Gambit (1979) Review

Gambit is kind of a clusterfuck of schemes and unlikely plot twists, but its decadent atmosphere, originality and wit just about save it.

WRITTEN BY

Robert Holmes, at his most experimental here. Note the classic Holmes use of double acts(Krantor and Toise, Avon and Vila, Servalan and Jarriere).

PLOT

The Liberator crew track Docholli down to Freedom City, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Whilst the others attempt to find him, Vila and Avon play at the Big Wheel casino owned by the greedy Krantor, who is simultaneously trying to profit from Servalan and Travis's independent need for Docholli.

ANALYSIS

By far the biggest flaw of Gambit is its convoluted plotting, which at first requires that all of the series' principal characters be present at Freedom City for vastly different reasons and then also has the gall to have half of them come up with plans within plans. Actually keeping track of what's going on in this episode requires your complete and utter attention.

At least this one, unlike Weapon, benefits from director George Spenton-Foster's theatrical sensibilities as he successfully creates a degenerate and sickeningly rich, yet equally rundown and ugly environment. It's a visually memorable and very weird mix of styles and ideas.

Holmes's writing sparkles with personality and black humor, bringing the place and its unique inhabitants to life. He clearly had a lot of ambition and thought put into the script, so I can't fault the episode for not trying enough - if anything, I can fault it for trying a little too much.

CHARACTERS

It's very nice to see Avon played exclusively for laughs, just once. He hasn't had much of a chance to do anything, but lock horns with Blake, so it's nice to see him cheerful for once, clearly having fun with the idea of going behind the leader's back and reaping in lots of money. Darrow's performance is brilliant, especially some of his reaction shots(my personal favourite being when Vila's threatened with losing the five million credits - fuck that, Vila's gonna play for his life if it means getting that money!).

Docholli is portrayed by Denis Carey, a peculiar casting choice given that Carey's mainly known for being an extremely adorable old man and Docholli is supposed to be a parody of Doc Holliday, who very much was not. Regardless, he's lovely to have around and the oddity of the casting gives the character some flavor that it might not have had otherwise.

It was also great to see Travis in an unusual role. Well, again. Shivan pretty much cemented Croucher as an actor of... variety, shall we say? But Travis as a depressed gunslinger, biding his final revenge and moping into a drink? It's a genuinely terrific development that fits with his character.

Aubrey Woods and John Leeson appear as Krantor and Toise, a gay pair running Freedom City(with Krantor as the top, of course - he wins both ways, rule of the house). I could watch these two manage the casino all day. They're such gratuitously foppish individuals, but delightfully entertaining.

Holmes gives particular credit to Servalan's intelligence, as her cunning here far exceeds what we've seen in other episodes. She's accompanied by a new henchman, Harry Jones's "powder puff" Jarriere, who seems to exist to ask questions any audience member would come up with. What I like about Jarriere is that he's one of the few characters to whom Servalan talks to like a normal person, with none of the manipulating. It's a refreshing change from the tired Servalan-Travis dynamic. A big shame that he wasn't kept around and developed further.

NOTES

*Everything surrounding Docholli is incredibly contrived. He just happens to have become a fugitive around the same time frame that Blake began to look for Star One. Even though he doesn't have the information, he just happens to have made sure that a physical copy exists(for no legitimate reason) and he just happens to know exactly what happened to it("oh, I heard it now hangs around the chief's neck on this backwater planet"). And of course, everyone suddenly happen to know where and when to look for him at the same time.

*Travis tells Servalan that he's not seen Docholli "for two years", suggesting some kind of previous encounter. However, the fact that he deliberately sought out Docholli to find Blake and that Docholli didn't expect Travis to know who he is means that he was most likely lying.

*The casting of Sylvia Coleridge as the Croupier is an eccentric choice in an episode composed of nothing but.

*Avon appears to be familiar with the Freedom City computer, as he offhandedly explains how it's fixed 5% in favor of the house(a fact that presumably wouldn't be broadcast). It's possible that Orac scanned it, but Avon seemed to come up with the idea of betting at the Big Wheel at the last minute.

*The fact that Orac can miniaturise himself, and that Avon could guess that, is complete nonsense.

*I love the shot of Krantor's reflection talking to Servalan through the mirror.

*Krantor's white Persian cat is an obvious reference to Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond films.

*Whoever zoomed in on Vila before Krantor could deliver the "which one is he?" line should've been fired.

*Cally called Jenna a slut! Damn!

*The Klute is played by underrated sci-fi legend Deep Roy, whose most well-recognised role was probably as the Oompaloompas in Tim Burton's Willy Wonka remake(and rightfully so, because he owned that part).

*Krantor being unable to tell that Vila is cheating via his giant bracelet is kind of pathetic.

*Why didn't the bomb inside Travis's arm detonate when Docholli removed it? At first I thought maybe Servalan left it that way to fool Krantor, but she was adamant that even if Travis could make it to Docholli, she'd still win... which, without the bomb, she doesn't.

INFORMATION!

*Avon compares Freedom City to Space City, seen in Shadow.

*Blake learned of Docholli's existence and his knowledge of Star One from Major Provine in Countdown.

*Vila appears to have an identical chess machine to the one Carnell had in Weapon(same prop).

*Servalan once again toys with that cheap plastic flower from Weapon and Voice From The Past.

*Avon and Vila use Orac's ability to hack computers(established in Orac) to cheat at the Big Wheel.

*There seems to be a time gap between this episode and Voice From The Past, as the status quo is noticeably different. Travis has escaped from Atlay and his alliance with Servalan is broken. The two of them have become aware that Blake is searching for Star One(and Servalan knows that Travis knows).

*Avon's quip about Vila almost liking him making it feel worthwhile is a callback to Vila's similar gag in Bounty.

*One of Krantor's men has a flashlight of the same design used by Cally in Mission To Destiny.

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

"Are you out of your skull?"

CONCLUSION

Well... that happened.