There's some really neat ideas in Camille, but most of them don't have enough time to develop.
PLOT
Kryten rescues a Genetically Engineered Lifeform (GELF) named Camille, who appears as each crewmember's romantic fantasy. Before long, the penny drops. However, Kryten has fallen in love with Camille and the two develop a unique relationship.
ANALYSIS
At its heart, Camille seems to be a love letter to the film "Casablanca". I say 'seems', because that aspect (and Kryten's genuine romantic interest for the real Camille instead of the fake) doesn't come into play until about 5 minutes from the end of the episode. Aside from the banana sketch at the start setting up his inability to lie, nothing in the first 20 minutes is strictly relevant.
They find Camille, she appeals to all of them, then the crew figures out the truth and that's when Camille and Kryten inexplicably fall in love. Beyond the fact that Kryten was the first to find her, it's not at all clear why. I guess they're just desperate? Kryten in particular seems to take pity on Camille's true appearance more than anything else. We don't even get to spend enough time with the real Camille to know her personality, let alone why either of them would be attracted.
Now, I'll admit that I haven't seen "Casablanca", so maybe there's something here that's going straight over my head. But as a strictly standalone episode of Red Dwarf, there just isn't that much going on here. The "Casablanca" ending is sweet, because it's aping a classic story and because the robot wanting to be human is an equally classic idea (I can't help wondering if Grant Naylor are riffing on Data from Star Trek here). But Kryten's development aside, there's nothing substantial. The vast majority of the episode is really just jokes about what kind of girls the crew would be attracted to. And rather unimaginatively, it's all female versions of themselves (aside from the Cat, who is literally attracted to himself... which is admittedly a great gag). I guess it's slightly notable that Lister's Camille is a variation on Kochanski, but aside from the physical similarity and the name in the credits, you couldn't really tell. She still dresses like a female Lister.
CHARACTERS
I wouldn't say Robert Llewelyn gave a bad performance in series 3, but similarly to series 1 Craig Charles, he hadn't fully found his groove yet. There was an overemphasis on robotic mannerisms, a thicker accent, maybe the occasional attempt to imitate David Ross a little. Here, that's all gone and the exasperated Kryten that we all know and love is established. And Kryten learning to love and lie is also definitely a major step forward for his development as a person. It elevates him from a "junior position" in the crew to an equal, someone with the same wants and fallacies and hopes and fears as any other.
Lister trying to coerce Camille into sex within seconds of meeting her surprised me. I mean, I know he's crass and desperate for love, but it still seemed unusually slimy for him. You'd think he'd at least ask her out first. I like to think it was just a prank (since he seemed to be taking the piss with his Spiderman costume joke), but if that's the case, I wish it came off more ridiculous and less Lister being a sex pest.
Rimmer's stunned silence and genuine gratitude at being told he's charming is pretty heartbreaking. It's a seed that will grow into a beautiful thing when we get to Holoship... as is this entire episode, if I'm honest. It's an idea that I know they're going to execute much better down the line.
NOTES
- Lister's point about deceit and spite being a vital psychological defense system is remarkably insightful.
- Apparently, one of Rimmer's new hobbies includes "asteroid spotting". Anything to spend the time, I suppose.
- Lister and the Cat watching "Tales of the Riverbank" seems like a very obscure reference even by British comedy standards.
- Three million years in the universe and WD-40 survives. Of course.
- It's a bit weird that Kryten is shocked to hear Rimmer thinks Camille is attractive because she's a mechanoid... only to imply that he thinks he himself is genuinely attractive even by human standards. Pick a lane, Krytes.
- Holly claims not to see anything (either that, or her screen is foggy). How amazing would it have been if Camille looked like Norman Lovett to her?
- Kryten's version of Camille is played by Judy Pascoe, who is married to Robert Llewelyn. Similarly, Lister's version is played by Suzanne Rhatigan, who was dating Craig Charles at the time.
- Kryten learns to lie and cheat based on his experiences with "Casablanca", just like he learned to rebel based on his experiences with "Rebel Without Cause" in Kryten.
- Knowing Cat, Lister guesses that his ultimate romantic fantasy would be a six foot Valkyrie warrior maiden in scanty armour, with a cleavage you could ski down. Curiously enough, this is not a callback to any previous episode, but to the novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, where Cat imagined being surrounded by such women when the crew was playing Better than Life.
RIMMER: "Of course I let him go on his own! I was glad to get rid of him; he's flipped! He's got mad droid disease; he kept waving a banana in front of me and calling it a female aardvark!"
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