Episode description.
Star One has finally been destroyed and the Federation is in disarray. Stranded on the planet Sarran, Avon is struggling to return to the ship. But President Servalan has other ideas...
The natives have witnessed some of the results of the war in the form of crashed life capsules and debris. Chel decides that any outsider must die for fear that they will bring death. Two Federation Troopers who are so insignificant that they don’t even get names are the first to go. Their only contribution is to give us a little exposition on the war. We, and by that I mean humans, won the war but only because we had more ships to throw into the fight. Roughly 80% of the Federation fleet was wiped out. It’s interesting to me the irony here. The totalitarian, dictatorial, evil empire was also the savior of the galaxy and humanity. That element is a little hard to put across effectively in an hour long format but imagine if aliens had invaded earth during World War 2 and Nazi Germany wound up saving us all. The great evil, which they were, also saving the world. How do we square that debt with the reality of their atrocities? Can we? I’m sorry, I digress again. That might be too heavy a topic for a supposed light hearted review. Carry on. Pip pip and all that. Or whatever the Brit’s say.
Avon comes crashing down as does Servalan. Both, despite some initial tension shall we say, are rescued by Hal and Dayna Mellanby.
When that tactic fails she simply switches gears. Always tenacious that Servalan. Murdering Hal and stealing Orac in the middle of the night she escapes the underground bunker. Unfortunately for her Chel and his crew are still outside waiting for an opportunity. She and Lauren, Hal’s adopted daughter, are captured by the Sarans. Lauren was captured earlier while standing guard outside the bunker. Which seems like a terrible plan in retrospect. Avon and a grief stricken Dana go after Servalan finding poor Lauren dead along the way.
All is well. Avon and our newest crew member are safely onboard Liberator. And then they are captured by Federation Troopers who have boarded while the ship was being repaired.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Memorable Quote: Avon “It’s difficult to sustain a military dictatorship when you’ve lost most of your military.”
Coffee of the Day: Community Coffee French Roast. This has been my go to for months now. It’s dark and bold, kinda like this show.