“Infestation”

“Infestation” is just about the worst dreg that I feared Flash Gordon would be. It’s overall a ridiculous concept and even worse execution…if you can stick around to watch.

Flash, Dale, and Baylin prepare to join Nick at his brother’s wedding. Nick is nervous about giving the toast at his perfect brother’s wedding. So far not horrible. Baylin is going only because Flash doesn’t want to lose sight of her. Ok, believable to a point.

Despite Rankol’s assurances that he’s learning to control the rift technology so it will not open randomly as it had, a rift opens and some wildlife from Mongo comes through in the form of joybugs. Of course Flash has to go investigate because he’s the self-appointed protector of the rifts.

A joybug bites Nick and Baylin stuns him, telling the party that he will die. We learn there is a cure amongst the Omadrian people on Mongo but that they are disagreeable. Flash decides to go anyways and to establish the dynamic, it appears Flash and Baylin will be the road team, while Zarkov and Dale are the home team. Baylin’s only advice is to keep Nick miserable because being misreable counteracts the poison that makes a person euphoric before killing them.

On Mongo, Baylin refuses to enter the Omadrian village because she once stole an ancient artifact from them under Ming’s orders. The Omadrian are a radical feminist druidic tribe who don’t trust men, so of course Flash should be fine. After they mistake him for a thief and they take him prisoner they threaten to transfrom him into a docile by cutting off his “aggression”.

Flash is able to save himself and his “aggression” by offering to retreive the urn for them which is in Ming’s palace. The Omadrian agree.

After Baylin is spotted by Rankol in the palace, Flash is on his own. He turns to the one person he knows can help him whether they want to or not, Aura. Aura, at gunpoint, leads him to the urn, and while there she takes a jewel of her own. Flash ties her up and leaves with the urn.

Baylin, who said that she had killed Flash Gordon is betrayed when Aura reports of her abduction, and she is taken prisoner. She escapes in the transition with help from Flash. They make their way back to the village where the Omadrians discover Baylin with Flash. At first the Omadrians refuse to give the medicine to Flash, who makes an impassioned plea which touches the leader of the Omadrian’s heart. She gives them the medicine and allows them to leave, impressed with Flash.

In the meantime, Dale has been trying to keep Nick miserable while Zarkov experiments on a rabbit who was also bitten to learn what advances the disease and what may halt it.

Flash returns with the medicine and saves Nick, but not this episode. Overall it is a mess. It is boring and annoying. Nick ruined himself already for the series, with his terrible performance, Zarkov was a throwaway character in the episode and there was little to like.

The only thing saving this from a failing grade was the introduction of the Omadrians. Even that wasn’t handled well as we learned little about them. It simply was a good idea to begin exploring other cantons on Mongo

D-

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