Trollheart

2.2 “Live from Westminster”

Parliament is being broadcast live on television – – – possibly for the first time – – – and though this upsets and outrages established MPs like, for instance, Sir Stephen, there is one among them to whom all this media circus and free publicity is like manna from Heaven. Using the broadcast to further enhance his own political profile, B'stard becomes an overnight sensation: a star in the making. His newfound fame culminates in his being offered a spot on the popular television game show "What's the question?" with Nicholas Parsons.

After a less than successful stint, Alan is aghast to find out that Sarah is selling her story to the papers: spilling all the dirt on him, his vices and sexual predilections, and doing her best to ruin his status as a celebrity, and indeed his career. Alan begins to worry, as all his dark secrets, the questionable ventures he's been involved in, the quite unprincipled and often downright evil things he's done down the years threaten to come back to haunt him. Not only that, they are going to be known to everyone, as Sarah opens Pandora's box and lets all the nasty malicious sins of her husband out into the light.

In desperation, Alan goes to see Thatcher, hoping to make her order Sarah not to publish her memoirs. Of course, he knows Maggie won't do this just for him, so he pretends that Sarah has vital political secrets – – – that she's been sleeping with most of the Cabinet – – – but Maggie is not fooled. She tells Alan that she in fact was the one who ordered Sarah to publish her story, as punishment for his using the House of Commons as a sales platform, and, more importantly, upstaging her.

Left finally with no other option, Alan turns to Piers. He convinces him that the newspapers coming out tomorrow morning – – – the ones with Sarah's story in them about him – – – are in fact a damning account of Piers himself, who is being blamed for, well, everything really. He frightens his friend into agreeing to blow up the printing works, so that no papers can be printed. Never a man to go small, our Alan!


QUOTES

Alan (looking at Piers is in his military fatigues): "You staging a military coup, Piers? I don't mind: just give me five minutes to phone my stockbroker."

Alan (standing up and raising his arms): "I have a dream!" (Cameras zoom in on him) "More later…"
Piers: "What is it, Alan? What is your dream?"
Alan: "I don't have one: I was lying to attract attention. I'm a politician!"

Alan: "I have my own heartfelt views on this issue. What is it?"

Make-up girl: "Fabulous suit!"
Alan: "It looks even better on the back of a bedroom chair."
Make-up girl: "Mmm! Your bed or mine?"
Alan: "Well, if you're going to play hard to get, forget it."

Alan: "We don't need to conscript our young hooligans into the army – – – there's enough drunkenness, vandalism and mindless violence in the army already!"

Alan (on phone): "You want me to appear on What's the question? How much? Really? Well, that's the taxi fare negotiated: now let's talk about my fee. Well, what does Nicholas Parsons get? Does he really? My wife has to pay me that much to sleep with me – – – and then, of course, the sex comes extra!"

Nicholas Parsons: "And Harry describes himself as long-term unemployed."
Alan: "In other words, lazy ignorant northerner."

Parsons (as the phone is dialled): "I do hope they're not at work."
Alan (laughing nastily): "You're joking, aren't you? Workshy slob is probably still in bed, sleeping off last night's fourteen pints of Newcastle Brown."

Floor worker: "Here Al – – – you just did that Sonia in the back of the Lada, didn't you? What was it like?"
Alan: "Well it's pretty roomy, but the rear suspension is rubbish!"

Sarah: "And I'm on Wogan on Monday."
Alan: "Oh big deal! Anybody can get on Wogan these days!"
Sarah: "Who's talking about the television programme?"

Cup: "Excuse me, sir: where you think you're going? This is number 10 Downing Street."
Alan: "Is it really? Well fancy me not knowing that! I must be nearly stupid enough to be a policeman!"
Cop: "I know that acerbic wit – – – you're Alan Bastard, aren't you? I love that What's the question?"
Alan: "Yes, it's terribly popular with the educationally sub-normal."

Alan: "I was just trying to stay true to the spirit of Thatcherism."
Thatcher: "All you care about is number one."
Alan: "I thought that was the spirit of Thatcherism?"
Thatcher: "Of course it is, of course it is. But we can't let the common herd know that. They have to believe that the Conservative party stands for God and a strong pound, not greed and an untraceable Deutschmark account in the Cayman Islands."

Alan: "Piers, I thought you were a brave, resourceful, territorial Army explosive expert?"
Piers: "Only at the weekends."
Alan: "Piers, the weekend starts here."

The user and the used

Once again, it's Piers who has to bail Alan out of his predicament. Although he doesn't use him until the very end of the show, when he has exhausted all his other options, it is to the man who mistakenly believes Alan B'Stard is his friend that the Tory MP turns. Of course, he can't tell Piers what it's really about: his friend is very naive and almost innocent in ways, and would wonder why Sarah would be telling all these lies about Alan. So B'Stard has to pretend that the papers will be carrying an expose about Thatcher's private life, and that everybody in the House of Commons thinks that Piers is to blame. He qualifies this by telling Piers "You know how nobody likes you, and you've got no friends? Well, they're all saying it was you who wrote the article." Piers, who believes just about everything Alan says, probably in all likelihood has not too many friends in Parliament and accepts this as a valid reason for why he should be blamed.

Even then, Piers's original idea to stop the catastrophe is to – – – wait for it – – – buy up every single copy of the paper on the morning of its release. Alan points out – – – rather pragmatically – – – that he will not have enough money to buy two million copies of the paper. Piers tells him that he will have, once he wins the Pools. It's here that we see that not only is Piers naive to the point of childlike innocence, he may in fact be quite stupid; a trait which Alan will exploit over and over again, to help him achieve his ends.

What is love?
SARAH
There is no secret about the fact that Sarah only stays with Alan because she wants to spend his money – – – we have seen this proven already. But here, she is offered £100,000 for her memoirs, the publication of which will destroy her husband. Thatcher later tells B'Stard that it was she who instructed his wife to publish the story, though we can imagine Sarah probably would have done it anyway. However, to have the approval of the leader of the party – – – to say nothing of the prime minister of the country – – – behind her, Sarah must surely think this is the way to destroy Alan. She can finally be rid of her philandering, egotistical husband, whom she does not love and who does not love her, and she will walk away with a big pay cheque into the bargain. A perfect result.

PCRs

Naturally, most of the PCRs in this series are politically slanted. There's an obvious reference however to Nicholas Parsons' long-running popular gameshow "Sale of the Century" when we see Alan appearing on What's the question?

When Alan knocks at the door of number 10, Thatcher's voice floats out, asking Cecil to come in by the back way. This refers to Cecil Parkinson, who was involved with the Prime Minister at one point.

The car (presumably the star prize) is referred to as a Lada. This is a Russian car manufacturer, famous for ripping off the design of other manufacturers, especially Italian car giant FIAT. Ladas were universally derided. The fact that the best "What's the question?" can offer to its winner is a Lada speaks volumes about the cheapness of the show.

Alan mentions Newcastle Brown. This is a thick brown ale, popular with those "oop north".

Sarah's new publicity agent and ghost writer mentions that Alan provided Exocet missiles to General Galtieri. This, plus a previous comment at the start of the show about compulsory national service, references the Falklands war of the early 80s.


Sidekick

And so we're back to Piers again. The naivete of the man is almost astounding. He takes it as read, when Alan tell him, that nobody likes him, that he is being blamed for the story – – – the fictional story – – – about Thatcher's private life, and agrees to help Alan blow up the newspaper works. Well, in reality, he does all the work himself. B'Stard would never get his hands dirty with such an enterprise, unless there was a big payoff. And even then, he probably try to get Piers to do it.

But soon enough, we will see the worm turn. A man can only take so much abuse, even if it is from someone he believes to be his best friend, before he will shout "Enough!", before he begins to realise how he is being used, before he stands up for himself. All it takes is one good woman to whisper in his ear, and that good woman is waiting in the wings…

And isn't that…?

NICHOLAS PARSONS:Yes, it's the man himself: Nicholas Parsons plays the smarmy gameshow host, as himself. For those of you who don't know, or weren't paying attention when I mentioned it earlier, Parsons made his name with a gameshow in the 80s called "Sale of the Century".

Machinations

Although there is no big scheme here, no moneymaking plan, no attempt to defraud, mislead or otherwise pervert the course of justice, in the process making him a big pile of cash, Alan's fertile mind goes into overdrive when it comes time to ensure his own survival. He goes to see Thatcher, spinning a story about Sarah leaking important political information that could be damaging to the party, but his efforts are in vain. Thatcher explains that she knows all about his past, and indeed it was she who instructed Sarah to publish her memoirs. Still not done, he spins another story, this time to Piers, which results in the newspaper works being blown up by Piers, in the mistaken belief that he is saving his own reputation and possibly skin. Either way, B'Stard's plans work out as they usually do: to his advantage. Survival of the most devious? There is none more so than Alan B'Stard.

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2.2: "Nest of angels"

New character!
Ruth Evershed, who will go on to be one of Harry's most trusted operatives and allies ––– and friends ––– is introduced here for the first time, being seconded from GCHQ. She is recruited as the new intelligence analyst.

Danny waits outside a Birmingham mosque for his contact to join him, however the young man man's treachery has been discovered by the mullah of the mosque, who is even now interviewing (interrogating) him. Danny eventually is reunited with him after all, as the young boy is thrown out of a top floor window, smashing down onto the roof of the van in which Danny is sitting. Their operation, quite obviously, has been blown ––– and the young man has almost paid for it with his life. Harry observes that the mosque in Birmingham is believed to have been infiltrated by Islamic extremists, chief among them the Mullah, Mohammed Rashid. Now that the mole has been discovered and exposed ––– to say nothing of the fact that he is in hospital, barely alive! ––– Harry directs the team to find another agent. They can't close down the mosque ––– not in this racially sensitive environment ––– without proper, concrete proof of extremism being conducted there. Meanwhile a man arrives on the Channel Tunnel train, claiming to be an agent from North Africa.

Tom visits Johnny, his erstwhile mole, and is told that the mosque is training youths to be suicide bombers. They call the operation "the nest of angels" ––– a name Tom has heard before: it's what Hamas call their school for suicide bombers. Unfortunately, before he can give any specific details, the boy suffers a brain haemorrhage. Tom is forced to go directly to the source. He is allowed into the mosque, but only after he's been checked to make sure he is not wired up, or carrying any weapon. He doesn't of course go as an MI5 agent: he presents himself as a Home Office immigration service official, with the necessary paperwork to back up his identity. A simple thing for any spook.It quickly becomes apparent however who he really is: Rashid is no fool, and probably can smell a government agent or a policeman from a long way off. No doubt he's had plenty of experience of them. He smiles when Tom says they're going to throw him out of the country: he knows there is nothing they can do without proper evidence, and the one who had been gathering them their evidence has been dealt with, the method of his punishment making it unlikely that anyone else will offer their services to MI5.

