Death Watch, March 24, 1998

By Shirley

I found this episode to be most unsatisfactory. The main reason is that Death Watch was so obviously cobbled together. I gather that TPTB were pressed for time, and bought back Skeleton Crew, the never aired in North America Season One ending cliffhanger, and used footage from it to make Death Watch. The story then had to be told in flashbacks, which were the Skeleton Crew footage chopped up to fit the Death Watch script. The result is mixed, to say the least.

The original Skeleton Crew story was quite different from Death Watch. In Skeleton Crew, Diane Schonke, the murdered lieutenant, was a close friend of Harm's. The friendship was strictly platonic. Now I remember that my local TV Guide way back in late May 1996 described Schonke as being married. However, I have since learned from those who have been fortunate enough to see Skeleton Crew that the TV Guide extract was wrong. Diane was not married. But her friendship with Harm was most definitely platonic. Why? Because Harm told both Krennick and Turkey that it was, and I believe him. Also, there was a very definite hint that Diane was gay. In fact, one of the suspects in her murder was her roommate, Lt. Williams. One of the theories was that Williams killed Diane in a fit of jealous lesbian rage. Harm maintained throughout the episode that he never slept with Diane and that she was like a sister to him. This would fit in with the gay angle.

Now to Death Watch. In this mutation, Diane is now the woman Harm loves, the one he was planning to marry. The impression we are given is that the two were lovers. It certainly was not a strictly platonic relationship. I have a few problems going along with this scenario. Harm with his intense loyalties and deep sense of honour has always come across as a one-woman man. He was at some pains to explain to Francesca that he was "involved" with someone when she expressed her interest in him.

It is completely out of character for him then to blithely enjoy relationships with both Kate Pike and Maria of the many names, as well as be secretly in love with a married woman (Annie Pendry), all the while nurturing this deep abiding passion for Diane. (And it wasn't as though the two weren't in touch. They were writing each other frequently. Diane's effects included a large bundle of his letters). It just doesn't ring true. That simply is not Harmon Rabb.

The part that does ring true is Harm's resolve to see justice done. However, I don't really buy the premise that he was ready to do it himself. He was the one who restrained Chegwidden from killing Osborne in

Ghosts. And this is not in the heat of the moment or the immediate aftermath of his devastating loss either. He's had two years to think about it. Would he then just go there with a gun to kill Holbarth? No, I think it would be more in character for him to have gone with a plan to get Holbarth to confess to the killing.

As for Mac, she certainly got the short end of the stick. Talk about poor treatment. First off, Harm forgets about their working dinner, then he brusquely offers her the choice of either leaving or else being locked in. Next, he drives off and leaves her in the pouring rain. Then he kisses her, but was it Mac he was kissing or Diane, his long-dead love, there in the misty dark, standing over the spot where a screaming Holbarth had just been crushed to death? It was Diane he was kissing. Justice has finally been done. Poor Diane's ghost need no longer wander this earth. Harm was kissing his dead love good-bye. REQUIESCAT IN PACE. Rest in peace, Diane.

I didn't like the flashbacks. They lacked intensity, most likely because of the way they had been chopped up. They certainly did not do justice to Meg, Krennick or even Harm. I don't know how it compares to the original Skeleton Crew. All I know is that it was most unsatisfactory.

I want to end on a positive note, (pun intended). The music was marvellous and hauntingly evocative, especially at the very end.
 

previous episode review//next episode review