Space Precinct – 7. Time To Kill

I have a feeling that fans hold Time To Kill in high regard. It’s got a memorable baddie, a standout plot twist, and takes the characters in a really unique direction. Surely it’s a perfect Space Precinct episode?

While I completely appreciate the praise that Time To Kill receives, I personally found myself watching this episode feeling like a collection of little things just weren’t sitting with me quite right. Figuring out exactly what those tiny little somethings are could take some work… so it’s a good thing we’re about to do a complete breakdown of the entire episode from start to finish with no toilet breaks. Yeah, that’s right. No-one gets to use the loo until we’re done here. Get comfy.

Before we get to the “This Episode” teaser, our first order of business is a change in Director of Photography for this particular episode. Tony Spratling stepped in for Alan Hume on Time To Kill and a handful of other episodes later in the series. If I had to guess, I would assume Hume was just busy working on other jobs. If you can think of a more dramatic reason for the substitution, feel free to speculate.

Based on the teaser I think it’s pretty easy to guess who the bad guy is this week.

The episode opens in a familiar location. This is the spot where Pola Vad Moonacki was held captive in the episode Flash. Yeah, I know, really memorable stuff.

Inside a warehouse, some “legitimate business” is going on. The nephew, or possibly cousin, or possibly both, of another man’s wife is eagerly looking for some honest work.

The business is counterfeit cash. It doesn’t even look like a particularly good counterfeit.

The man offering the job is called Tamsin. He’s played by Nigel Gregory, an actor familiar to Anderson fans as Ben Culley in the UFO episode, The Sound of Silence, and as a security man in The Psychobombs. How can I put this nicely… something about his performance gives me the ick. Obviously he’s playing a crook so a certain amount of that ick is intentional. But the scene feels under-rehearsed and over-acted, so what could have been a juicy and villainous role just lacks depth and that special twinkle.

But I regret to say that Stephen Billington as Ross takes the prize for worst performance this week. Space Precinct was his first ever television role and boy oh boy does it show. It’s a theatrical performance he’s giving, pure and simple. Poor Stephen was probably thrown on that set, took his cue from Nigel Gregory, and just channeled his own wide-eyed enthusiasm into the part of Ross. It’s toe-curling to watch. He’s a good-looking fella, I can’t deny, and I know Billington quickly went on to do bigger and better things.

I’m just not the biggest fan of this opening scene. The dialogue between Tamsin and Ross is terribly stilted. The establishing shots of the acid bath and the various gun-toting creepy crooks doing the dirty work aren’t especially atmospheric. It’s the most brightly lit criminal operation I’ve ever seen.

Thankfully, the plot has arrived to end the dreary chat.

Six police officers, Brogan, Haldane, Castle, Took, Orrin, and Romek swarm in and apprehend the baddies. Ted Shackelford gets to yell, “Nobody move!” Rob Youngblood jumps on a box. It’s a good day at work for those lads.

Ross pleads innocence and, apart from his crimes against acting, Brogan sees no reason to arrest the young man. He indicates that the entire conversation between Ross and Tamsin was bugged so there’ll be no evidence against him. Unusually for a Space Precinct episode, that bug doesn’t come into play later in the story. It feels like a setup for something but nope, not this time. All that’s really set up here is that Ross is a good boy.

Orrin gets handsy with Tamsin. Tamsin’s an odd name for him isn’t it? Why exactly did they give this thug such a feminine name?

Well, we’re three minutes into the episode and the good guys have caught all the bad guys. End of episode? Nah, I should be so lucky. A technician emerges with a gun pointed at Brogan. Specifically, he’s the third technician. At least that’s what the script would have called him. Yes, that’s relevant for later.

Then there’s something akin to an earthquake. What are the chances? Considering this cast are all experts at the walking-around-at-an-angle-on-a-leaning-spaceship style of acting, I’m surprised they didn’t go bigger when offered the opportunity to throw themselves around the set.

Officer Haldane quips to Castle about how he can make the earth move. Rob Youngblood either can’t wink or doesn’t fully commit to the wink. Either way, it’s a moment that ranks fairly low on my chart of Haldane and Castle flirty moments. Yeah, apparently there’s a chart now.

Then, a tin man comes knocking on the door. And he’s not here to sell double glazing.

It all kicks off. Third technician gets shot. We mourn his loss. Of all the technicians, he was certainly the third one.

Our metal friend takes a firecracker to the arm like it was nothing and our criminals escape with no difficulty whatsoever. The enormous set doesn’t quite feel full and busy enough to match the chaos that director Alan Birkinshaw is trying to convey. But he makes it work with a lot, and I mean a lot, of coverage from different angles. Apparently three or four days of the shooting schedule for Time To Kill were taken up with just this one scene.

The Cyborg is a ruddy cool design by Neill Gorton. Space Precinct often struggles to look like a proper sci-fi show because of it’s flat wooden sets and naff nylon costumes, but the Cyborg looks like it means business. It looks heavy and chunky and metallic and textured – some proper craftsmanship went into making this suit look good on camera. Obviously The Terminator was a huge influence, but as we addressed in The Snake I really don’t think Space Precinct borrowing ideas from big movies was a bad idea because it united the production team in a shared vision.

After a bit of time behind cover, Brogan decides it’s time for some action. He and Took take shots at the Cyborg but with minimal results. Series stunt co-ordinator Glenn Marks gives a fantastic performance as the Cyborg, taking all the bangs and cracks like a champ.

The Cyborg blows up some barrels which Took is using for cover. Castle would really rather he didn’t do that and runs in to help.

