Kith and Kin is basically a soap opera when you think about it, but I think the writing and performances make it compelling all the way through. I certainly didn't find it predictable!
WRITTEN BY
Christopher Cooper, who previously wrote Outpost. I quite enjoyed that. Cooper seems to be a bit of fresh blood among writers, not as jaded as some others!
PLOT
Tarrant goes on a personal errand to the planet Corrolos, a secret retirement world. Suspicious of his motives, Avon tasks Cally to spy on Tarrant while also using Orac to access the planet's unusually refined communications array...
ANALYSIS
There is one particular moment which won me over to this story, and it's when Tarrant and Cally attend a gala. In the background, there is beautiful classical music. It plays throughout the scene as we switch focus between the two dancing pairs: Del Tarrant & Cally and Dev Tarrant & Reeva. And we get to just bask in the atmosphere and listen to them talk. It's got such a cinematic flair and dare I say it - panache - to it.
I don't know if it's a Blake's 7 type story, but then again, Blake's 7 has incorporated different genres before. I wouldn't have said Sarcophagus was a Blake's 7 story before it happened, but then it ended up being the first in a series of surreal thrillers centered on Cally. It's welcome to see something new and different. Kith and Kin is basically a character drama, but it's a more subtle and gentle one than your usual operatic Blake's 7 saga (see: Rumours of Death, Blake, Spoils). It's a sad melancholy tale of a destroyed family, made to annihilate itself by forces beyond their control.
The retconning of Dev Tarrant into a hero was something I never saw coming. A lot of the suspense in the story's second half for me was about whether or not Dev was going to trick Del in some way. I kept expecting the penny to drop in some deeply morbid twist, and it never happened. Which honestly pulled the rug from under my feet so much more than if he had. As contrived as it is (for example, implying that Tarrant's defection and entire criminal career took place during the first two seasons), I like it more and more as I think about it. Giving Dev - a man that we know as a Gestapo style villain who took sadistic satisfaction from killing innocents - a sense of altruism and family loyalty is exactly the kind of complicated human duality that makes Blake's 7 characters so uniquely compelling and original.
I do wish more had been done with the retirement community backdrop. There's a vague hint of horror with how the elderly are being manipulated, perhaps even tortured by the Federation. We even get a Prisoner reference with "be seeing you!", which I found rather charming. But it's barely touched on. The one pensioner we get to know is likable, but has little relevance beyond pointing Cally and Tarrant in the right direction. Even Dev's connection with the community is tenuous, and the story really could have taken place almost anywhere.
CHARACTERS
Steven Pacey takes the lead here. It's funny... once upon a time, I would have cringed saying those words. Now he's practically an anchor of the series. It's been interesting to see Pacey evolve as an actor, and also to see the role of Tarrant develop. Even though these audios are set during Series C, a lot of Tarrant's traits from Series D carry over and are refined further. Writers feel free to take Avon, Vila and Cally into almost any direction. They're incredibly flexible. But Tarrant is an anchor. He invariably tries to play the hero. It may not always work out that way, but his predictability and nobility make him an oddly comfortable presence, and Pacey's gravelly tones play into that. He's reliable, is Tarrant. I've grown very fond of him now.
It's an interesting choice to pair him up with Cally instead of Dayna. I suppose it may have had something to do with budget concerns (apparently every main cast member cannot be hired for every episode now that the seasons are 12 episodes long). But their dynamic is interesting. Dayna is kind of like a feisty little sister to Tarrant. Cally's approach is slightly flirty and more equal. I loved it when she forced Tarrant to dance with her. That was very funny. Cally doesn't really get involved with the story much, but Jan Chappell is great in it anyway.
The guest stars are all standouts. We have Peter Aubrey as Kemar, who is explicitly described as being almost an older Vila, with the same rambling mannerisms and hidden talents. Aubrey sounds exactly like Albert Tatlock from Coronation Street. He fits the era of Blake's 7 to perfection. It's a shame that his role is so functional and never really comes together, but the idea of this confused old accountant getting involved with the Liberator crew is fantastic.
Charlotte Strevens is believably distraught and paranoid as Dev's wife Reeva. I liked that she wasn't really anything more complicated than an embezzler. Underneath all the Prisoner style trappings of the retirement community, she really was just trying to steal money and get out while she still could. There's something quite funny and human about.
And then there's Dev Tarrant. Dev was originally portrayed by Jeremy Wilkin, who sadly died a year before this story was recorded. He had collaborated with Big Finish before and likely would have reprised the role. That being said, Malcolm James does an admirable job of capturing Wilkin's authoritarian voice. Of course, Dev is basically a different character now. So it does create a very strong distinction. Wilkin was sneering. James, by design, cannot.
NOTES
- I really liked Dev's use of 21st century therapy lingo to manipulate his patients. It's a rare example of modernisation in the B7 writing that actually clicks for me.
- What's with the implication that the young orderlies have sex with the elderly?? That was really weird.
- I would have liked to have Deeta's will to be a video recording. It was a missed oppurtunity to have Pacey reprise that role.
- Tarrant claims to have been serving in the 'Outer Rim' when his parents were murdered, a possible mistake by the writer. The Outer Rim is a Star Wars term. Blake's 7 uses the term 'Outer Worlds'.
- While I appreciate most of the retconning, having Tarrant go renegade because of his parents' murder is a step too far. I prefer the simpler idea that he became a swashbuckler of his own volition.
- Can't the Liberator stop the meteoroids? Or did Avon deliberately let the colony get blown up?
- Del being a literal physical twin of Deeta through some silly embryo freezing is just daft. Just own the silliness of them looking identical.
- Kemar has been in business a long time, and thinks it's a bright idea to directly confront a potential enemy?
- Dev claims that his path crossed with Servalan's once. I don't believe this has ever been depicted. That's interesting.
- The life support systems of the Corollus colony fail because of the disruption of Star One.
- Kemar was the chief accountant of his wife's company, Magellan Minerals Inc. The Magellan Clouds featured heavily in Avon: A Terrible Aspect.
- It's been less than a year since the events of Death-Watch.
- Dev Tarrant previously appeared in The Way Back. Amusingly enough, when I first watched the show, I made the assumption that he was the Tarrant who would later join the crew. I was so disappointed...
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