Recap / Blakes Seven S 2 E 2 Shadow

They're The Mafia IN SPACE. They're bound to help us.

Written by Chris Boucher.
Directed by Jonathan Wright Miller.
Airdate: 16 January 1979.

Blake seeks the help of the organised crime syndicate Terra Nostra in his fight against the Federation. Meanwhile Cally is trapped in her own mind by an alien force that has taken over Orac.

This was notably the first episode of Blake's 7 not to be written by Terry Nation.

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This episode has the following tropes:

• Affably Evil: Largo maintains a façade of gentlemanly courtesy while acting like a back-stabbing SOB.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Though it's likely Orac was taken over by this point.
  Zen: The one called Orac is not concerned for the safety of the Liberator.
• Aggressive Negotiations: His previous attempt to buy cooperation from the Terra Nostra having failed, Blake decides to attack their main source of revenue to force them to the bargaining table.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Jenna refused to smuggle drugs for the Terra Nostra, and then got arrested by Federation Security. She asks Largo if his contact in Security just happens to be the same person who arrested her. Then when Avon refuses to sell his valuable crystals, Largo has his enforcer detain them.
• As Long as There Is One Man: At the end of the episode Bek says there's no point in returning to Space City as there's nothing for him there. Blake however wants him to form La Résistance.
  Blake: Well, it's your territory. At least you know who you're fighting now.
  Bek: What have I got left to fight for?
  Blake: I'll give you three years, then I'll come looking. I expect you to be able to help me.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: The Terra Nostra, though they wear a cravat instead of a tie.
• Big Damn Heroes: Avon and Gan free themselves and rescue Blake just as he's about to be executed.
  Blake: Your sense of timing is as impeccable as ever.
  Avon: I have always admired your patience.
• BBC Quarry: The Binnegar Heath sandpits for Zondar.
• Black-and-Grey Morality
  Blake: It's quite logical. To have total control, you must control totally. Both sides of the law. The Terra Nostra, the Federation: two sides of the same power. The same man of power.
  Avon: Ironic, isn't it? We were hoping to use the Terra Nostra to attack the Federation only to discover that it is already being used to support it.
  Vila: Where are all the good guys?
  Blake: You could be looking at them.
  Avon: What a very depressing thought.
• Blatant Lies: Largo claims the Terra Nostra is an Urban Legend and he had no idea that Jenna was being asked to smuggle Shadow.
• Blessed with Suck: The Auronar can share their feelings telepathically, which gives them excellent emotional support unless they are isolated, in which case they don't cope as well as a non-telepathic human.
• Brandishment Bluff: Bek leaves a recorded threat so Largo will think he's still in the room, triggered to play when Largo starts to move.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: Computers, unless they've been taken over by the Monster of the Week.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: Bek demands at gunpoint that our heroes take him and his sister with them. They teleport out instead, but moments later Blake returns with a couple of bracelets, deciding they might come in useful after all.
• Continuity Nod: This is one of the few occasions when Blake actually uses the vast fortune stashed on board the Liberator (mentioned in "Cygnus Alpha"), when he tries to buy an introduction to the Terra Nostra.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Vila offers to bring back anything Cally wants to placate her for running off. She demands a necklace... made from Vila's teeth!
• Designated Victim: Cally is once more menaced by an alien thanks to her telepathy.
• Distinction Without a Difference
  Blake: We're going to use them, Gan, not do business with them.
  Avon: A subtle distinction that escapes me for the moment.
• Drugs Are Bad: They're addictive, they kill you in the end, and The Man is behind it all anyway!
• Dumb Muscle
  Enforcer: It would make me very unhappy to think that you tried to use me, like some fool.
  Largo: You're just an enforcer. You've a gun at your brain.
• Eldritch Abomination
  "The energy is building. I am ready to cross. Hungry dark to absorb the blazing suns."
• Evil Overlord List: The guards on Zondar violate Rule 104. They're not the familiar black-clad Gasmask Mooks (due to the hot temperatures) but are carrying ID identifying them as the President's personal security force.
• Explosive Leash: Avon places an explosive charge in Orac to ensure events don't repeat themselves.
• Fantastic Caste System
  Cally: What, Blake has led a sheltered life?
  Vila: Look, he was an Alpha grade on Earth. A highly privileged group, the Alphas. Wouldn't last five minutes among the Delta service grades where I grew up. And it's the service grades where the Terra Nostra really operate. Without anesthetic, usually.
• Fan Vid: Requiem for a Dreamhead
• Future Slang: "Dreamheads" for Shadow addicts.
• Good Is Not Soft: With Largo holding her friends prisoner, Cally contacts Space City's central control and informs them she's going to start firing in six minutes if they're not released. She then blows up a gunship that's on an attack run (she did warn them first).
• Government Conspiracy: The Federation is using Terra Nostra to control the more disobedient members of society.
• Government Drug Enforcement: Despite the President denouncing Shadow as "the greatest single threat to the welfare of Mankind", it turns out he's involved in its production on a planet guarded by his personal security force.
• Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the episode focuses on Blake's failed attempt to get the Terra Nostra on his side, and the second half, while still dealing with the aftermath of said attempt, focuses more on Cally getting Mind Raped and having to fight off an extradimensional invader.
• Hangover Sensitivity: Vila after his binge on Space City. An angry Blake does not bother keeping his voice down.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: The group which teleports down to Zondar wear white clothes against the sun, but no head protection.
• Human Aliens: Cally
  Blake: She is an alien.
  Avon: She is more human than I am.
  Vila: That's not difficult.
• Info Dump: At the end of the episode, Cally fills in everyone on what the hell has been going on.
• I Got You Covered: Blake tells Avon and Jenna to cover him, presumably not from the sunlight.
• Implied Death Threat: Largo tries to convince the Chairman of the Terra Nostra that Blake's escape was All According to Plan.
  Largo: Chairman, the rewards will be threefold. The money they are carrying, which is substantial; the bounty from the authorities, which is also substantial, and more important of all, the demonstration that we can punish where the Federation itself can't even reach.
  Chairman: Very well, Largo, a heavy cruiser will be at your disposal, but don't delay it too long or the rewards will be one-fold: the demonstration that we can punish.
• Impractically Fancy Outfit: Cally is dressed like she's in a medieval fantasy. In fairness, she wasn't planning on teleporting down to a BBC Quarry.
• Insistent Terminology
  Blake: We chose the wrong approach, that's all.