That’s Simone Bendix doing all her own stunts. Bravo.

Castle and Took stop for a quick chat about the Cyborg’s weapon – a charged particle beam which Castle finds surprisingly small for a weapon of its type. Charming! We get a few more zaps and bangs to make up for the exposition.

Took and Castle attempt to flee from their rapidly decreasing cover. It doesn’t work and Took gets blasted to the floor.

Brogan suggests that all the officers concentrate their fire. They jump up and start shooting the Cyborg from all angles but the metal man just wanders about, happily taking the hits.

The whole time, this guy has been crawling around on the floor looking to grab the counterfeit money whenever there’s a free moment. I’m sure those priorities will serve him well.

Ross is still here too. So that’s… something.

Brogan orders Romek to flank the Cyborg and well… let’s just say Lou Hirsch was very ready to be done with Space Precinct by this point, just three episodes into his tenure. The actor was trapped by his contract and butted heads with Gerry Anderson when he attempted to quit. So he was stuck in the Romek mask for the remainder of the series and thoroughly unhappy. I can imagine running across a set in a sweaty rubber head with very limited visibility was quite a chore.

The Cyborg starts to climb some stairs. For the benefit of the audience, a quick line from Haldane is dubbed in asking where exactly the renegade robot is going. It’s a really good question because, to be honest, I haven’t got a clue. He just seems to be strolling about with very little urgency. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a high octane action sequence, I just think the Cyborg looks a little lost.

So here’s the bit you want to be paying some attention to:

• Ross leaves his cover… for some reason… he’s not even that cautious about it.
• Brogan gets shot in the arm by the Cyborg while distracted by Ross.
• Brogan accidentally squeezes the trigger on his own blaster and therefore shoots Ross.
  
  Whoops! What a blunder.

Ross lands in the acid bath and Brogan’s face says it all. The sizzling sound effect is gruesome and Ross thrashes around enough to let us all know it’s quite unpleasant. The stunt was performed by Jonathan Paul Cohen… and obviously that isn’t real acid. Sorry to spoil the magic for you.

Cyborg starts running. At last, a sense of urgency about him.

Bathtime isn’t going well for Ross. The acid has already transformed his face into that of a completely different man.

A few more blasts go back and forth as the Cyborg dashes along the gantry like a man who’s late for an urgent lunch appointment.

He jumps out of a conveniently placed window. Very much a stunt for the sake of doing a stunt. Sometimes that’s okay. A slightly bigger window would have made it a bit more impressive mind you… and probably safer for Glenn Marks, who definitely clips his head on the way through.

Ross hops out of his bath and I’m gonna take a wild guess that BBC2 cut this shot from their 6:00 pm teatime airing of the episode.

Brogan checks in on the poor kid while Castle assesses Took.

Officer Castle calmly calls for emergency medical assistance. Yeah, I should say so.

And that was our action-packed opening sequence. Alan Birkinshaw should certainly be praised for the complexity of the scene, and it obviously serves us up with a great big mystery to solve about the Cyborg’s motive. I wouldn’t have minded if the sequence had played out a bit quicker. I probably didn’t need to see quite so many shots of laser blasts ricocheting off of the Cyborg to understand that he’s a tough old bean. Ross could have been more of a focus too – if we’d seen a little more of his terror during the gunfight we might have understood exactly why he ran from cover and therefore felt even worse for him when he ended up in the acid bath. So, certainly not a bad sequence overall, I just think it needed a little refinement here and there.

After such a grim moment we need a touch of light relief. Over at the hospital – not the station medical bay but an actual, proper hospital for once – we learn that Took shattered her spine in two places but is otherwise okay. Yes, according to the doc, it’s apparently totally fine for a Tarn to shatter their spine. Also, it’s probably worth noting that this is the second time in the space of seven episodes that Took has ended up on medical leave.

Took demonstrates her telekinesis by moving a glass of water with the power of her mind. One day, the writers will find a practical use for that talent instead of all these party tricks.

The gang share a giggle about Took resting up while Castle does all the work, and the fact that Haldane is some sort of work-shy oaf. As always, Rob Youngblood plays it off with the perfect blend of charisma and good humour.

Doctor Grant is played by Alison Rose – one of those faces you just see all over the place in British TV and theatre. Sadly, she’s been revoiced – the curse of the Space Precinct guest actor.

The tone of the scene switches as Brogan is forced to confront Ross in the next bed. Even under the protective mask, they’ve tried to make Ross’ burns look as unpleasant as possible – and even slow the shot down in post production to ensure we’ve all had a good, long look. Brogan accepts full responsibility for Ross’ accident, staying true to his old-fashioned, noble heroism.

Back at the station house, Captain Podly takes it upon himself to ease Brogan’s guilt. It’s a delightful moment when Brogan is basically begging for a firm telling-off and Podly explodes with, “I’ll tell you when you screw up!” It’s a nice bit of subversion – Podly’s authority lies in his frank judgement, not in his ability to throw a tantrum when things go wrong.

Podly isn’t interested in dwelling on the past and instead pushes for positive action. The officers throw quite a bit of info at us. Apparently the person behind the counterfeit money scam was called Drako, and Brogan suggests he’s the person most likely to lead them to the Cyborg. We haven’t actually met him yet, or if we have he wasn’t named on-screen. Maybe he was the Creon picking up money during the gunfight? Castle doubts that Drako would have had access to an indestructible Cyborg to kill them all. Haldane therefore wonders who else would deploy the Cyborg to stop the bust. These are all smart questions but they just come a little bit too quickly for me and it’s hard to keep up. But I suppose that doesn’t really matter since the main plot of the episode was clear from the very start: it’s a simple case of police versus Cyborg – if the audience at home can grasp that core narrative, things like motive and who’s responsible for what are fairly secondary.

