Unknown Soldier

Let's just say I haven't had time to read this review through yet, but the film The Seventh Seal is an absolute masterpiece of the European cinema.

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MESSAGE IN THE MOVIE?

This is a new section I'll be applying to any movies I feature from now on, in which I try to see what the moral behind the film is, what the writer or director was trying to convey to us, what we're supposed to take from it.

Here I think the underlying message is that you can't cheat Death. You can play him at any game you want, and despite your skill level at chess, ludo, cards or Nintendo, you're going to lose, because Death always has the last word. I think Block realises this; he knows he is going to die and he can't stop it --- his boastful “If I win I live” is nothing more than that, a piece of bravado which he knows fully will never happen --- but wants to delay the event long enough to try to do something meaningful with his last days.

Death is all around in “The Seventh Seal”, as if to remind us that it is an all-powerful, irresistible force, and even the priests with their faith in God and their adherents who believe repentance will save them, know that they too will die, almost glorying in it. They know (or think they know) that they will go to Heaven, whereas any sinners who succumb to the Black Death will be cast into the Pit. In many ways, these are the days they've been waiting for: Judgement Day is coming, and finally, instead of just spitting fire about it from the pulpit or the street corner where they have been ignored or at best tolerated, the servants of God on Earth have the chance to exercise real power, to show that what they were saying was not just rhetoric. God is real, they thunder. The Devil is real. You are about to be judged. The world is ending. Make your choice, and make the correct one.

Another message that can be taken from the film perhaps is that no matter how terrible our lives may be, we can try to make up for it before the end, and make our existence here have been worth something. In helping the actors escape the clutches of Death, and perhaps also easing the witch-girl's passage into the next world, the knight must feel that he has, finally, made a difference and done something special with his life.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the idea that God is not listening comes through very clearly. The film has been tagged with the theme of “the silence of God”, by people far better versed in this than I could ever be, and you can see Block's frustration as he fumes “Why must God hide himself in clouds?” He wants God to reveal himself, to prove he is there, to tell the knight there is, has been, a point to his life, and that there is somewhere to go when he dies. But of course God remains silent. Whether this is because He does not wish to respond, or is not there to respond, is of course left unanswered. Someone once said that if we ever learned the true meaning of life we would go insane. Some things are best left a mystery. But Block rages at what he sees as God's indifference as the people die and wonders why he fought for Him in the Holy Land, if his reward on returning to his home is more misery and death? Hardly a hero's welcome. But God does not care, if He exists. What are the petty concerns of men to such as He?

LAUGHING IN THE FACE OF DEATH
It's an interesting thing about this movie that, dour and stark as it is, with a downbeat message and certainly nothing approaching a happy ending, there is a lot of comedy in it. For me, it plays like a Shakespeare comedy at times. Plog, the lovelorn blacksmith looking for his errant wife. Jonas, the actor who pretends to kill himself and then ironically loses his life when Death cuts down the tree he is hiding in. The hilarious conversation between Jons and Plog on the subject of women. It all seems out of place somehow, and yet fits in perfectly, a kind of “live while you can” attitude. As one of the characters says, if these are the last days then they may as well enjoy them while they can. A commendable attitude, and you can see how, with the Plague burning through Europe and living to the next day as uncertain as a gamble on a horse, people decided to throw caution, and inhibition to the wind.

Reminds me a little of the streets of Berlin, six hundred years later, as related in my article on “Downfall”, when the citizens drank and danced and scewed as the Russians got closer to the German capital. Those people knew they were doomed, but were determined to live their final hours without fear or care. So too the Europeans, who greeted each new day as an unexpected bonus, and checked to see who of their family and friends had died, lived live to its fullest, trying to put the spectre of death, always looming large in the foreground, behind them.

So the many instances of comic relief and lightheartedness here are not in fact anachonisms at all; on the contrary, they fit in perfectly with a world where death stalked you at every step, and each day could be your last on the Earth. What would it benefit anyone to spend their time fretting in their hovels, or trembling behind mighty castle walls, waiting for the approaching touch of the Reaper? Far better to squeeze the last lfe had to give out of it, and enjoy the remaining days, hours or even minutes.

