“Stand and Deliver”

It is a good sign that Flash is starting to come up with a coherent connected storyline that we actually continue where we left off in the last episode. Baylin leads Flash and Dale to the Verden homeland where they discover nothing but a smoking ruin. Further searching yields a single Verden in a trap laid by bounty hunters. He is quick to explain that Ming is selling off the Verden as slaves as the price of Barin’s assassination attempt.

The hunters show up but are quickly disarmed by Flash, Baylin, and Dale. Baylin seeks to vent her rage and kill them, but Flash and Dale won’t let her. The free the Verden and take him to see a doctor that can help stitch him up.

Leaving Dale with the Verden and the doctor, Flash and Baylin seek out a Turan who is supposedly buying up the Verden as quickly as they come up for sale. They soon discover that the Turan is really Barin in disguise freeing his people the only way he knows how. It seems that he has been hunting celetrophs, a rare scorpion like creature up north and using them as barter. The centrophs are what the monks that Ming employs use to be able to glimpse the future.

Not letting Baylin dispatch of the hunters comes back to bite our heroes as they track down the Verden and Dale to the doctor’s office. They take the two and claim them for the slave market forcing Flash and Baylin to hunt centrophs themselves. Hunting the centrophs turn out to be very dangerous as one bite from a female will kill and there is no antidote. So Flash sticks his hand in a centroph rock searching for the rare creature.

It is a great homage to a similar scene from the 1980 movie and although a bit cheesy still is highly entertaining.

Flash is able to get enough centrophs but arrives back at the market too late as someone has already bought Dale and brought her back to Ming’s palace to be his concubine. So of course Flash and Barin disguise themselves as Patriots and find Aura and ask her to help for which Barin offers information about her mother.

Ok, I do have to say, it is kind of ridiculous how easy Flash gets in and out of Ming’s palace. Where’s the security?

Dale is able to schmooz her way with Ming, intriguing him certainly and preventing him from going very far at first, but he promises to return…but of course Dale is able to escape.

Again Secu…eh forget it.

Ming makes an announcement that he will kill ten Verden every day until Barin turns himself in. Barin feels he has no choice and won’t let others die for him so he gives himself to Ming. He is thrown in the dungeon to be executed the next day at dawn.

Barin is a great addition to the cast as he has charisma certainly and his character, while still kind of shallow is interesting enough to want to know more about.

Aura makes her way to the dungeon to find out what Barin knows about her mother and he simply tells her about the memory stone around her neck. He tells her that it will glow when she is near a family member. He will tell her more tomorrow if she can stay his execution.

In the meantime Flash realizes that it is the prophecy he keeps hearing about that makes Ming want to kill Barin. Using the non-poisonous male centroph’s he decides to create a prophecy of his own. Taking the place of one of the monks, he is able to convince Ming through much subtlety that if he kills Barin, he will be making a martyr. Ming agrees to stay Barin’s execution and instead will let him rot.

Rankol however sees through Flash’s disguise in a heartbeat and all but let’s Flash know. However once again, Rankol keeps to himself.

They are doing a good job developing Rankol into a very vague and unsure character. You almost want to trust him, but can you?

One big doing about this epsiode. Mongo Mongo Mongo. It serves a major point. This is one of the most complete episodes of the series thus far. It is very focused and determined to make a saga out of Flash Gordon yet, no matter how the cheesiness and subpar performances by the leads try to drag it down. Luckily, the supporting roles are able to even it all out.

B+*

*Note - it is probably more a B/B- but given what series it is from, it deserves a higher ranking for almost dragging the series out of the mudhole it’s found itself in.

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