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Following on from "Death Scouts", which wasn't about deaths or scouting, and "Killer Spores", which didn't feature either spores or killers, I was wondering what to expect of an episode called "The Disappearances". It did manage a couple of them, though. Kind of. Elizabeth sort of vanished briefly, but there didn't seem to be any particular confusion over where she had gone, so that's not really much of a disappearance, is it. Anyway, she's set up by somebody claiming to be a lawyer, and is whisked away to an underwater lair, where various famous scientists have been gathered by a nut who hates the way that society has gone, and plans to start afresh. Said scientists are under a form of mind control... It's the first episode again, basically, but with a woman in place of Schubert. They do manage a bit of excitement and peril this time, though. In fact I rather enjoyed this episode. Elizabeth's 'disappearance' is rather rubbish, and she goes along with her kidnappers bizarrely meekly. They even gag her without bothering to tie her hands, and she makes no attempt to take the gag off. Mark's attempt to stop the abduction is nice. I do like how he runs out of steam when he's been out of the water a while, and starts to lose strength fast. Odd bit when he gets locked in an old boat house, though - harmlessly as far as the crooks know, although of course we know differently, since he's already gasping. In objecting to it, Elizabeth refers to him as a boy. I guess that neatly dismisses any notion of them winding up in some awkward romance, if she thinks of him that way, but I'm rather baffled. Duffy was in his late twenties when he made MFA, which hardly qualifies for boyhood. And Belinda Montgomery (Elizabeth) is younger than him. Still, women are referred to as girls often enough, I suppose.
Mark's imprisonment in the boathouse is a bit of a mixed blessing, actually. On the one hand it starts out as a nice scene, with him so out of his element, and there's a fair bit of tension even though of course he's going to make it. Thing is, his 'dying' seems to go on forever. We're shown that - oh no! - he's doing to die! But he's still there a few hours later... and oh no! He's dying! And then a few hours later he's still about to die. In fact he's lying there being about to die all night. It does rather ruin the moment.
Anyway, then he and the engaging Miller go rushing to Elizabeth's rescue, where they very politely don't make mention of the fact that they've found themselves back in episode one. As mentioned before, this time the nutcase in charge is a woman, who wants to take her 'worthy' section of humanity off into space, which I suppose makes her mildly less of a nutcase than Schubert. Or less of an antisocial one anyway. He wanted to destroy humanity, she wants to go blindly off into space in a tiny rocket, with very little air in it. How fast could it travel? How far is she expecting to go in it? How many air tanks does she have on board, and how much food, given that she's supposedly taking several people with her? Not all of her 'disappeared' assistants, but some. Anyway, Mark scuppers her plans by proving inexplicably immune to her form of mind control, which is also exactly how he scuppered Schubert's plans back in episode one. Except with less exploding this time, and no poor drowned orcas. Our nut blasts herself off into space alone, which at least gives her a better chance of getting somewhere, since she won't have to share the food and air with anybody else. I'm still betting on her being long dead before she makes suitable landfall, though. Still, I won't argue too much about that, since she was clearly bonkers, and no doubt had impaired reasoning. And since it's the first episode that's actually managed to build any tension, I'm prepared to forgive it just about anything anyway. Elizabeth is still entirely surplus to requirements (she has done nothing so far at all, except save Mark's life back in episode one); and there's way too much recycling of plots going on. In all fairness, though, Patrick Duffy is managing to keep things moving along through sheer personality alone, and that's no mean feat.
I cannot tell you how much I want to like this show. Sadly, however, from here on in it's pretty much downhill all the way.
Mark's imprisonment in the boathouse is a bit of a mixed blessing, actually. On the one hand it starts out as a nice scene, with him so out of his element, and there's a fair bit of tension even though of course he's going to make it. Thing is, his 'dying' seems to go on forever. We're shown that - oh no! - he's doing to die! But he's still there a few hours later... and oh no! He's dying! And then a few hours later he's still about to die. In fact he's lying there being about to die all night. It does rather ruin the moment.
Anyway, then he and the engaging Miller go rushing to Elizabeth's rescue, where they very politely don't make mention of the fact that they've found themselves back in episode one. As mentioned before, this time the nutcase in charge is a woman, who wants to take her 'worthy' section of humanity off into space, which I suppose makes her mildly less of a nutcase than Schubert. Or less of an antisocial one anyway. He wanted to destroy humanity, she wants to go blindly off into space in a tiny rocket, with very little air in it. How fast could it travel? How far is she expecting to go in it? How many air tanks does she have on board, and how much food, given that she's supposedly taking several people with her? Not all of her 'disappeared' assistants, but some. Anyway, Mark scuppers her plans by proving inexplicably immune to her form of mind control, which is also exactly how he scuppered Schubert's plans back in episode one. Except with less exploding this time, and no poor drowned orcas. Our nut blasts herself off into space alone, which at least gives her a better chance of getting somewhere, since she won't have to share the food and air with anybody else. I'm still betting on her being long dead before she makes suitable landfall, though. Still, I won't argue too much about that, since she was clearly bonkers, and no doubt had impaired reasoning. And since it's the first episode that's actually managed to build any tension, I'm prepared to forgive it just about anything anyway. Elizabeth is still entirely surplus to requirements (she has done nothing so far at all, except save Mark's life back in episode one); and there's way too much recycling of plots going on. In all fairness, though, Patrick Duffy is managing to keep things moving along through sheer personality alone, and that's no mean feat.
I cannot tell you how much I want to like this show. Sadly, however, from here on in it's pretty much downhill all the way.
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