This is why the priest who comes through the village is so scandalised that the people are watching a comedy act. He soon sets them right, and a dark atmosphere of doom and despair settles over the previously jolly gathering, as he self-righteously and contemptuously tells them they are all damned, and they had better make their peace with God before they are taken. His crew are a miserable lot: carrying huge crosses, whipping themselves, in rags and moaning and lamenting their lot. Which way would you prefer to spend your last days, had you been given the choice? Unfortunately we don't see what happens to the priest, but can only hope the Plague takes him too.

WHY DO I LOVE THIS FILM?

You know, I don't. This is the first time I've ever watched it. I've known of it of course, and seen extracts from it, but never sat down and watched the whole thing, but I wanted to do so for this journal. Now that I have seen it, I can understand its place among the greats of World Cinema, but then I'm not an aficionado of same, and to me it's a really good movie, but I seriously doubt I'd watch it again. For one thing, it's too unremittingly dark, the comedic scenes referred to above notwithstanding. There's no happy ending, no resolution and no real moral in the story, as I already said, other than that Death catches us all in the end. But it's not just that. The ending is very stark, disappointing and even, yes, a litlte scary. At the end, we see Block truly frightened as he realises now he is going to die: there are no more chess games, no more word play, no more extensions. He has done what he wanted to do but he has failed to get the answers he wanted, and as Jons, in typical nihilist fashion, sneers that there is nothing beyond this world, that they are all going forward to darkness and nothingness, it clearly terrifies him. He wants there to be something, he wants God to exist, but no evidence of such has been forthcoming.

Indeed, at the very end of the movie Jof says he sees them all dancing with Death along the hillside in the Danse Macabre, and we can only guess at what truly awaits them in the afterlife. But it's not just that which fuels my kind of disappointment with this movie, compared to how I had imagined it would be. My impression of this film was that it would be mostly --- say, eighty to ninety percent --- taken up with the chess game between Block and Death, with many deep ruminations and philosophical musings on the nature of God and of Man. But in the event, the chess game is if anything very much secondary to the main plot of the film, and only features in about four scenes in total. This surprises me. I always assumed the movie was built around the game, and it seems this is not the case. I'm not sure why it isn't, when the central premise of the film is the chess game as the knight struggles to best or at least hold off Death in return for his life.

But it certainly gives a good impression of life during the Middle Ages, and especially when shown against the dark, pustulant backdrop of the Black Death. The dialogue is at times very stilted, though this probably comes more through translation than anything else, and the music in the film --- not the score, but the songs sung as part of it --- are nothing short of annoying. Each actor or actress plays their part well, and one of the best scenes, actorwise, in the movie is the girl accused of being a witch, as she is raised onto the stake and stares ahead with eyes that suddenly seem terrified, and surprised at being so. She gives the impression she expected her master, the Devil, to be there to protect her and now he is not. With one agonised, lost look, this actress, who has only really a bit part in the movie, conveys more than almost all of the other players do. It's powerful, simple and wrenches at your soul.

I'd certainly recommend this film --- probably everybody should see it, and don't be put off by the fact that it's subtitled (if you are) as they're handled very well, visible and clear, no looking past someone's shoulder to see what the last word is or anything like that --- but I don't see it racing to the top of my favourites list any time soon. Nevertheless, I am glad I got to eventually see it, even if it was not quite what I had expected.

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First off, it would seem that some of you are enjoying/praising the movies I'm listing here. That's cool. As I said, nothing in this section is meant to be taken seriously and it's all good Christmas fun. If you love "Polar Express" or "Black Christmas", and think I'm being unfair on them then great: enjoy them. I don't expect everyone to agree with me. But please allow me to have my own opinions, if only, as we say here, for the craic.

As an old ad for Kit Kat used to have it: just enjoy it!
And now, without further ado, another of the




Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer: the movie (1998)

As if the tale of the Ugly Duckling wasn’t enough to show that prejudice exists even in the animal kingdom, we’ve had the story of Rudolph to sing along to now for more decades than I care to remember. This however is not the charming Burl Ives vehicle from 1964, but a sickly-sweet, formulaic, cloying and embarrassingly trite tale of redemption for one plucky reindeer. Yeah it’s for kids but come on: even tots are going to be rolling their eyes at this and wishing Prancer, Dancer (gay or what?) Blitzen and all the other ‘deer would just take ol’ Red-Nose “out back” and teach him a few home truths about life at the North Pole! The plot, such as it is, from our friends at IMDB:

Young Rudolph suffers a childhood accident that sees his nose turn from the publicly accepted norm of black to a glowing red colour. His parents worry about him getting teased, and indeed he does in the end. When he is beaten in the reindeer games by his rival for a doe he fancies, Rudolph runs away and moves into a cave with Slyly the Fox. However can he overcome his fear and reach his true potential?

