Blake's 7 1x04: Time Squad
This seems to be the first episode that's not part of the opening "miniseries," though it does see the introduction of the final crewmember, the kind of rebellion Blake has in mind, and Blake's ideas about the mathematics of a seven member crew with six people.
Once again, two plots, one show:
A - Blake wants to link up with resistance fighters on a Federation communications outpost and then blow the outpost into itty bitty pieces. For this he recruits Vila for lock picking and Avon for computer skills and sarcastic remarks.
B - Continuing the string of random encounters with mysterious spacecraft, the crew encounter a ship full of cryogenically frozen homicidal maniacs. Naturally, they think it's a brilliant idea to revive them while half the crew is off the ship, leaving Jenna and Gan to their tender and oddly-costumed mercies.
Once again, Blake displays a rather bizarre combination of leadership skills and dumb decision making, what with leaving Jenna and Gan to be almost -- well, I'm not exactly clear how the revived maniacs were going to kill them, but I'm sure it would have involved a lot of gritted teeth on all sides.
On the plus side for Blake though, his plan to blow up the communications station actually works, and he does recruit a real live rebel who, unlike the rest of his crew, actually gives a damn about Blake's cause. I'm not sure exactly why the writers decided to make Cally a telepathic (send-only, oddly) alien rebel; I can only speculate they thought something along the lines of "Well, what crew is complete without one?" Cally does have quite the entrance, and I admit a soft spot for a character who makes her introduction to the series by kicking Blake's ass. (I chalk up his getting the gun away from her to Star Character Syndrome. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.) Her reason for staying with the crew -- that she's failed in her mission so can't go back to Auron -- seems a little contrived, but I'll buy it since she seems to have unvoiced respect for Blake, and at this rate there's no other way he'd get to seven crewmembers.
It's interesting watching the writers throw characters together to see what sticks. Gan and Jenna get a fair amount of time together which, I'm sorry to say, did not make either of them particularly interesting to me. We learn that Gan can't really fight and thinks he has to stay with Blake. While Jenna did not manage to kick ass in hoped-for quantities, but at least she didn't scream helplessly. I feel this is somewhat damning with faint praise.
Vila and Avon make quite the comedic duo; I like their constant one-upsmanship over the punchline. Though they're the two morally dubious characters of the bunch, they manage to go about it in completely different ways. Vila's cowardice is somehow endearing (and consistent from his first appearances). Avon seems to enjoy telling Blake (well, everyone, but especially Blake) everything problematic about the plan and then go into excruciating detail about everything else that could go wrong. Then proceed to do it anyway, and look smug. It's quite entertaining.
As for the final crewmember, the ship's computer Zen, it seems to have enough individuality to merit rambling. Unlike, say Firefly's Serenity which was a ship with personality, Zen actually is a personality. Unfortunately for the crew, Zen is ascerbic and know-it-all . (One would think it gets along well with Avon). It's reveal that Zen is capable of withholding information to the detriment of the crew, though I suspect both Zen and Avon would say that they could have asked. Even though it's an alien intelligence, it doesn't particularly come across as such, though neither does Cally.
Overall, this episode seems to consist of one really lame plot, one uninspired plot, and some nice character work. To me, it still doesn’t match the quality of first two episodes, and I have a sinking suspicion that the show is on a trend away from the deeply political backstory towards the straightforward sci-fi. However, if the character work and dialogue continue to rise above the plots, I'll keep watching.
Once again, two plots, one show:
A - Blake wants to link up with resistance fighters on a Federation communications outpost and then blow the outpost into itty bitty pieces. For this he recruits Vila for lock picking and Avon for computer skills and sarcastic remarks.
B - Continuing the string of random encounters with mysterious spacecraft, the crew encounter a ship full of cryogenically frozen homicidal maniacs. Naturally, they think it's a brilliant idea to revive them while half the crew is off the ship, leaving Jenna and Gan to their tender and oddly-costumed mercies.
Once again, Blake displays a rather bizarre combination of leadership skills and dumb decision making, what with leaving Jenna and Gan to be almost -- well, I'm not exactly clear how the revived maniacs were going to kill them, but I'm sure it would have involved a lot of gritted teeth on all sides.
On the plus side for Blake though, his plan to blow up the communications station actually works, and he does recruit a real live rebel who, unlike the rest of his crew, actually gives a damn about Blake's cause. I'm not sure exactly why the writers decided to make Cally a telepathic (send-only, oddly) alien rebel; I can only speculate they thought something along the lines of "Well, what crew is complete without one?" Cally does have quite the entrance, and I admit a soft spot for a character who makes her introduction to the series by kicking Blake's ass. (I chalk up his getting the gun away from her to Star Character Syndrome. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.) Her reason for staying with the crew -- that she's failed in her mission so can't go back to Auron -- seems a little contrived, but I'll buy it since she seems to have unvoiced respect for Blake, and at this rate there's no other way he'd get to seven crewmembers.
It's interesting watching the writers throw characters together to see what sticks. Gan and Jenna get a fair amount of time together which, I'm sorry to say, did not make either of them particularly interesting to me. We learn that Gan can't really fight and thinks he has to stay with Blake. While Jenna did not manage to kick ass in hoped-for quantities, but at least she didn't scream helplessly. I feel this is somewhat damning with faint praise.
Vila and Avon make quite the comedic duo; I like their constant one-upsmanship over the punchline. Though they're the two morally dubious characters of the bunch, they manage to go about it in completely different ways. Vila's cowardice is somehow endearing (and consistent from his first appearances). Avon seems to enjoy telling Blake (well, everyone, but especially Blake) everything problematic about the plan and then go into excruciating detail about everything else that could go wrong. Then proceed to do it anyway, and look smug. It's quite entertaining.
As for the final crewmember, the ship's computer Zen, it seems to have enough individuality to merit rambling. Unlike, say Firefly's Serenity which was a ship with personality, Zen actually is a personality. Unfortunately for the crew, Zen is ascerbic and know-it-all . (One would think it gets along well with Avon). It's reveal that Zen is capable of withholding information to the detriment of the crew, though I suspect both Zen and Avon would say that they could have asked. Even though it's an alien intelligence, it doesn't particularly come across as such, though neither does Cally.
Overall, this episode seems to consist of one really lame plot, one uninspired plot, and some nice character work. To me, it still doesn’t match the quality of first two episodes, and I have a sinking suspicion that the show is on a trend away from the deeply political backstory towards the straightforward sci-fi. However, if the character work and dialogue continue to rise above the plots, I'll keep watching.