The Tripods (1984) Episode 7

Will believes that he and Eloise will follow Henry and Beanpole to the White Mountains later on, but only discovers that she has been capped. She cannot go with him, as she would reveal the location of the resistance movement to the Tripods.

 

IB - Eloise gives Will a picture locket to remember her by. You know something bad is going to happen. Foreshadowing with a sledgehammer. Unsubtle. Will is about to gush everything and tell all to Eloise when he decides to finally look at her properly.

 

JL - And, bang goes the dynamite. She's capped! Ooh, never saw that coming! Even if she did wear a turban 24/7.

 

IB - This sequence makes me feel embarrassed for the actors because it's the direction that's at fault here.

 

JL - Is it cos she's capped? Is it cos I'm cool? He only looked in her hat cos he thought there might be drugs inside. Will taking Eloise's turban off is tantamount to rape. She should have played the religion card and sued.

 

Will's only choice now is to leave and find his friends or stay with Eloise and be capped himself, which would also reveal to the Tripods the existence of the resistance movement in the White Mountains. Reluctantly, Will decides to stay and marry Eloise despite the consequences.

 

IB - Will decides to stay with Eloise and be capped.

 

JL - And dress like a lounge lizard. His hosts call him Gay Yum. It's still better than 'Willy Sachs' as he calls himself in series two.

 

IB - It's meant to be Guilliame, as in William in French.

 

JL - Will has a nice package. I bet it's really a huge bag of drugs he stashed in his breeches.

 

The Count announces their wedding, to take place the following Spring. But as Will tries to relate to Eloise's friends and relatives, he finds it difficult to keep from expressing how life would be better without the Tripods, a thought they find distressing.

 

 

JL - Will's acting has improved slightly and he has a spring in his step. It's hanging around the stables where there are all those nose bags full of coke. Or else he boned Eloise offscreen.

 

IB - I have no problem with the three mains' acting. It's no worse than the teenagers in Century Falls and it's still infinitely superior to the Aero kids in The Twin Dilemma. Some of the stilted dialogue would have baffled much more experienced and seasoned performers. The script was never this series' strong point in any case. The sumptuous visuals on the other hand were more than enough to carry the whole production and elevate it to the classic status it fully deserved.

 

JL - Bollocks. Jim Baker as Henry is so dissociated from the script he might as well be reading the cue card. John Shackley is phoning in Will's lines from abroad.

 

JL - Will gets to know everyone while ignoring his mates: 'that's Thierry. That's Pierre.' So fuck! I was dying for Henry to turn round and call Will a selfish, arse-licking little cunt but alas it never happens.

 

While Will attends the Tournament, Henry and Beanpole continue their journey and contemplate what fate awaits their friend. Back at the Chateau the Duc de Sarlat puts into motion a plan to separate Will and Eloise forever.