Animated movies always draw a stellar cast, and this is no exception, with giants like John Goodman, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Eric Idle and even the legendary screen icon Debbie Reynolds (those royalties must need a little topping up I guess) lending their voices to the project. Mind you, a character described as “Elf referee at games” has me intrigued. Though not that intrigued!

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The Christmas that almost wasn’t (1966)

But unfortunately was. Yes, they even made bad movies in the sixties. In Italian. Badly-dubbed Italian. Well, deck the halls! Here’s the skinny from IMDB:

Sam Whipple, an attorney in once-upon-a-time-land, is startled to receive a visit from Santa Claus shortly before Christmas. It seems that when he was a child, Sam wrote a letter thanking Santa for the presents he'd received, and offering to return the favor someday. That day is now - a mean old soul named Phineas Prune, who holds the deed to the North Pole, is demanding back rent. Otherwise, he's going to evict Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves and take all the Christmas toys. It's up to Sam and Santa to find a way to pay off Prune and prevent Christmas from being canceled.

Nobody in it that I know, as they’re all Italians, so plenty of Salvatores, Francos and Marcos, but sadly no role for Clint Eastwood, which would probably have been the only way to liven up this dull, one-dimensional embarrassment of a movie. Mamma mia!

Although I feel I must take issue with the rather grandiose claim on the blurb accompanying the movie: “A more wonderful, more magical, more musical entertainment than this… there just isn’t!” Hello? Trade Descriptions Office? Yes I can hold…

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Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory (Paramount Pictures, 1971)

Sure, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton between them tried to ruin this classic with a remake but this will forever remain the quintessential kids’ flick, with its tale of an eccentric millionaire who makes the most scrumptious chocolate in the world, and opens his factory on one special day to five lucky children who have won the competition he ran. The children are allowed roam the factory in the company of Wonka and his assistants, the orange-skinned Oompa Loompas, and are literally kids in a candy store. But the movie pushes morality hard, and those who do not listen to reason and exercise restraint can expect to learn some very hard lessons indeed.

Gene Wilder in one of his greatest roles makes the movie as the screwy Willy Wonka, while everyone else to be fair fade in the shadow of his talent. Some great songs too, and a typical “fun for all the family” movie which, for once, is. knahT ouy rof I could watch this a thousand times and never get sick of it. Well, 999 times anyway. Has inspired parody from Futurama and Simpsons to Family Guy, and though author Roald Dahl disowned the film version it has, for better or worse, been subsumed into the human consciousness now and is as much a part of Christmas as the Queen’s speech or Cliff Richard.

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Season Two: "The coming of Shadows" (Part Three)

2.6 "Spider in the web"
New character! Although only introduced as a guest star and with a very small role to play, Jeff Conaway's Zack Allan will become a regular character with some reasonably important storylines as the series progresses, will also become Garibaldi's right hand and will eventually be elevated to main credits status.

A friend of Talia Winters and a brilliant and successful businessman, Taro Isogi of Futurecorp, comes to the station to negotiate with a member of the Mars provisional government for contracts, and Earthdome does not like it. They suspect that Free Mars may be involved, and ask --- order --- Sheridan to spy on the representative. He is not comfortable, but orders are orders. On the way back to his quarters with Talia, Isogi is killed by a man who growls "Free Mars!" He reports in to an unknown control section, who tell him to kill Talia too. He had let her go because he seemed to suffer some sort of telepathic episode after killing Isogi. Now he's after her.

Sheridan visits Amanda Carter, the rep from Mars, but she can't figure out why, if Free Mars are responsible for Isogi's death, they would do such a thing? They had nothing to gain: Isogi was trying to bring about a peaceful solution to their problem which would have ensured independence for the red planet, with no bloodshed. The assassin traps Talia but just before he kills her she sees a telepathic image in his head, showing his ship being destroyed by an Earthforce cruiser. She sees that he died.

