Freedom
fighters Hel, Sarge and Cleopatra have to deal with a Betrayer
that has feelings, a ghost from the past, the return of Creegan
and Raina, a doppelganger of Cleo, a stockpile of deadly plutonium,
and an awesome underwater city...
The seven
episodes on this DVD comprise the latter half of Cleo's first
season of sexy, witty and action-packed adventures.
There's
a noticeable trend during this volume for resurrecting characters
and developing ideas established in previous instalments.
The villainous Creegan (Joel Tobeck) returns in Perceptions,
while the telepathic Raina (Danielle Cormack) escapes incarceration
once more in Trial and Error. Such tactics allow the
scriptwriters to overcome some of the plotting limitations
of the 22-minute episode format, by using "ready made" familiar
elements.
The
Christmassy Choices is a rather cheesy and sentimental
episode (the weakest one on the DVD, in fact), but it nevertheless
succeeds in introducing the notion that Betrayer replicas
have feelings, too - at least until their programmed killing
instincts kick in. This aspect is played upon later in the
season during the hugely enjoyable Double, which also
follows up events that took place in the two-part Home/Rescue.
Choices also establishes the fact that Hel (Gina Torres)
has lost her father, an element of back-story that comes to
the fore during Perceptions.
Additionally,
the episodes collected here develop a couple of this series'
wider-ranging and more disconcerting concepts. In both Perceptions
and Trial and Error, our heroes are annoyed to discover
that Voice (Elizabeth Hawthorne) has not been entirely honest
with them. The closing two-parter Hel and High Water
(which, in curious contrast to Volume 1's Home and
Rescue, has not been edited into a single double-length
episode) expands upon the fact that we know next to nothing
about the mechanical Baileys or their motives.
The
two-parter also introduces some even saucier outfits for Hel,
Sarge (Victoria Pratt) and Cleo (Jennifer Sky) - as shown
on the front cover - presumably under the pretext that the
girls need different attire for their underwater excursion,
although no explicit explanation is given. Not that I'm complaining!
Both
Hel and High Water and The Last Stand bring
to the fore the acting talents of Victoria Pratt. Hers is
a predominantly action-orientated role, but these episodes
(like Home and Rescue before them) illustrate
that, when required to be more emotive, she is entirely capable
of delivering the goods.
The
conclusion to Series One leaves us with a fair few unanswered
questions. But fear not, because Carlton assures me that the
second series of Cleopatra will be comin' at ya soon!
Richard
McGinlay
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