Lister discovers the truth about his parentage.
I like this episode for its clever plotting and a refreshing new character, but for me the humour misses the mark.
The story of Lister's parentage is a solid concept with a great final reveal and the way a new character is introduced works well. There are some minor continuity issues but I don't think Red Dwarf has ever taken franchise continuity seriously so neither will I.
An interesting new dynamic is the loss of Rimmer and the introduction of Kochanski. Rimmer appears in a flashback sequence which is nice, but the for me Chris Barrie is an essential part of the show and I massively felt his absence. That being said Chloe Annette works well as Kochanski, owing to her no-nonsense personality and striking screen presence.
My main issue is that I struggled to take much out of the humour. There is some decent banter, but much of it doesn't work for me. In particular I found Robert Llewelyn's Stan Laurel impression as an insecure Kryten more annoying than funny. This is quite disappointing as next to Barrie, Llewelyn always had the best comic timing and I don't feel the material makes the best use of his talent.
On the other hand I fully appreciate the subjective nature of comedy and that someone else may find it a lot funnier than me.
I like this episode for its clever plotting and a refreshing new character, but for me the humour misses the mark.
The story of Lister's parentage is a solid concept with a great final reveal and the way a new character is introduced works well. There are some minor continuity issues but I don't think Red Dwarf has ever taken franchise continuity seriously so neither will I.
An interesting new dynamic is the loss of Rimmer and the introduction of Kochanski. Rimmer appears in a flashback sequence which is nice, but the for me Chris Barrie is an essential part of the show and I massively felt his absence. That being said Chloe Annette works well as Kochanski, owing to her no-nonsense personality and striking screen presence.
My main issue is that I struggled to take much out of the humour. There is some decent banter, but much of it doesn't work for me. In particular I found Robert Llewelyn's Stan Laurel impression as an insecure Kryten more annoying than funny. This is quite disappointing as next to Barrie, Llewelyn always had the best comic timing and I don't feel the material makes the best use of his talent.
On the other hand I fully appreciate the subjective nature of comedy and that someone else may find it a lot funnier than me.
