Blake's 7 S3 - Review
Jun. 3rd, 2024 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dickinsonsA season with big changes! Not all of them worked for me, but after a start I didn't particularly like, I ended up enjoying a lot of this season. As always, I'm using screencaps from this site and checking the transcripts from this other site.
And just in case you haven't seen them, here are my previous reviews for season 1 and season 2.
Aftermath wasn't the strongest start of a season to me. The season starts with an episode where Avon kisses two different women, how crazy is that? But I really liked Dayna's introduction, and her dad was really cool. Such a shame he had to die! And her sister on top of that, too! Poor Dayna, she's so young. Now, Servalan and Avon. They do have cracking sexual tension, so it makes sense. But god, that dress on Servalan was AWFUL. Although it makes sense in context that wearing someone else's clothes would be unflattering for her. Avon wearing Mellanby's black tunic, though. It was such a good look on him!
Oh, I've only been talking about everyone's looks. If there's one thing I enjoyed from the early episodes was seeing how everyone was trying to survive or help others do so after the war. Servalan is cruel and manipulative, but Avon isn't buying it. Even if he does snog her first. I can't blame him. Mellonby's story was cool, and it gives Dayna a good motivation to join the crew and have a reason to fight the Federation, and Servalan in particular.
Next came Powerplay. I liked both plots of this episode: Avon and Dayna on the Liberator with that Tarrant twist, and Cally and Vila being rescued for very, very wrong reasons. I liked how dark that was, people gathering war survivors for organ harvesting. And Servalan always finds a way, doesn't she? She never gives up!
This was an interesting start for the Avon-Tarrant relationship, and I could see they had potential for a fun dynamic. Tarrant's no Blake, of course. I do think the season feels off, at least to me, because of Blake's absence. I know others liked Blake being gone, but that could NEVER be me. The show made more sense with him as the lead!
Volcano had a cool location. I live in a volcanic island, so I love everything volcanoes... except the constant danger of an eruption.
The story was weak for me, I don't know. The concept wasn't that bad, but I didn't really enjoy the execution of the whole pacifist thing. Also, Cally's telepathy was a mess in this episode. They were both on the Liberator but Avon couldn't hear her messages? And then later it worked on the planet? Very confusing!
I love that Vila has a crush on Dayna. Who wouldn't? And somehow it fits him. I also have to say, at this point of the season, I was really enjoying how often Avon would get whumped around, get unconscious, a broken bone, etc. I hoped it would be so since he became the lead. I just like whumping my faves, okay?
Now, Dawn of the Gods was... okay! I loved their space monopoly game in the beginning, and Orac's very enthusiastic involvement in it. Avon's look was crazy, a black turtleneck and red leather trousers. Well, I know it's because he wears something else on top later, but on its own it looks like such a modern-day outfit, you know. A bit weird, but a good look nonetheless.
Tarrant saying he'll kill Avon one day and Avon smiling in return, ha! I'm enjoying the dynamic, and Avon's rare smiles are always the best. Another fun bit was Vila seeing a lot of Avons and saying he was in hell and it's full of Avons. That's my particular hell right now, too.
I'm getting tired of the "Cally gets attacked because she's a telepath" crap. I've had enough of this in other shows, too, and I'm veeery annoyed at the idea that TELEPATHY makes you into a victim this often. If you're a woman, of course! And Cally was a REBEL FIGHTER, but here we are.
Story-wise, I thought it was an okay episode, and I laughed when, after describing Orac as a "bald dwarf" while avoiding to mention his true nature, Cally met the actual guy behind the whole thing and he was a bald dwarf himself. He also looked like a Star Trek s1 character.
Oh boy. The first of Ben Steed's infamous episodes, The Harvest of Kairos. Awful, awful stuff. It was torture getting through his episodes, but you already knew that if you've watched them.
Look. Servalan looked beautiful, as usual. The concept of the harvest wasn't that bad. The strategising wasn't that bad. Avon and his obsession with that rock was funny. BUT WHAT THE HELL WAS UP WITH JARVIK? I guess Ben Steed had a particular hatred of Servalan because she was a powerful woman so he decided to humiliate her like this. It's just a disgusting trope, a macho type of guy who treats women like that but it's FINE because they LOVE to be treated like that. No, we don't. AND he also treated Dayna like shit. Go to hell, man.
Tarrant walked in on Avon grabbing Cally by the arms and thought something else was going on? Okay, I guess? Where's this coming from?
Aaand the only thing I liked of this stinker was Vila and Dayna hugging and celebrating together. Cute!
NOW is when the season got REALLY good. The City at the Edge of the World was such a good episode overall, with a good plot, great guest stars AND really good writing for Vila. Vila's a very fun character, and I think Michael Keating was great at different types of comedy, including physical, so of course he was always the best comic relief in B7. But sometimes I feel like he gets treated as utterly stupid to the point where it feels a bit too much, like he's getting flanderised, you know? So I really appreciated that on this episode he got to do what he's good at, opening locks, AND he showed that he's smart at his craft. He's an expert, after all.
