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 6

"We shouldn't be here on this particular assignment."

The upsurge in quality continues this episode, as we get some excellent character moments with all three of our main characters. This is there from the start as a curiously subdued and even contrite Steel is almost polite to Tully.

Sapphire is still in a coma, psychically "lost" after the impromptu end to the seance, yet apparently also on the paltform as a ghost with the others. This leads to two parallel scenes- Tully talks to the comatose Sapphire about himself, his life and, poignantly, his wish to reach an old age we know he will never reach, having less than five years to live. Steel has a curioussly awkward talk with Sapphire, whom he admits he "loves", with their usual mutual ease and affection curiously absent as she tries to persuade him the ghosts are harmless. It doesn't work, of course, but this is a rare and fascinating character moment.

We also learn more of the airman, desparate to find any mission other than the one he has as his last one before leave. I'm sure we will see more of him, but we end with the best cliffhanger yet- Steel wounded, on barbed wire, waiting to be shelled...

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Two- The Railway Station, Part 5

 "I don't want to talk to you!"

At last- an episode with lots of exposition and lots of answers.

The episode may consist mostly of the seance continuing (Joanna Lumley is outstanding, spending most of the episode as Edwardian village schoolteacher Eeanor), but we learn so very much. The soldier was Sam Pearce. He was in a relationship with his old teacher, twelve years his senior. He was a sweet boy, who loved nature... and he was killed eleven minutes after the armistice on 11th November 1918. That's his grievance; it's not just that he was killed in a war, but the deep unfairness of being killed after the war was over.

There's more, of course. There are hints about the "Darkness. Steel continues to alienate everyone by being such a rude git, and seems to struggle without Sapphire being there to handle the diplomacy. And we see the airman being sent out on his final mission, presumably to be elaborated on later.

I enjoyed this episode. It's amazing what a difference it makes when stuff actually happens. There's a good story here, it's just padded out over a ridiculous number of episodes.

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.