Three (2013) Review

Three is a morbid game of psychological chess. 

WRITTEN BY

James Goss, known mainly for his Doctor Who publications with Big Finish, but also a successful writer in his own right with the novel series "The Lady Serpent" and a play called "The Gentlemen of Horror"(based on the friendship between actors Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing).  

PLOT

Servalan welcomes the famous journalist Cullen to Space Command HQ to cover her life and career. Cullen is determined to work out what makes the Supreme Commander tick, whilst the latter has her own plans for the man... 

ANALYSIS

I'd say Goss gave himself an incredibly daunting task here. Given what we already know of Servalan's personality, the fact that she has some sort of punishment in mind for Cullen's transgressions is pretty much a no-brainer. We know there's little chance of him making it out unscathed, especially as the story goes on and Servalan remains the perfect host. For the entire runtime, a metaphorical guillotine hangs over Cullen's head, and it's just a question of when and how. 

So not only does Goss have to make Cullen engaging enough for us to care about his impending demise within an hour, but he also has to live up to the promise of providing interesting insight into Servalan's character, and keep us entertained throughout. It's a tall order by any standard. 

Fortunately, in my opinion he succeeds. The entire story is one long interview without any narration, giving it a degree of intimacy. The dialogue is both snappish and thoughtful, and I enjoyed the way subjects tended to loop around back into the conversation(evidently, so did Goss, as he has Servalan comment on it repeatedly). 

Another positive I have is that Servalan is allowed to retain her air of mystery. The nature of truth and its three variations(the eponymous three) - literal, obscure and belief - is not just a superb premise to make a story out of, but it allows us to keep wondering which parts of her story are which. We don't get infodumped with backstory, but instead we're given an understanding of how Servalan thinks, and how she might have ended up this way. Same with Cullen, in fact, which is part of why what happens to him feels tragic. It's a fantastic bit of writing. 

I do mean tragic. Although I waited for something terrible to happen all the time Cullen's ultimate fate turned out to be so dark, so thoroughly depressing that I was genuinely shocked. And this is in the same box set as Logic! Both of them manage to convey the horror of the Federation's evil so beautifully, without ever feeling like they're in bad taste or schlocky in any way. I very much appreciate this. 

CHARACTERS

It amuses me that Cullen describes Servalan as a "young woman", because Jacqueline Pearce's performance practically exudes cougar charm. Her presence and will dominates the conversation, and her tone is impeccably sly and knowing. Whilst other returning actors somehow manage to convince they are their younger selves despite aged voices, Pearce seems to be playing Servalan as an older character, with a more confident and patient delivery. This Servalan lacks the occasional moments of uncertainty we see in the television series, and the drive to succeed and prove herself. Not that it's a problem - if anything, I find the older, wicked Servalan much more intimidating - but it's an odd contrast to the way she was originally depicted. 

Joseph Kloska is a perfect recreation of that generic "British young man" that Blake's 7 utilised so frequently with characters like Varon, Renor, Artix, anyone played by John Leeson. The nervous, naive, but well-spoken fellow with a lean and forgettably handsome face. He's obviously far in over his head, and Kloska depicts his gradual realization of that with appropriately silent horror. A very well judged straightlaced performance on his part, never too OTT and not dull, either.

NOTES

• "Dav(Dev?) Cullen" is such a pretend Terry Nation name, lol.
• Although it's brilliant for dramatic purposes, is there any actual reason for Servalan to be so vague with her backstory? Wouldn't the President at least insist on having legit records of her available or is the secrecy part of whatever arrangement they now have?
• Servalan thinking that her father wasn't worthy of her because of his decision to put family over politics is the most Servalan thing I've ever heard of.
• I really hope there's a story where we get to see Servalan in combat. Does she wear special fluffy fatigues? What's her favourite type of combat gear?
• Servalan's use of Travis as a metaphor for an annoying sibling asking for money cracked me up. She was definitely thinking of the Croucher version here.
• Today I learned that radio signals can travel forever(albeit with loss of power over distance). There's definitely potential for writers to use this knowledge for many morbid purposes.
• Why is Servalan only afraid of her brother's radio signal reaching Earth? Couldn't any other Federation world suffice to get her arrested?
• Servalan vouching for an untamed media to throw the people a bone was interesting, and quite topical if I might say so(though given the nature of her empire, she's probably lying about that). 
• I like the repeated vague reference to "the times" before her rule as when all the flaws of the Federation were present, and subsequently eradicated. It's quite reminiscent of 1984. 
• I'm not sure why Cullen is so disgusted by the notion of an apple grown from human infant cells. After all, it's not like they literally butchered kids to do it(as far as I could tell). They're just cloned apples made from blood samples.

INFORMATION!

• Servalan claims that the Federation President forced her father to submission by directly threatening her life. Given Lothar von Riga's(the Hugh Fraser President) age, it's possible that it was him. 
• When talking about her brother, Servalan mentions that he was addicted to shadow, a drug featured in the episode of the same name.
• The young scientist that Servalan fell in love with is most likely a veiled reference to Don Keller from Sand. Her miscarriage thematically ties into Children Of Auron. 
• Servalan reveals that the Federation can produce their own clones(Kerr, Wolf, Cold Fury) and are no longer dependent on the Clonemasters(whom we saw in Weapon). How the Federation lost this skill is not quite clear to me. 
• Servalan displays knowledge of both Aladdin and Bible stories, showcasing a good understanding of ancient Earth history. 

BEST QUOTE

SERVALAN: "I saw my father compromised. As a political figure, he was ruined. Everyone knew the President had him in his pocket. And all it had cost him was a few guards."
CULLEN: "But your father could have lost his entire family! He could have lost you!"

SERVALAN: "Indeed. And that would have spurred him on to fight back. It should have 

fuelled his revenge, swept him to the presidency. The chance had been there and he wasted it!"

CONCLUSION

Commendable, a very intelligent and powerful piece of work that deserves multiple listens.