Assassin (1981) Review

 

Assassin has a lot of camp value, but its storyline fizzled out.

WRITTEN BY

Rod Beacham. His writing credits were few, but he wrote some science fiction plays, suggesting he had a particular interest in that genre. You can tell he was a bit green, but there's definitely talent.

PLOT

Discovering that Servalan has hired a professional to kill them, the Scorpio crew become set on finally dealing with their arch-nemesis to escape the danger. They track her down to Domo, a planet controlled by slavers. There, Avon allows himself to be captured for the market for one shot at finding the pair... 

ANALYSIS

The opening set the stage for a proper cat-and-mouse game between Servalan(who, as Avon put it, 'has altogether lived too long') and the crew, with Cancer as a pawn in-between with his own motives. It's a great idea, possibly even for a final showdown between the heroes and villain, but it came across as rather half-hearted here, because Servalan has plot armor that even superheroes could only dream of. 

In the Domo scenes, it's not quite clear where the story is going to go. We're pretty much in Avon's shoes here as he goes on a fun reconnaissance mission to ascertain what Cancer and Servalan are up to and how to turn it in his favor. Clever of him. During this time, we also get to explore a new, mildly entertaining planet. By virtue of less over-the-top presentation, the Domo slavers come across like a far superior version of the Space Rats, and seeing Servalan there casually chatting with their leader was interesting. It seems like such a long time ago when Servalan still had something resembling standards, and was disgusted by the likes of Krantor. Maybe it's because Verlis is a woman, or because Servalan's just using her? Who knows. 

Once a daring rescue has been pulled off and the focus switches over to Cancer's ship, the episode slows down and pretty much gives up any notion of the crew fighting Servalan. The next 20 minutes are spent on a whodunnit instead, reminding me of Mission To Destiny. The format is equally pointless here and simply serves to waste time until Cancer is out of the picture, but fortunately Assassin is a much more colourful episode, from the performances to the extravagant Egyptian theme to the actual set design and lighting. The production doesn't take itself too seriously(director David Sullivan Proudfoot pretends to be George Lucas again), so I can't really begrudge them all that much, because I enjoyed watching it. If the pace had been a little faster, I doubt I would've cared at all. There's just a bit too much wandering around the corridors for my liking. 

CHARACTERS

Coming back to the comparison to Stardrive and the Space Rats, there's one noticeable difference - Avon goes down to the planet alone instead of staying in the comfort of the ship and risking somebody else. Clearly, he doesn't want anyone else handling Servalan. It's a nice, though probably unintentional touch. 

Poor Dayna - I believe this is the last time her rivalry with Servalan is referenced, and it's in a rubbish action scene(seriously, I think Proudfoot went for a piss when they were filming) where Jacqueline Pearce casually strolls out of shot as the mighty weapons master completely fails to come close to killing her. And then Dayna has the audacity to cry out "I almost had her!!" It's just another example of how completely botched Dayna was. 

Speaking of botched, there's a very strange scene between Avon, Soolin and Tarrant that seemed like the show time-travelled back to Series C. The three bicker like babies over Piri, flinging accusations of female jealousy and male bravado. It felt completely at odds with the cool, professional dynamics we've had since Rescue. I did get a chuckle out of Soolin's oh-so-feminist understanding of how to deal with hysterical women. 

It was lovely having Richard Hurndall for an episode. He was clearly only there as a red-dressed herring, but Hurndall has a comforting, grandfatherly presence. It's not a type of character you see often in Blake's 7. His interactions with Avon and Soolin were so sweet and sincere that I couldn't help wishing that Nebrox had just stayed on the Scorpio(why'd he even go to Cancer's ship?) and joined the crew as a semi-regular caretaker or something like that, at Xenon Base. 

Caroline Holdaway is simultaneously the best and worst thing about Assassin. Her performance as the innocent, perpetually weeping Piri grates badly, but it's all worth it for the drawling, smug Cancer. Holdaway's line deliveries are so cartoonishly cliched that she might as well have jumped over a shark through the fourth wall. She completely upstages the likes of Jacqueline Pearce and Frieda Knorr(Le Grand in Voice From The Past) with one scene.

NOTES

*Paul Darrow chews the word 'money' like a piranha.

*What's with the fancy getup on Servalan's Federation troopers? They look like a joke.

*I recommend watching Assassin with the commentary on. Pearce loathes Holdaway's performance and doesn't hold back. Plus, her and Darrow's lowkey flirting is gold. 

*Vila might be a bit confused sometimes, but how did he not notice Avon losing his bracelet? Benos held it up!

*Nebrox seemed to have a lot more cunning to him than his appearance would suggest. He knew way more about Servalan's comings and goings than he should have, if he was just sitting in a cell all. I mean, I know there was probably nothing to do besides peeking out of the window, but it really felt like there was more to him than we got to see. 

*"Federation, it looked like. But it couldn't have been, could it? Seemed to be a woman in charge." I wonder if this line was deliberately sexist for some reason, or if Beacham added the last comment for purely expository reasons and didn't realise how it would come across.

*It's a bit odd that Servalan purchased the actor for Cancer, rather than her doing it herself, especially with the line later on about how the actor planned to elope with her. Ehh, I guess simps are gonna simp.

*Avon really enjoys lounging on a chair as chaos ensues around him in this episode.

*The lack of incidental music during the brawl between Tarrant and the actor really diminishes that scene, I feel like.

*Avon's plan to drag Cancer's ship to Xenon Base has to rank amongst his worst top 5 plans. And of course it turned out to be bugged all along, so he'd have lost Xenon if he had his way! I bet Servalan literally didn't plan for Avon to be this stupid.

*For some reason, whenever the scene is lit red and it cuts to space, the space has a reddish tint to it as well. A freak CSO effect?

*Soolin's little meditation in the hold is ridiculously out of character.

*Did Servalan forget Scorpio still exists there at the end? What was the idea behind her breaking out the champagne and everything? It's more than a little strange for her to just assume she managed to kill them after all this time.

*Seems like the Scorpio teleport can't bring someone up unless they have their own bracelet, unlike the Liberator where you could share.

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

"Almost is never good enough."

CONCLUSION

Watch with friends, so you can enjoy picking every nit.