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By
Lars Joreteg
Review:
Crusade episode 5 - "Patterns of the Soul"
"I
don't trust your generals any more than you do" - Dureena
The
fifth episode of Crusade is yet another solid episode.
While "Patterns of the Soul" has several weaknesses,
it gives us insights into more of the characters, while
providing interesting plot lines to be resolved in the
future.
The
Excalibur is redirected to the small world of Theta
9, where some human colonists have fled. These colonists
left Earth during the Drakh attack and may have been
infected with the deadly plague, and Gideon is under
order to bring them back to Earth. But the colonists
may not be exactly who they seem, and there are other
surprises on the planet...
While
the core plot of "Patterns of the Soul" is nothing revolutionary,
it serves its purpose adequately. We find out that the
major changes in the last few years have done little
to change the core of the Earth Alliance, there are
still many secret projects and corrupt leaders in high
positions. It also seems like the general didn't buy
Gideon's final explanation completely, but backed off
due to fear when the food connection was revealed. Gideon
isn't very forthcoming to his superiors (for good reasons),
but one wonders when that kind of attitude will com
back and bite him... His solution to the colonist problem
made sense, though, and by destroying their ship the
plague has been contained. It is also revealed that
long forgotten tribe of Dureena's race (stranded there
since the last shadow war) have been contaminated by
the plague, and are dying much faster than the humans
are. It will be interesting to see the how this mini-arc
develops - can a cure be found in time? Will the fact
that the plague adapts to that species faster make it
easier to find a cure them? If Crusade is renewed, we
will know...
This
episode gives us our first real view of Dr. Chambers
(Marjean Holden), aside from her cameo appearance in
"War Zone". She seems likeable enough, but the character
is given a lot of heavy exposition that doesn't work
well (one example: her career choice monologue). The
performance is good, but she is hampered by uninspired
dialogue. Nonetheless I look forward to seeing more
of her.
Max
Eilerson (David Allen Brooks) is also given more exposure
in this episode, and he is his typical self, while also
revealing that profits aren't the only thing that matter
to him. He also has a great scene with Gideon regarding
"Canterbury Tales". He is still my favorite character.
:-)
Gary
Cole plays Captain Gideon very well as usual, and Carrie
Dobro (Dureena Nafeel) is also good. Their discussion
in the shuttle while returning to Excalibur was very
nicely done.
Brian
Thompson is the main guest star, playing the lead colonist,
and he gives the best performance that I have ever seen
him give. Commonly typecast as a bad guy (most commonly
seen as the alien assassin in "X-Files"), he shows here
that he also is a very competent actor. Hopefully we'll
see more of him in the future, if Crusade is renewed.
The other guest stars were quite forgettable, one in
particular (the actors name escapes me, he played the
2nd colonist) who had a very particular speech pattern.
I don't know if that was supposed be a side effect of
cybernetic brain implants (in which case it should have
been hinted at), or if it was a spontaneous acting decision,
but it was annoying.
The
effects in this episode were outstanding, certainly
the best so far. The colonist ship take-off sequence
was a particular highlight, but everything else was
also executed very nicely. The set building department
also did a fine job on the Theta 9 surface, which they
managed to make very realistic looking, even though
everything was filmed inside a soundstage, avoiding
the common sci-fi TV pitfall of too many "plastic-looking
cave" planets. With a small budget, they have really
been successful in making Crusade look much more expensive
than Babylon 5 (which it really isn't).
Overall
I was thoroughly entertained by this episode, despite
some flaws. Several nice character moments and interesting
loose ends make this episode very enjoyable.
Rating:
8/10
- Lars Joreteg
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