I also appreciated Avon being protective of Vila when Tarrant was being an asshole. No, Tarrant, YOU don't get to bully Vila. That's Avon's privilege, thank you very much!
The guest stars were great. Colin Baker was so good as Bayban, and Kerril was also a fun character! Her brief romance with Vila was a lot of fun, but I'll say I preferred her original outfit. I love leather, what can I say?
Children of Auron was a good episode for Servalan, I think. She was really ruthless, and I even felt bad for her when that one subordinate lied and got her to destroy her own clone-embryos. It fits her so well to want to have children that are straight up her own clones. Why mix herself with anyone else to create a child? She's perfect as she is!
This episode's title made me think it'd be more focused on Cally than it really was, but we got to meet her... twin sister. For some reason. And we saw her die. Sure, why not. I might be forgetting a bit about this episode, to be honest, because it's sandwiched between two really, really good episodes, so I kinda forgot about this one. Sorry.
Also, I don't love watching epidemic/pandemic episodes these days, not after COVID. Oof! But some of it was funny, like when Vila couldn't reply because he was wearing a helmet for protection. Classic Vila.
Rumours of Death was my fave episode of the season, although it's a hard choice to make because there are a few really good ones.
As the episode started, Avon's extreme actions really showed how much he cares for Anna and how far he's willing to go to get his revenge. Of course we knew that already, but the fact he endured days of being in that cell said so much. The structure of the episode was beautifully assembled, as all the pieces of the story, both on Avon and Anna's side, including the flashbacks, were being revealed bit by bit as their reunion got near. Finally, during that climactic scene, all the pieces click together in Avon's head as he unlocks the horrible truth about Anna.
I thought Anna/Sula was a very interesting character, if only because of the ambiguities that we are presented with and which are never neatly resolved. It's sad that she had to die, and in general I don't like the idea of killing women for manpain reasons. But this was a beautifully crafted episode, so I won't complain much. That was a really tight script from start to finish!
You'll forgive me for talking too much about this episode, I hope. On Star One, Avon said he wanted to be free of Blake. Here, there's a conversation between Servalan, Avon and Tarrant where the difference between letting go and setting free is discussed. What they argue is you can't be free of what happened to you unless you convince yourself it didn't happen. But of course, you can't do that unless you lose your mind or your memories. When Anna dies, she tells Avon she let him go, and then he says that no, she never did. Similarly, Avon thought he'd be "free of Blake" once he left, but he isn't. Blake happened, he affected Avon, and he can't convince himself it didn't happen, as much as he'd like to. His absence is so very present.
In a way, this episode reminds me of Pressure Point, in the sense that I get the feeling that things will change a lot after something as big as this happened to the lead character. The ending, with Avon implying he's part dead now, feels very significant.
Now comes Sarcophagus, which was the first episode written by Tanith Lee. I really like the idea of a tomb floating in space, and all of the fantastical elements here, the spirits and the crew dressing up and behaving like them, Vila making magic tricks and Dayna playing the instrument, all of it felt different in a way that I enjoyed.
However, it keeps annoying me to see the telepath-as-victim storyline being played over and over. Can we get Cally to do something else, please? She can be so much fun!
This was the most blatant Avon/Cally episode. I don't really like their dynamic in a romantic way, but if Tanith Lee was into it, good for her. And of course they got Avon to kiss the non-Cally-dead-lady to steal the ring for her. He's that type of guy now!
Ultraworld has the groundbreaking story of... Cally being a victim again. Can we stop it now, pleeeeeease?
I liked Vila teaching limericks to Orac. It was funny, and it was nice to see it connected to the main plot in the end. It reminded me a bit of a Trek episode again.
This was peak Avon whump, though. Paul Darrow's acting choices are a LOT. So this is where the suffer beautiful came from, eh? I get it. Oh, and talking about the weird stuff these aliens were doing. What the hell was up with the "aliens made them do it" storyline for Tarrant and Dayna? I thought they solved it in a fun way, and I like them as a ship, but wow. These aliens are a bunch of freaks out of my ao3 history.
Talking about freaks... Moloch is the second of Ben Steed's episodes. Another certified stinker! What's with all the implied rape? And humiliating Servalan again? I don't even know what to say anymore. Horrid stuff. And Avon ate an apple, I guess.
The Moloch puppet was funny looking and Avon got to whimper a lot, so the beautiful suffering was the only good part of the episode. And when the credits rolled, of course.
Death-Watch made the brave choice of giving a crew member a secret twin AGAIN. Hilarious choice. The whole set-up of the war whose results are decided based on a death match between a chosen member of each faction was good. It was nice to get some sort of backstory for Tarrant, since he doesn't often get much. Sad that his twin had to die before they could reunite!
I liked the bit where the crew was sitting down with all those drinks and food, as if watching the telly.
Again, I keep trying to understand what's up with Cally's characterisation. She's the voice of reason now, almost a pacifist as she's against the violence of this spectacle. And sure, she's also opposed violence recently, as in Rumours of Death where she didn't want the others to attack the Shrinker. But isn't it weird how this wasn't really developed in any way, after she was presented as a rebel fighter on a suicide mission, who can get violent on the occasion? It's just a role assigned to her, like the healer thing, because she's a telepath. At least that's what it looks like to me, and I don't like it.
