Sapphire & Steel: Assignment 5- The Dinner Party, Part 5

 "Are those cultures...?"

It's rare for a fifth episode of a six parter to be interesting in its own right, or for it to introduce or develop new ideas: usually it's all just about moving the pieces on the board into position for the finale. Not this time.

We break the pattern a bit as Annabelle (the youngest remaining guest) is killed halfway through, while Felix- the last guest standing to have been born after 1930- dies at the end. Everyone believes by now that this is 1930. There's a rather clever scene juxtaposing a game of bridge with some telepathic exposition as Steel telepthically discusses things with Felix, now brough into the confidence of our titular couple.

Yet what makes this superb is not only the masterly progression of the plot but the concepts. George opens and walked through a door that is locked for everyone else, but not him. The guests quockly forget the deaths. There was a fire in which George was killed, as reported in the press- yet the physical evidence shows there wasn't.  We begin to see what the bacterial culture does to people as Felix's face is horribly dissolved.

This is a superb episode within a superb serial, easily the finest so far. I'm excited for the finale.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment 5- The Dinner Party, Part 4

 "You can't depend on servants at all these days..."

We get another fascinating episode in which the murder mystery plot is developed- Emma may, in 1930, have been having an affair with George, while Howard was blackmailing George, who had been embezzling from the company. And the structure is maintained with the ciffhanger being another death- in this case Howard, who hasd earlier come under suspicion, as seems to happen to the next to die.

Yet things are, of course, working on another level. Sapphire casts doubt on whether the dead are truly deceased. The secretary, in another room (and another time period) sees text on her screen about a fire at the house. And whatever presence is there almost makes Sapphire stab herself- and shoot Steel.

This is brilliant stuff. Yet it also finds time for little things like Steel not knowing which way to pass the port, or the difference between cynical womanising and love. And then there's the playing with murder mystery tropes, and the sly digs at the idle rich of the early twentieth century. This is quietly brilliant.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment 5- The Dinner Party, Part 3

 "And then there were nine..."

And, with the third episide, things get even better. I'm loving the conscious Agatha Chrustie spoofing here- an isolated country house, suspiciously cut off from the outside world; yet another cliffhanger ending with a murder (Tony), intrigue as Sapphire reads suspicious behaviour in Tony's recent past, and Steel soing his very best Poirot impression in the most Agatha Christie setting possible- and in 1930, the time of peak Christie.

And yet the weirdness ramps up too. The collective amnesia seems to deepen, and it seems the house is on a ley line- and on the Summer Solstice too. And yet, as Sapphire explores, there seems to be something about the late George McDee at the root of it. He was working on a vaccine when he died (very topical), and he died just before unleashing a deadly virus or bacteria (the script has it both ways!) which would have destroyed humanity. This may be scientific nonsense, and in 2021 is comes across as more anti-vaxxer than was probably intended, but this is fascinating. I'm enormouly impressed with the writing here.

There's even an unusually fancy camera shot here, as we are drawn back through a linear tableau of all the "suspects". This serial becomes more and more impressive.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment 5- The Dinner Party, Part 2

 "I think his Lordship's taking this joke a bit too far, Greville, don't you think?"

In a departure from Sapphire & Steel tradition, an intriguing episode shows promise in developing a seemingly lacklustre first one. Suddenly I'm hooked, despite very little happening other than the appearance of two more guests. I'm not even bothered by the fact that the announcement of a game of sardines makes it perfecty obvious that poor Veronica is going to be killed while hidden. This seems to be getting good.

And I can't really say why; I think it's just that this episode succeeds more in leveraging the increasing confusion between 1980 and 1930, with everyone's memories getting increasingly foggy- until the sudden appearance of a very alive George McDee shocks everyone. It's an effectve scene.

Interestingly, too, and despite my not spotting it last episode, this story is written by someone other than P.J. Hammond- Anthony Reed and an uncredited Don Houghton, both well known to us Doctor Who fans. Suddenly, this serial has become rather interesting.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment 5- The Dinner Party, Part 1

 "Why did it choose this house?"

