Knights of God: Episode 7

 "Being with you. That's all I ever thought of."

This middle episode is surprisingly eventful and fast-moving as we seem to be moving into a new phase. The world, and the characters, are well fleshed out by now. Of course, Gervase survives the cliffhanger- only to face another at the end, at the hands of a few terrifying Yorkshiremen from the "Wastelands"- but much changes between these two events.

Gervase and Julia are, indeed, reunited, and it's all very sweet. But they are thrust immediately into a shootout, in which Julia's kind farmer's wife benefactor dies heroically but with the young lovebirds escaping. Meanwhile Arthur delivers some more vague but fasdcinating exposition to an unknown military figure, not realising that Gervase, though otherwise himself again, is conditioned to kill him.

Elsewhere, Mordrin learns of Hugo's treachery; it seems this subplot is coming to a head sooner than expected. And it seems that next episode we will learn more of the people of the Wasteland.

I'm loving the world here, the dystopia with BBC computers, as well as the unpredictable plot. And the series keeps improving as it goes on. Thgis shouldn't be so obscure.

Knights of God: Episode 6

" Fire!"

An episode of skulduggery here, yet not one without  the pulling of heartstrings. Scenes with both Julia and Gervase make it c;lear that they love each other. It's cute. Alas, this is a world too devious for such furity of feeling. Mordrin manipulates Gervase further, setting him free to find Julia yet reinforcing- in an extraordinary scene- the hypnotic suggestion to kill Arthur, the enemy with whom he is obsessed.

Yet Brother Hugo plots. The scenes between hiom and Mordrin are great; you can feel the mutual loathing. And Hugo has his own underling to play like a fiddle, again to kill Mordrin. It's a nice parallel as both the leader and the Deputy of the Knights are scheming to different ends. So the cliffhanger shows Gervase in dire peril.

There is humanity too: Arthur is tender and understanding with Gervase's mother. But this is a bleak, bleak world. And a fascinating one. This arc must be near complete but we have quite far to go...

Knights of God: Episode 5

 "I find history rather boring..."

Sirprisingly, Gervase's gets relatively little screen time here. Plotlines elsewhere develop. Hugo's splendid;y arch scheming continues as he turns the senior Knights slowly against Mordrin. Edwards learns, and is devastated by, his son's apparent treachery... and is a little bitter at Arthur for setting things in motion. Again, we get vague references to Gervase's "true nature".

There's no longer quite the need for so much world building as the premise is by now established, but one again this vaguely Arthurian future Britain is fascinating, very V for Vendetta, a low tech, lived in near future. It has none of the corporate trappings of cyberpunk but the cynicism and lived-in look of Aliens and Blade Runner... on an ITV budget.

Of course, the point is that we (and Gervase) must think Julia dead, although we are allowed to see the truth. But Gervase, I suspect, will not turn against the Knights but follow them with deepening bitterness. The ending is heartbreaking, with Julia unable to go to him and declaring her love. This is good stuff.