Avon is a lot here. His outfit? Insane. Snogging Servalan? Crazy. But it almost seems inevitable when I see them together on screen. It's like they're drawn to each other even if it doesn't make much sense otherwise.
My first note for Terminal reads "formal request for the Terry Nation state to pay for my therapy." No, I'm not okay, thank you for asking!
Poor Avon was on the flight deck for 30 hours, barely keeping his eyes open, with massive eye bags and his sardonic wit hanging by a thread. Contrary to what he usually does as the lead, he made the anti-democratic choice of not sharing their destination with his crew, and then he even got truly aggressive with Tarrant, who he often just puts up with for the sake of the crew. And all of it, all of it, because of Blake. I try to talk about most episodes without getting too shippy about it, BUT THIS ONE'S MAKING IT SO HARD.
And here premieres Avon's craziest leather outfit to date. What's with those gloves that look like mini Daleks? Is Davros gonna come out of there? Are those even comfortable or useful in any way? Bizarre! But the rest of the look I like. Robbing that space leather store was worth it, I reckon.
The build-up was delicious. Avon finding the bracelet, the file on Blake and his picture, his dreamy smile as he found out Blake was alive.
And then, the dream sequence. Of course it was clear after it ended that it was just a fantasy, a fabricated dream of some kind, since the nurses talked about not breaking the continuity. But the scene itself? To finally see Gareth Thomas again was so satisfying, in spite of the circumstances. To see how Avon reacted, his smile, his admittance that he MISSED BLAKE and the "your sentiment is showing" line. Oh, Servalan really knows Avon, all right.
By the way, isn't it funny how at the start of the episode Avon says that "sentiment breeds weakness"? You would know! The call is coming from inside the house! (I dearly love him, if you hadn't noticed yet.)
And ohh, his broken expression when Servalan tells him Blake's dead. The deception, the betrayal, his last hope lost. It's Anna's situation happening AGAIN, so soon after her. I imagine what hurt Avon the most here, besides the obvious, and what made him want to get Servalan killed, was the fact she had seen his weaknesses and used them against him so easily, lured him into a trap because she knew Blake was his one vulnerability. It must have hurt to know he wasn't fooling anyone, certainly not Servalan, and that he had been so weak.
There were more things happening in the episode, believe it or not. There was a fun interaction between Dayna, Cally and Vila playing a game, and I keep thinking Vila's terrible attempts at flirting with Dayna are hilarious. It's cute that the whole crew cares that much about Avon in spite of everything, enough to refuse to leave him behing on Terminal. And, of course, they lost the Liberator. Such a shame! I got so sad at Zen's apology in the end, our poor Zen! But it felt earned to see Servalan getting what she wanted and losing it so soon. I'm gonna miss that beautiful ship, though.
I'm torn about this season, because it has some really good episodes, but overall I've been missing Blake a lot, and even Jenna as well. It's sad that Jenna got dismissed like that, and she was never mentioned again! Getting used to the new crew and its structure has been a struggle for me. Avon is such a different lead than Blake, but I think it ends up working, even if not as well as the first two seasons.
I've complained about the writing for Cally, and, since I know Terminal was her final episode (although she does voice-over in the next one, I think), I imagine Jan Chappell was also disappointed. Such a shame! I loved her a lot in the early seasons :(
Dayna is a fun character when she shows up, but I fear for most women in this show, with the big exception of Servalan, their first appearances are always the best. I like her interactions with other characters, mostly Vila and Tarrant, but there's never a lot of focus on her like there is on other characters, such as Vila getting the main role in City or Tarrant in Death-Watch. Except, of course, on her very first episode. I like Tarrant for the way he argues with Avon whenever he feels like it, but you can tell Avon chooses not to fight back most of the time.
Vila, for all his silliness, is probably the most consistent character here, and he amuses me every time. It's him and Avon who really are the glue that keeps the show together. Of course, Servalan is also wonderful as a villain, and I really am NOT missing Travis 2 at all.
I just wish Ben Steed hadn't written for this show, because his episodes are the worst part of this season for me. But Boucher and Nation's scripts are solid, so the season ended up being more enjoyable than I expected at first.
Thanks for reading!
And just in case you haven't seen them, here are my previous reviews for season 1 and season 2.
Episode by episode review
Aftermath wasn't the strongest start of a season to me. The season starts with an episode where Avon kisses two different women, how crazy is that? But I really liked Dayna's introduction, and her dad was really cool. Such a shame he had to die! And her sister on top of that, too! Poor Dayna, she's so young. Now, Servalan and Avon. They do have cracking sexual tension, so it makes sense. But god, that dress on Servalan was AWFUL. Although it makes sense in context that wearing someone else's clothes would be unflattering for her. Avon wearing Mellanby's black tunic, though. It was such a good look on him!