They have a scrap of Cyborg armour for the forensics team to investigate. Castle is sent away to personally hand deliver the item as if she doesn’t have more important things to be doing. It doesn’t exactly come across as a great step forward for gender equality when one of the few female characters is sent off to run a menial errand, while the three men are left to chat about the actual work.

“Assassins don’t just materialise out of thin air, huh?” Oh Podly. Remember when a man materialised out of thin air to set fire to the forensics lab? You should remember – it was in last week’s episode.

Now here’s something we’ve never had before that I really, really like. It’s a kick-ass montage of Brogan and Haldane hitting the streets to rough up their informants for a lead on the Cyborg. The music sets the tone so well. I love that Brogan and Haldane have been knocking around in Demeter City long enough to build up some contacts, despite starting the series as fish out of water. Sure, it’s a cop show cliché but it does a lot to flesh out the world and to give the impression that off-screen the officers are out on the beat, day in and day out, meeting weird and wonderful people. Zipload, played by Rob Thirtle, even becomes a recurring character!

And we have to pause there for a Brogan family scene. Even when there’s a killer Cyborg on the loose, Patrick’s gotta go home for dinner!

Sally is less than impressed with her husband’s blast wound, particularly when he stoically tries to hide it under his jacket. She offers to change the bandage, what with her being medically trained and all that. You remember Sally works in a hospital, right? Of course you do, it’s about the only interesting thing about the character.

The kids come out in their jim-jams for a wholesome family moment admiring daddy’s gun wound. Matt is impressed – a touch of continuity from last week when he asked to see Officer Castle’s battle scars like a dirty deviant.

“Zil” asks if daddy is going to die, while Liz emotionally distances herself by acting as if that’s a dumb question. Sally winces, quietly aware of her daughter’s deep psychological issues which will manifest as a complex split personality disorder later in life.

For now though, Patrick just has to smile and acknowledge the furry freak like it’s a real thing with thoughts and feelings.

Cute bedtime hugs and kisses all around. Normally I’d be screaming for the actual plot to start up again during a scene like this, but given what happens later I think I have to allow this. It’s another cliché, but we have to see a little of what Patrick Brogan personally has at stake in order to escalate the drama. And I guess his sarcastic wife and emotionally stunted children are the best he’s got.

The special effects team do a nice job making the exterior of the hospital look rainy and gloomy. I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly futuristic-looking car park, but at the end of the day it is just a car park. There’s even a little man walking past the ground floor windows if you look really carefully.

Things are quiet on the ward with Took and Ross. Hey – remember how Sally Brogan works in a hospital? Yeah that has no bearing on this episode whatsoever. Missed opportunity or what? Instead we have a random Creon nurse yawning at us before she leaves the room unattended.

The Cyborg arrives. A man who is supposed to be asleep in bed just wakes up and opens his eyes for no apparent reason. That extra had one job to do.

Our tin man takes an interest in Ross. Took wakes up and acts quickly. She opens her third eye which causes her heartbeat to rise, as foreshadowed with the glass of water bit she did earlier.

Mr. Cyborg notices Took before he can poke Ross with his stick.

Putting her incredible powers to good use for once, Took lifts her communicator up into her hand.

Unfortunately she does have to talk in order to call for backup and therefore totally gives herself away. A simple panic button would probably be a smart addition to those communicator devices.

The Cyborg deploys his giant mechanical arm against Took’s neck and she’s completely powerless to do anything about it.

The Cyborg injects a green something-or-other into Ross and toddles off. Clues, clues, clues!

Ummm… now… hmmm… look, maybe I’m a monster, but I think this is quite a funny shot. Did we have to see quite so much of Mary Woodvine’s tongue? This is supposed to be shocking. This is Alan Birkinshaw telling us: “Look at that! Officer Took is absolutely, definitely dead. Here’s her corpse, all twisted in agony. Look at how grim and gritty and real this is.” And it would work… if Mary Woodvine had kept her mouth closed. The dead-eyed stare would have been enough. Or perhaps a more powerful moment would have been for the camera to linger on the flatlining heart monitor, or for Took’s limp hand to drop into shot while the communicator plopped on the floor. Sure, those shots would be more ambiguous, but at least I wouldn’t be laughing at them.

After the commercial break, it’s clear some time has passed. Enough time for Jane to learn the news about Took. Enough time for the death to be real and not just a dramatic cliffhanger quickly resolved after the ad break.

Jack offers Jane a sympathetic ear in the most heartfelt and genuine exchange we’ve ever seen between these two characters. It’s a different side to Jack Haldane, but it’s still recognisable as Jack. He uses his trademark sense of humour in a different way, and the depth of his desire to connect with Jane is still driving him. Jack’s humility when he says, “I know I’m not exactly your first choice,” is so quietly heartbreaking when we consider just how often in the series he actually does try to be her first choice. Rob Youngblood absolutely succeeds in finding the character’s depth while maintaining the facets which also make the character work as a shallow comedy side character.

