Justice is built entirely around the justification of a retcon. But it's still pretty decent.
PLOT
The crew travel to a penal facility to drop off a dangerous prisoner. While there, Rimmer is arrested for the murder of Red Dwarf's original crew. It's up to Kryten to defend his case by revealing that Rimmer is only guilty due to his own inflated self-importance.
ANALYSIS
Whilst writing the first Red Dwarf novel (Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers), Grant Naylor had the oppurtunity to revisit many of their early scripts and refine some of the ideas introduced there. They then decided to retroactively apply these refinements to the newer episodes made after.
That's why, from series 4 onwards, Lister actually had a failed relationship with Kochanski instead of merely pining after her (to explain his continued obsession in a non-creepy way). The crew complement was a more realistic 1168 instead of 168. Rimmer led an entire group of miserable janitors known as 'Z-Shift' (as opposed to merely Lister). And as this episode painstakingly points out, Rimmer did not actually kill the crew, because his job position and personality simply could not have allowed him to be the man responsible.
Being anal about continuity as I am, I can't help pointing out that it was actually Holly who said Rimmer killed the crew ("That's 2nd technician Rimmer. He was explaining to the Captain why he hadn't sealed the drive plate properly"). So the idea that he made it all up in his head is bollocks, really. And that's the main issue with the episode. I like Justice World. It's a cool concept. The Simulants, also cool. But I don't really see any need to explain why Rimmer 'thought' he killed the crew when the show has more or less forgotten series 1-2 happened anyway.
Maybe the writers knew it was stupid, but just wanted an excuse to put Rimmer in prison and on trial for a laugh? Which, you know, fair enough. It is pretty good stuff. It's just the setup is weak. The script in general feels a little cobbled together, with the throwaway mumps skit taking up time, and then the climax is yet another battle against a monster (that's becoming a recurring theme). I do love how Lister uses the Justice system against the Simulant, that's classic Dwarf stuff. And I actually like the monologue he has about free will only existing in an inherently unjust world where justice can be made to exist, even if the show plays it for laughs.
There's a lot of really good concepts and jokes in Justice, it's just not tied together all that much. It feels like they had a drawer of ideas to use in the future and decided to stick them all in one script.
CHARACTERS
Funnily enough, I don't think this particular story does much with the crew. With the first two seasons, a lot of the stories were centered around their particular personality clashes, or even just exploring who they are as people. In this era of the show, it's mainly when they're challenged on some level or get to be opinionated that their nature comes out.
We see that Lister can't kill an unarmed opponent, showing his inner chivalry. Although I think we really already knew this about him.
Rimmer continues to rely on his various coping mechanisms, pretending that Kryten lied on his behalf to get him off the hook. Putting continuity aside, the idea that he feels responsible for a thousand deaths could be employed for good drama, but it's hardly ever touched on. It's just something that seems to happen due to his personal pride. He needs to feel responsible in order to feel important at all, in a sort of "better to be infamous than forgotten altogether" way. But it has no bearing on his characterisation going forward.
The most interesting thing about Kryten here is just how much he's openly willing to insult Rimmer, which does show his growth from Backwards where he felt so nervous around the man that he could barely speak. Although ironically enough he might just go along with Rimmer's pretense of having lied to ease his guilt chip.
Nicholas Ball is a terrific guest villain. The Simulant is written to be very irreverent and it would be really easy to go over the top with him, but Ball keeps his eye on the ball (sorry) and gives a deliciously dry performance. His lackadaisical attitude helps sell the idea that the Simulant is almost indestructible and really couldn't care less what happens. Nothing can stop him anyway.
NOTES
- Lister is unusually well dressed in this episode. That black shirt and trousers combo is very dapper. I like the little cravat he's got for Rimmer's trial too. Has the Cat been giving him tips?
- This marks the first appearance of the Simulants.
- Why does Holly keep glancing left when she talks? Did someone move her cue cards? I love her disgusted reaction to Lister's mumps exploding, though, and the cute little duck when the Simulant fires a gun at the monitor. Hattie's always good fun.
- This is the final appearance of Rimmer's plastic hat.
- The mind probe concept seems inherently flawed. There's lots of criminals who feel no guilt at all.
- Kudos to Barrie, who has to do a lot of background acting during his trial scene.
- I wonder if the prison scenes inspired Series 8.
- Rimmer is put on trial for wiping out the crew of Red Dwarf, as seen in The End.
- Rimmer's love for inflatable sex dolls was previously mentioned in Queeg and Timeslides.
RIMMER: "Right. Try it."
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