History Recap / BlakesSevenS4E13Blake

* OneDialogueTwoConversations: A dark, [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism *dark*]] variant, and a literal example of PoorCommunicationKills. Blake assumes he's explaining the situation. Avon assumes he's confessing to a betrayal. It doesn't help that Blake's behaviour towards Tarrant has been equally open to misinterpretation. The conversation goes something like this:

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** It turns out that a small band of plucky rebels cannot take down a galaxy-wide empire single-handed, no matter what advantages they have.
** Also the manner of their deaths. There was no final confrontation with Servalan, no famous last words. The crew were just caught up in a raid on a rebel base and shot by nameless mooks.

Anyways, things go FromBadToWorse as Arlen shows up, holds the former ''Scorpio'' crew at gunpoint and announces that she's a Federation DoubleAgent. Of course, our heroes have gotten out of worse situations before, and Vila tries to distract Arlen by claiming that he has nothing against the Federation. Dayna tries to retrieve the fallen Blake's gun... and then Arlen casually shoots her dead. ''Damn''. Josette Simon must have wanted out of the show, and with an actual on-screen death unlike Jenna or Cally, huh?

Blake follows Tarrant, and after two whole seasons, the big reunion finally takes place. It's not a happy one however, as Tarrant accuses Blake of betraying the crew to the Federation, leaving Avon horrified and paranoid. Blake tries to tell Avon that the whole thing has actually just been a SecretTestOfCharacter, but Avon is having none of it and kills Blake by shooting him in the gut, with messy results. Quite the FamilyUnfriendlyDeath, apparently because Gareth Thomas only agreed to return if Blake was KilledOffForReal. Though it ''could'' have been [[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E3Weapon the Clone Blake]]...

* BackForTheFinale: Blake came back for the final episode, and was bloodily shot dead. This was because Gareth Thomas was fed up with the part and wanted it to be unambiguously the last time he would have to play the role in case the show got UnCancelled.

* BloodierAndGorier: Blake's death is much more graphic than expected for this series, as Gareth Thomas wanted to avert any possibility of his character being brought BackFromTheDead.

* BolivianArmyEnding: The episode ends with Avon surrounded by Federation soldiers and everyone else on his side apparently dead (with Blake, at Gareth Thomas' specific request, killed off). The sound of a firefight is played over the closing credits.

* DeaderThanDead: Gareth Thomas returned on the condition that his death was sufficiently graphic to rule out a return. Ironically, this proved unnecessary as there was no season five.

* InTheBack: Half the cast get shot InTheBack as they reap the consequences of mistrust and betrayal. Mind you the rest get shot in the front, and don't fare any better.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Half the cast get shot InTheBack as they reap the consequences of mistrust and betrayal. Mind you the rest get shot in the front, and don't fare any better.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Tarrant falls for Blake's bounty hunter act and tell Avon that Blake has betrayed them. Avon, who really should know Blake better than that, aims his gun at Blake, who, instead of explaining the truth coherently, just comes out with vague statements like "I set all this up!", all of which Avon misinterprets until he finally snaps and pumps Blake full of gunfire.

* {{BFG}}: Creatro/PaulDarrow requested a particularly large gun for killing Blake, justifying his BloodierAndGorier death. They gave him the carbine part of the ComboRifle used in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E12Warlord Warlord]]".

* BloodlessCarnage: This trope was used so the producers could bring the characters back to life if the series was renewed for another season (which had already happened once), by saying that StunGuns had been used. Except for one actor who insisted he be KilledOffForReal, and so suffered an appropriately bloody death-by-exploding-squibs+bloodbag.

* {{BFG}}: Paul Darrow requested a particularly large HandCannon for killing Blake, justifying his BloodierAndGorier death. They gave him the carbine part of the ComboRifle used in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E12Warlord Warlord]]".

** To make sure Gareth kept asking the pyrotechnic crew to add more bullet squibs to his chest plate, leading to a quite painful result when they went off.

* InsistentTerminology: When Arlen is identified as a Federation agent, she snaps back that she's a Federation ''officer''. Actually it is a bit of TruthInTelevision as in real life, most Western government intelligence organizations do not refer to their employees/officers as agents or spies. Those terms are actually reserved for the locals recruited by said government officers, often without the person in question being aware. Thus, Arlen was Blake's handler (a real life term to describe the relationship between government officers and their recruited agents, spies, ect). In real-life terms, Blake was the Federation agent, albeit unwittingly.

* IronicEcho

* KnightInSourArmor: Blake

* NoEnding: Having already confirmed with the BBC management that the series was to end, Vere Lorrimer and Creator/ChrisBoucher decided to conclude with a BolivianArmyCliffhanger so they'd either have an ending no-one would forget, or create the demand for a fifth season with all the characters except Blake being stunned if the actors stayed on, or KilledOffForReal if they decided not to.

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: A possible version; Avon hesitates to save his own life at Tarrant's expense. Is he still feeling guilt over the events of "Orbit"?

* PoorCommunicationKills: Tarrant falls for Blake’s bounty hunter act and tell Avon that Blake has betrayed them. Avon, who really should know Blake better than that, aims his gun at Blake, who, instead of explaining the truth coherently, just comes out with vague statements like "I set all this up!", all of which Avon misinterprets until he finally snaps and pumps Blake full of gunfire.

