Posted by
J A on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Fw-SHADO-Various-Questions-tp2392403p2418634.html
I've only recently purchased the megaset, so most of them are still fresh in my mind (although a BIT jumbled due to sensory overload!), but I fully intend to watch them in a more leisurely fashion soon.
As I stated in the 'Desert Island Episodes' thread, 'Confetti Check... A-OK' is one of two episodes from the series that I'd take with me. The thing that appeals to me most about this episode is what seems to turn others off; the psychological glimpse at Ed Straker. This episode, as with 'AQoP', shows Straker's determination to DEFEND THE HUMAN RACE, even at the inconvenience of himself or that of his family. 'The needs of the many...', so to speak.
Cmdr Straker has always been able to maintain a detachment from just about everyone else, and even those he's somewhat close to (Alec, Paul, Virginia), he's able to switch it on & off at will to make sure that he does his job. His level of dedication, as well as his sense of obligation, has cost him dearly, personally; the loss of his wife via divorce, and the death of his only son. One has to think that Cmdr Straker might well be the loneliest man on Earth in the big bad year of 1980.
While a lot of these episodes are horribly dated (visually, stylistically, referentially), the majority of the stories themselves still stand up very well, as do the performances and portrayals. Ed Bishop was exemplary in this, and a class act the whole way.
-- Jamie
--- In
[hidden email], An Delendir <andelendir@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> don't you rewatch episodes? I'm intrigued, because so few among you seem to do that...
>
> As to Question of Priorities - no, that's the episode in which his son dies and he is unable to get the antibiotic to London in time.
>
> As to Confetti Check A-OK, which is the episode which details the break-up of his marriage and how he got to get the job of becoming the commander of SHADO, I find it rather amusing that people dislike one of the episodes telling us most about Straker's psychology, character and background, and then are astonished when others disagree with calling Straker callous, harsh or as cold as ice (which any and all is shown as being rather not correct in that episode and over which Bishop even fought the director). ;-))))
>
> Cheers,
>
> An