#perhaps i could make one that doesn't rely quite so heavily on visuals?

[official-bunbun]

Temptation to start a third rp blog 💔

[culttvblog]

Sapphire and Steel: Assignment 6 Part 2

This blog post spoils essential plot points of this assignment.

The episode has an uncharacteristically snappy recap for a Sapphire and Steel, but then this is only a four-parter and we are also in the hands of PJ Hammond here, so we can only expect it to be expertly written.

It becomes more apparent in this episode that Sapphire, Steel and Silver are in a situation where things really aren't what they seem. We aren't given easy solutions to what is going on, as they also aren't, but there are a few hints.

We are heavily directed towards the 'arrival' of somebody who somehow has entered the otherwise completely enclosed situation, and towards Time's increasing instability, but the man and the woman are the heavy hints that something's wrong here.

I mentioned in my last post that the man's casual acceptance that they've jumped forward in time is not the normal reaction.

Similarly the woman's reactions to the situation are not the normal human reactions. She has made a point of saying that she doesn't trust where they are, or necessarily believe what she is being told, but the episode starts with her pouring herself a glass of water from the tap in the cafe. I still think this makes absolutely no sense. If you are in a place where you can't rely on the safety of the water (such as Great Britain) the last thing you do is drink the water or swim it.

And then she tells Steel that because they have jumped forward in time she doesn't need to lie to him about what is happening between her and the man. Again, this is not the normal reaction. I think she would have expected her elopement with the man still to be unacceptable in the 1980s and could not have foreseen the sexual revolution happening. She is therefore displaying a knowledge of social standards in the 1980s that she couldn't have known in 1948, so she can't simply be a person unexpectedly brought forward in time.

Of Sapphire, with her advanced understanding of how Time works, understands that the event they have been summoned to deal with may well already have started, even if they don't know what it is.

I have a difficulty with this assignment which I think may not be entirely fair so I wouldn't go to the stake for this criticism. The whole point of this assignment is that Sapphire, Steel and Silver have been summoned by they-know-not-what into a situation where they have literally no idea where they are, who anyone is, or what on earth is going on. That is the whole point of the assignment, I understand that. Perhaps it is my own background as health professional but whatever entities Sapphire and Steel are, given that their existence is spent managing the break outs of a troublesome Time and keeping things as they should be. surely they would be prepared for that to happen and have ways of stopping it happen? I suppose my difficulty is that the premise of this assigment requires Sapphire and Steel to be completely controlled and tricked by the very thing they are supposed to be in control of. I can tell you right now that if you were a community nurse in one of the local mental health teams in the 1990s and rang base to ask for the blue file, they would work out your whereabouts from the list and dial 999. Surely Sapphire and Steel would have had some such arrangement in place? Obviously you'd only expect Mercury to turn up and help you if he felt like it, but still.

Visually, again this one is excellent. They couldn't really go wrong with Joanna Lumley walking down the forecourt of the brilliantly lit empty garage. The level of detail continues from the previous episode and has many a detail reminiscent for a child of the seventies. THe emphasis on drawing attention to things that aren't quite right is outlined by the very obvious footprints of the unseen arrival, which is a nice touch.

Other than my completely unfair questioning of the assignment's entire basis above, this is an excellent adventure, paced just right, and you couldn't possibly criticise it.

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