The penultimate assignment begins: there's only so much left of Sapphire & Steel. On first glance this story appears to be some sort of metaphor on the dangers of excessive nostagia and the dangers of dwelling overly on the past. This is an interesting observation to make while discussing a forty year old television programme from a time, shockingly, when 1930 was fifty years ago and very much in living memory.

So far we have a dinner party held by self-important tycoon Lord Mullrine, who seems determined ti make everything as much like 1930 as possible. Yet it seems time is taking the hint and, in places, making this literal. There are a couple of nice and subtle illustrations of this, with the radio and the green door, but so far these light hints are all we're getting, as we spend the first episode getting to know the various guests. The posh dinner setting, the country house and the sort of 1930 setting feels a bit like an Aldous Huxley novel.

It's certainly an intriguing start, but thus far there are few truly new ideas. We shall see.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Three- The Creature's Revenge, Part 6

 "We have no use for them..."

So that's it. Only in this final episode are the threads finally drawn together, with Rothwyn and Eldred finally interacting with Sapphire, Steel and Silver... and it's all over quickly. It's an anti-climax. And it turns out thos is all the result of cruel experiments on animals. I'm all for political subtext but this is bit crudely blatant didacticism.

There's a bit of fun with the fact time has been reversed and the unfortunateness of the last episode has been erased, and a bit of fun with how rude Steel is to the future couple versus Sapphire being at her most aloof and Silver blatantly flirting with Rothwyn. There's also horror, with that horrible brief glimpse of the doll baby, and the revelation that both other future households- children included- died by suicide in order to protect others. Brr.

Yet the conclusion is quick, anticlimctic, overly didactic and leaves us with a six parter which is oddly paced and, while it has some good ideas, just doesn't draw them together well enough to hang together by the time we reach the conclusion.

I shall plough on, but I'm not too impressed with Sapphire & Steel right now.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Three- The Creature's Revenge, Part 5

 "I have impeccable origins."

This episode is no less full of padding- in essence it consists of Sapphire, with Steel, faffing around as they wonder what tricks in their armoury they can use to bring back Silver, who is their only ticket out of the capsule. This time, though, it's entertaining padding.

Partly it's that the ideas get some development- the mysterious creature behind all this seems close to omnipotent, and can prevent Sapphire reversing time a few minutes as she usually does. This sequence subtly allows our protagonists to review the story so far including the bits with Rothwyn and Eldred that they were not previously privy to. We also have an odd description of the creepy, nameless grown baby as the "Changeling" complete with a description of the folklore around the concept, which seems to have no bearing whatsoever.

It's weird but cool, too, to hear that Silver has been taken back to the "beginning". That's the thing about Sapphire & Steel; it doesn't half drag on a bit, but the concepts are frequently awesome. And we end on a high, even if again there's no real cliffhanger, as our protagonists finally meet a rather composed Rothwyn and a hilariously freaking out Eldred. It's nice how they used the baby as a loophole.

Let's hope the finale is good...

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Three- The Creature's Revenge, Part 4

 "There are no others..."

Here we have... a rather uneventful episode. There's some fascinatingy touchy-feely stuff between Sapphire and Silver hinting at a present or former romantic relationship, much to Steel's jealous annoyance. There's a bit of a revelation that Silver is "just a technician" whose forte is transportation and machines. Aside from this there's just a lot of vague exploration to fill the time in which our now reunited proagonists learn various things about the capsule(s) that the viewer already knows or has probably inferred.

The former baby is creepy though. And there's a fascinating debate about whether it's a baby or just a machine. But that's literally it.

At least we get a cliffhanger next time. But can some stuff actually happen next time, please?

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Three- The Creature's Revenge, Part 3

 "They wouldn't have gone back without us, would they?"

There's  not really anything like plausible deniability to the charge that this episode is blatant padding. Sapphire and Silver seem about to get entry to the capsule at the very end- fully halfway through the story as a whole. And the neat-total absence of Sapphire, after last episode's arresting cliffhanger, feels as though it may be influenced by non-diegetic factors.

Obviously, Sapphire being absent, we get to meet Steel, a charismatic, mysterious and rather camp individual. He and Sapphire flirt outrageously, amusingly causing annoyance to a jealous Steel, but he also supplies some exposition, confirming to Steel that the members of the other two expeditions from the future are dead.

