Fathers and Suns gives us an exceptional character study of a middle-aged Lister while also entertaining us with the show's best villain. It's one of my favourites.
PLOT
A depressed Lister confronts his personal demons in the shape of his father. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew install a new computer, who turns out to be a "mad goth bastard".
ANALYSIS
I could sing its praises up to high heaven. Not all of it works, but everything that does work is so excellently handled that the flaws don't matter. I love all the parallels between Lister and Rimmer in this story. Even though Lister doesn't really have a father, he emulates having one to process his own inadequacies and to improve himself. The disapproving father is one parallel. But also, the complaints that "Lister Sr" has reflect everything that Rimmer has already said about Lister in the past. Lister always deflected, but there's been little hints that he at least partially agrees with Rimmer's opinion of him. And now here we are. With Lister reaching 50, being an aimless bachelor is starting to look less and less cool. The final parallel is that, of course, Lister cannot bring himself to change any more than Rimmer can. They're both trapped in the cycle, as different sides of the same coin. Together, they make up one semi-functional human being.
The plot device of Lister recording messages in-character as his own father and then forgetting about it with alcohol is highly inspired, on both a psychological and comedic level. It's also just a really clever use of continuity and makes Ouroboros more worthwhile than it really deserves to be. The fact that Lister actually manages to prove his intelligence and ability by outwitting a highly skilled computer intelligence is the cherry on top.
Speaking of the computer, Pree is without a doubt my favourite villain in all of Red Dwarf, primarily thanks to Rebecca Blackstone's impeccably understated performance. She can make me laugh with a twitch of the cheek. The intense glare, the quirky reactions in the background, the way she looms over the crew, it's all flawless. She's both scary and funny in just the right amounts. Perhaps the greatest joke is that Rimmer pushes for Pree to have a 36D chest size, which Kryten ensures is kept out of sight... except Blackstone is in fact well endowed. So she does indeed have that chest off screen. I also love the way Doug Naylor took inspiration from auto-correct technology to give Pree her predictive abilities, allowing her to imitate the crew's actions before they've done them, whether they want it or not. Red Dwarf keeps up with the times.
The third plotline involving a telephone game with the vending machines is the episode's weak point, but it doesn't detract at all. It's just some amusing silliness to fill the time. The 'Taiwan Tony' character reminded me of Peter Sellers films. Some regard the shtick as being racist, but I felt that if anything, the episode was actually parodying racists, with both Lister and Rimmer being made to look silly for their statements. Lister for his ignorance ("Taiwan's a bit Chinese-y") and Rimmer for being a social justice warrior ("Chinese whispers are racist." followed immediately by "The Chinese invented laundries and those funny little hats."). The fact that they bother to ask a racist caricature about anything is the joke. Is it great? No, but it's fine.
CHARACTERS
I've very much neglected Danny John-Jules in a lot of my past reviews, simply because there isn't often that much to say. In series 1, I think he's genuinely terrible. Although that's probably more because the whole approach to the Cat was misguided. Having him flail around the corridors talking about his shadow, breaking the fourth wall and singing hits like "Jump! Back! Get! Down!" made him look like an incredibly corny children's clown.
When they integrated the Cat with the crew in series 2 and had him become with Lister, that was the high point for the longest time. Because it was immediately followed up with series 3, where the Cat barely had any personality at all and just became a dumb fashionista, which was the approach they stuck with for the longest time. There were times when Danny wouldn't even put on a voice for him.
But now, I'm happy to say they've gone back to series 2 Cat and even improved on him. And not only do I enjoy him a lot more, it's getting to the point where Danny is becoming the most consistently funny performer. The whole "You didn't think ahead! You HAVE to think ahead!" bit had me in stitches.
Of course, it's Lister's episode. Craig Charles is an absolute diva in this episode, especially in the dad scenes. Apparently he had the flu, but it only helped to make him look convincingly drunk. The amount of depth given to Lister helped me look past my issue with the actors sometimes seeming to be playing themselves. It really felt like he was Lister again.
Which is why it's almost unfair that Rebecca Blackstone completely stole the entire episode with her sadistically calculating villain. I couldn't look at anything else while she glaring straight into my soul. The makeup cleverly made her natural features more angular, giving her a slightly unnerving skeletal look. Can Pree come back, Doug? Please? Pleaaaase? I love Norman Lovett, but I'd betray him to keep Blackstone as the computer.
NOTES
- I wonder why Pree had no issues with the Cat. Maybe she didn't even register his presence, given that he's an alien. He's the only one she never talks to.
- All the various talking appliances onboard harken back to the original idea that Rob Grant and Doug Naylor had for the show, which is that the ship should be full of artificial intelligences, to give Lister people to talk to. Hence, Talkie Toaster and the toilet from series 1.
- Lister didn't know that a certain video game was "out yet", meaning that either the ship is continuing to encounter new mail pods or Lister's pop culture knowledge became frozen at his own time period.
- Pree is activated to replace Holly, who appears to be permanently disabled.
- Lister drinks GELF hooch (no word on where he got it from).
- Rimmer recaps the events of Ouroboros, suggesting that he was told at some point and he probably spent a week making incest jokes afterwards.
- One of Lister Sr's goals for his son is for him to find Kochanski, which was established in Back to Earth.
- The dressing room where Lister collects his spacesuit also contains a few Canary uniforms from series 8.
FUNNIEST MOMENT
Rebecca Blackstone's entire performance.
SMEG OFF!
Kryten's inability to realise that his Chinese whispers question is related to the Chinese braces question asked of him later is too dumb for him.
CONCLUSION
It's wonderful to have Red Dwarf back at its best.
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