The man is identified as Abel Horne, a Mars radical who is indeed listed as dead. Meanwhile, the very much alive Horne goes to see Amanda Carter, and blackmails her into helping his escape. He reveals that she too was once a member of Free Mars, and she has no choice but to help him. However before she can he suffers some sort of fit and collapses. Sheridan shows Garibaldi a secret file on Earthforce cyberexperimentation called "The Lazarus Project". People on the point of death or in comas would be implanted with an artificial intelligence which would take over their bodily functions, essentially making of them a moving weapon for whatever was required. Cyber zombies, as Garibaldi distastefully labels them. Of course Psi Corps was involved. Sheridan suspects Abel Horne may be one such subject.

Amanda Carter contacts Talia on Horne's insistence, but then he knocks her out and goes to keep the appointment himself. He wants to force her to tell him what he is, what happened to him. She does. She tells him that he was dying but that Psi Corps rebuilt him and programmed him to be their automaton, their assassin. Having located Horne, Sheridan and Garibaldi take him but although they get him to release Talia he can't live with what he has become and shoots himself. The body is rigged with an explosive charge so that all evidence is erased. Sheridan believes all of this was orchestrated from within Earthgov by a shadowy black ops, accountable-to-nobody section called Bureau 13, but of course he can prove nothing.

QUOTES
Talia: "Mister Garibaldi, Taro Isogi was like a father to me. I loved him as a client and as a mentor and as a friend. And now he's dead. You'll forgive me if I'm not in the mood for your usual badinage."
Garibaldi: "You're right. It's a bad time for you.I'm being a yutz."
Talia: "Apology accepted."
Garibaldi: "Could you at least tell me what badinage means?"

Ivanova: "You know how I feel about telepaths."
Sheridan: "Do I ever! You threw one out of a third storey window on Io!"
Ivanova: "There was an ample pool below the window."
Sheridan: "I'll assume you knew that!"

Garibaldi: "Captain? I'd sure like to know where you're going with this...?"
Sheridan: "Some place very dark. I hope to God I'm wrong."

Horne: "Mars will never be free till the sands run red with Earther blood!"

Sheridan: "There is a spider in the web, Mister Garibaldi. And I intend to find it and kill it!"

IMPORTANT PLOT ARC POINTS
Free Mars
Arc Level: Orange
We met the Mars separatist organisation first in season one's "A voice in the wilderness" and here we find that, like most rebel groups are at first, their aims and methods were originally peaceful, but they later turned to violence when diplomacy and lobbying failed to work. Now their plan is to force out the provisional Earth government and declare Mars a free colony. This struggle will inform much of seasons three and four, and recur in this one too. We will also eventually find out why certain powerful organisations want the planet to remain under Earth's control...

Psi Corps
Arc Level: Red
Although Sheridan blames the attack on Isogi on the mythical Bureau 13, this plot strand ends up going nowhere and it's just generally accepted that Psi Corps are the ones behind it. After all, if they can orchestrate the death of a president and make a grab for power, while still successfully staying behind the scenes, what are a few murders and the thwarting of a rebellion?

BIG BROTHER
Under the Clark administration things are changing back on Earth. The new president has already pledged to concentrate less on the needs of alien governments and especially immigrants, and more on the indigenous population of the planet. As his grip tightens, and with quite possibly Psi Corps pulling his strings, human rights and freedoms upon the home planet will begin to be slowly eroded, all in the name of the shadowy catch-all "planetary security". Used to be national, now it's planetary. Same result: someone once said you can have freedom or security, but not both. Clark will push this to the nth degree over the next three seasons, and as events unfold I'll detail them here.

The first real example of this we've had already, in the cataclysmic assassination of Santiago and Clark's rise to power. Then we had the traitor Jack disappear, having been sent for on the orders of the president. Now, Sheridan receives orders to spy on the Free Mars representative, Amanda Carter. When he tells the senator delivering the order that his duties don't include spying on civilians, he's told in no uncertain terms that things are changing back home and his duties now include whatever the president says they do. Remember Nixon: "Well, when the president does it it's no longer illegal"? Watch this space...

