is a new one for the series. We’d seen them go in with backup before (in 'Renegades' when they swoop on the villain's HQ), but this time they're all balaclava-ed up as if even their identities had to be kept secret. The real missed opportunity is that they weren't named as SSD men, which would have been better, and this must be what I'd previously thought were SSD's contribution to Season 4, more's the pity.
It's great to see Jan in command of some large forces, no matter its provenance, but does that mean she always has access to such extensive backup? That has the danger of either making our Bureau team obsolete, or at least takes some of their value away, except that in this case the squad appears to be more soldiers there to enforce and guard rather than the unique skillsets our people have at their disposal. Jan didn't get everything right, however, as she said Alex was infected by a coin Beckett gave her, but in reality Alex took it herself. Although Alex is flat on her back for much of the episode we do see her get in the familiar Toyota Land Cruiser when escaping from Saniman. I'm not sure we ever saw the Jeep, which is a rare event, but other former staples of the series make a comeback: Canary Wharf Tower, absent all season, is very visible, as is the Docklands Light Railway (even if Adam calls it the 'Rapid Transit trains'), which was a nice revisiting of the series' past (most notably used in 'Newton's Run'). We see Beckett doesn't necessarily always give out the best advice: he meets two Saniman employees and whips them up into a frenzy of panic about the virus the dig has unearthed, basically telling them to run for the hills, but surely it'd be better to quarantine the place, contain the virus, they don't know how it's spread, they could be taking it out into the community! At least we learn something new, or at least that hasn't been touched on much before: his love of vinyl. This was actually something of Birdsall's own personality, which is nice (especially for someone so caught up in cutting edge tech in his professional life - bet he was happy when it made a comeback!). And we potentially find out something about the mysteriously undeveloped Ed, too: his ancestors could be from Mars for all he knows (or even Australia?) - that explains why Ed started acting like an automaton in Season 4, he's been replaced by aliens!
***
Friday, 22 July 2022
The Kindred Part II
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (The Kindred Part II)
They could have made an end of Beckett, perhaps heroically saving Teyla, but she remains a captive of Michael, and Carson remains alive, though in stasis like Han Solo in Carbonite, giving our intrepid team two motivations to catch the twisted half-Wraith and prevent him from continuing his mad scientist routine. There was a hint of finality to Beckett's final resting place, despite the forced optimism of his friends, but surely if they were going to kill him they wouldn't have left him, and us, with hope. It was nice to see the guy again even if it doesn't look like he's going to be playing much of a part from now on, and they don't leave us hanging for answers as too many serialised shows do these days. For instance, while running through the possibilities, including that this could be the original Beckett, captured two years ago, they don't demean the real guy's death and are quick to reveal he's actually a clone. And of course things can't be rosy and bright: he's also dying since he's no longer receiving the necessary injections from Michael which kept his cells from degrading. Similarly, we learn that Kanaan, Teyla's zombified boyfriend, still retains some connection to her, and also Michael's plan to somehow use their offspring, a child with unique DNA considering the parents both have the Wraith telepathic gift.
It's not all revelations, though, there's also time for touching moments such as Rodney revealing the truth to Carson about what he is and what happened. Ordinarily you wouldn't think he was the best person to break life-defining news to someone, but perhaps because they were good friends before Beckett died, he does a good job and handles it as sensitively as you can imagine someone telling you you're a clone and the real you died months ago! Carson also had to learn the harsh reality of the loss of Elizabeth Weir, shock upon shock. Naturally there's some concern that he could be a plant of Michael's and not even know it, and we see a demonstration of him being unable to shoot his creator, so it's still a possibility, but it's heart-warming to see them quickly come to trust him and he doesn't prove that trust misplaced. It's great to have him back, even if it does turn out to be only for one episode (though, as I say, you wouldn't think they'd keep him hanging like a wildcard if they didn't intend to bring him into the story again in some way), and there is a little bit of a sense of closure to his life after he was so shockingly and suddenly taken from them. But there's also the fact that the team has, as they should have, moved on - Dr. Keller is the doc now, Carter's in charge, Ronon finds it difficult to accept another Beckett. And yet it all comes good by the end and he's even able to soften the blow of the original Beckett's sudden demise by writing a letter to his Mother which they can now 'find' and pass on.
Beckett wasn't the only pleasant blast from the past: with all his appearances as 'Todd' the Wraith, we were fooled into assuming Christopher Heyerdahl would be back again in that guise, but no, it's his original character, the Athosian Halling whom I never expected to see again since he'd been out of it for so long. He's a bit battered and shorn of the long locks (perhaps to differentiate him from his Wraith character), but he's just as dedicated to his people and Teyla. So that was nice. Nagel the nasty spy, whom they encountered on New Athos, also returns to give them a clue where to start for Michael and there's plenty of gunplay, but it is, as usual, in the personal character scenes that the episode proves itself. Being the middle of what I assume will be a three-parter it doesn't really go anywhere much, but the important things are Beckett and Teyla and their respective situations which are quite well addressed.
