Renee is taken for trial by a group who have deemed her responsible for every death caused by the Atavus since she released them. The penalty for her guilt: death.

This is the first episode this season where I've actually been interested in what's going on, and I'm forced to admit that if there's one thing this series does well, it's a courtroom drama. The defence of Renee is pretty spirited and sounds reasonable enough; the only thing that I kept coming back to was the fact that however you argue it, she was still the one who released the Atavus and on that count at least she is guilty. While she may have been trying to make up for her mistake ever since, it doesn't mean she never caused the original problem. Her choice of Michaels as her attorney is also a little iffy as she claims he's the best lawyer she knows, despite only finding out he used to be one that morning.

It's not perfect; the revelation of who the judge is is such an insignificant turn of events that it seems pointless to hide his identity for the entire story. Now, if it was Sandoval or Howlyn trying to get what they want and curry favour with the public, that would have worked better. The militia group's ability to get hold of Renee (and Hubble, for that matter) is also pretty impressive; the Atavus have been looking for her all season and this group can capture her within five minutes. I thought by picking Michaels she might have been playing for time, but that's not the case either. The public are also won over a little easily by someone saying they're all gullible sheep, but the whole opinion poll aspect of the story is dodgy at best, especially the way the numbers keep going up and down for and against. How? Has everyone been given a little button to keep pressing throughout the trial?

The arguments in the end are pretty well thought out considering it's difficult to defend Renee, and although I found the ending to be glossing over reaching some kind of verdict, it's still a good piece of drama, even if part of me still wonders why this late in the game a story like this is being done rather than trying to wrap things up…

***

Would you like to go to the Earth: Final Conflict Season Five guide, head back to the main TV reviews page, read older reviews in the Reviews Archive or return to the front page?