Oh, I've only been talking about everyone's looks. If there's one thing I enjoyed from the early episodes was seeing how everyone was trying to survive or help others do so after the war. Servalan is cruel and manipulative, but Avon isn't buying it. Even if he does snog her first. I can't blame him. Mellonby's story was cool, and it gives Dayna a good motivation to join the crew and have a reason to fight the Federation, and Servalan in particular.
Next came Powerplay. I liked both plots of this episode: Avon and Dayna on the Liberator with that Tarrant twist, and Cally and Vila being rescued for very, very wrong reasons. I liked how dark that was, people gathering war survivors for organ harvesting. And Servalan always finds a way, doesn't she? She never gives up!
This was an interesting start for the Avon-Tarrant relationship, and I could see they had potential for a fun dynamic. Tarrant's no Blake, of course. I do think the season feels off, at least to me, because of Blake's absence. I know others liked Blake being gone, but that could NEVER be me. The show made more sense with him as the lead!
Volcano had a cool location. I live in a volcanic island, so I love everything volcanoes... except the constant danger of an eruption.
The story was weak for me, I don't know. The concept wasn't that bad, but I didn't really enjoy the execution of the whole pacifist thing. Also, Cally's telepathy was a mess in this episode. They were both on the Liberator but Avon couldn't hear her messages? And then later it worked on the planet? Very confusing!
I love that Vila has a crush on Dayna. Who wouldn't? And somehow it fits him. I also have to say, at this point of the season, I was really enjoying how often Avon would get whumped around, get unconscious, a broken bone, etc. I hoped it would be so since he became the lead. I just like whumping my faves, okay?
Now, Dawn of the Gods was... okay! I loved their space monopoly game in the beginning, and Orac's very enthusiastic involvement in it. Avon's look was crazy, a black turtleneck and red leather trousers. Well, I know it's because he wears something else on top later, but on its own it looks like such a modern-day outfit, you know. A bit weird, but a good look nonetheless.
Tarrant saying he'll kill Avon one day and Avon smiling in return, ha! I'm enjoying the dynamic, and Avon's rare smiles are always the best. Another fun bit was Vila seeing a lot of Avons and saying he was in hell and it's full of Avons. That's my particular hell right now, too.
I'm getting tired of the "Cally gets attacked because she's a telepath" crap. I've had enough of this in other shows, too, and I'm veeery annoyed at the idea that TELEPATHY makes you into a victim this often. If you're a woman, of course! And Cally was a REBEL FIGHTER, but here we are.
Story-wise, I thought it was an okay episode, and I laughed when, after describing Orac as a "bald dwarf" while avoiding to mention his true nature, Cally met the actual guy behind the whole thing and he was a bald dwarf himself. He also looked like a Star Trek s1 character.
Oh boy. The first of Ben Steed's infamous episodes, The Harvest of Kairos. Awful, awful stuff. It was torture getting through his episodes, but you already knew that if you've watched them.
Look. Servalan looked beautiful, as usual. The concept of the harvest wasn't that bad. The strategising wasn't that bad. Avon and his obsession with that rock was funny. BUT WHAT THE HELL WAS UP WITH JARVIK? I guess Ben Steed had a particular hatred of Servalan because she was a powerful woman so he decided to humiliate her like this. It's just a disgusting trope, a macho type of guy who treats women like that but it's FINE because they LOVE to be treated like that. No, we don't. AND he also treated Dayna like shit. Go to hell, man.
Tarrant walked in on Avon grabbing Cally by the arms and thought something else was going on? Okay, I guess? Where's this coming from?
Aaand the only thing I liked of this stinker was Vila and Dayna hugging and celebrating together. Cute!
NOW is when the season got REALLY good. The City at the Edge of the World was such a good episode overall, with a good plot, great guest stars AND really good writing for Vila. Vila's a very fun character, and I think Michael Keating was great at different types of comedy, including physical, so of course he was always the best comic relief in B7. But sometimes I feel like he gets treated as utterly stupid to the point where it feels a bit too much, like he's getting flanderised, you know? So I really appreciated that on this episode he got to do what he's good at, opening locks, AND he showed that he's smart at his craft. He's an expert, after all.
I also appreciated Avon being protective of Vila when Tarrant was being an asshole. No, Tarrant, YOU don't get to bully Vila. That's Avon's privilege, thank you very much!
The guest stars were great. Colin Baker was so good as Bayban, and Kerril was also a fun character! Her brief romance with Vila was a lot of fun, but I'll say I preferred her original outfit. I love leather, what can I say?
Children of Auron was a good episode for Servalan, I think. She was really ruthless, and I even felt bad for her when that one subordinate lied and got her to destroy her own clone-embryos. It fits her so well to want to have children that are straight up her own clones. Why mix herself with anyone else to create a child? She's perfect as she is!
This episode's title made me think it'd be more focused on Cally than it really was, but we got to meet her... twin sister. For some reason. And we saw her die. Sure, why not. I might be forgetting a bit about this episode, to be honest, because it's sandwiched between two really, really good episodes, so I kinda forgot about this one. Sorry.
