User Reviews

On a revenge mission Avon captures Shrinker , a notorious Federation torturer who is responsible for the murder of his partner Anna Grant . Meanwhile a rebel faction plans to dispose of President Servalan and install their leader Bartolomew as head of the supreme council

As is becoming clear season three centres around the crew of The Liberator and now it's Avon's turn to take centre stage . Actually that's misleading because since he made his debut in the second episode of the show Kerr Avon , played by Paul Darrow giving a brooding performance and armed with bitter one liners Avon has been one of the most memorable anti-heroes British television has ever produced . and always wins B7 fandom polls of best character by a mile

The episode gets off to a great start as Avon lies in a Federation cell back on Earth and anticipates another interrogation this time at the hands of Shrinker . Be careful what you wish for Avon because you've just got it .. Once again the programme tries to get away from the feared " this is children's television " label that it might receive and as Shinker threatens to burn out Avon's eyes with a lazer probe you're struck that the BBC wouldn't have the courage to make this type of hard hitting telefantasy drama nowadays . . Likewise the well deserved but cruel method of death Avon devises for Shrinker is not something The Doctor would bestow on his worst enemies

As well regarded and as gritty as this episode is it does have a slight problem and that is how contrived it is . Avon gets revenge on the man who murdered his lover in an episode that sees a planned revolution led by Bartolomew who is in fact Anna Grant / Sula the former lover of Avon . Hmmm what perfect and convenient timing Avon and Bartolomew have chosen for their respective plans . Especially so since they'd have no such knowledge of one another . That said you don't really notice the highly unlikely occurrence of all this until it's pointed out to you , but that's not enough to ruin the episode in anyway . Being written by Chris Boucher it contains some very good dialogue along with strong minor characters who paint a picture of what a fascistic future looks like

It opens with Avon as prisoner on Earth, which is still under Federation control after a failed rebellion during or immediately after the Galactic War. As mentioned in the previous episode, in a nice bit of continuity, Avon intends to kill the Federation's most renowned torturer Shrinker - played very well by John Bryans, who previously played Bercol in "Seek-Locate-Destroy" and "Trial" - in revenge for killing Anna Grant, the only person whom he ever loved whose existence was established in Series Two's "Countdown". In objecting to Avon's plan to kill him in cold blood, Cally once again demonstrates that she is the crew's conscious now that Blake is gone. For his part, Shrinker pleads ignorance and claims that he has never seen her before in his life. He eventually persuades Avon that Anna was killed by another agent, Bartholomew.

This is perhaps the most heart-wrenching episode of the series as Avon discovers that his one true love is still alive but that she was a Federation agent all along. The climactic scene in the wine cellar is my favourite of the entire series. In his best performance, Paul Darrow plays Avon's utter anguish brilliantly when he realises that Anna and Bartholomew are one and the same and is consequently forced to kill her. Dying in his arms, she tells Avon that she did really love him and allowed him to escape for that reason. I believe her. The tragedy is that Avon believes her too and kills her anyway. It has a great resonance with the series finale "Blake" in which Avon kills Blake - who, in spite of everything, was the closest thing that he had to a friend - on the mistaken assumption that he has likewise betrayed him. Brilliant stuff. The final line of the episode is particularly anguishing.

Jacqueline Pearce is even better than usual as Servalan, who is at her lowest ebb when she finds herself chained to a wall in her own palace but still comes back fighting, a fact which highlights her similarities to Avon. Alas, some of the other performances aren't up to scratch. David Gilles is just plain bad as Hob. A very young David Haig is terribly over the top as Forres and Lorna Heilbron - who left acting after her husband Nicholas Clay's death in 2000 and is now a therapist, incidentally - is a bit over the top at times as well. She has a tendency to over-enunciate which is very annoying. I'm also not entirely convinced that the Greenlee and Forres scenes were totally necessary. However, these minor things aren't enough to detract from the episode's quality.

I cannot really add much to Harylagman's review, which spot on.

This is an absolute masterpiece. I'm sorry I can not give it more than ten stars.

And yes, the story is uncannily Shakespearean, as well as Shakespeareanly tragic.

The plot is superbly crafted, and the acting excellent. You almost felt the players were genuinely living their roles.

Even the supporting act of Grenlee and Forres is great.

The way the plot unfolds keeps you guessing literally beginning to end, the director continually leading you up one path and, almost without your realising, leading you back down another. And when it has finally finished with messing with your head, the final denouement lands like a hammer blow.

No wonder Avon's final words.