Making no headway recruiting a new agent ––– not surprisingly: what happened to Johnny must have gone around the mosque, and other mosques, and the whole Muslim community by now ––– Tom is forced to seek the help of the disgraced Tessa. Harry doesn't like it, but they've been backed into a corner, and although most of her agents didn't even exist, the ones that did were very good indeed. If anyone can suggest a decent agent that they can use for this operation it will be her. The problem is, Tessa, not surprisingly, is less than happy to help. Although she was hardly treated unfairly by the services ––– she should really be in jail, Harry opines, rather than running her own private security business ––– she believed she was railroaded. Strange really, considering that nobody forced her to pocket all that money. Nevertheless, she is unwilling to help, and when Tom tells her that it's a matter of national security and that they are trying to foil a terrorist plot, her reply is a cold "I hope you all get your heads blown off!"

Their salvation however comes from an unlikely quarter. Remember that train passenger from France? Ruth figures out that he is in fact an Algerian agent ––– and a very good one ––– called Muhammed Ibhn Khaldun and he has been betrayed by the French secret services, so is ready to work for the British. Tom meets him, and he advises he will help them, if they can provide him with a British passport. As a token of good faith, he tells Tom what he, Harry and the rest of them have been waiting to learn, but been unable to prove: that Rashid is part of an Algerian jihadists extremist group. As Khaldun's debriefing progresses, Tom worries that they may in fact be dealing with a double agent, who is trying to infiltrate their organisation. It's always a worry. Spy and counterspy, agent, double agent, triple agent, friend and betrayer, ally and enemy ––– this is part and parcel of the intelligence service. Unless you really know somebody ––– and sometimes, even then ––– you can never be entirely sure who to trust, who is working with you, and who is working against you. In a world of half-truths and cover stories and daily smokescreens, it's often very hard to work out who is friend, and who is foe. But MI5 have little option: it's this man or nothing. So they decide to take the chance, and bring him into the fold.

They ask him to infiltrate the Birmingham mosque. Coming as he does from Algeria, he will not be suspected. However, it was the Algerian secret services who killed his family, in a car bomb meant for him, so this will not be easy. Tom, meanwhile, goes undercover himself, but at the University of West Midlands, the better to keep an eye on potential recruits for Rashid's terror cell. He meets the CIA liaison to the UK, Christine Dale, who is not happy that MI5 have a supposedly trustworthy Islamic agent that they are using, and won't, in her words, share. Tom pretends he doesn't know what she's talking about: the last thing he needs is the Americans taking away ––– or taking over ––– his one viable asset, MI5's one chance to expose the Birmingham mosque and Rashid.

Khaldun makes the breakthrough: he is invited to meet with Rashid, and MI5 tool him up with listening devices, secret cameras etc. However we now must doubt his loyalty, as we see him walk by a canal and dump all the equipment into the water. Has he another plan in mind? Or has he just betrayed MI5? Indeed, we see this may very well be the case. As soon as he meets Rashid, he immediately blows his cover, telling the mullah that he is working for the British Secret Service, but then affirming that he is in fact a messenger from the Algerian jihadist group, confirming this by giving Rashid a secret password, and telling him that, as both he and Rashid know, the leader of the group, believed dead, is in fact alive and well. He then hands over the money that MI5 gave him, but now we are not sure; wasn't this part of the plan anyway? Perhaps he's just playing it safe: if he pretended not to be working for MI5 Rashid might suspect ––– would suspect ––– and would investigate him, certainly would not trust him. If he pretends to be betraying them, he is more likely to earn that trust. Whatever, it works: Rashid welcomes him into the group.

But Khaldun has missed the last three meetings he was supposed to have with Tom, and although the MI5 man accepts that his mole might be just trying to protect his cover, it is worrying. It's always been a gamble: could they trust this man, who they have never met before? And if they can't trust him, has the entire operation been blown apart? And if that happens, will they be able to stop this terrorist plot before it claims innocent lives? As his suspicion grows ––– and that of his comrades ––– he wonders if he should just send in Special Forces into the mosque now? But if he does that, then he, not Khaldun will have blown their chance to shut this whole thing down. Torn by indecision, he decides to wait another twenty-four hours. He is not disappointed: Khaldun appears in his bedroom to report that the cell is about to carry out its plan: a suicide attack in the centre of Birmingham. He tells Tom they are more than prepared, and more than capable. They have chosen a sixteen-year-old boy –-– after first offering the suicide vest to Khaldun, who accepted it, but was told he was too valuable ––– and the attack is tomorrow, with Khaldun chaperoning the boy and taking him to his target. When Tom asks what that target is, Khaldun tells him he does not know: he will not be told until the very last moment, tomorrow. Tom wants to pull him out, but Khaldun says he must remain: he must try to save the boy.

Rashid is arrested but by now the boy is on his way to carry out his mission, with Khaldun. Shooting the other cell members as the kid prepares for martyrdom, Khaldun tries to explain to him that he is being used, but the boy, his mind poisoned by the words of Rashid and his twisting of the Koran, fights him off and runs away. As he enters a children's playground, he considers activating the vest, but something stops him and he runs off, Khaldun in pursuit. The police are now also on the scene, as well as of course MI5. Khaldun talks to the boy, tries to show him how wrong this is, and tells MI5 to stand back while he tries to empathise with the young suicide bomber. But in the end it is for nothing: confused, angry, possibly embarrassed, the boy pulls the pin as Khaldun hugs him, shielding the others from the blast, and the two of them are blown to kingdom come. There are no other casualties, though the CIA are angry: they have just lost what could have been a very valuable asset.

Harry's world
Harry comments "We let a Wolf into the fold", observing that the British government, in allowing Rashid to stay in the UK, has in effect, to a degree, created a rod for its own back, as Rashid is now gathering supporters and extremist followers to carry out his plans for martyrdom.

The mind of a terrorist
Rashid jeers the impotence of MI5, smiling that they are powerless, compared to the secret police of "other countries". He lists the many ways those organisations can put pressure on people ––– arresting them, interrogating them, torturing them, even if necessary killing them ––– but MI5 he says can do nothing, except make empty threats. To a degree, he's right: when you live in a democracy can't just walk in and arrest somebody because their beliefs don't coincide with yours. And even if they are involved in criminal enterprises, you can't arrest them on suspicion of this without evidence. This is what separates democracies and dictatorships, although you would have to think that at times the odds favour the latter.

It's also quite interesting that Rashid is quite prepared to send young men to their deaths ––– martyrs for Islam, suicide bombers in Mohammed's name ––– but he doesn't contemplate doing so himself. This man who will do anything for his cause is not prepared to die for it himself. He probably sees himself as more a facilitator; without him around to recruit more martyrs where would that cause be? Like the generals in the tents high above the battle, he believes his cause is better served through his own survival. The ultimate hypocrisy.

And yet, the dichotomy between the beliefs of a terrorist and their religion shows when Rashid upbraids one of the young men for "swearing in the house of God", and also tells him it is not for him to judge his father. We know (or at least we are told) that loyalty to the family ––– especially the father ––– is one of the principal tenets of the Muslim religion. Although Rashid is likely grooming this young man for martyrdom, paradoxically he does not want to drive a wedge between him and his father, as that would be wrong. It's okay to blow yourself up and take many people with you ––– most, if not all, totally innocent ––– but it's not okay to defy your father! Rashid tells the young would-be martyr that one day, all of England will be the house of Islam. When the boy asks how this can be, his reply is chilling, the more so because it is delivered with a smile which is both gentle and completely lacking in doubt: "By the blood of martyrs", he says.

The Shock Factor
As I mentioned before, one of the things which made “Spooks” such a groundbreaking series was the fact that there was not always a happy ending. In fact, there very often is a tragic conclusion, as here, where we see Khaldun talk to the young suicide bomber, share some common ground with him, and we assume everything is going to be okay. But it isn't. At the last moment, Tom realises the boy is going to go through it, and while he moves away (as you would expect anyone to), Khaldun hugs the boy to him, having made a promise that he will not leave his side until the end. In the final analysis, he keeps his word even though it means losing his life. You could argue of course that Khaldun has lost his family, and has very little left to live for, but that makes his sacrifice no less heroic. Nevertheless, it is a shock to see everything fall apart right at the end, almost before the credits are due to roll.

The reverse shock factor
Well, not really: it's like back in the first episode, when we were led to believe that it was Tom's house that had exploded, when in fact it was another one. We were given the facts, shown a scene, and left to draw our own conclusions, which ended up being incorrect. It's the same here. We see a news report about a suicide bombing outside a nightclub, and we assume that the worst has happened. But Harry turns away from the TV and says "If we don't do something this will be happening in our country too." It's a clever little bit of misdirection, something Spooks excels at.

Rivalries
Although the competition will always exist between MI5 and MI6, they will often band together against what would be seen as the common enemy ––– or if not enemy, at least the outsider ––– the Americans. Unwilling to share their information about Khaldun with the CIA, MI5 pretend they don't even know who he is, and when he is killed in the course of the operation, the Americans are furious. This will have far-reaching consequences for the relationship between the two agencies. The CIA can't believe that the British have let slip through their fingers one of the most valuable assets they could ever have hoped to have found: a trusted Islamic agent. There will surely be repercussions from this, and the level of trust between the two agencies, never very high, will plunge to new lows. It's even possible that this will reach to the very top, the Prime Minister being berated by the US president, or possibly a somewhat lower but still important official, like the Home Secretary or the British ambassador in the US. One thing of which you can be certain: heads will roll. And the next time MI5 want any help from the Americans ––– particularly the CIA ––– they may whistle for it.

Laughing in the face of death
This is something I touched on in my review of the movie "The Seventh Seal": just about every series has some sort of lighter side to it, moments of comic relief, or at least times where the drama is less serious. I can really only think of one series that had no humour in it whatsoever (although of course there could be plenty more) and that was "Millennium", which to my mind suffered from the lack of humour ––– the total lack of humour ––– and came across as a very dark, drab, bleak show. There was very little to enjoy it, at least for me. Spooks is not a funny show ––– there are rarely elements of humour in it ––– which is not really surprising, when you consider that the guys are constantly battling terrorists, foiling plots and basically ensuring the defence of the realm. Not too much time for laughs there. But occasionally there will be lighter moments, and when that happens I will be detailing them here.