  Avon: We chose the wrong approach?
  Blake: I chose the wrong approach. Does it matter?
  Avon: Yes, it does.
• Ironic Echo
  Bek: We can't stay here, so you're not going to leave without us.
  [Blake, Avon, Jenna and Gan teleport]
  Hanna: I think they went without us.
• It Won't Turn Off: Orac zaps anyone who tries to remove its key. When Hanna tries to yank it off, she's killed by a fatal shock.
• Just a Machine: The crew whenever they should be concerned that Orac is Not Himself.
• Kneel Before Zod: Largo is paying Hanna and Bek with Shadow, but insists they beg for it first. Unfortunately Bek (who's not actually an addict) produces a gun.
• Layman's Terms
  Vila: So you see, Bek, this thing tapped into Orac's channels, sucked up all his energy, so that it could come squirting out and swallow us all.
  Avon: The plain man's guide to alien invasions.
• Literal-Minded: Vila gripes that he just wants to see Space City. Zen obligingly shows him the station on the main viewer.
• Lotus Position: Largo, when he's not a Reclining Reigner.
• Make an Example of Them: Though the example isn't for the general populace.
  Bek: We are an object lesson for their own people. Largo's on his way up in the organization. One sign of weakness and he'll be on his way down again, probably minus his head.
• The Man Behind the Man is 'The Man'! Blake wants an introduction to whoever is running the Terra Nostra. It appears to be the Chairman, but then Avon discovers one of the guards on Zondar is carrying an identity card for the President's Praetorian Guard.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Another term for the Sicilian Mafia is Cosa Nostra, e.g. 'Our Thing' in Italian. Terra Nostra would be 'Our Earth', appropriate for an organisation secretly run by the President of the Terran Federation.
  • Shadow is produced from the moon discs, which can move to avoid direct sunlight, staying in the shadows. It is the main source of revenue for the Terra Nostra, revealed to be the shadow side of the Federation.
• The Millstone: Vila is looking forward to the hedonistic delights of Space City, only to be told to stay behind on the Liberator by Blake. He gets Orac to teleport him over anyway, hiding Orac in return.
• Mind over Matter: With the help of the moon discs, Cally uses telekinesis to bring Orac's key from the Liberator into her hand as she lies on the surface of Zondar. Anyone who tried to remove the key physically was electrocuted.
• Money Is Not Power: Blake tries to buy an introduction to those running the Terra Nostra. Not only does Largo deny the existence of such an organisation, he tries to rob and kill Blake instead.
• No Kill like Overkill
  Zen: Information. Detectors report seven Federation pursuit ships approaching in attack formation.
  Blake: Seven? One for each of us. How very generous of the President.
• No Peripheral Vision: Avon is able to sneak up on a guard wearing a thermal suit and throw him down a cliff.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Blake cuts off Zen as he's about to reveal there's a radioactive tracer in Shadow.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: With Cally in a coma, a nervous Blake starts snapping at everyone as they prepare to teleport down to Zondar.
• Orbital Bombardment: Blake, Avon and Jenna plant sensors that will map out the moon disc garden for the Liberator's battle computers. Later Blake lets Bek push the Big Red Button that will wipe out the President's dope stash, saying that while it won't stop production it will definitely sting a bit.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Blake tries to purchase the help of Terra Nostra, only to be captured instead. They force him to call Cally on the Liberator, so Blake tells her to send Zen across in the shuttle with the money. However this backfires because his captor assumes Blake came there by shuttle (he was teleported, but that's not a well-known technology) and therefore that's a Covert Distress Code — his shuttle should still be on the Space Station, not the Liberator. Blake has to bluff him into believing the Liberator has more than one shuttle. It should be noted that the crew of the Liberator never do establish a Covert Distress Code, despite several occasions where they're coerced (or their voice is faked) to get someone to teleport up a Boarding Party.
• Public Secret Message:
  • When a gun-wielding enforcer stops them leaving, Blake says, "Maybe we should have listened to Gan."^note who was against working with the Terra Nostra. Cut to Gan listening outside brandishing a gun...only to have another gun put to his head.
  • Blake asks Cally to have Zen bring over the rest of the money. Largo realises it's a trick, but for the wrong reasons — he assumes they came over by shuttle, which would still be on the space station. Blake bluffs him into believing they have four on the Liberator.
• Pull the Thread: Zen analyses Shadow and quickly establishes the only planet it could come from. If it's that easy, Avon wonders, why haven't the authorities shut down the source of the most dangerous drug in the Federation long ago?
• Quick Draw: A guard appears on the cliff above Avon. Somehow sensing his presence, Avon whirls and fires.
• Reveal Shot: Largo briefs the Chairman on events. Later his enforcer is shown briefing the Chairman, then the camera pans down to show that Largo is dead at his feet.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Blake wants to use the contacts and resources of an organized crime syndicate for his fight against the Federation.
• Right-Hand Cat: The Chairman of Terra Nostra has a pet tarantula.
• Space Clothes: Avon wears a silver-white tunic. The Faceless Goons on Zondar wear silver thermal suits for protection from the Binary Suns.
• Space Station: Space City. It's a city in space.
• The Starscream: Largo makes the mistake of assuming his enforcer is Dumb Muscle.
• The Syndicate: Terra Nostra
• Talking to Plants: Justified with an alien plant called a moon disc that's mildly telepathic.
  Jenna: I thought they [the moon disc] died if they left the planet?
  Cally: No. You have to talk to them.
  Avon: That's like talking to Vila. A complete waste of time.
• Telepath: Cally and the moon discs.
• Tracking Device: Largo had a radioactive trace element added to Shadow so he could keep track of the users.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: The Terra Nostra plot and the Cally/Orac plot.
• Vice City: Space City is neutral territory, unofficially controlled by the Terra Nostra. Vila waxes lyrical about the reputed hedonistic delights on offer. When Blake insists he stay on the Liberator, he has Orac teleport him over so he can experience them first hand.
• We Need a Distraction: Bek and Hanna provide one when Avon and Gan are taken out to be shot. Ungrateful Bastard that he is, Avon is entirely willing to leave them on Space City.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?
  • The moon discs prevent an Alien Invasion from another dimension. Blake shows his gratitude by neutron-blasting them from orbit.
  • If Orac agrees or disagrees to being fitting with an Explosive Leash, we don't hear it either way.
• White Void Room: The Monster of the Week traps Cally in a mental version, though her physical body is just passed out next to Orac.
• World of Snark:
  • Avon: "Law makers, law breakers, let us fight them all. Why not?"
  Gan: [after being captured] Sorry, Avon.
  Avon: That makes all the difference.

