Mindset is a solid character piece that utilises the audio format remarkably well.
WRITTEN BY
Jacqueline Rayner, her one and only entry into the series. A pity, as it seems she's got a lot to say.
PLOT
Finding a clue pertaining to the Fountain of Youth, Vila redirects the Liberator to the planet Karwen and disappears. A search for him leads the crew to the famous waters, and to the planet's terrible secret...
ANALYSIS
Shades of Sarcophagus. Much like Tanith Lee before her, Rayner brings a distinct feminine touch to her script, with a more emotionally mature, fantastical and character-driven approach that stands apart from the pulpier "boys-will-be-boys" entries in the series. These are rare. And as Avon might say, what is rare is valuable.
I can make more direct comparisons. There's a desperate telepathic entity that tries to possess a member of the crew, there is a strong fixation on the ambiguous bond between Avon and Cally and a mythical backstory to the events unfolding. I wouldn't be surprised if Rayner was directly inspired.
That being said, she does make the concept her own. Sarcophagus was, at its core, a horror story. But whilst Mindset does have creepy elements about it, it's better described as a gripping character drama centered around the concept of immortality. There's a greater emphasis on dialogue than atmosphere. In fact, the vast majority of the episode is composed of long conversations between Cally and the villain of the piece.
That theatrical reliance on dialogue over action, mood or special effects to hold the audience's interest has always been a key characteristic of Blake's 7, especially in the audio format, but I've rarely seen it utilised so thoroughly and with such success. Three is perhaps the only story to top Mindset in that regard, and that's only because it was written as an interview. I had to stop myself from transcribing everything into my notes, because so many lines carried hefty substance.
I've also got to compliment Rayner for that last minute twist. I didn't see it coming at all, and it was quite the gut punch after coming to believe we might see a thawing between Avon and Cally. But it does at least throw us shippers a bone. And Avon's final scene with the villain is delightfully chilling in the way only Avon can be.
CHARACTERS
It's a credit to the strength of writing in Blake's 7 that you can remove characters like Blake and Avon from the action and still feel like they're vital to everything that's happening. Avon is barely involved here, but his value to Cally is such a key aspect of the story that his presence seems to hang over the whole episode. Cally is once again tempted towards a more familiar telepathic relationship, this time by a genuine Auronar, putting her relationship with the crew and Avon to the ultimate test. It seems to me that Cally is almost addicted to the Liberator in a way. She's so used to camaraderie that she is afraid to move on, even though I don't think she's nearly as friendly with them as she makes herself out to be. And a large part of that is the ambiguous, extremely subtle bond with Avon. The Auronar seem like the passionate sort and you're hard-pressed to find a more passionate man than Avon, even though it takes a crowbar and a curly-haired fanatic to bring that out of him. Perhaps she hopes to succeed as well, and somehow shatter Avon's icy exterior...?
I also found it interesting that Cally was so keen to stay in the fight for survival rather than accept functional immortality with one of her own kind. She may have mellowed since joining the crew, but deep down, I think Cally still craves a cause worthy of her and cannot exist as an "ordinary Auronar". She's just too human.
Paul Darrow has two modes of acting. Hammy innocence (employed mostly at the start of his career in earnest establishment roles) and hammy corruption. Avon is his ultimate in corruption, but it's always nice to hear him act like an over the top baby for a change. Also see: Assassin. His depiction of Reno (played otherwise by the disarming Geoffrey Breton) is played very close to Avon, but just a touch weaker. Maybe I was blinded by a desire to see Avon and Cally give into love, but I didn't notice it until the hints became obvious.
Vila's subplot didn't really tell us anything we didn't already know about him, but I think it's good to show that despite multiple reassurances in previous episodes, his insecurities haven't gone away. There's a depressing realism about it. I found it interesting that of all the people trapped in limbo, Vila was the one most keen to stay. In some ways, he seems far more closed off and self-isolated than Avon.
NOTES
- Vila being the one to piece together that Dayna is looking for her mother is a bit odd. How was Orac not able to figure it out? Not to mention - why does Orac require human assistants to examine the data at all? He's never needed any before. He ends up finding Blake all on his own.
- I hope there's a reason why Dayna is so keen to cover her tracks from the crew. This doesn't seem like her at all.
- Tarrant doesn't want to live forever, out of fear of being tortured forever. That doesn't suggest a particularly cozy past.
- Reno's connection with the water was somewhat ambiguous. The water is clearly its own thing and has trapped him, but he also was able to control it to the extent of directly influencing Vila's thoughts (a very useful power that he never uses again). I wonder, is it still even Reno's mind or just some kind of falsehood emanated by the water to spread?
- How can there only be one waterfall in the midst of a clearing on the entire planet?
- I love how Orac clears his throat before making a speech. Very academic.
- Rayner neatly ties together the disparate Auron backstories from Series A and C by suggesting that telepathy did exist on Auron before cloning, but became much more powerful as a result of it.
- Why wouldn't the crew just nuke the waterfall after escaping? You'd think that would be their top priority.
- I enjoyed the slight nod towards Series D Avon with Reno's off-screen "triumphant laughter" in his body.
- Orac mentions Hal Mellanby and the revolt he led against the Federation, established in Aftermath.
- Defending his idea of Dayna looking for the supposedly dead Careen, Vila brings up Anna Grant as an example of someone revealed to be alive all along.
- Cally recalls that when she first met Vila, he planned to live forever. He told her this in Time Squad.
- Cally hopes to locate Vila by sensing his pain, which she mentions having done before. This happened in Powerplay.
- The destruction of Auron, as seen in Children of Auron, is covered in detail.
- Avon complains that there has been "enough red herrings and detours" on their quest to find Dayna, referencing the events of Scimitar and Fortuitas.
- Avon and Cally's reaction to losing the crew mirrors the similar events in Horizon, with Cally insisting that she go down to the planet and Avon advocating caution. This time, Avon dismisses the idea of abandoning them out of hand, as they cannot safely pilot the Liberator without them (a lesson learned in that episode).
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