***
They could have made an end of Beckett, perhaps heroically saving Teyla, but she remains a captive of Michael, and Carson remains alive, though in stasis like Han Solo in Carbonite, giving our intrepid team two motivations to catch the twisted half-Wraith and prevent him from continuing his mad scientist routine. There was a hint of finality to Beckett's final resting place, despite the forced optimism of his friends, but surely if they were going to kill him they wouldn't have left him, and us, with hope. It was nice to see the guy again even if it doesn't look like he's going to be playing much of a part from now on, and they don't leave us hanging for answers as too many serialised shows do these days. For instance, while running through the possibilities, including that this could be the original Beckett, captured two years ago, they don't demean the real guy's death and are quick to reveal he's actually a clone. And of course things can't be rosy and bright: he's also dying since he's no longer receiving the necessary injections from Michael which kept his cells from degrading. Similarly, we learn that Kanaan, Teyla's zombified boyfriend, still retains some connection to her, and also Michael's plan to somehow use their offspring, a child with unique DNA considering the parents both have the Wraith telepathic gift.
It's not all revelations, though, there's also time for touching moments such as Rodney revealing the truth to Carson about what he is and what happened. Ordinarily you wouldn't think he was the best person to break life-defining news to someone, but perhaps because they were good friends before Beckett died, he does a good job and handles it as sensitively as you can imagine someone telling you you're a clone and the real you died months ago! Carson also had to learn the harsh reality of the loss of Elizabeth Weir, shock upon shock. Naturally there's some concern that he could be a plant of Michael's and not even know it, and we see a demonstration of him being unable to shoot his creator, so it's still a possibility, but it's heart-warming to see them quickly come to trust him and he doesn't prove that trust misplaced. It's great to have him back, even if it does turn out to be only for one episode (though, as I say, you wouldn't think they'd keep him hanging like a wildcard if they didn't intend to bring him into the story again in some way), and there is a little bit of a sense of closure to his life after he was so shockingly and suddenly taken from them. But there's also the fact that the team has, as they should have, moved on - Dr. Keller is the doc now, Carter's in charge, Ronon finds it difficult to accept another Beckett. And yet it all comes good by the end and he's even able to soften the blow of the original Beckett's sudden demise by writing a letter to his Mother which they can now 'find' and pass on.
Beckett wasn't the only pleasant blast from the past: with all his appearances as 'Todd' the Wraith, we were fooled into assuming Christopher Heyerdahl would be back again in that guise, but no, it's his original character, the Athosian Halling whom I never expected to see again since he'd been out of it for so long. He's a bit battered and shorn of the long locks (perhaps to differentiate him from his Wraith character), but he's just as dedicated to his people and Teyla. So that was nice. Nagel the nasty spy, whom they encountered on New Athos, also returns to give them a clue where to start for Michael and there's plenty of gunplay, but it is, as usual, in the personal character scenes that the episode proves itself. Being the middle of what I assume will be a three-parter it doesn't really go anywhere much, but the important things are Beckett and Teyla and their respective situations which are quite well addressed.
***
Monday, 18 July 2022
The Kindred
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (The Kindred)
Teyla-centric, which makes it a little more unique, and moves the story along, but also over-busy, too much stuff happening, it's a job to keep track of it all rather than exploring a single story. In that sense it's not one of the more satisfying episodes, which isn't to say it's bad, and it certainly leaves you reeling with the final scene, that I will say! They've sort of done this before, of course, leaving Weir trapped, then hearing she died, then bringing 'her' back in a roundabout way, so I wasn't as dumbfounded as I might have been to see Dr. Carson Beckett somehow resurrected as a prisoner on some world the team are going to in order to find Teyla, who's a prisoner of Michael… It's a bit convoluted, maybe too many plates being spun, and it was also a bit too obvious that he was going to be behind the Hoffan plague they talk about at first because Connor Trinneer's name came up post-titles. Christopher Heyerdahl's 'Todd' also features, doing some kind of deal again and claiming that the intel that almost led to Earth being a victim of a Wraith attack was stolen from him rather than being something he had a hand in. In the same episode Heyerdahl appears we also find out at last what happened to the Athosians, but of course we weren't going to get him back as the leader, Halling.