It's left to Alexander Siddig to provide humour for this episode, and he really steals the show. He asks Tom "Is this how you see my country: dusky maidens in tents, tempting you with dates?" When asked how he escaped from Algeria, he grins and says "I escaped disguised as a camel". And when he's talking to the young suicide bomber at the very end, even though he knows his life is very much on the line ––– which turns out to be the case ––– he uses humour to try to defuse the situation, commenting on the young boy's Aston Villa shirt. "Suicide is a little extreme", he tells him, "even for a Villa fan." (The way they've been playing this season, I wouldn't be so sure about that mate!) :-)

There's also a moment of comedy with the new girl. Ruth is struggling with trying to assemble a desk lamp, which is resisting all her attempts. She finally loses her temper and throws it on the floor. It's perhaps telling here that nobody goes over to try to help. She is, after all, the new girl, and you would think somebody would want to lend a hand, make her feel welcome. The thing can't be that hard to assemble, and even if it is, surely she would welcome somebody just at least trying, but nobody does.

Hard to believe?
Although it's not a major part of the plotline, there seems to be no explanation for why, when Tom goes to the Imam's house, although he himself does not share Rashid's views, his daughter apparently does. It is she who passes on his message to Rashid at the start, and she who, with some "persuasion" from her father, reveals the location where the suicide bomber is being prepared for his mission. But she is an educated woman: she is at university, studying to be a doctor, and does not seem to believe the traditional Sharia law tenet that holds that women should be uneducated, stay at home and make babies. So why is she helping the cell? Why is she helping people who, were there aims actually achieved, would ensure that she could never go to school, or hold a job? Why is she helping people who, generally, look down on women and see them as second-class citizens? Is she having a relationship with Rashid, one of the other members of the cell? That's never made clear, or even referred to. Is she afraid of them? Again, we're not told. Perhaps if it had been established that Rashid (or any of the other cell members) have fathered a child with her, such dishonour might mean that she would have to join the cell, but even at that it's a stretch. This is a very open part of the plot, and it's never resolved. There seems to be no reason why this woman ––– who has no affiliation to or relationship with the mosque, other than being a Muslim and going there to pray ––– would be in any way involved with the terror cell and its plots. It just doesn't make sense. And that annoys me.

And isn't that…?
Mohammed Khaldun, the Algerian agent who successfully infiltrates the mosque on behalf of MI5, is none other than Alexander Siddig, Dr Bashir from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

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2.8 "Crossroad Blues"

1938, we see the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, arguably the best guitar player who ever lived, as the devil chases him for his soul. Naturally this ties in with the legend that Johnson met the Devil at a crossroads and pledged to him his soul, in return for being able to play the guitar like nobody else. Seems Satan has come to collect. Present day, Dean and Sam are reading a report about a man, Sean Boyden, who plummeted to his death from the top of a high-rise condo, having said he was being pursued by a big black dog. The brothers know that there is lore existent about Black Dogs; in some cultures they're vengeful spirits, in others death omens (seeing a link back to the previous episode?). They interview Boyden's partner, who tells them that Boyden was an amazing architect, but seemed to have picked up the skill almost overnight. One night he went to a pub called Lloyd's, unable to build a dog kennel, the next he's working on a huge commission and designing like Frank Lloyd Wright.

Posing as animal control officers, the brothers check out all the reports of stray black dogs in the area, finally ending up at the house of a Dr. Sylvia Pearlman. She however has gone somewhere and the maid does not know where. A photograph of her in the house though shows her at Lloyd's bar, and the maid confirms that Dr. Pearlman is the youngest chief surgeon ever, at just over forty years old. Another overnight success. She apparently landed the position ten years ago, so that would have been when she was in her thirties. Unheard of in the medical profession.

Cut to a hotel room, where the now very scared doctor appears to be hiding, huddled on the bed. The man outside the room looks oddly doglike as his face elongates and changes. Dean and Sam pay a visit to Lloyd's, which just happens to be built at a crossroads, and where yellow flowers called yarrow are growing. The boys know that these particular flowers can be used in summoning rituals. Things are beginning to add up. Walking to the centre of the crossroads Sam digs down a little and finds a metal box, inside which is what looks to him to be a bone from a cat, graveyard soil and some smaller boxes. This is serious summoning magic. The boys now know that they are not in pursuit of Black Dogs, but Hellhounds. People are coming here to the crossroads, to Lloyd's where they are making deals with demons. Back at Dr. Pearlman's room, time runs out for her as an invisible attacker smashes down the door and takes her.

Back to 1930, and we see Robert Johnson making his deal with the demon, which takes the form of a beautiful woman in white. He asks her to make him the greatest blues guitar player ever. She agrees, and disappears. In the present, Dean remarks that in order for such a deal to be struck the photograph of the person petitioning must be included, so they go in to Lloyd's to see if they can find a photo of the man they're looking for. They track him to an apartment building, where they see (with a wry shake of the head) black powder scattered outside the door: pepper won't keep out spirits, you have to use salt, we all know that. The man, George Darrow, pretends not to know what they're talking about when they mention Hellhounds, but when they push he lets them in. He tells them that he asked for talent --- and indeed, they can see he's become quite an artist --- but forgot to stipulate successful too. Now he's just another great artist who never has been and never will be discovered.

He's despondent, and ready to give up his soul, but he tells the boys that after he made his deal the demon stayed around making more compacts, and apart from Bowden and Pearlman there was one other guy, an Evan Hudson. Unable to convince him to try to let them save him, they reluctantly leave him to his fate and go to try to locate the final dealmaker. They learn from him that of all the four he was the least selfish, making the deal so that his wife, who was dying from cancer, could live. Dean still thinks it was an irresponsible thing to do, and gets really heated, but Sam calms him down. Dean says he's going to go to the crossroads and summon the demon, to try to trap it. Sam says he knows what Dean is thinking: he believes their father made such a deal, and this is why he's so angry about what Evan has done.

Dean summons the demon, who comes to the car but sees the Devil's Trap. She snarls at Dean that he's just like his father, trying to sacrifice his life for that of another. Now Dean knows for sure that John Winchester did indeed make that deal to save his son. The demon tells him that she could bring his father back in exchange for his soul after ten years, but Dean has been delaying all this time in order to lure her into a second Devil's Trap. With her trapped, Dean offers the demon the chance to escape if she will break the contract she has made with Evan, but she refuses, so he begins the exorcism. At the last the demon agrees to release Evan, but when she goads Dean about the agony his father is in he changes his mind and exorcises her.

Now the fate of their father is on his mind, and he will not rest until he has saved him and returned him to the land of the living, even if he has to descend into the very depths of Hell itself to do so.

MUSIC
Robert Johnson: “Hellhound on my trail”

Robert Johnson: “Crossroad blues”

Son House: “Downhearted blues”

Big Bill Broonzy: “Key to the highway”

Brian Tichy “Chaos surrounds you”

Nazareth: “Hair of the dog”
(You probably wanna watch this video even if you hate the music...!)

PCRS
Dean doesn't know what Myspace is. He asks Sam is it a porn site?

Dean mentions “babes in Princess Leia bikinis”. No need to explain that one, I think.

Dean says “this house ain't going to be featuring on “MTV Cribs” any time soon. (The show on MTV where famous people invite the cameras in to see how they live. Rich bastards! )

Dean also mentions “Let's Make A Deal”, an American sixties gameshow.

Dr. Pearlman stays in The Baskerville Motel, an obvious reference to the Arthur Conan Doyle novel starring Sherlock Holmes, which was all about a huge dog believed to be possessed of supernatural powers.

Dean says “Man I'm like Dillinger or something!” (Referencing notorious American bankrobber John Dillinger, who lived in the 1930s, another tie in to Robert Johnson's time).

BROTHERS
Sam is worried about Dean. We still don't know what John whispered in Dean's ear before he died, but it obviously wasn't a confession as to his making a deal with the demon for his son's life, and neither of the boys seem to know for sure, until now, that that is what happened. But when Dean sees the crossroads and realises people are making deals here, he thinks about his father and although ostensibly he goes there to help free Evan from the demon contract, he seems really to be thinking about making his own deal to get his father back. Sam thinks he realises what his brother is doing, but doesn't say anything in case he makes things worse, trusting Dean not to be that stupid.

But when the demon tells him that his father sacrificed himself for him, Dean seriously considers making the deal, with the sweetener that he will still have ten years left to enjoy with his family. At the last he pulls back, but we have to wonder if he was really going to go through with it. His anger at the stupidity and selfishness of the four people (five, if you include Robert Johnson, but who knows how many have made that deal down the decades?) is more directed at his father; he can't really believe, but can't not believe that his dad would make a deal to save his life. Dean knows he should have died --- the demon tells him so --- and feels he has cheated fate, replacing his death with his father's, and of course he feels terrible.

WISEGUY
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Dean still finds time to crack wise, particularly to the demon, when he quips “I usually like to be warned before I'm violated with demon tongue. ”

When the demon offers him the deal, he asks her “You think you could maybe throw in a set of steak knives?”

The ARC of the matter
Not a huge amount of arc material here to be fair, but the question that's been on both Sam and Dean's minds, and the answer to which we've all surely guessed a long time ago, surfaces here again, with perhaps proof, though who can believe a demon, even if she does look that hot? She could be lying, and she certainly takes pleasure in Dean's tortured face when she describes the torments John is apparently going through down in Hell, but is it the case or is she just messing with his mind? The fact that people are dealing with her --- or others of her kind --- here and who knows maybe other places too, is worrying. Once you sell your soul to a demon you're theirs, and you'd have to wonder what happens after they collect?

And why do they want souls anyway? Sure, there's the obvious, but considering what we've been told, or what's been hinted at, can they be gathering up as many mortal souls as they can to fight on their side in the war that's looming?

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2.2 "Mars University"

(Tagline: "transmitido en Martian en SAP") – – – no, I have no idea what it means either.

Professor Farnsworth has, for once, received a delivery. But it's for his office at Mars University, so off they all go. Mars, of course, is where Amy's parents live ––– well, to be fair, they are reputed to own half of Mars. Not short of a credit or two! Bender looks up a chapter of his old robot fraternity house, Epsilon Rho Rho (ERR, geddit?) but is disappointed to find that they are not the rabble rousing, troublemaking, girl robot chasing crew he used to be involved with, and at their urging he resolves to show them what real college life should be like, and how to be cool. Seems his name is somewhat legendary at Mars University.

