Day 66: The Wheel of Fortune

Barbara gets given a knife in this episode, whilst hiding from a man who wants to kidnap her and do 'things' to her. She is told that if she is found, she is to kill her ally, and then kill herself. And this is being treated as a children's programme. We've touched on darkness before in the series, but here the show seems to be becoming explicitly dark, to the point of turning into 'serious' adult drama. And we've never really dealt with these concepts before. When Ian killed someone in The Aztecs, it was glossed over, and seen as self-defence. We know that Ian is the hero, and like every other show on TV, the hero kills bad guys, when they need to. But when Barbara is confronted with the concept of killing others, she is shocked. Barbara has been a massive audience identification figure, and here is no exception. She is able to react in the same way that others would, upon being told that the person next door, when they get into trouble, must die. And not only that, but that person seems to be innocent, and it's for their own good, to prevent the horrors of El Akir being placed upon them. But you weigh the horrors of what is ahead with the horrors of death, holding a person's life in your hands. It's echoed in the stonkingly good cliffhanger for this episode, where El Akir states to Barbara "the only pleasure left for you is death, and death is very far away". We are forced to realise that sometimes what is meant for kids can deal with these adult themes, another reason why this is the children's programme that adults adore.