  Gan: Can't find Orac. Even tried calling his name.
  Avon: Oh, I'm sorry I missed that. It's the kind of natural stupidity no amount of training could ever hope to match.

  Largo: I could make you an offer.
  Avon: They have a sentimental value for me.
  Largo: Oh, family heirlooms, eh?
  Avon: No, I'm just sentimental about money.
  • Vila of course doesn't escape Avon's snark list.
  Blake: With what you drank you're lucky to remember who you are.
  Avon: I would hardly call that lucky.
  • The Terra Nostra enforcer has been ordered to kill Avon and Gan.
  Enforcer: You two, out.
  Avon: Why?
  Enforcer: You'd prefer not to know.
  Avon: Your professional simplicity is beginning to irritate me.
  Enforcer: Well think of it as a temporary problem.

  Blake: People collect odd things.
  Jenna: Look what you ended up with.

  Jenna: It's enough to fry your eyeballs.
  Avon: Daintily put.
  Jenna: It must be the company I keep.

  Largo: Thank you for your confidence, Chairman.
  Chairman: Largo, that is too small a thing to thank me for.
• You Are Not Alone: When the telepathic moon discs are drawn towards Cally, she rallies the strength to stand against the Eldritch Abomination.
• You Fool!: Cally's response to Vila running off and getting drunk instead of manning the flight deck when their friends are in danger.
• You Have Failed Me: Hanna suggests they hold Largo as a hostage, but Bek says he won't be worth anything after letting Blake and his fortune escape. Sure enough even though Largo comes up with a plan to track the Liberator, he's killed by his own enforcer with the approval of the Chairman. No doubt the news that the Liberator was heading straight for their only source of Shadow had a lot to do with it.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Largo orders the men shot, though he thinks Jenna might still be useful (presumably due to her skills as a smuggler).
• You Kill It, You Bought It: The enforcer inherits Largo's position.
  Chairman: You've done well. Dispose of the body. His assets are now yours.