Simone Bendix also succeeds in playing the subtext of the scene. As a performer, she has the difficult job of pitching Jane’s grief for Took just right – conveying her sadness to the audience, and Jack, without shattering Jane’s strong sense of discipline and composure in the workplace. Jane finds strength, perhaps unexpectedly, in Jack’s support. He offers her “a shoulder,” but he doesn’t use the full expression, “a shoulder to cry on,” because he knows that’s not really how Jane Castle rolls. And indeed, when Jane thanks him for that offer, she becomes stronger and fractionally more positive. For all the complaints and criticisms she makes against Jack, she knows that he means well and that he’s a force for good in her life. Is it friendship or something more? Well, I think time will tell, but as we’re now over a quarter of the way through the series the chemistry and groundwork does seem to be there to successfully pull off something more.

Upstairs, it’s business as usual. Podly and Brogan talk about Took’s death and the sighting of the Cyborg in the intensive care unit quite matter-of-factly. I would have expected more anger or a sense of gloom hanging over the entire station house. Castle seems to be the only one with a lingering sense of sadness about Took’s death while everyone else is getting on with solving the crime. I don’t get much of a sense that Took was beloved by her colleagues. It doesn’t help that Took has been woefully underutilised in the series up to now. All the same, it would be nice if the writers could at least pretend to make her death mean something to a few more people. Yes, the plot needs to keep on going, but if you’re trying to sell us on the idea that a regular character has died then the plot should ideally be driven by our heroes’ sense of loss, rather than their desire to get a job done. Admittedly, untamed grief does become more of a driving force later in the episode.

As it is, Podly and Brogan can only conclude that Drako is using the Cyborg to get revenge on the cops for busting his operation. Not exactly an inspired guess but it’s all they have.

Orrin and Romek arrive to report that the Cyborg’s armour defies forensic investigation. It’s made of an unknown alloy and the only place with a chance of identifying it is the pricey Hawking Laboratories on Earth – named after Professor Stephen Hawking. Podly okays the expense, so we know we’ve got that report to look forward to later.

Next in line for a chat is Sergeant Fredo with news that Zipload is on the line. Jerome Willis doesn’t quite have Podly’s eyeline in the right place and seems to be looking several inches above David Quilter’s head.

There’s time for a quick giggle as Captain Podly grumbles about Brogan taking over his office. Lovely.

Zipload is great fun. He’s a cowardly slimeball with devilish red eyes. What more do you need? The Cyborg is still a mystery, but we learn that Drako is hiding out in the penthouse suite of the Terrano Hotel.

So that’s where we’re headed! More lovely shots of Demeter City lit up at night.

Haldane pauses for a moment, realising he hasn’t checked on Castle in a while. Just a little glimmer to remind us who’s important in his life… teeing up for what’s to come.

The penthouse explodes. Those special effects guys just can’t help themselves.

Apparently it’s that pesky Cyborg again. In a truly bizarre move, the Cyborg is flying Lieutenant Brogan’s hopper which was featured extensively in last week’s episode, Body & Soul. This week it’s back but cunningly disguised with yellow racing stripes…

That costume is effortlessly threatening. The amount of detail in the mask sculpt is extraordinary.

I think this is supposed to be a shot from the Cyborg’s point of view as the gun fires and explosions continue to tear through the penthouse. It doesn’t quite work though.

And so our heroes dash off in pursuit of the bad guy. It’s chase scene time!

For something a bit different, this week’s chase takes us into the heart of a massive construction project. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to compare these shots to the climax of Return of the Jedi, flying around inside the second Death Star.

In a guileful move, the Cyborg sneaks up alongside the police cruiser… okay, it’s not all that guileful, but it certainly out-foxes Brogan and Haldane. Unfortunately it’s another shot where the mix of live action and model work doesn’t quite succeed, with the hopper model not sitting comfortably alongside Rob Youngblood’s face… one is considerably larger and more detailed than the other, but I won’t tell you which.

The Cyborg tries to punch some holes in the police cruiser. He’s at point blank range but for some reason doesn’t fire directly at Haldane and Brogan. It’s already been established that his aim is pretty terrible.

The cruiser takes a couple of really devastating hits.

The officers lose control and the cruiser starts to drift towards the ground. It ain’t looking good.

The button for Haldane’s ejector seat doesn’t work. You may recall that something similar happened to Matt Brogan last week. Whoever installs all these emergency ejector seats on Altor has a lot of explaining to do.

The two lads yell at each other because Brogan refuses to eject without Haldane. Awww. Haldane makes the decision and catapults his partner straight out of the vehicle alone. Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue had similar altercations in their Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, but usually with less yelling.

The shots of Ted Shackelford composited against the city backdrop are actually quite well done, proving that the mix of live action and models can work sometimes. However, I’m not sure Ted was given much direction as to what he actually needed to do while pretending to fly around in the ejector seat. He just looks a bit disgruntled about everything.

Meanwhile, Officer Haldane is rapidly losing patience with his busted police cruiser.

“Dammit Haldane!” cries Brogan. I doubt that’s the first time he’s said that. Heck, it’s probably not even the first time he’s said that today.

Everything is spinning! Brogan watches from his nauseating rotating ejector seat as the smoking cruiser disappears behind the construction site. The music cuts out and things go deathly quiet…

An explosion… but not a particularly big one given the track record of the special effects team. Not the sort of thing a normal person could survive, but maybe the sort of thing a Space Precinct character could survive.

Brogan looks worried… that’s all. Just worried. Is Haldane dead? Genuinely not sure. This moment doesn’t quite pack the punch that it ought to because the editor doesn’t allow it much time to breathe. Unlike Took’s death which I think showed too much, I feel like this one is showing too little. We need a closer look at the wreckage of the cruiser burning through the construction site perhaps? I’m not asking to see Haldane’s flaming corpse or anything that gratuitous, but for the supposed death of a major character I expect a bit more drama.