Also, I don't love watching epidemic/pandemic episodes these days, not after COVID. Oof! But some of it was funny, like when Vila couldn't reply because he was wearing a helmet for protection. Classic Vila.
Rumours of Death was my fave episode of the season, although it's a hard choice to make because there are a few really good ones.
As the episode started, Avon's extreme actions really showed how much he cares for Anna and how far he's willing to go to get his revenge. Of course we knew that already, but the fact he endured days of being in that cell said so much. The structure of the episode was beautifully assembled, as all the pieces of the story, both on Avon and Anna's side, including the flashbacks, were being revealed bit by bit as their reunion got near. Finally, during that climactic scene, all the pieces click together in Avon's head as he unlocks the horrible truth about Anna.
I thought Anna/Sula was a very interesting character, if only because of the ambiguities that we are presented with and which are never neatly resolved. It's sad that she had to die, and in general I don't like the idea of killing women for manpain reasons. But this was a beautifully crafted episode, so I won't complain much. That was a really tight script from start to finish!
You'll forgive me for talking too much about this episode, I hope. On Star One, Avon said he wanted to be free of Blake. Here, there's a conversation between Servalan, Avon and Tarrant where the difference between letting go and setting free is discussed. What they argue is you can't be free of what happened to you unless you convince yourself it didn't happen. But of course, you can't do that unless you lose your mind or your memories. When Anna dies, she tells Avon she let him go, and then he says that no, she never did. Similarly, Avon thought he'd be "free of Blake" once he left, but he isn't. Blake happened, he affected Avon, and he can't convince himself it didn't happen, as much as he'd like to. His absence is so very present.
In a way, this episode reminds me of Pressure Point, in the sense that I get the feeling that things will change a lot after something as big as this happened to the lead character. The ending, with Avon implying he's part dead now, feels very significant.
Now comes Sarcophagus, which was the first episode written by Tanith Lee. I really like the idea of a tomb floating in space, and all of the fantastical elements here, the spirits and the crew dressing up and behaving like them, Vila making magic tricks and Dayna playing the instrument, all of it felt different in a way that I enjoyed.
However, it keeps annoying me to see the telepath-as-victim storyline being played over and over. Can we get Cally to do something else, please? She can be so much fun!
This was the most blatant Avon/Cally episode. I don't really like their dynamic in a romantic way, but if Tanith Lee was into it, good for her. And of course they got Avon to kiss the non-Cally-dead-lady to steal the ring for her. He's that type of guy now!
Ultraworld has the groundbreaking story of... Cally being a victim again. Can we stop it now, pleeeeeease?
I liked Vila teaching limericks to Orac. It was funny, and it was nice to see it connected to the main plot in the end. It reminded me a bit of a Trek episode again.
This was peak Avon whump, though. Paul Darrow's acting choices are a LOT. So this is where the suffer beautiful came from, eh? I get it. Oh, and talking about the weird stuff these aliens were doing. What the hell was up with the "aliens made them do it" storyline for Tarrant and Dayna? I thought they solved it in a fun way, and I like them as a ship, but wow. These aliens are a bunch of freaks out of my ao3 history.
Talking about freaks... Moloch is the second of Ben Steed's episodes. Another certified stinker! What's with all the implied rape? And humiliating Servalan again? I don't even know what to say anymore. Horrid stuff. And Avon ate an apple, I guess.
The Moloch puppet was funny looking and Avon got to whimper a lot, so the beautiful suffering was the only good part of the episode. And when the credits rolled, of course.
Death-Watch made the brave choice of giving a crew member a secret twin AGAIN. Hilarious choice. The whole set-up of the war whose results are decided based on a death match between a chosen member of each faction was good. It was nice to get some sort of backstory for Tarrant, since he doesn't often get much. Sad that his twin had to die before they could reunite!
I liked the bit where the crew was sitting down with all those drinks and food, as if watching the telly.
Again, I keep trying to understand what's up with Cally's characterisation. She's the voice of reason now, almost a pacifist as she's against the violence of this spectacle. And sure, she's also opposed violence recently, as in Rumours of Death where she didn't want the others to attack the Shrinker. But isn't it weird how this wasn't really developed in any way, after she was presented as a rebel fighter on a suicide mission, who can get violent on the occasion? It's just a role assigned to her, like the healer thing, because she's a telepath. At least that's what it looks like to me, and I don't like it.
Avon is a lot here. His outfit? Insane. Snogging Servalan? Crazy. But it almost seems inevitable when I see them together on screen. It's like they're drawn to each other even if it doesn't make much sense otherwise.
My first note for Terminal reads "formal request for the Terry Nation state to pay for my therapy." No, I'm not okay, thank you for asking!
Poor Avon was on the flight deck for 30 hours, barely keeping his eyes open, with massive eye bags and his sardonic wit hanging by a thread. Contrary to what he usually does as the lead, he made the anti-democratic choice of not sharing their destination with his crew, and then he even got truly aggressive with Tarrant, who he often just puts up with for the sake of the crew. And all of it, all of it, because of Blake. I try to talk about most episodes without getting too shippy about it, BUT THIS ONE'S MAKING IT SO HARD.