The main event is, of course, where Rothwyn recognises the rather creepy young man walking towards her as "the Child", in a rathef effectively creepy scene. This is the suff of nightmares as the "Child" reaches out to Rothwyn, only for a terrifying voice to insist he use the other hand.. and something happens. Brr.

This one scene od pretty much worth the padding. But the padding really is outrageous.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Three- The Creature's Revenge, Part 2

 "We might just lose this one."

This, unexpectedly, turns out to be a superb episode, fizzling with big ideas, and utterly gripping. Despite the fact that Sapphire and Steel are still not inside the capsule by the end of the episode there's plenty to stimulate the viewer.

It's interestng to ponder what a daring piece of television this is from a modern perspective: absolutely none of the four key characters are at all fit to be audience identification figures, none of them hailing from anything close to twentieth century Earth. All of them, too, are somewhat alienating personalities. Sapphire is at her most otherwordly here; Rothwyn is positively scary; Eldred is entitled arrogance personified; and Steel is... well, Steel. That wouldn't get past the script editors these days. Plus it's most odd to see something so cool and conceptual being directed so flatly with multiple cameras.

And yet it's riveting television, and it's riveting television because of the ideas. Steel's reaction at the start shows how much we should fear these alienating "invaders" and the ineffable power of time itself. The pillow is also a swan. Rothwyn is suddenly much weirder. There's some glowing thing in the wall- possibly the "crystal" of time that bought the couple back fifteen hundred years... and the baby grows to adulthood within mere minutes.

After all this weirdness we turn to a fairly normal ending, as Steel again urges Sapphire to poke a stick at the threat and see what happens- and it isn't good, as Sapphire promptly vanishes while talking of eternal pain. Lovely.

This is bloody good, and utterly of its time.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Three- The Creature's Revenge, Part 1

 "The attack has started!"

It's the second season and the third Assignment- and you can certainly tell that it's the very early '80s with that charmingly period baby monitor, the suddenly very different cut of Steel's suit (Sapphire is very... strikingly dressed) and of the pastel shades in which all the walls are painted.

It's also an intriguing premise- a couple with a baby from fifteen centuries in the future have been living in the twentieth century for twenty-seven days as some kind of experiment, although it's amusing to note that, future or not, it's still the female of the two, Rothwyn, who is in charge of all the domestic stuff while Eldred seems to spend his time having lie-ins and mansplaining.

All is not well, though- they've lst contact with their own time, and some kind of mind-affecting polergeit thingy is in there that does worrying things with pillows. Sapphire and Steel are kept separate from them in order to make this a predictably exploratory first episode, which works reasonably well as we realise the couple live in an invisible and apparently impregnable apartment on the roof. We can also get a bit of useful exposition about how meddling with time (unless it's them doing it!) is bad and wrong.

It's an intriguing premise and holds my attention. For a moment, though, it looks as though the poltergeist thing is about to smother the baby, which seems a rather disturbing thing to show. But the pillow then moves to attack Steel which is, er, fine...

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Two- The Railway Station, Part 8

 "We'll jump off at eleven..."

After eight episodes, it all finally comes to an end- with an episode that feels awkward and, ironically, rushed. Seven episodes of too much padding and so much happens in this episode.

I can see what Hammond was going for, and there's some good stuff here. All the timey-wimeyness is shown very effectively with camera trickery rather than expensive effects. Sapphire's dark eyes- and Joanna Lumley's performance- give us a terrifying Darkness... to whom Steel, of course, is as rude as ever.

There's even a horrifying twist in Steel's betrayal of Tully, which appals even Sapphire, and Tully's trust and need for approval are heartbreaking. Yet the deal doesn't really make any sense from the Darkness' perspective, and Sam Pearce, who thinks (rightly) that Steel is a total bastard, agrees to stop being a ghost very suddenly, and appears to speak for all the other ghosts.

It doesn't work, despite the emtional kick of what happens to poor Tully; the plot holes are too big in a finale that relies on ideas rather than character drama and so can't get away with plot holes.