Here’s where I suspect people either get totally on board with this episode, or, like me, start to check out. Killing off a character as integral to the series as Haldane is a very bold move. If it were to happen for real it would be the sole focus of an episode or come in the final act as a shocking twist. But halfway through an episode in which one other character has already died too, and all Brogan and Castle are doing is drinking coffee and chatting about it? Sorry, I don’t buy it.

And there’s an extent to which I’m not supposed to buy it. Jane says herself that it doesn’t feel real. We’re supposed to suspect that something is wrong here. That’s good fuel for the plot and for keeping the audience engaged. Which is fine except now we suspect something isn’t right, we also immediately suspect that those character deaths are going to get reversed at the end somehow. So why get invested in those deaths in the first place?

Of course, it’s still interesting to explore two of our leads grieving the loss of their friends and colleagues. I’m not saying it’s a completely lost cause. Seeing Brogan and Castle at their lowest points sets up some good stakes for potential drama later, and looking at how they handle grief is intriguing too. Death can be a part of the job as a cop – what does that fact do to a person? It’s valuable for character development… but it can only go so far when most intelligent television viewers know the episode is going to do something implausible to reset everything back to zero at the end.

Now, with all that being said, I have to say Simone Bendix and Ted Shackelford do well at exploring their characters’ grief. Jane coming out smiling and saying she thought she’d end up with Jack is beautifully understated. Like Jack’s moment of vulnerability in their earlier scene, this is also a look at a different side of Jane which still utilises aspects of the character we recognise. She remains reserved and disciplined, but there’s that hint of cheeky humour in the subtext of the scene which Jack could often bring out in her. Patrick Brogan is stoic and says very little, typical of his occupation, age, gender and social standing, and yet emotion pours from the man because Ted Shackelford keeps it all bubbling under the surface.

Fredo arrives to steer us back to the main plot. He’s got a lead on Tamsin… that ‘orrible geezer from the beginning of the episode.

Brogan insists on taking it. Then Castle insists on taking it with him. Fredo can’t help but voice some exasperation… which seems a bit harsh seeing as both their partners just died.

In the cruiser, Brogan and Castle’s conversation takes on a more serious, perhaps sinister tone. Brogan acknowledges he needs a break, but not until he finds Haldane’s killer… which he also insists isn’t a personal matter. So we have a character stating categorically that they’re working beyond their limits, but refusing to admit they’re doing so for unprofessional reasons. The man is basically an emotional time bomb waiting to go off. So can we rely on Castle to keep things under control? Well, she’s in the same boat, and doesn’t partner up with Brogan often, so it’s hard to say whether she knows him well enough to take charge. It’s intriguing to be in a position where we can’t trust our lead characters to do the right thing.

Demeter City looks like a dump, as usual.

Bits and pieces of the Skall Street set from Enforcer have been recycled to create an equally charming back alley here. Castle and Brogan draw their guns but manage to resist the urge to shoot a stray dog, which I think we can all agree is a good thing.

Tamsin steps out with his hands up. He looks like a bad smell.

Brogan really and truly loses it. Tamsin claims to have no association with the Cyborg, but our good-natured hero Patrick has flipped. I properly believe it. Ted Shackelford snarls like a bloodthirsty animal. It’s sickening but in the best possible way. Anything could happen, but it’s almost certainly going to be bad for everyone concerned. There’s nothing more compelling for an audience than watching beloved characters make the wrong decisions. And will he ever come back from this? Has the fair and just Brogan that we respect and admire gone forever?

Castle just has to watch. She doesn’t know whether it’s an act or not. And, if it’s not, can she really bring herself to challenge a friend? Nigel Gregory plays the tortured Tamsin brilliantly – much better than when he was trying to be a suave businessman at the beginning of the episode.

Brogan absolutely batters Tamsin and that’s when Castle steps in. And boy does Brogan need a lot of convincing to calm down. When he pulls out his gun it seems like nothing Castle can say will de-escalate the situation. She manages it…

… But only just. I was watching this moment as Castle drags Tamsin away, hoping to find a flicker of remorse in Brogan’s eyes. Nothing. Just rage.

Back at the station house, Fredo is signing a DCPD search warrant… probably to conduct a search for the last of Brogan’s sanity.

Brogan and Castle bring Tamsin to the desk. When Fredo asks about the injury, Tamsin claims to have been “side swiped by a sky cab.” Ah, that old chestnut. After his ordeal, Tamsin just asks nicely to be locked up in a jail cell. The DCPD are happy to oblige.

Orrin and Romek have something to share. I bet those two human officers in the background are having a really interesting conversation about gluten-free coffee shops or something.

The Hawking Labs (apparently based in the fair city of Boston), have completed their analysis of the Cyborg’s armour and concluded that it’s made of all sorts of nonsense. Brogan isn’t terribly impressed with having chemical elements listed at him. The point is that it’s quite impossible for all those elements to exist in one alloy in those quantities. You’d have to ask a scientist whether that’s actually true or not, but for the benefit of the story we have to accept that the Cyborg’s armour shouldn’t exist but it does. Terrific.

Fredo is getting a bit more screen time than usual… it’s not particularly interesting screen time but it’s there nevertheless.