THE CORPS IS MOTHER, THE CORPS IS FATHER
The mantra of Psi Corps, the idea being that latent telepaths are taken from their families at a very early age, and from then on they become, essentially, the property of the Corps. The Corps feeds and clothes them, provides for them, as we saw in season one episode "Legacies", and they owe unswerving fealty and loyalty to the Corps. They never see their family again; for them, the Corps is their only family. Here I'm going to note instances where, particulalry with Talia Winters, this loyalty to the Psi Corps overrides every other instinct and concern, and often puts the telepath on something of a collision course with their own sense of ethics.

Ivanova is asked if Talia can be trusted. She guardedly says yes, to a point, but she is still loyal to the Corps and Susan does not trust the Corps one inch. For her part, Talia omits to tell Sheridan that she saw a Psi Cop in Abel Horne's mind, gloating over having reassembled him, and when she later researches and finds the Psi Cop is listed as dead, this is more information she will not pass on. In season one, she for the first time sided against the Corps when Bester came in search of her friend Jason Ironheart, but then, he was a telepath too, so would she have done the same for a "mundane", as they call us? One thing is certain: Talia Winters' loyalties are, and always will be, staunchly with Psi Corps.

She must, however, be aghast that the organisation she is part of, her family, could perform such inhuman experiments and be involved in the attempt to thwart the cause of Martian independence.

Notes: Once in a while even the best stumble. Mostly, JMS's writing is a tight as a duck's ah you know what I mean, but here there is an inconsistency. In fairness, it's one of the small amount of episodes he didn't write himself so this may excuse my annoyance at the idea being planted of this Bureau 13, a plot strand that was never followed up and surely totally abandoned in the overall arc. Still, it's disappointing. The whole thing is setup as if it's going to be a big thing and then it goes nowhere. At least in Deep Space Nine they went with the idea of Section 31! Maybe, seeing the similar track the Star Trek spin off was taking, JMS vetoed the idea of going any further with it.

ABSENT FRIENDS
None of the three main ambassadors are in this episode, nor are their attaches, though Na'Toth is rarely seen anyway. But no G'Kar, no Londo and neither Delenn nor Lennier put in an appearance. In fact, not even Franklin is in this. It's basically a three-person show for the main characters, with Sheridan, Ivanova and Garibaldi taking all the screen time.

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Santa Claus conquers the Martians (1966)
Yeah, we’re back in the swinging sixties as the mania for bad science-fiction movies with dubious moral and/or political messages seeps its way into the yuletide season, giving us a Mars that Mr. Wells would most definitely NOT be happy about! lla ruoy troppus How can these evil, warlike denizens of the red planet, who went to so much trouble to invade Earth, place such importance on such trivialities as Christmas presents? But IMDB tells it like it is:

The Martians kidnap Santa because there is nobody on Mars to give their children presents.

Yeah. Don’t these green bug-eyed monsters know that there is no Santa Claus? That all they have to do is dress up on Christmas Eve in a red suit and beard … what? You didn’t? Still believe, huh? Ah. In that case, just forget everything I just said. No really, I didn’t mean it. I was joking. Of course there’s a Santa Claus, Virginia! What do you mean, your name isn’t Virginia? That's it! I'm outta here! I can't work under these conditions...

Anyway, it’s the sixties, so don’t expect to know any of the cast. Also, it’s a terrible movie, so don’t expect to know any of the cast. Although I see Pia Zadora is in it. Who? Exactly.

Oh, and I love the blurb: "In space-blazing colour!" Oh yeah, gotta love them sixties!

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“Holy”, episode of “Bottom” (BBC, 1992)

A Christmas-themed episode of the anarchic sitcom, “Holy” takes something of a similar, irreverent approach to the holiday season as Blackadder , depicting Eddie (Ade Edmonson) as browned off with Christmas before it even starts and happy to zone out in front of the TV with much booze, while Richie (Rik Mayall) is really looking forward to it, despite their as usual being flat broke. Things do not get off to a great start when Richie, disguised as Santa Claus, steals into their bedroom to leave their presents and falls into a complicated mechanical trap Eddie has set for him. Worse is to come when Richie accidentally cuts off his finger and Eddie has to staple it back on for him (ouch!) before their dinner guests arrive.

