Aftermath is an effective reboot of the series.
WRITTEN BY
Terry Nation. Applause to him for such a daring episode.
PLOT
Escaping from the heavily damaged Liberator, Avon crashlands on the planet Sarran, where he's forced to reckon with the superstitious natives, Servalan and the consequences of Star One's destruction.
ANALYSIS
The key word for this story is chaos. Terry Nation basically rips his own series mythos apart. The Federation is gone, the Liberator could be anywhere, the crew is scattered across the galaxy. It's exciting and brave in of itself, but the real genius of Aftermath is the buoy in the chaos - Avon.
By allowing Avon to be the only heroic character we recognise for most of the episode's runtime, the audience both experiences a sense of extreme disorientation from the show's established formula(perfect for the aftermath of a colossal battle) and latches onto him as the new lead figure. In a sense, Avon is reintroduced to us.
The same goes for Servalan. In another interesting change, the thug role previously filled by Travis is never replaced, reinforcing the idea of a weakened Federation as well as emphasizing Servalan's independence. It was implied in many previous episodes, but this is really where Servalan comes into her own as a force to be reckoned with.
Aftermath mostly spends its time exploring these massive changes, with its own storyline being little more than a distraction. Avon simply has to hold out until the Liberator gets back. There's nothing special about it. In fact, the amount of development that the Sarrans(the actual villains of the story) get is downright laughable. But it's hard to be mad when there's so much interesting stuff going on in the series arc.
I love Vere Lorrimer's work in this episode, by the way. The windswept beaches we see in this episode are themselves an utter contrast to the dreary quarries that represented Blake's run(although they will no doubt return). The studio lighting is awesome, with aquatic colors shining in Mellanby's underwater lair, whilst Dayna's cave is a glowing yellow. It gives the episode a nice classic Star Trek vibe.
CHARACTERS
It's interesting to see Avon depicted in such a positive light. He stops Dayna from killing a defeated enemy, lets Servalan live for a while, tells Zen to give priority to rescuing Vila and Cally. The series is definitely trying to win the audience over to the idea of Avon being a hero(which Paul Darrow thankfully resisted to keep the character's integrity).
The highlight of the entire episode is definitely the iconic seduction scene between Avon and Servalan, establishing their new romantic rivalry and making it clear once and for all that Avon isn't 'infinitely corruptible' as she put it. They are such amazingly different individuals - one minimalistic and brusque, the other decadent and sweet as poisoned honey. And of course Darrow and Pearce have a spectacular, playful chemistry that would go on to be a trademark of the series.
I have to admit I've never been a Dayna fan. I'm glad Josette Simon went on to have a very successful career(recently in "Wonder Woman" and "Detective Pikachu"!) and I won't begrudge her for having a weak first performance, but the character of Dayna herself is very one-note and uninteresting to me. The main issue I have is that Aftermath makes it clear that Dayna grew up on Sarran with no other company than Hal and Lauren. What we see her doing in this episode is basically her entire life, so there's no tantalising enigma to the character that there is with other underused crewmembers like Gan and later Soolin. She likes guns, she's an orphan and she's got a smug sense of humor. That's it.
In direct contrast, I was quite fond of Cy Grant's Hal Mellanby. A Guyanese actor, Grant had a very distinctive accent that immediately captured my attention, and a lovely dignified presence. I liked how even Avon was completely respectful towards him... though it probably had more to do with the fact that he owned the only safe spot on the planet.
Alan Lake as the Sarran leader Chel... what a ham, eh? Poor Lake though. He had such a miserable life.
Although Richard Franklin(Doctor Who's Captain Yates) and Michael Melia(Doctor Who's Terileptil Leader) only had cameos as the stranded Federation troopers, I liked their characters a lot. I'm always interesting in seeing the story from the perspective of the common soldier(Par from Trial comes to mind) and it would've been cool to see them survive at least for a while longer, and their reactions to Servalan.
NOTES
*Dayna's kiss to Avon is really random. But then he is the first non-Mellanby or Sarran male on the planet since... eugh, Justin. I was about to wonder how she learned sex ed, but nevermind. No wonder she kissed Avon, anything would be an improvement after bloody Justin.
*The way Jacqueline Pearce holds a rifle is hilarious. I wish Travis had seen that(especially Croucher's version).
*There is no way Dayna had time to tell Hal about Avon in the five seconds she was gone. Not to mention Hal came out of a different corridor.
*Putting Pearce in a room with another actress is terribly dangerous - the smug levels go off the charts. I was expecting her and Simon to break out catfighting any second. There can only be one alpha female, and it's always Pearce.
*How on earth could Dayna think Servalan fell asleep when the lights are still on?!
*It's monumentally stupid of Avon not to keep Orac by his side when he's asleep, particularly with Servalan in the building.
*Sometimes Blake's 7 guns look quite realistic for sci-fi. And sometimes they look like giant water pistols. This was the latter case.
*The atmospheric drumbeat towards the end of the episode is a nice precursor to the iconic Mary Ridge beat in Terminal.
INFORMATION!
*The episode is a sequel to Star One. Over the course of the runtime, we learn from various sources what exactly happened between the two stories.
*Orac's carrying case was last seen in his introductory story, Orac.
*According to Mellanby, Servalan came to powers some years after his rebellion.
"Imagination my only limit? I'd be dead in a week." I find this to be quite a fascinating line, as it shows that Avon is aware of his own flaws.
CONCLUSION
Bring on the Avon Era.
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