Over at the hospital some more pieces fall into place. The doctor has worked out that the Cyborg injected Ross with a restorative drug that’s helping him heal – a drug that couldn’t possibly be manufactured with current technology. So, why is the Cyborg helping Ross? And where did the drug come from? What a mystery…

… which Castle just guesses the correct answer to right away. The Cyborg is a time traveller from the future. Now before I throw a tantrum about Castle completely eliminating all the tension and mystery, I’ll point out that she isn’t being entirely serious with that suggestion. Brogan certainly scoffs when he hears the idea. This is more of a, “Cor, what a mystery – only something truly ludicrous like time travel would explain it, amiright?” rather than a, “By thunder, it’s obviously time travel!” type of situation.

Back at the station house, things are quiet. Fredo is enjoying a particularly fascinating piece of paper, while Romek goes to chat with Orrin about his vintage cheese collection (probably).

Then, this guy arrives.

And nobody notices. How does a whacking great Cyborg turn up on a space station without a single person spotting him? We know from previous episodes that there are surveillance cameras all over the station so how did nobody see him arrive in the docking bay?

The Cyborg asks, politely but firmly, to see Tamsin. Fredo is understandably concerned.

Fredo is forced to say goodbye to most of his vital organs.

The Cyborg jumps across the desk in a surprisingly graceful motion.

An awful lot of shooting ensues.

Romek takes a blast to the stomach. He enjoys it about as much as you might expect.

This guy gets shot too. You know this guy, right? He’s always around doing his thing. The police guy doing his police thing.

Oh now come on, you must know this guy, surely? It’s blonde police guy! You’ve seen him hundreds of times! He’s really into being a blonde police guy. That’s his whole thing.

Bold as brass, Podly wanders over demanding to know, “What’s going on here?” Apparently a top ranking police officer doesn’t know the sound of a massacre when he hears one.

With a blast to the chest, Podly tumbles over the railing and lands on a desk. The stunt fall was performed by Mark Anthony Newman, because you don’t go throwing talent like Jerome Willis off a balcony.

Orrin calls for backup but the Cyborg overhears him using the communicator. Again – a silent panic button would be extremely useful in these situations! Castle and Brogan respond to the call, but will they make it back in time?

Slomo yells, “Intruder alert!” as if that’s going to stop anything. Still, it’s nice to see him again. We haven’t had a proper chance to catch up with Slomo since he was blown out of the Talon Princess. It’d be a shame if…

Oh dear. Slomo’s been racking up quite the repair bill recently.

Blonde police guy has decided he’s had enough of this. After all, you know what blonde police guy’s like – he doesn’t put up with any nonsense. While Slomo’s decapitated body sparks and fizzes in the background, our blonde police guy hero leaps on the Cyborg’s back for a special cuddle. The Cyborg returns the favour by shooting blonde police guy in the abdomen and tossing him away. R.I.P. Blonde police guy – you were the blondest of police guys.

Oh actually never mind, I guess this blonde police guy is the new blonde police guy.

The Cyborg checks the holding cells but there’s no sign of Tamsin. A man painted blue holds on to a bit of wood with a red chair on it. I remember complaining about that bit of wood during Protect and Survive. Glad to see someone getting some comfort out of it.

Castle and Brogan arrive and it’s fair to say the party is winding down.

By some miracle, Romek is the only one left alive. He’s spilt some ketchup down his shirt but he insists he’s okay.

Orrin’s dead. Fredo’s dead. Slomo’s dead. Podly’s dead. And don’t forget about blonde police guy. Hey – what about new blonde police guy? What happened to him? He was hiding behind a desk and now he’s nowhere to be seen. Coward.

The Cyborg is marching through the corridors looking for Tamsin.

Brogan and Castle follow in pursuit, stepping over the bodies of their colleagues. Grim stuff.

Remember the Creon officer who accidentally got dosed up on Flash and allowed Dr. Jansen to escape his cell a few episodes ago? Well he’s back on duty today, still watching over the cells. Here’s hoping he does a better job this week.

Nope. Not even a little bit.

Tamsin’s request is fairly simple – “Don’t kill me.” Well, it’s a compelling argument but I’m not sure it’ll be enough to sway our ruthless, deranged, bloodthirsty Cyborg friend. Fortunately, Brogan and Castle arrive just in time. It looks like they’re going to shoot at him again… because that’s worked so well all those other times they’ve shot at him.

At best I would say it helps to disrupt the Cyborg’s aim, although that could also just be the fact his aim wasn’t very good to start with.

Brogan gets another shot in, while the Cyborg retaliates by missing entirely and blowing up an electrical box on the wall.

Tamsin finally gets the everlasting flip blown out of him.

Castle spots the sparking electrical box and has a clever thought while the Cyborg charges after Brogan.

Sure enough, plugging the Cyborg into the station house’s entire electrical system is a really smart idea. It’s an electrical safety nightmare to see Castle handling that cable with her bare hands, but seeing as the situation is life or death anyway I think we can allow it.

The Cyborg is stalled but not for long enough. Castle gets an intense whack to the head which pretty much counts her out.

Brogan gets in one more pointless shot before his gun stops working. It really wasn’t doing you that much good, mate, I wouldn’t look too sad about it.

Fortunately, the Cyborg’s gun was also completely knackered by Castle’s quick thinking.

With the situation at a stalemate, the Cyborg decides he’s just going to pop home and deal with this some other time. He says, “I’ll be back for you, Brogan. You created me and you’re going to die for it.” So wait… does that mean Brogan has another ruddy kid we don’t know about?

While I’m sure Brogan thinks about all the illegitimate offspring he may have sired, he checks in with Castle. She’s dead too.