And here premieres Avon's craziest leather outfit to date. What's with those gloves that look like mini Daleks? Is Davros gonna come out of there? Are those even comfortable or useful in any way? Bizarre! But the rest of the look I like. Robbing that space leather store was worth it, I reckon.
The build-up was delicious. Avon finding the bracelet, the file on Blake and his picture, his dreamy smile as he found out Blake was alive.
And then, the dream sequence. Of course it was clear after it ended that it was just a fantasy, a fabricated dream of some kind, since the nurses talked about not breaking the continuity. But the scene itself? To finally see Gareth Thomas again was so satisfying, in spite of the circumstances. To see how Avon reacted, his smile, his admittance that he MISSED BLAKE and the "your sentiment is showing" line. Oh, Servalan really knows Avon, all right.
By the way, isn't it funny how at the start of the episode Avon says that "sentiment breeds weakness"? You would know! The call is coming from inside the house! (I dearly love him, if you hadn't noticed yet.)
And ohh, his broken expression when Servalan tells him Blake's dead. The deception, the betrayal, his last hope lost. It's Anna's situation happening AGAIN, so soon after her. I imagine what hurt Avon the most here, besides the obvious, and what made him want to get Servalan killed, was the fact she had seen his weaknesses and used them against him so easily, lured him into a trap because she knew Blake was his one vulnerability. It must have hurt to know he wasn't fooling anyone, certainly not Servalan, and that he had been so weak.
There were more things happening in the episode, believe it or not. There was a fun interaction between Dayna, Cally and Vila playing a game, and I keep thinking Vila's terrible attempts at flirting with Dayna are hilarious. It's cute that the whole crew cares that much about Avon in spite of everything, enough to refuse to leave him behing on Terminal. And, of course, they lost the Liberator. Such a shame! I got so sad at Zen's apology in the end, our poor Zen! But it felt earned to see Servalan getting what she wanted and losing it so soon. I'm gonna miss that beautiful ship, though.
General thoughts
I'm torn about this season, because it has some really good episodes, but overall I've been missing Blake a lot, and even Jenna as well. It's sad that Jenna got dismissed like that, and she was never mentioned again! Getting used to the new crew and its structure has been a struggle for me. Avon is such a different lead than Blake, but I think it ends up working, even if not as well as the first two seasons.
I've complained about the writing for Cally, and, since I know Terminal was her final episode (although she does voice-over in the next one, I think), I imagine Jan Chappell was also disappointed. Such a shame! I loved her a lot in the early seasons :(
Dayna is a fun character when she shows up, but I fear for most women in this show, with the big exception of Servalan, their first appearances are always the best. I like her interactions with other characters, mostly Vila and Tarrant, but there's never a lot of focus on her like there is on other characters, such as Vila getting the main role in City or Tarrant in Death-Watch. Except, of course, on her very first episode. I like Tarrant for the way he argues with Avon whenever he feels like it, but you can tell Avon chooses not to fight back most of the time.
Vila, for all his silliness, is probably the most consistent character here, and he amuses me every time. It's him and Avon who really are the glue that keeps the show together. Of course, Servalan is also wonderful as a villain, and I really am NOT missing Travis 2 at all.
I just wish Ben Steed hadn't written for this show, because his episodes are the worst part of this season for me. But Boucher and Nation's scripts are solid, so the season ended up being more enjoyable than I expected at first.
Thanks for reading!
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Date: 2024-06-04 10:06 am (UTC)I agree that it's not as good without Blake, I would really, really like to see a reboot with him in for the whole series. I think that would be a different enough show so it wouldn't annoy the original fans.
But anyway, I agree about the female characters too- they have great first episodes, then fade away somewhat. As we've said, that was a sign of the times when female characters weren't very well drawn or filled out.
I really liked City at the Edge of the World, I liked Vila more and more as the seasons went on and I'm glad he got to be heroic. I never really liked Tarrant and Dayna, I preferred Jenna, Cally, Gan.
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Date: 2024-06-04 10:17 am (UTC)I'm sure having Blake around would've made the show so different, so I can totally see a reboot working if they did that. I'd definitely give it a chance!
Such a shame about the female characters. At least Servalan remains a great character throughout, if we ignore the Ben Steed episodes.
Right, City was such a good episode! Vila was the heart of the show in many ways, I think. He was very consistent as a character, and he really shines when given a chance to. I like Tarrant and Dayna, but I definitely agree with you on preferring the characters from earlier seasons. I also blame the writing of these last seasons, because they really didn't get any good episodes to really shine as characters, you know? I feel terrible now because I posted this yesterday and at one point I mention I'd like to see an episode focused on Dayna. Well, guess who watched Animals last night. I take it back!
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Date: 2024-06-04 04:32 pm (UTC)I think that is the only way they could reboot Blake's 7- by having Blake in the whole story arc and obviously Avon as his adversary/supporter/whatever. It would totally change the show with them both there. And maybe 5 seasons instead of 4, like many shows do.