When the others ridicule Fry's status as a college dropout ––– "Everybody knows 20th-century colleges were basically just expensive daycare centres" says the professor ––– he resolves to enroll in Mars University, and dropout all over again, doing it properly this time. However, Farnsworth is not at all happy when Fry decides to enroll in his class. "Please, Fry," he says, "I don't know how to teach: I'm a professor!" Meanwhile, Bender leads the uncool robots on a panty raid, but it all goes terribly wrong when the ladder falls and destroys the servants quarters of rival Snooty House, who are not at all happy. Nor indeed is Fry, when he finds out that his roommate is a super intelligent monkey, called Gunther, part of one of the professor's experiments, and in fact exactly what was in the crate that was delivered to them at the Planet Express offices, necessitating this trip.

The professor tells Fry that Gunther's intelligence comes from the hat that he wears, which apparently harnesses the power of sunspots: Fry doesn't care, he doesn't like the monkey and the feeling is reciprocated. Things do not go all the monkey's way though, as during the parents' reception, held to welcome the parents of the students presumably, Farnsworth reveals that he has brought Gunther's parents ––– in a cage ––– to see him. These monkeys do not wear hats, and are not super intelligent. Fry lets them out when nobody is looking and they do what monkeys do, completely embarrassing Gunther, who runs off.

Finding him back the dormitory, Fry and Leela propose the idea that he might be happier off back in the jungle. Gunther though does not want to let the professor down. Still, back in class his attention is diverted as he looks out the window towards the jungle. The call of the wild proves too strong and Gunther reverts to his natural state, throwing down the hat which has made him intelligent and jumping through the window, escaping into the jungle.They decide to pursue him and offer him the choice: does he want to be human (wear the hat) or an animal (not wear the hat)?

Meanwhile, Bender and his college robots enter the annual regatta, and despite being sabotaged by the Dean at the start of the race, they manage to win it. However, in doing so, they accidentally knock Fry, the professor and Leela into the water, where they are swept up by the rapids and right to the edge of the cliff. Still trying to decide between the hat and the banana (human or animal), Gunther eventually goes for the hat, which allows him to realise what is happening and save the trio. Unfortunately, in saving them, Gunther dooms himself and falls to the bottom of the rapids. However, when they reach the bottom, expecting to see nothing but a mangled corpse, Gunther is alive and well. As in so many Simpsons episodes, this one ends with a big party: possibly quite appropriate for a college themed story.



QUOTES

Farnsworth: "Back then, Mars was a desolate wasteland, something like Utah."

Fatbot: "I heard you once drank a whole keg, ran across University campus, and jammed 58 humans into a telephone box."
Bender: "Yeah, well… A lot of them were children…"

Fry: "Hey cheer up: not everybody turns out like their parents. Look at me ––– my folks were honest hard-working people."

Farnsworth: "Oh dear! I always feared he might run off. Why, why, why didn't I break his legs?"

Fry: "Wow! The jungles on Mars look just like the jungles on Earth!"
Farnsworth (laughing): "Jungles? On Earth?"

Farnsworth: "Oh that poor sweet monkey. Well, let's go gather up: no sense in letting him go to waste!" (Licking his lips)

Sign of the times
On the gates of Mars University is the legend "Knowledge brings fear".

Simpsons references
Well, not so much a reference, but there is a Bart and Homer doll in a vending machine, as Fry reminisces about his past. Interestingly, they're done in the old-style, as the original Simpsons were drawn.

A ROBOT CALLED BENDER
Like many Futurama episodes, this one, although not particularly Bender-centric, does feature our favourite robot quite a bit. In a way, his exploits at the college are a subplot of the main story. It's clear that he has become something of a legend on campus ––– as you probably would have expected ––– but it is interesting that even robots have to go to college. Bender went to bending college not surprisingly. Also we are introduced here to three other robots, only one of which will feature in any sort of significant way after this; that one is Fatbot. Bender is, as ever, shown to be a bad influence, particularly on the younger robots. But then, we knew that already, didn't we?


My God! It's filled with .... robots!
Robots populate Futurama; they not only do menial tasks, they also run corporations, train as doctors, and indeed run -–– and completely comprise in its entirety ––– the Mafia. But we learn more about robots with each episode, and here we see interesting parallels with frat college students. When the robots, led by Bender, go on a panty raid, although they see a lot of nubile young females in the dormitory, doing the sort of things nubile young females do, they are more interested in a computer one of the girls is using. When the computer crashes and the girl removes the case from it, the four robots outside the window are almost overcome with robotic lust. We see that robots can be nerds too: as two of them sit down to a game of chess, with all the pieces in place, one says to the other "Checkmate in 148 moves!" The other robot sulks, seeing he has been beaten. No pieces have been moved, nor will they be.

Other notes

We previously met Amy's parents in the last episode, when they were taking a voyage of the starship Titanic, and met up with Amy and the rest of the crew. We've already been told that they "own half of Mars", and here we see them put their vast fortunes into operation in support of their daughter. The Dean of the University tells them that he was glad to be able to admit Amy, thanks to their generous donation. When they ask how much to have her pass all of her courses, he winks and asks them how much you got? We know that Amy is not exactly intelligent ––– she may be pretty, quite streetwise, but nobody would accuse her of being brilliant ––– so her parents are obviously buying her education, and her qualifications for later life.

The Wongs believe money can buy everything, and anything, even if necessary, a husband for their daughter. It would also appear that Amy is unaware of this; she doesn't like her parents interfering in her life ––– what young girl does? ––– and would probably be scandalised to know that, no matter how badly she does in her studies, she will be given straight A's.

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Janszoon

SAP is a technology used over here to transmit a secondary audio track for TV in a different language, usually Spanish. At the beginning of shows where it's available, a little message will pop up at the bottom of the screen that says, "Transmitido en Español en SAP" so people know they can select the SAP option on their remote. The joke here is that they're saying in Spanish that this episode of Futurama is available with a Martian audio track.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Trollheart

Ah I see. Thanks. I always wondered about that. Well, I didn't exactly lose any sleep over it, but I did wonder. Nice to finally be able to get the joke, years later.

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1.2 "The end of the world"

As the first adventure that they had together was more really accidental and happenstance than contrived, the Doctor decides to take Rose somewhere cool for the first real experience of the universe he inhabits, and where cooler to go than to the very end of time? Five billion years into the future, the very day and time when the sun goes nova, and destroys the Earth. This is in fact a major entertainment event, and all those who can afford it have gathered to watch the Earth's final death throes. Rose, somewhat understandably, is a little overwhelmed by the sudden influx of strange looking aliens and lifeforms she never imagined existed, but which she will find out are commonplace throughout the galaxy. She is also feeling a little lonely: the Doctor has told her that there is nobody left on Earth, now that it has reached its final day, and therefore she is the only human left to witness the destruction of her home planet. You can't get much more lonely than that.

Although, technically, she isn't actually the last human left. The Lady Cassandra O'Brien ––– who is little more than a tightly stretched fold of skin held in a frame –-– with a face ––– claims that honour. She may be the last human, but she is a little unclear on Earth matters, as she speaks of the ostrich breathing fire, and presents what she tells the assemblage is an iPod, though it quite clearly an old fifties jukebox. Rose's discomfort ––– both at seeing the death of her own world and being totally out of her depth ––– really starts to hit home now, as she realises she is (according to the Doctor, anyway, and the evidence of her own eyes would seem to support that, such as they can) five billion years into the future. She is in the future. She has travelled through time. She has travelled through time into the future with a man she barely knows. What the hell is she doing? She begins to wonder if her impulsive nature might be undoing, once and for all.

On this most auspicious day, it is traditional for the guests to hand out gifts to each other, but one of the gifts, a mysterious silver sphere, seems to be anything but "a gift of peace". Strange metallic spiders are roaming through the complex, and they certainly do not seem to be up to any good. In fact, they appear to be trying to sabotage or otherwise compromise the floating space station, and when the steward hosting the event realises this they arrange for him to be killed rather messily. The Doctor realises something is wrong: there has been a jolt, and the ship is supposed to be insulated and protected against any sort of gravity effects whatsoever (can't have the honoured guests getting burned like the Earth, can we?) He's told by one of the other guests, an alien tree called Jade, who has taken a shine to him, that the entire thing is automated: there is no crew, no captain, nobody except the steward and the maintenance crew.The spaceship ––– basically a floating platform in space that they call Platform One ––– moves automatically between events of this nature, and is directed by the Corporation, whoever they may be.

Meanwhile, all of Rose's frustrations and anger come flying out of her when she confronts Cassandra, who still claims to be the last human being. Rose tells her that, after all the operations she's had she is no more human than a tree. She calls her “a trampoline with a face”, which is pretty accurate. If anyone here is human she says it's her, and she takes offence at Cassandra's claim of being a member of her race. As she stalks off, she is accosted by a group of hooded figures, the same ones who've been distributing the metallic spheres out of which the robotic spiders come. The Doctor, investigating the engine room of the ship, finally sees one of the spiders and captures it. He then runs to rescue Rose but although he stops the sun shield from descending (which exposes any part of the station without it to the searing rays of the exploding sun) he cannot get the door open. But the danger has been averted for now, and he has bigger problems. He needs to find out who has sent the little metal saboteurs, and then he uses one of them to help solve the mystery. Originally, it goes to the hooded figures, but he knows these are just, for the real criminal ––– droids used to throw suspicion from….Cassandra.

With her revealed as the real culprit, like all evil genius, she decides to tell them her plan. The original plan had been to hold everybody for ransom and collect a big payday, (with herself seen as one of the “hostages” while her hooded androids took the rap) but now that she's been exposed she says all of the dignitaries on board are just as useful to her dead as alive. She has shares in their rival companies, and their deaths will make her rich beyond even her dreams. She has also smuggled on board a teleportation device ––– strictly forbidden by the rules of Platform One -–– with which she intends to make her escape as her metallic spider robots complete the task of dropping the ship's force fields, just as the sun prepares to go nova. Luckily, with Jade's help the Doctor is able to manually raise the shields, just as the planet explodes. The day is once again saved, but Jade has sacrificed her life to save everyone.

But there is yet unfinished business. Reversing the polarities on the transporter Cassandra used to escape the ship, the Doctor forces her back to Platform One, where the increase in temperature brought about by her treachery starts to dry her out. With nobody to moisturise her ––– and the doctor not about to volunteer –-– she dries up and then just explodes. And so ends the life of the so-called last human.

