Heroes: Separate (2017) Review

 

Separate is a good character piece, but the plot itself could've used some serious improvements.

WRITTEN BY

Una McCormack, British novelist and frequent writer of Doctor Who, Star Trek and Blake's 7 stories. So in short, everything I'd love to be. This was her entry into the Heroes anthology book.

PLOT

To test Cally and acquire more resources, Blake investigates a myth that a group of scientists absconded from Earth during the formation of the Federation and hid on the planet Whyway. Once there, the two encounter nothing but ruins and a fussy young girl called Jeyl... 

ANALYSIS

Exploring Cally's feelings about her new home and comrades is great, and in that regard, I have no complaints. But it's the way the story is structured that frustrates me. The early parts where Blake, Cally and Jeyl wander around Whyway and get to know one another are really fun in a relaxed camping trip sort of way. I was starting to think the whole thing would be like this and if it was a purely atmosphere and character interaction-based adventure, I might've loved it. 

But once we find out that the whole thing was basically a distraction, it just renders a lot of those earlier scenes meaningless. And the final confrontation with the scientists boils down to them shrugging at all of the crew's efforts, rendering the whole thing, as Avon put it, "a wild goose chase". 

Here's the thing - I don't mind if the destination is technically unsatisfying so long as the journey is good. I get that what our heroes learn along the way can often be more important than the prize itself. But you have to pick one and stick with it. Either it's about the journey or the destination. If the journey turns out to be smoke and mirrors, and the destination is a whole lot of nothing, why should I care?

CHARACTERS

Cally is a person who doesn't wear her emotions on her sleeve, so it's nice to get some insight into her thoughts and feelings about her part in the Liberator crew. In particular, Separate showcases the underused freedom fighter aspect of her persona, and explores her leftover trauma from the Saurian Major era. I'm so used to seeing her caring side that it was a bit of a shock to see how miserable she was, but it made total sense - Cally had had a life on Saurian, fighting alongside people she's known for far longer than Blake's crew. The transition shouldn't be easy. 

Blake isn't depicted in a very flattering light. Whilst he was occasionally brutal in his determination, seeing him try to steal technology from peaceful people and sneer at their willingness to defend themselves was a bit surprising(although to be fair, they had manipulated him for days, so he was probably short on empathy). His desire to personally analyse Cally's loyalties during a mission echoes Blake nicely, though him blaming the failure of the mission on her telepathic affinity towards the Whyway people felt very out of character to me. I just can't see Blake ever being that petty. And speaking of petty, his decision to build a wooden raft to cross a river instead of teleporting up just to avoid seeing Avon? Funny, but probably more fitting for Vila. 

Speaking of Vila, the fact that Jeyl basically assumes his persona was adorable - until we found out it wasn't genuine. Maybe it was the fact that I experienced Separate via Michael Keating's audio narration, but she had so much spunky charm to her, and really seemed to bond with Blake and Cally. They were shaping up to be an awesome travelling trio and I felt robbed of that. So robbed.

NOTES

*I like the cute jab at the lighting in Cally's bedroom set from Series C. 

*McCormack nails Gareth Thomas's assertive, slightly frustrated physical mannerisms

*I think it's a bit unfair of Cally to think that nobody likes her. Gan sure seems to enjoy having her around. Arguably Vila too. 

*Keating gets a chance to do impressions of everyone. Once again, his commanding Blake voice is my favourite. Though the fact that he has to give everybody different voices means that he kinda loses his touch with his own character(his Vila in this is quite withdrawn and quiet). There's also a few spots where he finds it difficult to separate everyone's dialogue. 

*The best way to keep Avon happy is to send him puzzles. Love that. It's funny to think that at heart, he's just a tinkering eccentric. Or a merciless mercenary, if you asked Paul Darrow.

*"Vila is much taller than he made himself to be" is such a great description of Vila.

*Blake doesn't really help his pedophilia charge by rambling about Jeyl's legs(and yes, I know Jeyl isn't underage, but still).

*I would love to know what the Liberator crew were doing whilst Blake and Cally spent half a week wandering around. I bet it was Vila's job to teleport down the occasional flask of water. 

*Cally's savage jab at Jeyl's people is brilliant. As much as I love Cally's kind spirit, I'm always excited when she loses her cool and brings out the "destroy until I am destroyed" side of her persona. And indeed, her decision to stay with the crew is exclusively due to a thirst for vengeance. One tends to forget sometimes that we are dealing with terrorists here.

*The scene between Cally and Jenna at the end would definitely not have aired in Ben Steed's era. 

INFORMATION!

*The story is set between Seek-Locate-Destroy(or Seek, Locate and Destroy as Keating calls it) and Mission To Destiny. According to Cally, it's been 27 days since the events of Time Squad. 

*There's numerous references, both internal and in dialogue, to Cally's time on Saurian Major, her and Jenna's possession in The Web and her captivity with Travis in Seek-Locate-Destroy.

*It's reiterated that the Federation was birthed 200 years ago, which also marked the beginning of the second calendar. 

*Cally claims that devices exist on Auron that enhance telepathic powers. 

*Blake's speech to the Whyway scientists includes the destruction of the Freedom Party(mentioned in Voice From The Past) and his captivity and brainwashing at the hands of the Administration(The Way Back).

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

BLAKE: "This isn't a democracy."
AVON: "You astonish me!"

CONCLUSION

Yeah, that was okay. I just wanted more slice of life stuff, if I'm honest.