Maybe Servalan was being ironic in the Ben Steed episodes, let's tell ourselves that š
Yes, Vila was the most consistent character IMO. He was really lonely after Gan died, he was forced to pal up with Avon, which wasn't very safe. I loved that scene where Avon threatened Tarrant if he hurt Vila though.
I think Tarrant's best episode was the one with his brother.
The thing I didn't like about Animals was that Justin was far too old for Dayna. If he'd been nearer her age it would have been convincing but he looked like her granddad, lol.
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Date: 2024-06-04 06:06 pm (UTC)5 seasons would be great if Blake was still there. Watching season 4 of the original I keep thinking if they had kept going it would've been even worse, probably.
Servalan was being ironic and, in Power, Avon had a concussion!
Oh, yes, I loved that scene too! Avon protective over Vila, awww.
Yes, that was Tarrant's highlight. It was interesting because you saw a bit of who he was beyond what you usually see in the show, but other than that...
Yeah, exactly! And it was very creepy because as I understood it, he used to be her tutor, and she's pretty young, so how old was she when this started?? Very, very weird.
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Date: 2024-06-05 02:11 pm (UTC)I agree, I didn't like season 4 much, although there are some cracking episodes.
Why do you mention that Avon had a concussion in Power? I'm a bit confused.
I think Tarrant had potential to be a decent guy as he got older, he did a few caring things e.g. when they thought Vila was dead that time, Tarrant was the only one who volunteered to go and fetch his body.
The actress was 18 years old when she started Blake's 7, although probably aged 20 in season 4. And Justin was at least 50, so WTF?? I heard that it was meant to be Cally's storyline but she left, so it was given to Dayna. It would have made more sense for Vila or Avon to be in love with Justin, given their ages. But I can't imagine the writers doing a gay storyline in the 1970s, OMG no. They would have been hounded out of the BBC!
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Date: 2024-06-05 02:25 pm (UTC)Oh, I just meant that he said such sexist things I'd rather think he wasn't feeling well at the time. Just an awful episode, really.
Tarrant is driving me crazy at times because he has a weakness for women once they get a bit flirty with him lmao. But other than that he can be very nice, yeah. He cares a lot about Dayna, for example.
Omg, only 18? That's bizarre, truly. That's interesting that it was for Cally, I wonder if he was supposed to be some mentor from Auron then? Who knows what the original pitch was. Yeah, they totally weren't doing that kind of storyline on TV shows back then. I think soaps usually did these things earlier than other shows, and they didn't start getting very tame gay storylines until the mid-late 80s, and people got MAD. I do think there are some gay elements in some episodes of B7 though, but in a stereotypical manner or rather subtextual. Say, the Gambit guys or Dorian from S4.
I'm not sure if I can finish the season as soon as I expected because I'm having a tough family situation right now, but we'll see.
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Date: 2024-06-05 07:27 pm (UTC)Oh that must have been it! Avon wasn't feeling well so he talked nonsense. We've solved it! haha.
Yes, Tarrant is so annoying sometimes, he's like a naughty teenager. I think he's a bit softer than Avon, he does have a weakness for women and gets upset by them.
Maybe Justin was meant to be some Auron mentor, I don't know. It's a weird episode. I remember the tame gay storylines of the 1980s and people going crazy about them.
There's a lot of gay elements in Blake's 7- well, elements that can be assessed by fanfic writers as gay! haha. There is so much B7 slash, every possible combination of characters š
Season 4 is pretty depressing so it would probably be good if you took a break from it. I'm sorry you're having a bad time at the moment, I know how that feels with family problems. Take care of yourself.šŗ
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Date: 2024-06-06 10:00 am (UTC)Naughty teenager is a good description! Yeah, he seems softer than Avon.
The world has changed so much, at least in this particular aspect it's changed for the better! Now there are gay storylines everywhere.
Oh, for sure lol. I love a slashy (or femslashy) show :D
Thank you! It's been a few rough years and every other month something new comes up.
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Date: 2024-06-06 12:37 pm (UTC)I remember the timeline of gay storylines: first (pre 1980s?) there were no gay characters whatsoever. Then there were gay characters but they were always villains and died horribly. Then (1970-80s?) there were gay characters but they were always the idiot, the ones people laughed at, and they always had tragic life stories/ deaths/ relationships. No gay characters were allowed to live happily ever after, especially not couples. Then (2000-2010s?) there were gay characters but they were always women. Then male gay characters arrived.
Now days there is every sort of LGBTQ character imaginable and it's so much better! I think OFMD was a breakthrough show in not even questioning if people were gay or not, it was just accepted. Hopefully more shows like that will arrive!
You don't have to look very far for Blake's 7 slash fics of every kind š Maybe it was one of the first shows to be slashed? Apart from Star Trek Spock/Kirk.
Yes...I think nearly everyone has been struggling in the last few years with more and more problems. You are definitely not alone, we can all help each other.
Fanfiction has been my go to escape for the last 2 decades, I don't know what I'd do without it tbh...
