Again, the flashbacks were on-hand to illuminate decisions and reponses the crew make when dealing with any given crisis. "Bacon" was a medically-focused episode, revealing that Donner (Ron Livingstone) can't stand the sight of blood, that Zoe (Laura Harris) terminated her pregnancy and fell sick because of an ovarian cyst, and that Mintz's hallucinations of a little girl trapped under rubble is a repressed memory of wartime horror. The problem with the flashbacks is that there's never much doubt about what's going to happen in them (it's evident nobody will die or fail to get picked for the mission), and we can construe a lot from people's interactions aboard Anthares without needing a flashback to confirm things.
Still, there was mild fun in seeing someone cut their thumb off in zero-gravity, leading to thousands of blood droplets suspended in the air that had to be sucked up by vacuum cleaner, and I quite enjoy the glimpses of 2052's technology and culture (a recreational drug exists that's totally undetectable, for e.g.) But it's all trimmings to what was ultimately a thin episode that didn't have the guts to surprise you. I had my fingers crossed that Paula would die, if only to see how the crew would handle that tragedy -- particularly Wassenfelder (Dylan Taylor), who blamed himself for her accident. And how would they have dealt with the body -- put it on-ice until they return home for a proper funeral, or launch her into space? We'll never know, as everything was wrapped up too neatly and Mintz saved the day.
It's never a good sign when you find yourself intrigued by imagined alternatives to the story being presented, is it.
14 November 2009
BBC2/BBC HD, 10.40pm
written by: Meredith Lavender directed by: Marcie Ulin starring: Ron Livingston (Maddux Donner), Malik Yoba (Ted Shaw), Andrew Airlie (Mike Goss), Paula Garcés (Paula Morales), Florentine Lahme (Nadia Schilling), Karen LeBlanc (Eve Weller-Shaw), Ty Olsson (Rollie Crane),Eyal Podell (Dr. Evram Mintz), Maxim Roy (Claire Dereux), Dylan Taylor (Steve Wassenfelder), Christina Cox (Jen Crane) & Laura Harris (Zoe Barnes)
