The Return Of Doctor Scorpio

Synopsis

For the schools 50th anniversary Doris is the student director of a show and invites her childhood hero, Trevor Kane to appear in the show. Kane is broke and hasn't acted in years but hopes to use the show as a springboard to relaunch his career. However he first must overcome his fears.

My Review

After some strong episodes this season we return to the old formula of guest star overload, in the shape of Anthony Newley. thankfully this isn't something they resort to that much in this season but the producers obviously liked him so much that he gets to take over two episodes this season. Personally, I don't think this was a wise decision. The cast is larger this season and with so many new characters it would have been better to spend this first few episodes getting to know the new characters better. Thankfully this episode is the better of the two in which Anthony Newley appears in, as at least this has a strong focus on Doris, and we get to see her being funny, strong and vulnerable, which I like.

Unusually for season 4 there is only one story line in this episode and quite a few cast members are missing, so to me it does feel a little empty. At least there is lots of humour for those that are present and lots of it is ensemble so although some characters don't have much to do they are at least on screen.

On the whole I do like this episode and there's lots of throw away funny lines, like at the beginning when Doris mutters to herself if this is what it feels like to have an ulcer. However, I find Anthony Newley quite annoying particularly in the Shakespeare scenes. I realise the character is supposed to be bigger than life but it's so over the top that it just annoys me and I end up disliking him. "Fame" does this quite often that they bring in guest characters that are so screwed up with their problems that the audience has difficulty relating to them and thus this spoils the episodes. The only good thing is at least they don't get him to sing and take over the musical numbers like other guest stars have done.

I read that the character of Cassidy was deemed not to work but for me I really like him. Maybe it's the sci-fi geek in me that helps me relate to him but I'm sorry that they got rid of him. compared to some of the characters that come later on I would have preferred that they kept Cassidy.

Yet again bad continuity raises it's ugly head again and I'm a little confused about how long the school has supposed to have been in existence for, because here we are told it's the school's 50th anniversary. As this was 1984 we would think that the school started in 1934 however, last season in "Lisa's Song" we were told that the original version of the "Gypsy Queen" play which Lisa (the ghost) never got to appear was in 1918 so 66 years ago!

The music in this episode is excellent and I enjoy Carlo and Nia duetting on "Reunion" and the airport setting gives that a unique feel. Dare to Dream is a classic Doris ballad and one of my favourites by Valerie. I also really like "Scorpio Rising". I just wish it was actually being sung by some of the cast rather than unknown performers and also I wish that they didn't talk over it.

Episode Pictures