I was never that impressed with the Michael storyline, any more than I was with Lieutenant Ford's (remember him?), they were both mere revenge-seekers and I didn't find it all that interesting, despite the fact it's fun to see Trinneer of 'Enterprise' in a different sci-fi franchise. Cruel of him to send visions of Kanaan in order to capture Teyla, but as I said, it was always going to be him responsible for this plague that kills both human and Wraith alike. I found it quite touching the way her friends and colleagues are so supportive of Teyla, despite their personal scepticism, and it is sci-fi after all, so it was pretty likely she wasn't merely experiencing dreams or daydreams! It was of interest to finally meet this long talked of boyfriend, Father of her unborn child, but he did seem a bit unimpressive after all the build-up time we'd had before getting to meet him. Somehow you'd think Teyla would be tied to someone with more gumption. Like Ronon. Or even Sheppard. Granted, we never actually saw the 'real' guy as in the visions it was actually Michael undercover, and then when we do see him he's already changed, but Teyla didn't indicate he was behaving out of character so maybe she merely liked him because he was a bit weaker than her. The real reason is that they both share the Wraith DNA which, as she says, sets them apart from ordinary Athosians, but even so…
There seemed to be a catalogue of errors, which I understand you have to have to build the tension so that when that 'To be continued' sign flashes up at the end things look as bad as they can before the goodies start setting right what went wrong, but we have Lorne losing Teyla to a Dart's ambush, we have the Daedalus taken completely unprepared when Michael's ship (I think), shows up, and then they can't even stop it or track it. Maybe old Caldwell's getting too old for the job? Otherwise it's a lot of back and forth, seemingly playing for time until we get to where we're going: Beckett. It can't be the actual Carson since he was blown into pieces, and in a most impressive episode. It's questionable, after such a heroic death with so much meaning that it was wise to bring him back, but again, it is sci-fi, you have to expect it to some extent and try not to let it ruin the impact of the earlier drama. A clone? A Wraith experiment? The 'real' Beckett was actually an android? Who knows at this juncture, but I'm sure we'll be finding out soon (maybe it was as simple as Paul McGillion wanting to go off and do a film or two and now he's back?). It would be sort of nice to get all the old characters back together in time for the final season (although where would that leave Dr. Keller who's carved out her own niche nicely), but whether they'll go that route, I really don't know. Just don't bring Ford back, eh?
**
Teyla-centric, which makes it a little more unique, and moves the story along, but also over-busy, too much stuff happening, it's a job to keep track of it all rather than exploring a single story. In that sense it's not one of the more satisfying episodes, which isn't to say it's bad, and it certainly leaves you reeling with the final scene, that I will say! They've sort of done this before, of course, leaving Weir trapped, then hearing she died, then bringing 'her' back in a roundabout way, so I wasn't as dumbfounded as I might have been to see Dr. Carson Beckett somehow resurrected as a prisoner on some world the team are going to in order to find Teyla, who's a prisoner of Michael… It's a bit convoluted, maybe too many plates being spun, and it was also a bit too obvious that he was going to be behind the Hoffan plague they talk about at first because Connor Trinneer's name came up post-titles. Christopher Heyerdahl's 'Todd' also features, doing some kind of deal again and claiming that the intel that almost led to Earth being a victim of a Wraith attack was stolen from him rather than being something he had a hand in. In the same episode Heyerdahl appears we also find out at last what happened to the Athosians, but of course we weren't going to get him back as the leader, Halling.
I was never that impressed with the Michael storyline, any more than I was with Lieutenant Ford's (remember him?), they were both mere revenge-seekers and I didn't find it all that interesting, despite the fact it's fun to see Trinneer of 'Enterprise' in a different sci-fi franchise. Cruel of him to send visions of Kanaan in order to capture Teyla, but as I said, it was always going to be him responsible for this plague that kills both human and Wraith alike. I found it quite touching the way her friends and colleagues are so supportive of Teyla, despite their personal scepticism, and it is sci-fi after all, so it was pretty likely she wasn't merely experiencing dreams or daydreams! It was of interest to finally meet this long talked of boyfriend, Father of her unborn child, but he did seem a bit unimpressive after all the build-up time we'd had before getting to meet him. Somehow you'd think Teyla would be tied to someone with more gumption. Like Ronon. Or even Sheppard. Granted, we never actually saw the 'real' guy as in the visions it was actually Michael undercover, and then when we do see him he's already changed, but Teyla didn't indicate he was behaving out of character so maybe she merely liked him because he was a bit weaker than her. The real reason is that they both share the Wraith DNA which, as she says, sets them apart from ordinary Athosians, but even so…
There seemed to be a catalogue of errors, which I understand you have to have to build the tension so that when that 'To be continued' sign flashes up at the end things look as bad as they can before the goodies start setting right what went wrong, but we have Lorne losing Teyla to a Dart's ambush, we have the Daedalus taken completely unprepared when Michael's ship (I think), shows up, and then they can't even stop it or track it. Maybe old Caldwell's getting too old for the job? Otherwise it's a lot of back and forth, seemingly playing for time until we get to where we're going: Beckett. It can't be the actual Carson since he was blown into pieces, and in a most impressive episode. It's questionable, after such a heroic death with so much meaning that it was wise to bring him back, but again, it is sci-fi, you have to expect it to some extent and try not to let it ruin the impact of the earlier drama. A clone? A Wraith experiment? The 'real' Beckett was actually an android? Who knows at this juncture, but I'm sure we'll be finding out soon (maybe it was as simple as Paul McGillion wanting to go off and do a film or two and now he's back?). It would be sort of nice to get all the old characters back together in time for the final season (although where would that leave Dr. Keller who's carved out her own niche nicely), but whether they'll go that route, I really don't know. Just don't bring Ford back, eh?
**
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