Devil's Advocate is exactly what I wanted at this point: a challenge to the crew's current status quo.
WRITTEN BY
Steve Lyons. I wasn't onboard with his previous effort Jenna's Story, so I'm glad to see that he's got better ideas.
PLOT
During their latest effort to locate Dayna, the crew happen upon the former President of the Federation, who proposes an alliance against Servalan, with plenty of fame and fortune going their way if they should help him back to power. Conflicted over what to do, the crew splinter...
ANALYSIS
Although there are multiple story threads running through Devil's Advocate (Pelora's scheme against the President, the continued search for Dayna, the President's own plans for the future), they're very much in the background and the focus is on characterisation. The President represents a chance for the entire crew to turn their lives around. It was interesting to see how each one of them dealt with that temptation, and I was gratified to hear them express their feelings about the current situation (I feel the quest for Dayna has overshadowed the crew's development somewhat). Blake's 7 is always at its best and most unique when everyone's voice is heard. Whenever I think of the show, it's those iconic flight deck discussions. The franchise isn't like Star Trek, where everybody is meant to get along and work together. There's different opinions and perspectives to be shared, various ideas bandied about. And even when something is supposedly decided, it's never set in stone. That's Blake's 7 to me. The show about fighting for humanity and freedom of choice appropriately has the most human, imperfect crew.
I was especially happy to see Grant be given such a huge role to play. It makes sense, of course, given that he's a professional freedom fighter (although so is Cally, and she's actually met the President before). But mainly I think there's still a lot of untapped potential in Grant. His relationship with Avon goes deeper than anyone else's and Chadbon brings such a grounded gravitas to the role. We deserved an episode where he really gets to stand his ground and lock horns with Avon, and this was it. Like Blake, Grant is someone that Avon cannot really browbeat. I took an immense satisfaction in hearing him hold Avon accountable as a leader. It's clear to me that Grant's ruthless approach to rebellion had a huge influence on Avon's later decisions. His presence on the Liberator has been practically an origin story for Series D. I just want more of that!
The fact that he and Tarrant are on opposite sides of the conflict also helps to distinguish those two a little bit (both of them being Blake-lite verbal opponents to Avon). It's telling that Avon considers Tarrant to be a minor threat, whilst being wary about going up against Grant. Not that I want to bash Tarrant - I think the audios have done a good job of making him more likable than he ever was on TV - but he's just no Grant.
CHARACTERS
I really can't praise Tom Chadbon enough. I love the fierce growl Grant puts on when confronting the President, and his utter unwillingness to compromise. Whoever came up with the idea of having him join the crew was a genius. I know I'll sorely miss the unflappable presence he brought to the table.
Wonderful to hear Hugh Fraser again, another actor I really appreciate. One of the best castings too. He nails the charismatic politician. Even I'd want to follow the President. His performance is so sincere that I'm constantly left wondering how much of his own speeches he believes (especially after seeing Blake's presidency in Spoils). This is a bit of a stepping-stone story for him, but I'm excited to get to the war between him and Servalan, especially to hear Fraser and Jacqueline Pearce together!
Simone Lahbib was lovely as Tarrant's former flame Pelora, but the fact that we don't really get to understand her motivations until the end means there's not much of a chance to build up any meaningful story with her. I felt Lahbib had good chemistry with Pacey, but she seemed more like a plot device than an actual person. Plus, if Pelora had just told Tarrant the truth, it probably would've saved everyone a lot of time.
Paul Darrow is always fine at the very least, but I felt Avon's side of the Avon/Grant conflict was somewhat lacking. I missed some of that electricity we had in Countdown and Armageddon Storm. I know the dialogue wasn't comparatively serious or personal, but Chadbon was really going for it and had some great lines whereas Darrow... just didn't. Grant blatantly defies his authority, questions his leadership and tries to murder someone, and Avon's just like "I draw the line when you put me and the ship at risk", which is the same old thing he tells everyone. On the bright side, his early banter with Vila was hilarious. In fact, there's a lot of really great comedy in this story.
NOTES
- Simone Lahbib has a heavy Scottish accent. The last time I heard one like that was when I listened to the Blake's 7 reboot, so for a moment there, I felt like Tarrant was romancing a feminised version of NuBlake lol.
- Darrow's voice immediately got more excited when Vila tells Avon to just shoot people. He's got his priorities straight.
- "Space Major Kingdom" is a lovely Terry Nation reference.
- Bringing back the Dudley Simpson teleport cue for the President's arrival is both fitting and extremely funny to me.
- I loved hearing the President complain about the austerity of the Liberator's quarters even when he has a gun pointed at him.
- Michael Keating has a really great voice. More of Vila singing, please!
- I really like that Grant tried to appeal to Vila instead of threatening him to open a door. Even more so, I like that Vila understood the threats better.
- Avon asking Cally what Blake's opinion of the situation would've been before making his decision was a fascinating touch.
- Having Vila be the one to recognise the President's duplicity is a great example of how clever Vila actually is.
- During the confrontation between the President and Tarrant, shots are fired, but nobody actually gets hurt. I'm not even sure who fired them and what got hit. Poor direction there.
- Avon accusing Grant of acting without consulting anyone is so immensely hypocritical it's not even funny. Grant let a really obvious verbal punch pass him by.
- Cally not being able to reach Tarrant telepathically because she's "out of range" is possibly her lowest point ever in the show. They're on the same ship! She's used her powers across space! Why not just say Tarrant is concentrating too much and can't pick up her thoughts?
- Given Fraser's smugness when talking about his past with Dayna's mom, I actually thought they were going to reveal the President had sex with her and might be Dayna's real dad.
- I felt the crew made a bit of a leap in assuming Dayna's mom was a Federation spy just because the President knew her, wanted them to know it and mentioned earlier (without this context) that he made sure to meet all his spies. He could've meant anything with his mention of Mama Mellanby.
- One of the transports at the Way Station goes to Del Ten, a shore leave planet mentioned in Voice from the Past.
- The crew reach the Way Station by extrapolating info given by the Shifkin in Ghost Ship.
- Pelora has been travelling with the President since Servalan's coup in Star One.
- Tarrant has known the President since the latter was a high counsellor and the former a soldier under his command. They were familiar well enough to recognise each other on sight. Pelora claims the President wanted Tarrant to become his personal pilot rather than a Space Captain.
- Grant notes that the amount of pursuit ships in the area is unusual, especially now that there's a shortage from the Intergalactic War (seen in Warship).
- The President notes that Tarrant "betrayed us, betrayed me", possibly an oblique reference to Blake.
- Cally recalls the President's clone trying to kill her in Caged.
- Vila's song mentions Space City, seen in Shadow.
- Blake is mentioned several times.
- Vila has been studying the Liberator's locks ever since "Jenna's smuggler friends" hijacked it in Bounty.
- Grant and the President discuss Anna Grant's servitude to the Federation as 'Bartholomew' and 'Sula' (as seen in Rumours of Death)
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