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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 440847" data-attributes="member: 23">6.01-6.05First off - the new arrangement of the theme. I’ve lived with it for a good few episodes now and the verdict is in: it’s significantly inferior to the original. It lacks warmth, vibrance and energy and with the reggae undertones sucked away it also sounds more generic - as though it could belong to any old late Eighties daytime magazine or travel programme. Casting of supporting roles has been quite variable recently. I noticed this in Series Five as well, an example being the man running the animal testing laboratory which lacked any kind of nuance or reality. Crossed Swords was awash with ham, from Patricia Quinn’s drama-school-posh accent  (which, in fairness to the powers that be on Bergerac, she uses in real life) to the actors playing the young couple who delivered the most hilariously/offensively godawful Brummie accents ever committed to film (at least I hope they are). Still, we’ve had Dolly Rawlins and the returns of Shirley Stelfox and Fawlty Towers legend James Cossins (whose body was found in an aeroplane inside a museum in an earlier episode).Jim is known for not doing things by the book. All the same, there was a moment in the last act of Burnt that took this to the next level in a way I found exhilarating. Earlier in the episode, he had pursued a suspect to Sark where said man physically assaulted and threatened him, reminding Jim that he has no jurisdiction on this island. Meanwhile, a woman was after revenge on the same man for causing the deaths of her friends and colleagues in a fire years earlier. Now in a position of the man’s trust, she had her hands on his entire fortune in cash - paper bank notes. Realising she had begun to burn the bank notes on a bonfire, horrified Jim tried to stop herm but she put forth a persuasive argument about this being just and asking Jim if he will join her in burning the notes to get real justice. After a pause, Jim replied with a firm “Yes”. The remote nighttime collusion by firelight was dark and moody, but also as though it crossed a line into revenge that marked a turning point in Jim’s morality. At the very least, it exposed something hitherto unseen. And it did so in a way that felt believable and surprising in the best kind of way.Jim was no doubt at least partially influenced by challenges in his personal life - not least the widening gap between he and Susan who at this point was playing games by refusing to take his calls or speak to him, while at the same time appearing pleased whenever he pursued her. Susan was also on notice from none other that The Ice Maiden when Philippa had returned to help Jim and - spotting a way in - proposed to Jim that he should be with a woman who allows him to be his own man while still able to show him a good time. Jim’s answer was no, but he certainly appeared to have given it consideration. The episode had also seen the first meetings between Susan and Phillipa, who went into barbed comment mode. In one of the series’ most traditionally soapy scenes - and one that would most certainly fail the Bechdel Test - Philippa made clear to Susan that if she didn’t make up her mind by the time Philippa returned to the island, she would be going after Jim. More than anything, the tone of the scene and Philippa coming to Susan’s place of business to talk in a private office reminded me very much of that “we both know men like Bobby don’t grow on trees” scene between Pam Ewing and Jenna The Second in Dallas. Here, as there, it’s as much a stoke to the ego of the male character - and in turn the actor playing him - as anything else. The fact that this scene is almost a full decade after the one in Dallas is a little depressing, but then triangles are eternal, aren’t they?The Nazi-hunter episode was unexpectedly good. Like the carbon monoxide murder with heirs as suspects in an early episode it didn’t feel like a specifically Bergerac story, but was compelling nonetheless. It worked particularly well because in a number of episodes this series has referenced Nazi occupation during the Second World War, and one feels the sense that this still cast a shadow on the island into the Eighties. Because of this it was perfectly fitting - and arguably very cathartic - to have the visual of the Nazi being taken off the island to face justice by any means.</blockquote>

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