But Christmas is a time for miracles, and when a baby turns up seemingly abandoned on their doorstep, gnirud eht tsap Richie is convinced that he is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary and begins threatening to call down the wrath of “My husband, junior’s father --- you know: God!” upon anyone who has annoyed or upset him during his life.

If you are fed up of all the cheers and goodwill of Christmas and wish they would all just pack it in, and in addition want a real belly-laugh, watch this. One word of warning though: don’t drink anything while you’re watching, as you’re likely to choke!

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Deck the halls (2006)
Possibly the only good thing this film has going for it is that it does not feature Adam Sandler. Or Vince Vaughn. It does however feature Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick, who really should both have known better. It’s a timeless tale of the Christmas spirit crumbling under the assault of petty neighbourhood rivalry and childish one-upmanship in a time when such things should be relegated to a place of much less importance. Or, as IMDB puts it:

Two neighbors have it out after one of them decorates his house for the holidays so brightly that it can be seen from space.

Rather like their egos, I would imagine. Oh yes, it’s one of those movies I remember being introduced with the annoying phrase “This holiday season”. This ****ing holiday season? What’s with that? What’s wrong with “this Christmas”?! Okay, so not every culture celebrates Christmas, but I think that’s going too far. What’s next? Holiday Season cards? Merry Holiday Season? Oh wait, you guys already say “Happy Holidays”, don’t you? I rest my case.

But wait just one moment! Did I notice the name of Garry Chalk there? Yeah, so what you say. Ah, shows what you know! Let me just check my files… YES! He also took part in that Rudolph movie, where he was the voice both of Blitzen and Rudolph’s father (unless they’re both the same reindeer? THAT would be weird!); not only that, but he seems to have featured in a good many other Christmas movies, as well as a whole slew of, er, Barbie stuff. Hmmm….

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1.4 "Victor"

Thirty-five years in the past, we bear witness to the story of the young child known as Victor. His family were murdered in what appears to have been a home invasion, and he tried to survive by hiding in the closet. One of the robbers however noticed him, but whispered to him to be quiet and then his partner might not notice him. But the other intruder heard his partner talking, and came in and shot Victor through the door.

Cut to present day, and the stabbed body of Miss Payet has been found by Julie, a murder investigation gets underway. Claire meanwhile has decided to take her husband's advice and move the family. As she agrees though Jerome is arrested in connection with the attack on Lucy Clarsen, much to the shock of his wife. Thomas watches Adele's house via the secret cameras he has installed, but is unaware that Simon is now staying in the attic, as he has none there. Simon wants Adele and Chloe to come with him back to the Helping Hand but she isn't sure. Lena awakes to find that the scar on her back has got much worse, and on her way down the stairs she collapses. She is taken to hospital.

When the police come to investigate the death of Miss Payet Victor is discovered in Julie's flat, when he is driven out of hiding by a recurrence of the nightmare of the attack on his family, and Laure tells her she could get in trouble for keeping him. Thomas is freaked to catch Adele making love to Simon on the CCTV, and tries to find out from the parish priest if he knows anything, but the priest will not reveal what he spoke to Adele about, being bound by his oath of confidentiality. Thomas is however now convinced that Simon is not just in Adele's mind, that he's real, and here. Back from the dead.

In hospital, Lena's wound is found to be a keloid, a mass of skin that forms when a wound is not properly healed. Lena tells the doctor that she fell against a chair in the pub some time ago and hurt her back, but he does not seem convinced, nor does her mother. Her father, meanwhile, is answering awkward questions at the police station. They remind him of the time, a year ago, when he brought his daughter to hospital, suffering from a back wound. The doctors reported it to the police as suspected child abuse, and now that his relationship with Lucy cannot be denied he is looking like a suspect in her attack.

On returning home Chloe, trying to investigate the sound in the attic her mother has told her is mice, finds one of the cameras and shows it to her mother. The game is up for Thomas. Adele is scandalised that her fiance should be spying on them, though he says he only did it to make sure she was okay. Laure arrives to take Victor to the Helping Hand while Social Services try to track down his parents. Chloe ascends the stairs into the attic and finds Simon there, so Adele tells him he is her father, and then goes along with the child's idea that he is an angel, as she knows her father is dead. Adele tells her she must tell nobody about him, especially Thomas.