This serial is based on sound ideas, and there's a good (albeit much shorter) serial in here. But it's not just overly long; it's poorly paced throughout with an ending that doesn't work We end Sapphire & Steel's first season with a disappointing serial which, unfortunately, covers more than half of the season as a whole. Unfortunately the season as a whole, after a promising start, is dragged down.

Surely things get better?

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Two- The Railway Station, Part 7

 "My faith has taken a knock..."

Well, that's certainly a change of direction, and a welcome one. In some senses this feels, in spite of being a penultimate episode, that it's the first part of a two-parter at the end of the wider serial.

It takes a few minutes for Sapphire and Steel to work out that they've been moved forward twelve days in time, but these are a quality few minutes as our two protagonists work through what has happened and why.We, and they, are getting used to the status quo; the Darkness and the ghosts appear to  be gone, although Tully mentions that several new ones arrive.

And Tully is at the centre here- such a well-rounded and realistic character. He's come to experence real spitits, something he's yearned for all his life- and he's bloody terrified. The very thing that has given his life meaning proves to be something he cannot handle, and this lonely man will have to find something else to occupy his remaining years. He's a decent man, if comewhat small "c" conservative, and doesn't deserve such a devastating experience. This experience may have ruined his chances of happiness.

And yet all is not over, as Syeel wishes to make a deal with the Darkness. This serial is getting good again.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Two- The Railway Station, Part 4

 "Everything was all right until you arrived!"

Now that's better; things are happening. Admittedly the cliffhanger resolution is pretty much a mirror of the last one, this time with Steel doing the resciog by, er, walking into the sub and slowly dragging out Sapphire and Tully. But at this point the plot actually starts moving forward again, which is always good.

So Steel talks to the soldier, who hints at a plan. Tully is getting REALLY pissed off with Steel's rudeness. And Sapphire makes a chillingly cold reference, again, to Tully's life expectancy. She interacts with him while calmly knowing he has just under five years to live. Brr.

Then we get the seance, and we learn things- the young men who died so horribly in the submarine were civilian contractors, not sailors- they weren't paid to die. There's a lot of resentment here, just like the soldier, as well as hints that they have "help". Incidentally, Joanna Lumley is excellent here.

The cliffhanger, again, is unclear and in an odd place- but this is getting intriguing again. Let's hope the next episode has some plot in it too.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Two- The Railway Station, Part 3

 "Well, you should know about obsolescence, Mr Tully..."

This is, I think, the episode where things properly start to drag a bit. The cliffhanger resolution, though played out slowly, is nothing we haven't seen before, and the plot before the next cliffhanger basically consists of Steel loghting a load of lamps, with the help of a very tolerant Tully, while loudly singing "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your old Kit Bag" just to annoy the ghost. He really is a right proper git.

We don't learn a lot, really. There's a hint that there may be more to the soldiers' resentment than the mere fact that they died horribly in war, but before long we're on to a similar sort of cliffhanger, this time with Sapphire and Tully in the submarine- as Steel come across the ghost of some kind of party and, er, waves an old jumper around.

I hope this is going somewhere, I really do.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Two- The Railway Station, Part 2

 "The girls who gave us flowers..."

Things are getting more and more intriguing: we get more tantalising hints of the soldier, resenting the day he went to war in August 1914; we get some effective (yet cheap!) hints of the horrors of the Western Front; and for a while Sapphire, Steel and indeed Tully briefly meet our enigmatic, sullen young Tommy.

Our two leads, despite Steel's continued splendid rudeness, connect a little with Tully, expositing at him for our benefit while getting to listen to that tape he made at the start of last episode... and, creepily, there are voices on it, voices that we didn't hear at the time. This is creepy, unnerving, and probably a scene remembered by Steven Moffat.

The stakes are higher, suddenly; there's also the crew of a submarine and an airman who died in a dogfight (hence the cliffhanger), and Steel is worried that the station may be a "recruiting ground for the dead". there are enough cool and new concepts to keep me interested so far. But will this story run out of steam soon as the last one did...?

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Two- The Railway Station, Part 1

 "You see, it happens to be more than just a ghost..."

