Capital is an exciting, but shallow runaround that mostly exists just to set up the next episode.
WRITTEN BY
Guy Adams, who's never done a B7 before, but effortlessly captures the show's tone and the voice of the characters.
PLOT
The Liberator is contacted by Vila's father Solvin Tavac, who requests their aid in exchange for information about Blake and a new deployment of the Armageddon Storm. The crew travel to Earth to meet him, only to find themselves trapped by Servalan...
ANALYSIS
Although Capital isn't written by Mark Wright and Cavan Scott, it definitely feels like an attempt to continue in that same vein: bringing back the Armageddon Storm, bringing back David Warner as Tavac, referencing Blake, having a straightforward action-adventure vibe... it's even written in a way that suggests it was originally intended as a full-cast audio drama, or at least starring 3-4 actors like The Armageddon Storm. In one of the worst examples of the Chronicles format, Steven Pacey is forced to imitate practically the entire cast, including a recreation of Avon's famous speech from the end of Storm. It's incredibly awkward and distracting, and might have scuppered the whole thing if I wasn't so invested. In fairness, that might be partially because I adored Wright's audio dramas, and so a sequel would naturally pique my interest. But it was still genuinely exciting to see Earth again, particularly an established location like London. It felt like a big moment, and getting to see some of the effects of the Atomic Wars (occasionally mentioned in previous episodes) was awesome.
I love me some post-apocalyptic dystopia, and this is really the first time we've seen Earth in its natural state, not just Federation territory. And of course, the truth is quite ugly. London is a wild jungle filled with mutants and mysterious scavengers (Terry Nation would be proud), all just as threatening as the troopers hunting our crew and ripe for exploration. The crew are forced to follow Tavac to find the rebels' base. His presence added tension to these scenes, as it's left deliberately ambiguous whose side he's on nowadays and why. And Servalan of course is never far...
The best part of the entire story is its cliffhanger, which might honestly top Star One. I won't spoil it here, but it involves Vila. I'm left very excited to see how things work out!
A major drawback I should mention is, yet again, the clumsy framing device. Now this one isn't quite as bad as some we've seen (Blake rambling to a Federation therapist in False Positive springs to mind) and it is important to the plot, but it still feels silly to have Tarrant explain the events in painful detail to another character within the story. For context, he's sending out an SOS with information about what's happening on Earth. But why that has to be a framing device rather than just something he does at the end of the story is beyond me.
CHARACTERS
I found it faintly amusing that Avon flew the Liberator to Earth as soon as he heard word of Blake being there. It's slightly inconsistent with how Terminal plays out (why would he be willing to accept the crew's help in this story, but not there?). Still, I always find it heartwarming when we get an example of Avon's genuine loyalty to the man.
RIP David Warner. He was an exceptional actor who always brought a good deal of gravitas to any role, and Tavac is no different. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he's been one of the best additions to the franchise since the show went off air. He's the kind of enigmatic antihero that I wanted Travis to be.
Given that Pacey is mostly the only actor involved (Keating has a brief cameo), it's fitting that Tarrant gets some of the best moments. One thing I've noticed in the Big Finish audios is that Tarrant is often portrayed as being very perceptive of the crew's dynamics, especially in terms of how they react to Avon and himself. Given his insecurities (and also his training as a Federation captain!), I think this makes a lot of sense. He would pay attention to everyone and figure out what their motives are. It makes Tarrant seem more intelligent and emotionally self-aware than he really was in the show. I appreciate that. It's also a nice way of explaining why he ends up being the glue that holds the crew together in Series D.
NOTES
- Well, bugger. It would seem I've deleted my notes. Maybe I'll revisit this episode someday and take new ones.
- The reboot audio dramas replaced Blake's Dome City with London. Maybe Guy took some inspiration from those?
- This story is a sequel to The Armageddon Storm, featuring the return of the eponymous superweapon and also a direct flashback to Avon's climactic speech.
- Tavac claims he survived the crew's previous encounter with him (which occurred in Secrets), because he had access to ships and weaponry at the arms bazaar he was left to.
- At some point between Truth and Lies and this story, Del Grant departed from the crew. This is never explained. Grant does not appear again until the novel Lucifer: Revelation, set more than twenty years after these events.
- The crew visited Earth previously in Rumours of Death.
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