“Thicker Than Water”

“Thicker than Water” shakes off the remnants of bad habits returned in Possession and sends Flash Gordon hurtling towards a climactic finale. It is an episode that takes all the good of the series and minimizes all of the bad leaving us with a pretty decent show.

The unanswered question of the rift blaster Joe left behind is answered. Flash, Zarkov, and Baylin return to Mongo to track it down. Unfortunately as soon as they arrive, a baby is thrust in their hands asking them to get it out of Nascent City. It seems the baby has tested positive for Deviate blood. Of course the last time we saw a Deviate, it looked much more monstrous than this baby, but I guess each strain is different.

The three get to the Steephouse, which has kind of turned into a safe haven for our heroes, and the bartender is able to contact someone who will get the Deviate child to the Deviate stronghold which has sprung up in the banelands. Flash doesn’t trust the woman though and decides to go with her to deliver the child.

A little forced plotline there but I digress.

This of course leaves Baylin and Zarkov to find the rift blaster which they discover the Patriots took off of Joe. They are able to break into Rankol’s lab where they find the modified blaster, but unfortunately are overwhelmed by Patriots and thrown in the dungeon.

Flash is able to make it to Deviate country whereupon he meets their charismatic leader, Terek. Terek has little deviation truly. He has a scar alongside his left temple shooting down towards his cheek. He is played by Craig Stanghetta in a little bit TOO much over the top style. It fits in fairly well with the setting, but occasionally it comes off more annoying.

The very idea of the Deviate society, while far from original, is still in this day and age a striking concept, further villainizing Ming. Terek realizes all to well that Ming will never cede to his demands of canonization of the Deviates, so he suggests concentrating on Aura, the likely next leader of Mongo. Flash promises to get him an audience with her because frankly that’s what Flash does.

He saves every one of us.

However when Flash arrives to talk to Aura, the Deviates seize their opportunity and take the Princess prisoner. Flash is unhappy but he is thrown into prison as well when they learn that Terek’s idea is to hold Aura hostage against Ming.

However it doesn’t last as Terek and Aura spend quality time together and come to an understanding. Terek is able to read Aura’s pain and realizes that she hates Ming as much as he does, simply for different reasons. Ludi, an old woman who brought Terek up tries to interfere with their alone time but she is sent away.

She quickly goes to Flash to help, and before long we realize we are in for a Empire Strikes Back flashback, but Flash gets there in time to tell the leaders they are actually…siblings!

Grossed out at what almost happened, the two struggle with what that means. Aura realizes she has Deviate blood within her, and Terek realizes that his father is his worst enemy.

It does seal the deal that Aura will fight for the Deviates, even in subtle fashions.

Word of Aura’s kidnapping has reached Ming, but he refuses to negotiate with terrorists. However in a rare show of emotion, he frees Baylin to track down Aura and bring her back. However Zarkov stays behind to be exectued on the morrow. Rankol tries to get him to talk about the modified rift blaster in order to free him but Zarkov remains uncharacteristically strong.

On Earth, Lenu activates Joe, as Rankol has determined that they must still have the Imex in order to have recalibrated the rift blaster, just as Zarkov feared. Dale is stunned when Joe suddenly has to leave as he had been about to kiss her.

Baylin does save Flash and Aura from the Deviate stronghold and they return to Nascent City, whereupon Aura frees Zarkov out of gratitude.

Again, slightly forced but meh.

Aura returns to meet with her brother now, along with the memory stone which does indeed begin to glow indicating that they are truly siblings. Aura promises to fight for the Deviates and hopefully change Ming’s mind.

In a case of bad timing, Ming has sent out his forces to attack the Deviant community and we are left with an ominous shot of Ming looking almost demonic.

Overall it is a fine episode, minus a few forced plotlines, and some not perfect characterizations. Regardless it is probably the finest episode of the season and a strong storydriven show.

B+

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