QUOTES

The Doctor: "Sabotaging a spaceship while you're on it: how stupid is that?"

The Doctor: "After five billion years, it still all comes down to money."

Cassandra: "Force fields gone, with the Earth about to explode. At least it will be quick ––– like my fifth husband."

The Doctor: "You lot, just chill!"
(A particularly cutting thing to say to a group of people who are waiting to die at the hands of a supernova)

Rose: "Help her."
The Doctor: "Everything has its time and everything dies."
(In this short exchange, we learn a lot about these two people. The Doctor, seeing before him a murderess who is driven by greed and financial gain, and who, in his estimation, should have been dead a long time ago anyway, is quite prepared to let Cassandra die. There is also burning revenge in his inscrutable eyes: after all, Cassandra was almost directly responsible for the death of Jade, and the Doctor does not take kindly to people who sacrifice his friends. He could of course be talking about Cassandra, he could also be talking about the Earth. It has lasted five billion years ––– how many billion of those we can't say have been without human life on the surface, but it seems to be clear that the planet has been uninhabited for a very long time ––– and perhaps in his worldview it's best that it just get vapourised now.

Rose on the other hand, can find compassion for this creature, even after the horrible things she's done. Perhaps, in a way, though she denied it earlier she may feel some affinity with Cassandra, as she is after all, in some odd way human. She is, or was, a native of Earth, and for Rose that might be enough to make a connection with the creature. This however also highlights the girl's massive capacity to forgive, and her all-embracing compassion. She does not seek revenge: she does not see a multi-murderer –– with herself as one of the intended victims ––– she just sees a creature in pain, and is prepared to do what is necessary to ease the pain and save its life.)

The Doctor: "My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned, just like the Earth. Nothing now but rocks and dust."
(A rare moment of introspection from the Doctor, when he lets go the mask and drops his defences, perhaps to let Rose know that, although he may seem all-powerful and immortal, and even invincible, he is far from such. His home planet is dead too, and in a way this can be used to link the two people, one from Earth and one from Gallifrey, in a sense of shared loss.)

Evolution of a Time Lord

Here we see how the Doctor treats many things as a big joke, a great adventure, a lark. But what he does not realise is that the companion that he brings with him is not used to such things: this is a huge culture shock for Rose ––– the ultimate culture shock really ––– and he has not even considered how she will react to it. She's never even seen an alien before (unless you count the Nestine intelligence in the first episode), and now here she is, watching the countdown to the destruction of Earth, on an alien spaceship, in the far far future. To her, this could not be seen as an adventure. This is a glimpse of what her planet has to look forward to (admittedly, millennia in the future, but it's still there, lurking in the background and now brought sharply into focus); this is a scary, weird, almost unbelievable situation that she finds herself in, and the one person to whom she should be able to turn, who can explain what's happening is simply not interested.

The Doctor is too busy enjoying himself, and showing off really. He has not taken into account Rose's feelings about this event, and you'd have to think that it is ill-advised at best, and cruel at worst, to bring a human to the day that their home planet dies. What was he thinking? Sure, it's impressive and it's exciting, but it's also very morbid. They, and all the others gathered here in this spaceship high above the planet, are basically not so much mourners at the Earth's funeral but certainly observers. That's the worst part: it's not like anybody cares about the Earth. To them, it's been here for billions of years and now it's going to explode, but they don't care. For them it's just a spectacular sight, an event to book your seat for, something to save up for perhaps or something to look forward to. Nobody will mourn the Earth, perhaps nobody will remember it, and that may be the saddest thing of all in this whole, macabre, really quite depressing scenario.

Further evidence that the doctor is not human, and does not really understand humans ––– despite travelling with them for centuries ––– is evident in the fact that, as he tries to save Platform One from the exploding planet, he forgets all about Rose. He does attempt to rescue her, but the door is jammed, and after that you really have to say he forgets about her. So, in the end, as the screens begin to crack, the heat builds up and Rose faces certain death, she does so alone. She is surely frightened ––– terrified probably, who wouldn't be? ––– and there is no one there to reassure her, to hold her hand and tell her things will be okay. There is no knight on a white charger coming to save the day, there is nothing but the searing heat and the awful realisation that she's going to die here in the future, five billion years after she should be long dead, and that the death of her planet will take her ––– literally, the last human –– with it.

Even worse, when disaster is averted and they are reunited, the Doctor is more interested in meting out vengeance to Cassandra than asking Rose how she is, or even apologising for leaving her on her own, where she no doubt thought she would die. He actually never apologises: but then, the Doctor seldom does. It's not that he doesn't apologise per se, he just never seems to realise that he should. To him, he was needed elsewhere and Rose should have realised that, should have known that he would save her, one way or the other. He believes completely and unreservedly in his own abilities, in his own invulnerability and expects everyone else to do the same. But Rose is only human, with human failings and human doubts, besides she hasn't known him that long: how could she know that something as trivial as the destruction of her home world and getting a supernova in the face is something this man would laugh off, something he wouldn't even consider a big deal?

Another point to note about the Doctor's attempts to rescue Rose is that, when he runs to the room in which she is trapped, he doesn't even know that it's her. When he bangs on the door and hears her voice, he greets this with a sarcastic "Oh well it would be you, wouldn't it?" The point being, that although we would expect the Doctor, as the hero, to rush to Rose's rescue, the Time Lord will in fact go to help anyone: human, alien, android, being of pure thought ––– it matters not to him. There need be no relationship between the two; it could in fact even be his worst enemy. It doesn't matter. He is a man who saves people. It's what he does.

But the fact that he seems to have even forgotten about Rose, is not worried for her safety, shows us how, up to now, he has been used to travelling without any company. He's not used to having to check on the people who travel with him. He is quite literally used to looking out for number one. This will of course change as he gets used to Rose being in the TARDIS with him, but for now he really hasn't got the mindset to even think that she might be in trouble, to remember that it was him who brought her here, to the far future, a place she certainly does not know, where she has no friends or anybody to look out for her, and as her guide basically, he's responsible for her safety. He will be told this, in no uncertain terms, later on Earth by Rose's mother, and will realise the huge responsibility he actually carries in allowing the human to travel to all the dark, dangerous, fantastic places he goes.


TRUE COMPANION

To be fair, Rose does not exactly save the day here, or show any of the ingenuity, talent or even fearlessness that she did in the first episode. But then, you wouldn't really expect her to would you? She is terrified: her planet is about to be destroyed by our sun, and as if that was not enough, it looks like she will die here with it. Her protector, her guide has run off, and she is left to face death alone. Her initial reaction to the death of her planet is sadness, loss, followed by rising anger and indignation that such an event be made into a source of entertainment. She also upbraids Cassandra, calling herself the last human when she looks nothing like what Rose believes human should look like.

But when things go wrong, and she gets trapped, there's no resourcefulness there, not yet. Of course, there really is nothing that she could have done. The only way out of the chamber was through the door which is jammed, or to stop the sun filter from coming down, both of which were outside her control. To her credit, she doesn't panic and cry, but she's definitely terrified. She is probably also very annoyed that the Doctor left her to her fate, although as her relationship with him develops she will realise that she cannot just be a hanger-on, a damsel in distress or indeed a passenger: she will have to pull her weight in this partnership, which she will learn to do.

Perhaps even as a result of this epiphany, she will start to take charge a little more; she will start to direct her own destiny and sometimes will not accept what the Doctor says, will go against his decision, and will argue with him, most times turning out to be right. She will learn to stand on her own two feet and to show him that she's not just a shrinking violet or an annoying burden that happens to travel with him in the TARDIS. One thing she has learnt here for sure: you can certainly depend on the Doctor, but you also need to depend on yourself because sometimes he will be busy saving the day.

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ENEMY MINE

Technically, there originally is no real enemy for the Doctor to fight in this episode. His real enemy is time ––– usually his best friend and his stock in trade. As he races against the clock to try to save everybody on board Platform One, he knows that somebody has sabotaged the spaceship, and that whoever has done so will end up being the enemy he chases. In the end, of course, it is Cassandra, the so-called last human who turns out to be the true enemy. She is not what you'd call a very formidable enemy: she doesn't have great war fleets at her disposal, she doesn't have any superpowers, she doesn't even have a body. But what she does have is a small army of metallic robot spiders who have dismantled the ship's defences and left it vulnerable to the awesome power of the exploding sun.

Cassandra is not a likely foe. Nothing more than a face on some tightly stretched skin held in a frame, she can't run from the Doctor, she can't fight the Doctor, she can't even do anything for herself. She has servants that see to her needs, including moisturising her, in case her tightly drawn skin should dry out, as it does at the end, leading to her demise. Although the Doctor does not kill her, in a way he sort of does, as he could easily save her by just spraying her with water, but he chooses not to act, rationalising that Cassandra has lived for far too long, has been prepared to murder a whole ship full of people for nothing more than financial gain, and of course, has been responsible for the death of Jade, who was his friend. It is said that for evil to triumph it is enough that good men do nothing: here, evil does not triumph but is actually defeated when a good man does nothing. But then again, is the Doctor a good man? Could a good man stand by while another creature dies, knowing he could save it by simply lifting one hand?

So perhaps the Doctor is not as pure in his motives and his ideals as we at first thought. He may not be human but he has human failings, the need for revenge being one of them. Would Jade have wanted this? That's a hard question to answer. The tree seemed to be quite compassionate, but then she was also a multi-millionairess, so would she take kindly to Cassandra's attempts to fleece her of a fortune while also taking her life? We will never know. But you'd have to believe that this is a dark chapter in the Doctor's long legacy; a moment when he could have saved somebody but chose not to. He may not have pulled the trigger, so to speak, but he may as well have done.

Of course, it's not as if Cassandra was an innocent. The Doctor doesn't do letting innocents die, in fact, he would probably sacrifice his life to save that of even one innocent. But Cassandra had committed many sins, and although principal among his motives is revenge I think also he was a little bit disgusted, a little bit repulsed by the fact that Cassandra believed she was human when in fact she had lost almost everything about her that makes someone human. The Doctor knows humans; he has dealt with them, fought against them, fought for them, travelled with them for hundreds of years. To think that the race might be reduced to this, that this might be all that is left behind of the proud race who were the dominant lifeform on the planet that is just about to explode, must fill him with loathing, and he may see it as nature having the final laugh, evolution coming to a halt, the universe sniggering behind its sleeve.