This episode is, in some ways, very different. This is only the second Assignment, of course: we're still exploring what this delightfully weird series is about and what it can do. This time we've already met Sapphire and Steel and so we don't need such a blatant audience identification figure like Rob: instead we get George Tully, a ghost hunter in late middle age, and said ghost haunting a disused railway platform which presumably fell victim to the dreaded Dr Beeching and his snip, snip, snip.

It's an eerie setting, all the way through. There's a little dry humour in Steel's rudeness towards Tully, needing to be smoothed over by the more diplomatic Sapphire, and a fair bit of subtle amusement on Sapphire's part on her partner's lack of social graces. This is a nice little character touch.

But there's a lot of intrigue too. What is this thing that appears to be a ghost? In our brief glimpses it appears to be a first world war soldier, and when Sapphire's clothes briefly change she starts to look Edwardian. And the late October night seems to smell like summer- the mof 1914? And , at the end, we have a sudden ghostly feelng of hate and resentment. I'm intrigued. This is a solid start.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment One- Escape Through a Crack in Time, Part 6

 "Goodbye, Rob."

Probably best not to analyse this last episode too much; some stuff happens and we're back at the beginning, courtest of "The House That Jack Built". It's an entertaining spectacle, especially with Rob in the past as the house is being built, and all the storytelling beats are there... but it makes no real narrative sense. This episode feels oddly as though it's not so much a final episode but just a series of events in the shape of a final episode.

Again, no new cool concepts are introduced; this is about finishing things rather than throwing new ideas around. It all feels dramatic enough but there's a real vagueness to what happens.

This first serial, overall, introduces a mindblowingly good concept and throws loads of equally mindblowing ideas at us... but at six parts it's about a third too long, and most of the cool ideas are focused in the early episodes. This is what prevents what was a promising story from being quite as good overall as the early episodes seemed to indicate.

Still, overall this is a promising start. On to the next serial...

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment One- Escape Through a Crack in Time, Part 5

 "They're the real danger, the real threat. Nothing else is."

I love this serial, as all the gushing I've done maks quite clear. But, unfortunately this episode, while it fills the time adequately enough, suffers from a fairly obvious case of Penultimate Episode Syndrome. It's far too obvious that it's just passng the time until the finale.

The main point is that all three patches of light are now loose, and there is much peril. Other than that, the main thing is Rob being persuaded into the cellar by something pretending to be hia dad, ending with Lead ripping the cellar door open so that he, Sapphire and Steel can venture in for the finale.

And that's it; no new fresh conceptual weirdness to stimulate our minds this time. There's a nice character bit about how Steel, being so stern and serious, is rubbish with kids (such as Helen, while both Sapphire and the big but cheerful Lead are much better in this regard- the contrast is basically me both before and after I became a dad.

So let's proceed to the finale...

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment One- Escape Through a Crack in Time, Part 4

 "Well, I sank the real one, yes."

In some ways this fourth episode gives us spins on what we've already seen, not that this is a bad thing as the concepts have hardly lost their novelty. Hence we have last week's haunting cliffhanger resolved by Steel having frozen himself to absolute zero, returning Sapphire to reality somehow, and freezing the Roundheads. We have a new nursery rhyme at the end causing wind, well-directed chaos and more Roundheads. Again, we have a compelling piece of weird horror that doesn't place huge demands on the budget.

We also, this time, get some answers as to whom Sapphire and Steel are- although, as the best answers do, they only serve to give us further questions. So the oft-mentioned ship turns out to have been the Mary Celeste. And, as Sapphire tells Rob, there are 127beings like Steel and herself- only for Steel to reduce that number to 115 because the "Transuranics" are unstable. That still doesn't explain why Sapphire, Steel, and several other agents named in the opening monologue are not actually elements but never mind.

Of course, the episode is mostly about the appearance of Lead, a jolly giant with mysterious "insulation" powers. He's full of intriguing gossip, too- "Jet sends her love", and "Copper's having problems with Silver- again". I suspect al this will never be fully fleshed at, only hinted at like this- which is as it should be. I wonder how much more mythology will be let slip over the series.

This is still excellent stuff, pacing its six parts very well indeed.