Brogan borrows Castle’s gun for one last go at shooting the darn Cyborg while it escapes. It doesn’t work. Quelle surprise.

The camera rushes in dramatically to capture Brogan’s tortured expression, and to single him out as the only survivor of the attack. For all the fun I poked at it, I have to say what a remarkable action sequence that whole shootout was. The stunts were well executed and the special effects really, really went for it. Meanwhile, Crispin Merrell’s music became more and more apocalyptic by the minute. As much as I know none of this is for real, director Alan Birkinshaw is pulling out all the stops to try and convince us that this is actually the end of days.

After the commercial break we’re back at the Brogan house where the mood is more sombre than those hideous yellow walls could ever convey. What’s happening is obvious so we don’t dwell on it for too long. Matt, Liz, and Sally are being sent away to a place of safety. True to form, Matt wants to stay behind and be the hero alongside his father.

Meanwhile Liz expresses some of her apprehension through Zil. Frankly, Zil doesn’t look that bothered.

Matt wants to take a giant baseball bat with him, purely for innocent reasons I’m sure, but Sally won’t allow it. Spoil sport.

One by one, Brogan says goodbye for now.

But Sally decides that her husband has crossed a line, with a suggestion in the air that they won’t be coming back.

M’kay, so I see what they’re doing here, but I don’t like this moment with Sally. The writers want to suggest that Brogan loses absolutely everything because of the Cyborg, but that he specifically loses his family because he behaved recklessly. There’s just one glaring issue with that – Brogan hasn’t actually done anything wrong. Sure, he lost his cool a bit earlier when he roughed up Tamsin, but otherwise he hasn’t done anything to specifically provoke the Cyborg to attack him or his family. So why is Sally acting as if the Cyborg targeting Patrick is all her husband’s fault? I don’t see anything he could have done differently. It just makes Sally look unnecessarily harsh. Sure, she’s standing up for herself and her children in a time of crisis – but given everything else the kids have been through in previous episodes (Liz nearly dying in Flash or Matt nearly dying in Body & Soul), I don’t know why Patrick being proactive and asking his family to flee for a few days is such a line-crossing bad thing for her. It’s frustrating because I thought we were making progress with Sally Brogan’s character – turning her from a melodramatic, nagging housewife into a caring individual who accepts her husband’s faults and bites back with a dry sense of humour. Not everyone’s perfect, but I would expect the Sally of recent episodes to be a little more resilient and up for the fight than she’s being here.

For some reason the footage of the taxi cab is digitally slowed down as it approaches camera for the fade into the next scene. It therefore looks a bit naff.

Darkness falls across the suburbs – an absolutely gorgeous shot.

Brogan has a plan involving 900 volts, some jumper cables, a metal grate, and the ugliest rug he could find in the house. Genius.

Meanwhile, the Cyborg has wrenched his own arm off and is conducting intricate repairs on the gun.

And now, a guided tour through the Brogan family photo collection.

If I had to guess I would say this first picture is of Ted Shackelford and Nancy Paul hanging out with some of the production team.

Next up is a baby in a wee bonnet. It could be a baby photo of Nic Klein or Megan Olive themselves, but I’m more inclined to believe it’s just the baby of another member of the production team.

Here’s Ted Shackelford and Nancy Paul at the lake in Black Park near Pinewood Studios, likely taken at the same time as the family photo used in Enforcer.

Another production team photo but much harder to make out.

And this is a specially taken photograph of Ted Shackelford and Nancy Paul in wedding gear which makes it look like they were married yesterday rather than 14+ years ago.

That concludes our tour through the Brogan family photo collection. I hope you had fun. I know I did.

Brogan moves the family photo collection safely out of the way and then takes a seat in the bedroom with his new toy – a ruddy big gun. Also, I couldn’t help but notice that Brogan left his bedside reading light on. How careless. Meanwhile, the Cyborg finishes up repairing his own ruddy big gun and has a jolly good shoot at the wall to celebrate.

Don’t fall asleep, Brogan! Your reading light is still on!

The Cyborg arrives. The first shot of the hopper flying toward the suburbs is actually a stock shot of the Brogan family car without the yellow racing stripe.

Brogan wakes up, well aware that his foe is nearby. Outside, a panel on the wall starts to steam.

The plan very much hinges on the Cyborg coming in through the front door…

So he crashes in through the back window. Smooth.

The electrical trap is toast…

… knocking out power to the space station. If anyone was watching the Slamball Final on TV, they’re gonna miss the end.

It’s time for another fight!

Complete with sweaty underarms.

But the Cyborg’s gun malfunctions again after a couple of blasts. Shoddy workmanship. Unfortunately this doesn’t save Brogan from getting thrown around the room a bit more.

Brogan lands a shot with his handgun, but loses that pretty quickly, leaving the Cyborg with the opportunity to pick up Brogan’s big gun. I hope you’re following all this gun talk.

Yes, it turns out Brogan’s big gun was a trap all along and it bursts into flames at the touch of a button. How did Brogan rig up such a ingenious remote controlled device? No idea, but we all need our hobbies.

The fight devolves into Brogan whacking the Cyborg with whatever he can grab while getting whacked straight back. First it’s the butt of the big gun, then it’s Matt’s discarded baseball bat which apparently really does the trick.

The glass dining room table takes the hit. That should make the Brogan family dinner scenes more interesting from now on.

With all his might, Brogan picks up the brute and throws him onto the lovely comfy sofa – as you do.

