I don't really have too much to say about this one. It's a very odd episode, especially for "Blake's 7". I'm not convinced that it was a great idea to spend the first seven minutes on silent aliens prancing around wearing silly outfits and doing weird things. However, it once again offers Jan Chappell, who sadly has only four episodes left, some good material and she excels as both Cally and the Alien. The episode also gives Paul Darrow plenty to do as it calls attention to the interesting and, in my mind, hard to define dynamic which exists between Avon and Cally. The extremely long scene depicting the Alien's confrontations with Tarrant and Avon is probably the strongest one. We get to see more of the Avon and Tarrant power struggle and the two alpha males almost come to blows but Vila and Dayna - surprise, surprise - are underused.
While I generally think that the Series Three costumes are much better than the Series Two ones, I found Tarrant and Vila's red and grey outfits ridiculous. They looked like Buck Rogers' pyjamas, especially Vila's. However, Steven Pacey looks even more ridiculous when he runs down the corridor in slow motion wearing the red robes. I found it hard not to laugh. Tanith Lee has a very good understanding of the characters but the storyline wasn't great, I'm afraid. I did like the fact that, in her first scene, Cally is still trying to come to terms with the death of her people in "Children of Auron". The fact that it was Avon who came to check up on her is nice as well since, given his own recent loss, he has some idea how she feels.
While I generally think that the Series Three costumes are much better than the Series Two ones, I found Tarrant and Vila's red and grey outfits ridiculous. They looked like Buck Rogers' pyjamas, especially Vila's. However, Steven Pacey looks even more ridiculous when he runs down the corridor in slow motion wearing the red robes. I found it hard not to laugh. Tanith Lee has a very good understanding of the characters but the storyline wasn't great, I'm afraid. I did like the fact that, in her first scene, Cally is still trying to come to terms with the death of her people in "Children of Auron". The fact that it was Avon who came to check up on her is nice as well since, given his own recent loss, he has some idea how she feels.