FAMILY

Consider this: you're five billion years into the future, watching the planet you grew up on (which for a long time you believed to be the only planet that contained intelligent life) about to explode as the sun swallows it, travelling with a strange man in a time machine to the end of the world, and he has left you on your own. Who ya gonna call?

JACKIE

We've briefly met Rose's mother in the first episode, when she was out shopping as the living plastic started attacking, and in her own house too, when the Doctor came calling, and now we see her again, going about her normal daily tasks: filling the washing machine, worrying about the bills, worrying about her daughter. If there's one thing that Jackie Tyler cares about more than anything in the world it's her daughter Rose. Like a lioness whose cubs are threatened, she will fight tooth and nail to save her daughter if she can.

This will bring her on a direct collision course with Rose's new friend. Realising that the Doctor is a dangerous man to be around, Jackie will worry about Rose and try to convince her not to travel with him in the blue box. Without success, of course: what daughter ever listened to her mother at that age? However, she will make one thing very clear to the Doctor: she is holding him directly responsible for the safety of her daughter.

The fact that the Doctor realises that Rose misses her family shows that he does have some human compassion after all. When she laughingly tries her mobile phone, five billion years in the future, not surprisingly she can get no signal. But he uses his powers of science and the technology of the future to give her phone the ultimate upgrade, and now she can call from anywhere and anywhen, whenever she likes. It's a slightly touching little cameo; it's not something that he would have thought of doing, but when he sees Rose so distressed that she can't call her mother he takes steps to make sure that she can. This ability to call home will impact on future episodes also.

But it shows the Doctor one thing for certain: there is nothing like family, even when you're speaking to a woman who has been dead for so long that even her bones have turned to dust and the dust has turned to ––– whatever dust turns to when it has been long around for too long. Jackie, and every other inhabitants of the earth, including Rose, are long long long dead by the time Rose Tyler makes the phone call. But it doesn't matter: although she realises that after she has hung up, she is still glad she was able to speak to her mother and tell her that she was okay, even if that message has been sent across five thousand millennia.

A long and lonely life

When the Doctor meets Jade, it's clear that the two of them have hit it off. Whether they are compatible or not is another question, but even whether the Doctor intends to get intimate with the tree or not, he still warms to her very quickly, liking her almost instantly and they quickly become fast friends. He may indeed reflect, as people in his position often do, that anyone who gets close to him ends up dying. This certainly happens to Jade: while holding down the lever that prevents the massive turbofans turning which are blocking the way to the manual override, she sacrifices her life. As the temperature rises, the wood in her begins to burn and it's not long before she's in flames, dying before his eyes.

This may reinforce the belief in the Doctor as to why he never makes any real friends, especially of an intimate nature. When danger follows you around as it seems to, when death is your constant companion, it's best not to involve other people. They just end another casualty of your lifestyle.

Laughing in the face of death

I'm changing the title of this section from that in the previous episode, to coincide with this section in any other series write-ups I do.

Although death and drama haunt this episode, there is plenty of comedy too, much of it supplied by Cassandra, who seems to think that she knows more about Earth than she actually does. She presents the jukebox as an iPod, comments that the ostrich on Earth had a wingspan of fifty feet and belched fire, and think songs like "Toxic" by Britney Spears and "Tainted love" by Soft Cell are classical music. Her acerbic comments about her various husbands are also quite amusing, if bitter. But there's more.

Prior to his messy death, the steward makes a Tannoy announcement asking the person who left the blue box to please move it. You can almost imagine the registration being read out over the address system. When the Doctor upgrades Rose's phone he says he will do so with some jiggery-pokery. She smiles, despite herself, and asks him is that what he does: jiggery-pokery? He replies he came first in jiggery-pokery in his class. The small maintenance creatures who seem to service Platform One –– kind of look like jawas really ––– hand the Doctor a card on which is alien script, or so we think, until we look closer and we see it says "Have a nice day".

And isn't that…?
Who could fail to recognise the voice of Cassandra as that of Zoe Wanamaker, best known for her role as Ben's wife in the BBC TV sitcom "My family", and also from the Harry Potter series of films.

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Episode Two

Urquhart has gathered most of the cabinet and all the powerful movers and shakers at his residence, most at quite short notice, and Stamper is annoyed that even he is unaware of the Prime Minister's intent, the moreso that Urquhart refuses to enlighten him before he makes his announcement. He is in fact fencing with the fractious king, and has decided to test the level of support --- or lack of same --- for the monarch by calling a general election. This is quite clever, because if he receives the backing of the people then His Majesty is in a very difficult position, as the people will have spoken. And what ruler, at least in modern times, would dare go against the will of his people?

Elizabeth warns her husband not to take Stamper for granted. He may be loyal but treat him like crap and he may just bite the hand that feeds him. Urquhart seems dismissive of her advice but decides to follow it and offers Stamper the chairmanship of the Party, which he accepts gratefully, but also with the air of a man who believes it is “about time”. The King, having correctly guessed who leaked his intended speech, as well as the version Urquhart had wanted him to use, to the press, tells Chloe he supports her decision, and then seems to make something of a romantic play for her. But he is not used to dealing with women, and falters and stutters, and she, afraid to make a terrible mistake and misinterpret what she thinks he is saying, remains coy and pretends not to understand. David Mycroft, meanthile, is discovering the freedom of allowing himself to be who he is, sexually and personally. But it can hardly last.

A new poll in the “Times” is potentially damaging to Urquhart's reputation; it shows that the king has great support from the people for his proposed new reforms. The PM therefore sets Sarah Harding the task of producing a new one, completely weighted questions that will skew the results in favour of the government. Elizabeth suggests her husband should pay a visit to the “House of Wounded Feelings”, wherein resides the divorced Princess and her young son. Uruqhart thinks it's a good idea, while Sarah has trouble with her husband, who is finding it hard to reconcile her newfound celebrity with the secrets she is forced to keep, and the lack of attention he is getting from her. No doubt part of Urquhart's plan, despite his protest of innocence to us via the camera, to drive her into his waiting arms on what will seem to be her own terms.

There's a wonderfully ironic scene then as the king takes his advisors to dinner, and they sit around the table like eager schoolboys awaiting a treat. God knows why, but they all seem excited at the thought of eating beef Wellington. You would imagine on their massive salaries they would be more than capable of dining on such every day. But be that as it may, when the king expresses his lack of appetite due to having had to witness the poverty his people live in every day, and announces he will only have soup, one after another they all agree that this is what they will have too. A clear case of the sheep following the shepherd, none of them wishing to be the one left behind to be eaten by the ravening wolf. The look on the waitress's face as she nods “The soup?” is priceless.

A moment later there's a bomb blast as a car bomb goes off in the centre of town. Arranged by Urquhart of course, through his commander Corder. Urquhart authorises a shoot-to-kill mission against Irish terrorists, blaming them for the carbomb. Stamper is annoyed that FU will not tell him what date he has chosen to hold the general election, and gets more upset when he notes the arrival of Sarah, and is summarily dismissed with a smile. Surplus to requirements. He comes to a decision, and arranges for “Urquhart's whore” to be accosted on the street by people who tell her to “ask him about Mattie Storrin.” When she does he of course feeds her the lies he has made everyone believe. Sucked in by his apparent pain at the “suicide” of the young girl, she reaches out in the best way she knows how to as a woman, and Urquhart declares he is “ready to put himself about a bit and cause a little mischief.”

QUOTES
Sarah: “What's it all about?”
Stamper: “I'm sure he'll tell you, if he thinks you need to know.”
Sarah: “You don't know either, do you?”
(Stamper is clearly annoyed that, both as Urquhart's Chief Whip and --- as he sees it --- his personal friend, though truth to tell the PM has few if any real friends, FU will not take him into his confidence, and he sees his role in Urquhart's inner circle may be beginning to diminish.)

Urquhart: “I need hardly tell you how much this has wounded me personally (the criticism of his government by the king) to the point where I thought very seriously about tendering my resignation.”
(Of course he did not, not for an instant. Not only is Francis Urquhart a man who clings to power with the iron grip of a drowning man, but he is also a man who will allow no other to best him, and resigning would be the most callow form of cowardice and defeat. These are not words you associate with the Prime Minister!)

Urquhart (to camera): “It'll leak of course, it probably is already. Half the people here are on retainers from one ghastly rag or another; that fool Gropen for instance: it's the only reason he was asked. These days a nice controlled leak is absolutely the best way to announce anything.”

Urquhart (again to camera): “Next to a small war there's nothing quite like a general election to stiffen the sinews and summon up the blood!”
(This quote will take on added significance in the third and final part of the trilogy)

Urquhart: “Do you know, it's strange: I can't imagine anyone taking my place.”
Elizabeth: “Nobody could.”
(The unmitigated arrogance of the man. In his own heart he somehow believes perhaps that he is going to live forever. We all hate to think of the world without us in it but we all know it is inevitable. But Urquhart genuinely wonders how the world of politics will get on when he is eventually gone. He has no intention of relinquishing power, and were it possible and this not England he would no doubt find some way to make himself Prime Minister --- or President, or King --- for life.)

Urquhart: “God knows what he (the king) thinks he's doing.”
Sarah: “Perhaps he's a man of principle.”
Urquhart: “I'm afraid you may be right.”
(A man of principle. The worst type of enemy for Urquhart to face. A man of principle will sacrifice everything --- home, family, standing, wealth, even on some occasions his very life --- to uphold his ethics and remain true to what he believes to be right. Urquhart faced one such in the first part of this story, in his race to unseat Henry Collingridge and take his job. Urquhart of course has no principles --- well, save preservation of his grip on power, and is more a man who values principals than principles. A man of principles is a dangerous enemy, for he very often can neither be bought or bullied. He can't be threatened, cajoled, reasoned with or warned off. He can be the real thorn in the side of a man like Urquhart, one almost impossible to dislodge. And he can attract more men and women like himself. Save us from men of principle, must be Urquhart's silent prayer!)

Sarah: “Would you really bring down the monarchy, if you could ... if you had to?”
Urquhart: “Bring down the monarchy? No. The very thought of it is abhorrent to me. But forcing the abdication of a particular king? That has been done before.”
(Here the PM makes a very clear and telling distinction between the man and the monarch. He does not (he says) hate the king and he is loyal to the throne. It's just that its current occupant is a threat to him, and he will take all measures necessary to remove that threat. Unlike Oliver Cromwell however, he does not wish to see an end to the monarchy, and will happily and faithfully serve whomever next ascends the throne. Providing, of course, that the new king, or queen, and he are singing from the same dark hymn sheet!