The mask is pulled off to reveal… some guy. Oh, apparently it’s Ross from 30 years in the future. You can tell because actors Stephen Billington and Glenn Marks look so alike…

So, Brogan and Ross take a moment to explain the plot to each other (and us). Ross is indeed a time traveller who came out of his acid-bath-induced coma with a cybernetic body. He found a time travel scientist (probably on Craigslist), stole his prototype and went back into the past to prevent the injury from happening in the first place. But things didn’t go to plan. In the original timeline, Ross was knocked into the acid bath by a shot from one of Drako’s men, not Brogan. Drako’s man is referred to only as “the third technician” which is probably just the name that was used in the script and clumsily transferred into the dialogue. Alas, in this altered timeline it was Brogan who fired the shot that caused Ross’ injury, hence the mad revenge spree…

So, will Brogan have the last laugh and splatter Cyborg brains all over his nice sofa?

Nah, he’s still our Brogan. He uses his smarts and figures that time can be rewritten all over again to bring everyone back to life. I have to say, I find myself surprisingly accepting of this time travel thing. The plot has been carefully constructed to get us to this point, so the revelation that it was time travel all along doesn’t feel like a massive cop-out. It’s a big stretch, probably a bit beyond what we’ve seen from the technology of the Space Precinct universe previously, but I guess a lot can change in 30 years.

So, after a quick fumble, Brogan grabs the time travel belt and straps it to himself. It’s basically a couple of buttons, some lights, and a keypad – a bit on the cheap side but very user-friendly. Brogan points out that he’ll have to disable the Cyborg when he arrives in the past, essentially asking for tips as to how the cybernetic Ross would recommend killing himself.

A power pack from the belt should do it. Very convenient.

Ross wishes Brogan luck. Awww. Even psychotic, hateful, killer robot men can be nice sometimes.

The time-hopping special effect is exactly the sort of wibbly-wobbly business you would expect.

Brogan takes a look inside and finds his past self in the middle of the bust chatting to the young Ross. That’s a really good split screen effect right there.

The whole place shakes as Cyborg Ross arrives from the future as predicted. Oddly, there was no earthquake-type-event when Brogan arrived just now.

The struggle is over with pretty quickly. Brogan zaps Ross with a power pack and that’s that. I’m glad we didn’t need another 5-minute fight sequence to sort that one out.

Future Brogan catches sight of the oh-so-crucial third technician in the background and yells out. The officers, including the very much alive Haldane, Castle, and Took, respond by locking eyes on the surrendering technician.

But who was that handsome Brogan sound-alike who gave the signal? Past Brogan goes to investigate.

As they fizzle out of existence, future Brogan has to explain to future Ross that he’s fixed the timeline so there’ll be no need for a murderous rampage today thank you so very much indeed.

Past Brogan watches himself disappear into a cloud of dust, but dismisses it as just one of those weird things – probably for the best.

With Drako’s gang of crooks rounded up, no shots fired, and not a single young man dunked in an acid bath, our hero can relax and appreciate a job well done.

With the timeline restored, we go back to where the beginning of the episode should have left off as all the criminals are rounded up. Meanwhile, Stephen Billington makes some more questionable acting choices as Ross shares how he refused Tamsin’s offer despite being quite tempted – just to suggest that he isn’t quite as evil as his future self turned out to be in the alternate timeline. Brogan smiles, for some reason agreeing that Tamsin’s offer was quite tempting. I wouldn’t consider spending any time with a creep like that to be even vaguely tempting.

Podly calls to yell at Brogan for only using four units to make the arrests. I only counted six officers but maybe there were more waiting outside. Anyway, it’s all for a laugh.

Orrin and Romek debate the difference between an “earthquake” and an “Altor-quake.” Those guys and their bits.

And so, Brogan inexplicably feels grateful for everything he has in his life – despite having no awareness of the alternate timeline that nearly just unfolded. Nevertheless, it still feels like an earned moment of appreciation. The other officers poke fun at the guy and all feels right with the world. Ending such a bleak episode with a touch of warm humour is just right to reset everything back to normal.

Ross stands around at a loose end while everyone else chats and clears up the mess. End of episode.

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So, after all that analysis, what did those little things I didn’t like about Time To Kill turn out to be? It’s actually quite a short list. Firstly, some of the guest performances were ill-judged, but I’ve said enough unkind things about those so I’ll leave it at that. Secondly, I think some of the fight sequences were just a bit too drawn out – mostly fine, but maybe I didn’t need so many failed attempts at shooting the Cyborg. Thirdly, Sally Brogan giving up on Patrick despite all the other terrible dangers their family has found themselves in previously. But finally, and I think this is personal to me, I just don’t find the bleak “everyone dies” premise interesting because it happens halfway through the episode, rather than at the end of it. My TV-watching-brain just knew that there were 20 minutes left for the episode to fix the problem. As a series finale, or as the cliffhanger of a two-part installment, I would have been more likely to get invested.

But, all that being said, there’s far more to like about Time To Kill than there is to dislike. The Cyborg is a visually and conceptually fantastic villain, and the time travel twist is surprising but well-earned. The plot starts as a crime drama and turns full science fiction by the end, mixing together its elements into a distinctly Space Precinct flavoured cocktail. The action sequences are directed and edited with great precision so that the stunts and special effects look their absolute best. Tony Spratling does a great job as the guest Director of Photography and I look forward to seeing him back for some future episodes. The main cast continue to dig deep into their characters and find some golden opportunities to enhance their shared chemistry. And above all, Ted Shackelford shines as he takes Brogan to new places while maintaining the character’s core values. Well done, that man.