Every photograph is a photograph of infinity
The fourth series of Sapphire & Steel is my favourite yet, and I don't think it's just because I had a couple of beers (so did Aaron, and he agrees - but Christa remained sober, and she also agrees). I have to assume that Grant Morrison saw it when he was young, the imagery of faceless men trapping our heroes in photographs is one that resonates very strongly with my readings of Doom Patrol, The Invisibles, The Filth, et al.
One of the best moments started when, between episodes, I remarked that the Shape reminded me a bit of an old poem I'd read once, quoted somewhere: "Yesterday upon the stair / I met a man who wasn't there. / He wasn't there again today / I wish that man would go away." It's often used in quite creepy fashion, as you'd imagine. But as we watched the very next episode, Ruth (trapped in a photo) notes that the "new landlord" reminds her of a old piece of poetry. Cue Aaron and I gaping in slowly rising horror as she begins to recite "The Man Who Wasn't There"...
I'm not sure I can explain why it was so creepy, although certainly the workings of hyperstition alone added to it. And when you consider that the story gave us the most concise account of hauntology I've ever heard (I'm paraphrasing, but it's the bit when Steel points out that recording (in this case photography) creates ghosts, not of the dead but of the living), and in addition to all of that managed to be the fastest moving and creepiest of the four we've seen, you've got a real winner. I'm kind of wishing that, as good as the eight episodes of the second series were, they had always stuck to brief four episode bursts, as the show is ferociously effective at them. I imagine Steel's closing admonition to Liz before allowing her to look in the kaleidoscope will stick with me for some time: "Find any photos of yourself and burn them. Never allow a photograph to be taken of you again."
Of course, I'm also wishing we didn't have only two more stories to go before the series ends; just as I'd hoped when I ordered the box set sight unseen, Sapphire & Steel has become one of my favourite TV shows, or even just stories, ever. I already liked McCallum and Lumley from other shows they'd acted in, but I really love the two of them now.
(and because I doubt anyone here has seen the show, I feel the need to point out that the segment from which this post takes its title is both ostensibly perfectly innocuous, and existentially one of the more frightening things the three of us had ever seen...)
One of the best moments started when, between episodes, I remarked that the Shape reminded me a bit of an old poem I'd read once, quoted somewhere: "Yesterday upon the stair / I met a man who wasn't there. / He wasn't there again today / I wish that man would go away." It's often used in quite creepy fashion, as you'd imagine. But as we watched the very next episode, Ruth (trapped in a photo) notes that the "new landlord" reminds her of a old piece of poetry. Cue Aaron and I gaping in slowly rising horror as she begins to recite "The Man Who Wasn't There"...
I'm not sure I can explain why it was so creepy, although certainly the workings of hyperstition alone added to it. And when you consider that the story gave us the most concise account of hauntology I've ever heard (I'm paraphrasing, but it's the bit when Steel points out that recording (in this case photography) creates ghosts, not of the dead but of the living), and in addition to all of that managed to be the fastest moving and creepiest of the four we've seen, you've got a real winner. I'm kind of wishing that, as good as the eight episodes of the second series were, they had always stuck to brief four episode bursts, as the show is ferociously effective at them. I imagine Steel's closing admonition to Liz before allowing her to look in the kaleidoscope will stick with me for some time: "Find any photos of yourself and burn them. Never allow a photograph to be taken of you again."
Of course, I'm also wishing we didn't have only two more stories to go before the series ends; just as I'd hoped when I ordered the box set sight unseen, Sapphire & Steel has become one of my favourite TV shows, or even just stories, ever. I already liked McCallum and Lumley from other shows they'd acted in, but I really love the two of them now.
(and because I doubt anyone here has seen the show, I feel the need to point out that the segment from which this post takes its title is both ostensibly perfectly innocuous, and existentially one of the more frightening things the three of us had ever seen...)
