'Have you betrayed us? Have you betrayed me?' Avon stands over his friend moments after killing him, facing certain death. His comrades strewn lifelessly about him and flanked by armed Federation guards, he looks sadly down at his fallen prey. In a final act of remembrance to Blake he smiles defiantly. A single shot followed by a barrage of gunfire echoes behind as the dark curtain of stars falls for the last time and the credits roll. Ironies and role reversals abound in 'Blake'- surely it is the arch intelligencer Avon who is ever the ruthless trickster through all four seasons of freedom fighting? (his icy words to a traumatised Villa at the close of 'Orbit' - 'as you always say Villa, you know you are safe with me'. Yet it's the stout, idealist Blake of all people who has turned embittered double bluffer, trusting no one at face value. As Deva prophetically warns, 'These stupid games you insist on playing, Blake, will get someone killed one day.' Blake has gone native, a bounty hunter using money and baited escapes as tests to sift the greedy from the pure. But trying to prune out the bad apples from such a twisted orchard would surely exhaust anyone. Even Orac couldn't trace a clear line though the forest of traps and disguises, legacy of Servilan. A battle scarred and weary Blake admits he simply, 'cannot tell anymore
' who to trust. And inevitably Blake's valiant dream flounders in the mire. Meeting Blake after years apart, Avon faces his dark night of the soul, beseeching his former ally. His judgement paralysed by doubt, buckling under the threat of the double cross. Shocked to see Blake's once noble visage disfigured, perhaps spying Blake's knife Avon has but one reflex. Survival is winning. Instinctively firing on an advancing Blake he no longer knows nor knows if he believes in. Blake! Not a Travis figure, a hated enemy, rather his captain, his true friend. Tarrant's peeved and pragmatic take on matters proves tragically misguided. But who on Gauda Prime can see the wood for the trees? Avon pulls the trigger and kills the thing he loves. Shakespearean tragedy in a sci-fi serial? it's unexpected and devastating. It isn't easy to watch the demise of beloved characters in this way but then Blake's 7 isn't easy television. The stakes were always bleak. The Federation are cold killers. The crew of The Liberator set out from episode one to reassert some chaos amidst the terrible new order, but it was always a fool's hope they would triumph. Few endings are more powerful or memorable across the galaxy of British television - 'Blake' seals the series indelibly in the mind as cruel, magnificent and spellbinding. A masterstroke to bring Blake back. Servilan omitted?- a puzzling yet bold move, she at least lives on. Plenty to argue about as the years have rolled on, never bettered, 'Blake' is a cultural treasure.
