>
> Well, if you were tuning in to see your favorite SHADO
> operatives, this isn't the episode for you. The story
> features Paul Roper, a man we see blackmailed into
> committing treason against SHADO by a threat to his
> wife. I really didn't remember anything about this
> episode from seeing it in the 70s, so seeing it when I
> got the DVDs was kind of like seeing it for the first
> time.
>
> I never really felt much if any empathy for Roper. He
> seems an geeky, inept, bumbling sort of fellow. How
> does he rate as a friend of Alec's? And was his wife
> a royal twit or what? High strung seems like the
> kindest thing I can say about her. I wasn't in the
> least bothered when they bumped her off. The poor,
> brain-emplanted medical guy was barely a blip on the
> screen.
>
> I did wonder at first if they were actually going to
> let Roper survive his ridiculous one-man mission at
> the end. That would have actually surprised me. Then
> he would have had to deal with his wife's death. But,
> no, he died for his sins at the end. But why doesn't
> Roper put his finger over the blinking hole until the
> moon hopper gets there. Suicide? This is the kind of
> ending I'd come to expect after all of the hours of
> "Gunsmoke" my mother made me watch growing up.
>
> Is there anything of interest in here? Well, there's
> the Ed Bishop wig saga. It's more interesting than I
> found most of the plot. In my best guess, he's
> wearing the wig when we first see Straker in the
> episode. On the other hand, when Straker is
> interviewing Roper from and in his office I think it's
> real hair. It goes on pretty much like that
> throughout the episode.
>
> And then there is the continuing conflict between
> Freeman and Straker over Straker's modus operandi.
> Straker obviously "accidentally" leaves his transmit
> key on to set up Roper in a sting and the first thing
> Alec does is try to screw it up by letting Roper leave
> too early. This seems really dumb to me, because
> obviously Straker planned on having people there to
> protect Roper and get the contact, while Alec lets him
> go without any protection.
>
> And, look, Ed Bishop fakes (I'm guessing) using a
> slide rule! How many can identify the object? (Raise
> your hand if you can.) I, fortunately, put off
> learning slide rule just long enough that calculators
> came out.
>
> We see one of the rare signs of emotion in front of
> his troops (other than bellowing dissatisfaction) from
> Straker when he hears Ropers car had been hit by the
> UFO. He puts his hand over his face and shakes his
> head.  
>
> I saw the discussion about scenes possibly being out
> of order, but I don't think so. Yeah, the guys are
> out in the purple car before they are sent to check on
> Roper's wife, but they are out looking for the Medic
> Dawson, so they are "in the area".
>
> And I'm surprised Straker doesn't lay into Alec more
> for circumventing his plans. It's pretty obvious Alec
> did it intentionally. "It's too complicated for
> people like me. And too simple for people like you".
> Ouch. And then Alec accuses Straker of using Roper's
> dead wife to blackmail Roper into the mission to shoot
> down the UFO. He's not very nice to his commander
> throughout this episode. I must admit, that Straker
> in this part of the scene is in SOB mode.
>
> As you can guess, not one of my favorite episodes.
>