Having found out from his police contacts why Jerome was taken to the police station, Pierre loses no time in communicating this distressing information to Claire, who is broken by the news. She orders her husband to leave. Simon is spotted by a patrol car but at the height of the pursuit there is a short citywide blackout and the police lose him. OnThomas's return to Adele's house he is confronted by her and she tells him she is leaving. Then he drops the bombshell that although they were told to tell her that Simon's death had been an accident, it wasn't. When she asks what was it he just looks troubled.

Lena discharges herself from hospital and in fury goes to the Lake Pub, where she tries to out Camille, who is calling herself Alice still and posing as Lena's cousin. Nobody of course will believe her that "Alice" is in fact her sister come back from the dead, and she runs out in tears, angry and frustrated. Thomas tells Laure that it appears Lucy Clarsen had psychic powers that only worked during sexual intercourse; she contacted the dead during sex. It would now seem that when Jerome met her this was what he was trying to do, contact the spirit of his dead daughter. Oddly, when Laure is then handed post-mortem results from Miss Payet's autopsy she sees a drawing Victor made, of the woman lying dead with her cats licking her blood. They then rule the death as a suicide...

On arriving at the Helping Hand Victor is shocked to find that Pierre is one of the robbers who murdered, or was involved in, the murder of his family three decades ago. At home, Chloe continues work on her drawing, which is a picture of Simon but now shows him blowing his brains out. This is odd, as up to now so far as we know she has not been told that her father killed himself. Lena, on the way back home, collapses in the underpass and is approached by Serge...

QUESTIONS?
How did Lena get that mark on her back? Did her father really beat her? And if so, why? And why then is she covering for him?

Again, did Victor kill or somehow cause Miss Payet to be killed? His drawings are damning evidence of this, for those who can see, and he was the last one to see her alive. Plus he had motive, were it but known: Payet was about to shop him to the police and have him taken away from Julie.

Can Pierre really be one of those responsible for the deaths of the boy's family --- and his own death --- thirty years ago? How will Victor deal with this revelation?

Will Adele leave with Simon, and what will happen to Thomas then? How does Chloe know that her father committed suicide, if indeed he did?

Could Lucy Clarsen really contact the dead, or was it just an act? If the former, what bearing will this have on those who have "come back"?

CONNECTIONS
We knew there was a link between Lucy and Jerome, but like everyone we just assumed it was for casual sex, especially given that he had split up with Claire and had not so far as anyone knew any girlfriend. Now it seems there may have been more to it. Perhaps he was trying to ascertain if his daughter was all right, even sacrificing his dignity and fidelity to his wife in her cause.

There's definitely some sort of connection too between Simon and Thomas. The idea now being floated is that it was suicide that took the young man on his wedding morning, but this has not been confirmed. Can it be that Thomas had more to do with Simon's death than has been so far told?

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
There seems to be a recurring motif of water running out. This is not too surprising, given that the village stands at the foot of a dam, and the water level has been dropping. We don't know what that points towards, but the significance has been ramped up a little in this episode. We see the workers worry about what will happen if the power station floods, and references are made to a previous time this may have happened. There's a secrecy about the problem with the water level, as if they're afraid something bad will happen if it becomes public knowledge. Also, twice in this episode we see convoys of trucks carrying water hurrying along the road, presumably towards the reservoir.

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?
Another recurring theme in this series is one of resurrection, and its relation to religion. Camille in particular scorns Pierre's comparison of her return to that of Jesus, and Thomas asks the priest if it's possible that if one man could rise from the dead others could too, thinking of Simon. Pierre wants to see Camille's return as a miracle, and surely must think there is a great power and purpose behind that, but she just wants a normal life, one she is quite clearly not ever going to have a chance to have. Lena, too, has snarled to her father that people don't just come back from the dead, asking caustically if he thinks Camille is like Jesus? And yet, it would seem that the idea that their daughter would one day come back has been planted in her parents' head by Pierre, long before the event actually occurs. Can it be possible he has somehow had foreknowledge of this, some sort of vision? Or was he just talking metaphorically? Either way, he does not seem totally surprised to see the young girl standing in front of him when she should be lying in her coffin.

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