Urquhart also here reveals to Sarah his plan --- though we've been privy to it since the first episode --- of putting the king in a position which will be untenable, and force him to renounce the throne.)

Brian: “Life does seem awfully like crawling through a tunnel of excrement sometimes, doesn't it?”
Stamper: “Yes. One sometimes wonders if it's in a good cause. But then, how could it be otherwise?”
(There's a pause between Stamper's two sentences, and a wistful look in his eye as if considering before uttering the second part, which is more said to quell his own self-doubt really. He has seen a marked change in FU and wonders if he is beginning to become surplus to requirements? He has already been shut out of what should be seen as important decisions in which he should be involved. Could it be time to jump ship, or at least, reconsider his options, before it's too late? He knows where the bodies are --- has figuratively or even literally buried some of them for his master. Might he fear he may soon be joining them?)

Urquhart, as the bomb goes off, to camera: “Don't worry: nobody we know!”

Uruqhart: “Do you have anyone in mind?”
Corder: “Well there is a group we've been watching, yes.”
Urquhart: “And they're guilty?”
Corder: “Well they qualify (Yeah, they're Irish!) Let's put it this way: it's what they're in London for.”
Urquhart: “Excellent Corder! Let's give their mothers something to cry about, shall we?”
(As ever, the British government fits up an IRA-style group to take the blame for a car bomb which they have just as much as admitted they arranged. Birmingham Six, Guildford Four ... it's always the same. Irish as charged, and the government of the time looks “strong and resilient in the face of terrorism.”)

Urquhart: “Come around.”
Sarah: “Now? Why?”
Urquhart: “Because I want to see you.”
(For FU, there is no need for further explanation, no other reason required than that he desires her company, and he probably wonders if she will resist. But she does not; she folds, like Mattie did, and like just about anyone over whom Urquhart can exert his power does. And he loves it.)

Urquhart: “Ireland is a matter of honour, Sarah, not profit. I'll never give an inch there!”

Urquhart (to camera): “Under the show, the struggle for power. Deep down, below it all, deeper than honour, deeper than pride, deeper than lust and deeper than love, is the getting of it all. The seizing and the holding on, the jaws locked, biting into power and hanging on.”
(While he speaks this dark soliloquy, which gives us another glimpse behind the mask to the true face of the man beneath, the “qualified group” Corder spoke of are ambushed in a shopping centre car park and gunned down. Unarmed, unwarned, they are quite simply summarily executed).

Stamper (to himself, after Urquhart has hung up on him, still refusing to tell him when the election is to take place): “You owe me Francis. And you've set your whore up over me.”
(At this point Stamper comes to an obvious decision, deeming himself cast aside he will now take his revenge. It will come as being close to the end of the Prime Minister, though that end will not come just yet.)

Urquhart: “They want to make you afraid of me, Sarah. You're not afraid of me, are you?”
Sarah: “No. Not at all.”
(A look passes over Urquhart's face that is part satisfaction, and part disappointment)

A boy in a man's world?

Like many of the more recent monarchs, this unnamed King shows a deep lack of understanding of how the world works outside of the pampered perfumed corridors of Buckingham Palace. He is idealistic, one might say almost naive about things. He thinks people should just treat each other better, and who would disagree with such sentiment? But he also thinks he can be a force for change, and it's one thing to want to help but it's quite another to want to help from your position of wealth, power and influence. As was said in the first episode, people may not take kindly to the king lecturing them on thrift with his three Bentleys!

In this section I'll be taking a look at how the world looks through the eyes of the young king, how he interpets --- and often misinterprets --- things, and how, in the end, this lack of worldliness sets him on a collision course with Francis Urquhart that can have only one outcome. It's like a 250 lb athelete at the top of his game stepping into the ring with a 100 lb weakling who has never lifted a hand in anger. He's going down!

Here the King is mystified when, stopping to look at a group of vagabonds in the street at night he watches a young girl approach out of the darkness from the comfort of his state car. When she asks if he wants “any business” he genuinely is mystified and has no idea what she means. He probably didn't even realise she was a prostitute. Yeah, he's that innocent. Is this the man you want sitting on the throne of your country? Then again, given that the other option, as it were, would have probably invited the girl in, taken her home, done her and then released her with a warning never to breathe a word --- and probably set his attack dogs (human not canine, although I suppose...) on her afterwards, just to be safe, is the king such a bad choice?

As he sits around the table at the restaurant, after the shock of the bombing has led to everyone having something more than just soup (!), the king declares that he can't believe what he's hearing as the opposition leader and his other cronies discuss how impossible it will be to unseat Urquhart before the election. “Can't you see?” he implores them. “If our will is strong enough the means will present itself!” Yeah, and if you just wait for the right moment it will always arrive. Such naivete ill befits the ruler of a nation, and in fairness you begin to start to see that removing this man --- “a brave, terrified boy”, as his opponent once described another man --- might after all be the right move, the best move.

I couldn't possibly comment

The first usage of what had become Urquhart's trademark phrase for obfuscation in the first part, he responds to the question one of his lapdog ministers puts to the House by asking if it is high time people stopped whinging about the rights of “bloody murderers” by using the phrase. Perfectly timed, and as ever, gives his answer without attaching any blame to the man.

And isn't that...?

The prostitute who tries to do “some business” with His Majesty is none other than Baby Spice herself, Emma Bunton.

The Real Urquhart

No matter how rigidly and carefully he keeps the mask on, occasionally it slips and we see behind the stern but somewhat fatherly facade to the evil monster beneath, a man who can quite happily order the unsanctioned killing of three members of another sovereign nation, knowing that they are being scapegoated for something he orchestrated, and wanting to cover it up. He sneers “Let's give their mothers something to cry about” and he means it: he doesn't care that these people have parents who will bewail their loss, and as for protests from the Irish government? He snaps “I'll not give an inch there!” Not that any government, whether in the Republic or the North could easily protest against the killing of what were proven to be terrorists, even if there was no proof they were doing anything more dangerous than pushing shopping trolleys at the time they were executed.

Again, we see the mask slide when, behind closed doors and away from prying eyes (he doesn't consider our eyes prying: we've seen what he's done, we've metaphorically taken part in it and assisted him if only by staying silent and concealing what we know, and we are up to our pretty little necks in it as much as he is) he declares “I am actually very annoyed with His Majesty and I plan to do him harm.” He will not brook this challenge to his authority, and he begins to set in motion events which will help him in his efforts to unseat the monarch.

And when he asks Sarah if she fears him and she replies in the negative, there's a definite sense of disappointment behind his eyes. Urquhart wants everyone to respect him, but he also wants everyone to fear him. You don't generally tangle with a man you fear, much less a man who wields the power that Francis Urquhart does.

There's a coldness behind his eyes too as he dismisses Stamper, and the new Party Chairman begins to fear himself. He has seen that dark, dead, piercing look before, directed at others, and he knows what it presages. He is quite aware now that the Medusa is turning its gaze upon him, and he has no longer his magic shield to protect him from that awful stare.

The Betrayer betrayed

A lifetime of “kicking the shit out of people” and “putting a bit of stick about” is finally beginning to come back to haunt Urquhart. He thinks he can bully or charm people into doing whatever he wants, and does not countenance the idea of anyone turning against him. And should that happen, well remember what happened to Roger O'Neill! But now one of his most trusted aides is starting to see that he is being shut out, that he is no longer part of the inner circle, that his long --- let's call it friendship though it's no such thing --- is coming to an end as Francis realises Stamper is becoming more a liability than an asset, and the Chairman sees the writing on the wall.

Urquhart thinks there's nothing Stamper can do to hurt him. He doesn't in fact think anyone has anything on him that could damage his standing or threaten his position. But as his battle with the palace begins to heat up he's about to find out that there are some small nagging voices from his past that refuse to be silent, and they will have their say, and play their part in taking him down.

The Urquhart Bodycount

The bodies are starting to pile up now! For no other reason than to bolster his flagging popularity, Francis has four members of an alleged IRA squad shot on sight: summary justice, no trial.

LETHAL

Three unnamed "IRA people": shot down in broad daylight, unarmed and without warning.

Non-Lethal Bodycount: 4
Lethal Bodycount: 5
Total Bodycount: 9

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Note: Somehow, when I hinted during Metal Month II in my main journal that I had "something special" coming up here in terms of movie reviews, Pet_Sounds correctly guessed that it was this. How'd he do that? Is he psychic? Your guess is as good as mine. But he was right...


Title: Nineteen Eighty-Four
Year: 1984
Genre: Science-Fiction
Starring: John Hurt as Winston Smith
Richard Burton as O'Brien
Suzanna Hamilton as Julia
Cyril Cusack as Mr. Charrington

Director: Michael Radford
Writer: Michael Radford, based on George Orwell's novel

In the original dystopian future, set in the year 1984, Winston Smith is a low-level operative working in the Ministry of Truth, whose job it is to revise history, to make sure that what the all-powerful Party sees as being correct is shown as such. Any newspaper articles, editorials or anything else written prior which does not conform to, or contradicts what the Party want, is adjusted, changed, amended. Literally, rewriting history. But Smith is rebelling in his own small way. He is keeping a diary, an activity forbidden by the Party, a personal act which is not in accordance with the wishes of the ruling elite, and he dreams of the world outside the grey confines of his cell-like quarters, of trees and blue sky and clean water and, most damning of all, of freedom. Freedom from the Thought Police, freedom from the endless announcements about an endless war, freedom from the morning hate-ins everyone has to attend, freedom from revising history and freedom, most of all, from the Party and its ubiquitous figurehead, Big Brother.

In his actual real world, even the language is being rewritten. Newspeak uses only the words authorised and approved by the Party, and people who have been found guilty of offences against the State are excised from history, labelled as “unpersons”: every reference to them, every photograph of them or with them in it, every document pertaining to them is changed, altered, deleted, so that no trace of the person will be left. They are lifted from the face of time itself; it is as if they had never been born. Smith's world is in a constant state of war, with military vehicles prowling the streets, helicopters buzzing in the sky like angry wasps, and continual reports from “the front” coming in all the time. Most of the resources of the country (said to be England, referred to as Oceania and Airstrip One) are bent towards the production of munitions, vehicles and supplies for the eternal war, the opponent only known as Eurasia.

