I love the way BC leaps through the door.

Me too. On his way to notoreity.

Is this attack actually Blake's greatest success? Ironic if so.

Is the UK back? Should we rewatch the last 10 mins or so?

Vila - status quo ante.

It fits the urgency of the situation so well, and it's full of energy. I love Paul Darrow's acting, but there's a couple of times he has to fall to the floor and it looks more like 'let me lower myself down here' than 'OH NO! I'VE SUDDENLY TRIPPED WHILE SCRAMBLING MADLY FOR SCORPIO'S AIRLOCK!"

I don't like the ending of this one. Blake and Avon bonding in an uneasy way by laughing at Vila - status quo ante.

Ah, you are here. Good.

It seems more like a defeat to me. Chris Boucher loves building in a bit of irony.

If they had just got Travis as well, of course . . .

It fits the urgency of the situation so well, and it's full of energy. I love Paul Darrow's acting, but there's a couple of times he has to fall to the floor and it looks more like 'let me lower myself down here' than 'OH NO! I'VE SUDDENLY TRIPPED WHILE SCRAMBLING MADLY FOR SCORPIO'S AIRLOCK!"

Not to mention Servalan, the Supreme Commander.

Totally agree. It feels so forced!

The mattresses weren't there to catch his falls.

I don't like the ending of this one. Blake and Avon bonding in an uneasy way by laughing at Vila - status quo ante.

I suppose (to play Devil's advocate) that it is supposed to feel forced. We are back where we were, but so nearly weren't. But I still don't like it.

True - there's no way there wasn't something around for BC to thrown himself into. They should've had something similar for PD, and filmed it so it was out of shot.

Maybe he declined the mattress. Idiot!

Yes - this is only a little while after Blake said to Avon that the next death could be his.

Now we'll have a chummy laugh together.

(The laughing at Vila doesn't worry me so much - I see it more as gentle ribbing.)

I think it's nerves – nervously being chummy because the alternative of Blake going AWOL permanently/Oh heck, I Blake, am going AWOL permanently is too hideous to contemplate. It's two tom cats doing displacement behaviour after a tussle. Directing things elsewhere (to Vila) is a normal part of that pattern.

How a defeat, when they have just trialled a successful detection screen, and have inflicted a heavy blow on Space Command headquarters, killing a large number of officers? If they had just got Travis as well, of course . . .

That's the irony, because if Travis hadn't got away to start thinking up ways to get back at his tormentors, where would we be for the next couple of series?

Shove Credit sounds like a fun game, Joe, but I'm still busy with Pseudo atm.

Exactly. UNEASE.

Which would also explain the ending of Powerplay? Avon deals with the new threat of Tarrant by directing laughter elsewhere - again at Vila?

Don't tell me we've invented another one!

Perhaps the salt & pepper shakers act like obstacles, like in bar billiards. And instead of everyone travelling up the same board in turns, everyone had their own 'long triangle' slice of pie on the table? That would make the high scoring area at the top more challenging, as it's much smaller than the wide area at the edge.

I'm worried that this all makes some kind of sense.

Uneasy and FORCED delivery. Maybe they just wanted to get this scene over with. (But I agree with you about why they're doing it. It's what blokes do, but we don't often get to see it so publicly).

I see. So, their greatest technical success, coming off the back of their greatest defeat, ironically sowing the seeds of further defeat?

Er.... not really. Perhaps an illustration would help?

it is what blokes do; they direct problem issues away from themselves while women (poor mugs) tend to take them on-board.

Mea culpa!

But if I'm guilty... then so are all of..er, THEM!

This is probably a silly question, but do you know how Shove Ha'penny is played? And that they take turn using the board?