-->'''Blake:''' That's the name [[PriceOnTheirHead they're paying for]].

* SelfDeprecation

* TheSnarkKnight

* StuffBlowingUp

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: The ''Scorpio'' crew gets taken down by a female Federation officer with short, dark hair... just not the one they've been battling for most of the series.

* TraumaCongaLine

* TastesLikeFriendship: Subverted; Blake invites Arlen to share the meal he's cooking. She even leaves one of her weapons in payment though Blake doesn't expect any. Then Blake betrays her and later she betrays him.

** What happened to Avon has become the subject of several ExpandedUniverse novels and audiobooks, including the ''Lucifer'' series by actor Paul Darrow.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "Is it true? Have you betrayed us? Have. You. Betrayed. ME?" (Shatner would be proud)

-->'''Blake:''' [[FamousLastWords Avon, I was waiting for you...]]

* FamousLastWords:
** Blake: "Avon, I was waiting for ''you''!" ''[BANG BANG BANG]'' "Avon..."
** Vila's last word is a sardonic "Sorry" after knocking out Arlen. Tarrant calls out "Avon!" as he rushes to him, then gets shot. Dayna and Soolin have no dialogue during their death scene.

* RedAlert
** Having been overridden by Orac, Slave sounds the alarm to get their attention.
** The alert warbles constantly during the final scene, only turning off when Avon is the last man standing. In retrospect it probably triggered when the Federation soldiers forced their way into the underground base, rather than because Tarrant had escaped.

* RealityEnsues:
** It turns out that a small band of plucky rebels cannot take down a galaxy-wide empire single-handed, no matter what advantages they have.
** Also the manner of their deaths. There was no final confrontation with Servalan, no famous last words. The crew were just caught up in a raid on a rebel base and shot by nameless mooks.
* RedAlert
** Having been overridden by Orac, Slave sounds the alarm to get their attention.
** The alert warbles constantly during the final scene, only turning off when Avon is the last man standing. In retrospect it probably triggered when the Federation soldiers forced their way into the underground base, rather than because Tarrant had escaped.

* BolivianArmyEnding: The episode ends with Avon surrounded by Federation soldiers and everyone else on his side apparently dead (with Blake, at Gareth Thomas' specific request, killed off). The sound of a firefight is played over the closing credits. This was done deliberately with the intention that, if the series was renewed, they could easily kill off any character whose actor did not re-sign their contract while having the characters of returning actors survive the shoot-out. The fact that the series was not renewed for another season means that the fate of every character is intentionally ambiguous - and never resolved.

* BloodierAndGorier: Blake's death is much more graphic than expected for this series. This was because Gareth Thomas wanted to avert any possibility of his character being brought BackFromTheDead.

* BackForTheFinale:
** Blake returns and is killed off there by ''Avon'', because he was too stupid to explain his real motives, leading Avon to think Blake was a traitor. Definitely a FanonDiscontinuity moment for diehard fans. Blake's death was apparently a condition for Gareth Thomas (Blake) to appear in the episode, his death included blood to make sure that he was [[KilledOffForReal really dead]]. Seeing as it ended up being the final episode, it didn't really matter anyway, especially as just about everyone else [[KillEmAll ended up dead by the end of the episode anyway]].
** The deaths of the other characters was left deliberately ambiguous so that they could return if the series was extended.

* AbandonShip: Scorpio is attacked and crashlands on Gauda Prime. Tarrant pilots the ship down to give the others time to teleport off. This also leads to PartyScattering, and a TragicMistake ensues.

* {{BFG}}: Paul Darrow requested a particularly large HandCannon for killing Blake, justifying his BloodierAndGorier death. They gave him the carbine part of the ComboRifle used in "Warlord".

* BloodierAndGorier: Blake's death is much more graphic than expected for this series. This was because the actor wanted to avert any possibility of his character being brought BackFromTheDead.

** To "Terminal" when the crew point out that last time Avon went after Blake they were lucky to get out alive (except for Cally) and Blake wasn't even there.

* {{Foreshadowing}}

** Several to "Terminal", originally to be the final episode before the series was unexpectedly renewed. This includes a search for Blake that leads to disaster largely thanks to Avon, the ship's computer reaching out to the crew in its final moments, and a shot of the ship breaking up that includes someone sliding down a tilted floor-panel.
** [[BookEnds As in the pilot episode]], a nest of rebels are betrayed by a DoubleAgent and then massacred by Federation troops, except for their leader.

* FutureBadass: Albeit not one involving time travel, but Blake now has the obligatory cynical demeanor, facial scar and eye damage (though without the usual eyepatch).

* PlotDemandedManualMode: In order to split the party for plot purposes, Tarrant is required to manually pilot Scorpio so the others can teleport off.

* One of the first things Arlen says to Blake is: "This is a trap, you won't live to see it sprung." She's right, he's dead before she reveals she's TheMole.

* InsistentTerminology: When Arlen is identified as a Federation agent, she snaps back that she's a Federation ''officer''. Actually it,s a bit of TruthInTelevision as in real life, an agent or spy is actually the usually civilian recruited by an government officer, often without the person in question being aware. So in a way, she was Blake's handler (a real life term to describe the relationship between government officers and their field agents, spies, ect). In real-life terms, Blake was an unwitting Federation agent.