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Date: 2024-06-06 02:06 pm (UTC)Yes, there's definitely been some very awful eras where LGBTQ+ characters could only be shown under very specific circumstances, or only as subtext/coding. If I remember correctly, the Production/Hays Code for Hollywood was modified in 1961 just in time for The Children's Hour, making it so that you could suggest "sexual perversions" as long as the characters were killed off or punished. Even by 1969 when Midnight Cowboy premiered and the rating system had changed, it was classified as an X movie just because of very tame homosexual scenes. With TV shows I really don't know that much personally, although there's a YouTube channel I love, Matt Baume's, that discusses this topic in many videos. I really recommend it if you're interested in knowing more! From what you're saying it sounds like it followed a similar pattern to movies, yeah. Just really sad, but at least we're in a different time right now. I'm glad we are, because I got to see some movies on TV as a kid/pre-teen that really helped me realise I was gay myself.
OFMD was diverse in many ways, yes! I'm just sad I didn't enjoy season 2 as much as 1, but the fandom also really was very prolific in its ships and fanwork production, so they added a LOT to the show itself, imo.
Oh, I'd say Blake's 7 was definitely part of the first era of slash, along with Kirk/Spock from Trek, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Starsky & Hutch and The Professionals. I read a lot about the history of fandom and slash specifically, I love the topic and the work fans have put in to preserve as much as possible through the decades.
Yeah, I think especially post-COVID things have been crazy for most people. I'm feeling more calm today but we'll see how things go. Thank you <3 And yeah, fanfiction is always where I escape to! Either by reading some good stories or writing mine :D
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Date: 2024-06-06 05:50 pm (UTC)Wow I didnāt know that about the Hayās Code. OMG. Thatās horrendous. When I was little, I definitely remember wondering why gay characters always had these tragic lives onscreen, it didnāt make sense to me and now I know why that happened! Do you know the film āMauriceā? That was made in the 1980s and that actually doesnāt have a sad ending for the gay characters, so it was panned by critics and suppressed. Itās only now that itās being recognised as a masterpiece. I'm sure you know it but if you donāt, itās WELL worth watching.
That sums it up exactly. This is why representation and showing a wide range of characters is vital: it stops people thinking they are alone, the only one who is LGBTQ+. But instead, there are other people out there living normal lives, who are exactly like them. This goes for anyone who isnāt white, straight, male. I am not gay but even as a straight woman I value representation e.g. women can be Doctor Who/ the president/ a champion racing driver. Anyone can do anything, the world is not just for white, straight males.
I have always been an ally and just canāt understand homophobia, it just doesnāt make sense to me. I am phobic about terrorists, murderers, abusers, they are the ones to be phobic about! Not LGBTQ people. And now I have a queer daughter, I'm even more vocal about equality.
I think the budget was decreased so much for OFMD season 2, they just had to make the best of it, I'm not surprised we didnāt enjoy it as much as season 1.š
Oh there is so much 'Professionals' slash isnāt there! Bodie and Doyle were so in love and so married! And it was also sweet that in real life, they hated each other at first but ended up best buddies, aww...Doyle was devastated when Bodie died in real life.
I've never really seen anything between Kirk and Spock. I think Spock and Bones have FAR more chemistry, they basically hate each other but always have each otherās backs.
I agree: covid, terrible governments, the cost of living crisis, people seem to be getting more unhealthy and lonely. Itās not a good life at the moment for most of us, I don't know anyone living their best life right now. Fiction is all we have sometimes š But we are all in it together š¤
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Date: 2024-06-08 09:54 am (UTC)I've watched Maurice but it was years ago, so I don't remember much. I'd like to read the novel, too. I should rewatch the movie, maybe it's a good idea for this pride month.
Yeah, exactly, representation is always important, whether it's for LGBTQ+ people or for POC, women, disabled people, any kind of minority or oppressed group. I feel like some people don't realise how important it is to see people like you on screen portrayed positively. So glad to hear your daughter has someone like you as a mum <3
Oh, the budget was an issue for sure! Such a shame, really.
I've never watched The Professionals, is it any good? I've seen a lot of slash for the show out there because I read a lot of Fanlore articles about slash and fanzines, but I barely even know what the show is about lol.
Ahh, so you're more of a Spones person! I get that, they have a different type of chemistry that's also very fun. I do love Kirk/Spock myself, but I get preferring other ships. I also know a lot of people who prefer Kirk/Bones, but I think that comes mostly from the Abrams movies.
Fiction is really life-saving, honestly! My mum's going through a depression right now, no wonder after everything that's happened to us, and I think it's really helping her to be watching a soap opera every day. Which, by the way, has a sapphic storyline right now that she's very invested in. And she keeps fighting people on fan groups when they get homophobic about it lol. It's really amazing how fiction can also help people overcome their prejudices, because I can tell you my mum wasn't this supportive a few years ago.
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Date: 2024-06-08 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-06-08 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-06-08 05:26 pm (UTC)The new post is here:
https://kitarella-imagines.dreamwidth.org/30963.html