Reacting against the unrelenting greyness and his dreary, pointless existence, Smith begins an illicit love affair with a woman called Julia, meeting her outside of London where he risks his position, his freedom (such as it is) and even his life by indulging in one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, sexcrime. He then takes it a step further, renting a room above an old curio shop where he and Julia can meet and make love in private, away from the prying eyes of Big Brother and the Party, away from the incessant tannoy announcements and the litany of production figures and targets reached or set, away from the dark, grey, drab, hopeless despair of his life and into, if only for a short moment, a small shaft of personal sunlight that will get him through the rest of his boring, unfulfilling, monotonous week.

He is contacted by O'Brien, a senior Party member who loans him his copy of the latest edition of the Newspeak dictionary. However he discovers the book to be merely a front for one of the most hated and banned books in Oceania, “The theory of collective oligarchy” by the arch-traitor, Emmanuel Goldstein. Why would O'Brien, a trusted Party man, have such a book in his possession and why, more to the point, would he pass it on to Smith? Surely he must be a member of the legendary and often thought fictional Resistance? While he ponders this revelation, the news reports advise that the hated enemy is not after all Eurasia --- Eurasia has always been their ally --- it is now Eastasia. And so the lie propogates and takes on its own life, and nobody questions it.

As he reads the book with growing interest and understanding to Julia, it turns out he has been sold out by Charrington, the owner of the curio shop. There is a camera behind the picture hanging on the wall and the Party have been watching Smith and Julia commit their sexcrime, and add to it by reading the banned book written by the traitor Goldstein. They are arrested and separated. While awaiting interrogation, Smith meets his colleague Parsons, who has also been found guilty of being a traitor and is sentenced to the infamous Room 101. Nobody knows what happens there, but everyone fears the very mention of that dread chamber.

Then it's Smith's turn. He finds to his dismay that O'Brien is not part of the Resistance at all, and the book was planted as a device to trap him. He is in fact going to be interrogated by O'Brien, though torture would be a more accurate description. O'Brien does his best to break Smith, trying to make him see things that aren't there and acknowledge that the will of the Party is all that matters, but unable to satisfy his torturer Smith remains resolute: he tries to lie when O'Brien asks him how many fingers he is holding up, four or five, and though Smith sees four he tries to say it's five, as O'Brien wants him to believe this. But O'Brien knows he is lying, trying to save himself from further torment, and this is not what he wants. He wants, needs Smith to absolutely believe that he can see five fingers, because the Party says that is what he should see.

When, after what could be days or weeks, or perhaps only hours of unremitting physical and mental torture, Smith clings to the hope espoused in Goldstein's book, O'Brien drops his final bombshell, telling him that he authored, or co-authored it. It is a fantasy, a made up thing, a prop with which to fuel the hatred of the people and falsely build up the hopes of aspiring rebels. But though almost broken, Smith clings to his love of Julia and confesses he still hates Big Brother, so he is taken to Room 101, where, O'Brien tells him, the worst thing in the world awaits him. This is based on individual horrors, and in Smith's case it is the terror of rats.

He is strapped into a chair and a cage with two large starving rats is secured to his head. At the realisation that when the door to the cage is open the rats will burrow through his face and eat him alive, he finally snaps and screams for O'Brien to torture and kill Julia instead of him. Having broken the last vestiges of his spirit, torn the hope and love from his heart, O'Brien is satisfied and Smith is released. He is later seen on the screen confessing to all the crimes he has been accused of --- most of which are fanciful but that doesn't matter --- and when he meets Julia some time later she too has been reprogrammed, and their meeting is sterile and polite. As she leaves, and Smith awaits his final execution at the whim of the Party, he turns to the image of Big Brother and says “I love you”. Meanwhile the screen announcer broadcasts a “glorious victory” against Eurasia, who are once again the enemy, and proclaims that the war is once more “within measurable distance of its end.”

QUOTES
Smith: “Thoughtcrime is death. Thoughtcrime does not entail death, thoughtcrime is death.”

Smith (from his diary): “To the past, or to the future, to an age when thought is free, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of the Thought Police, from a dead man: greetings.”

Announcer: “I am authorised to say that the war against Eurasia is within measureable distance of its end.”
(This is said ad infinitum; the war will of course never be over, but you have to throw the citizens a bone from time to time, in case they get restless or begin to ask awkward questions).

Doctor: “When the orgasm has eventually been finally eradicated, the last remaining obstacle to the psychological acceptance of the principles of INGSOC as applied to ARTSEM will be removed. In other words, the unorthodox tendencies towards Ownlife, which constantly threaten the natural erosion of the family unit will no longer have the biological support of the organism. As we all know the biological and social stimulation of the family leads to private reflection outside Party needs, and the establishment of unorthodox loyalites which can only lead to Thoughtcrime. The intoduction of ARTSEM combined with the elimination of the orgasm, will render the family obsolete, until it becomes impossible to conceptualise.”
(One thing the Party fears more than anything else is the hardwired loyalty to one's family, coupled with the sex drive of humans. If they can eliminate both, then people will have no need to struggle with divided loyalties. Why decide between loyalty to the Party and loyalty to one's family, or wife, or girl or boyfriend, if these things no longer exist? Rivals for the unquestioning fealty and obedience of its subjects, the Party will destroy them and leave room for nothing in the lives of its citizens but unswerving, total submission to the Party. I never found out what INGSOC was --- though the "soc" part is surely "society", but I assume ARTSEM is "artificial insemination".)

Smith (delighted and surprised): “Tea!”
Julia: “Hmm. There's been a lot of tea around recently. We've captured India or something.”

Smith (from his diary): “Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
(Smith will find though that even this simple arithmetic may not be authorised by the Party, as he will later be asked “And what if the Party says two plus two equals five? What then?” Making it clear that no matter what the reality, it's what the Party agrees is truth that is the accepted norm. If the Party says the sky is pink, then the sky is pink. There is no room whatever for a dissenting or contradictory opinion.)

Smith: “Julia, do you think resistance is real?”
Julia: “No. None of it is real.”

Smith: Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Eurasia is our ally. Eurasia has always been our ally. Everything fades into mist, the past is erased, the erasures forgotten. Lie becomes the truth, and then a lie again.”

Smith: “It's not so much staying alive as staying human that's important. It counts that we don't betray each other. If they can make me change my feelings, can make me stop loving you, that would be a real betrayal.”

Smith: “You can ...?” (O'Brien turns off the screen)
O'Brien: “Yes. You're allowed that privilege.”
(Smith is as amazed at this tiny but at the same time massive concession as he would be if O'Brien had suddenly sprouted wings and flown away. Imagine a world where music blares at you constantly, at full volume, and nobody can turn it off. Nobody would even THINK of turning it off. This has gone on for all of your life, and all of your parents' life, and probably all of their parents' too. Then one day, someone pulls the plug. Imagine the incredulous looks, the sudden lack of understanding as to how you cope with a world not filled with endless announcements of traitors uncovered and munitions created, of war reports and progress dispatches, of orders to keep the faith and the constant song of Oceania. In the absence of the screen, the silence must be deafening. And impossible to comprehend.)

Soldier (on screen): “This is no longer war. This is cold-blooded murder!”
(There's a difference?)

Quoted from Goldstein's book: “In accordance with the principles of doublethink, it does not matter if the war is not real, or when it is, victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. The essential act of modern warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labour. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects, and its object is not victory over Eurasia or Eastasia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.”

Smith (Looking out the window at an old washerwoman singing in her yard): “The future is hers. We are the dead.”

Parsons: “Keep away from me Smith! I'm an agent of Goldstein! I didn't even know it myself! Thoughtcrime is so insidious; it just creeps up on you! My daughter found it out: very proud of her. Lucky it was discovered before it was too late.”
(Another example of how absolute the control, how final the word of the Party is. If they say you're a traitor you are one. Maybe you didn't realise it, but ignorance is no excuse. The possibility of the Party being in error is not even contemplated, to the point where a citizen will readily accept he or she is guilty, because the Party says they are. Also note: family loyalty is breaking down. Parsons' own daughter reported him, knowing he would be executed. And he's proud of her for doing what he sees as her duty!)

O'Brien: “Do you remember writing in your diary, freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four? How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?”
Smith: “Four.”
O'Brien: “And if the Party says it is five, how many then?”
(Although Smith does not answer, O'Brien knows he is thinking “four”. It is, you see, not enough for Smith to simply repeat what he thinks his interrogator wishes him to hear. He cannot merely parrot an answer that will satisfy the Party member. He must believe it, truly, totally, completely. He must believe that four equals five, and that this is only so because the Party says it is so. Lying to a Party member is an act of resistance, an act of will, an act of defiance, none of which will be tolerated, none of which will shorten his interrogation or lessen his pain. But he cannot make himself believe it, not until O'Brien has completely and irrevocably broken him.)

O'Brien: “Neither the past nor the future, nor the present exist in their own right. Reality is in the human mind. Not the individual mind. Each makes mistakes, and soon perishes. But in the mind of the Party, which is collective, and immortal.”

O'Brien: “There is no escape here Winston. No martyrs. All the confessions made here are true. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us. As long as he resists us, we never destroy him. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. We make his brain perfect before we blow it out. And then, when there is nothing left but sorrow and love for Big Brother we shall lift you clean out of history. We shall turn you into gas and pour you into the stratosphere. Nothing will remain of you: not a name in a register, not a memory in a living brain. You will be annihilated in the past as well as in the future.”

O'Brien: “You know what is in Room 101. Everyone knows.”

O'Brien: “Power is inflicting pain and humiliation on another because you can. Power is tearing a man's mind apart and putting it back together in shapes of your own choosing. Power is not a means, it is an end. The past is forbidden. Why? Because when you cut a man from his past, his family, his children, there is no loyalty except loyalty to the Party. There is no love, except love for Big Brother. All competing pleasures we will destroy. If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a boot stamping on an upturned human face forever.”

Smith: “Something in thes world, some spirit you will never overcome.”
O'Brien: “What? What is it, this spirit, Winston?”
Smith: “The spirit of Man.”
O'Brien: “And do you consider yourself a man, Winston?”
Smith: “Yes.”
O'Brien: “If you are a man, you're the last man. Your kind is extinct. We are the inheritors.”

O'Brien: “You asked me once what was in Room 101, Winston. I told you that you know already. Everyone knows. What is in Room 101 is the very worst thing in the world. It goes beyond fear of pain, or death. It is unendurable, and it varies from individual to individual. It may be burial alive, or castration, or any other thing. In your case, it is rats.”

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