Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode

 

Ruby/Miss Havisham

Steel/Herbert Pocket

Sapphire/Estella

Arthur Bunnings

Arthur's father (unnamed, seen by Arthur in visions only)

Arthur's mother (unnamed, mentioned only)

audience

Pip

Mary

 

Didja Notice?

 

The song sung by parishioners at the beginning of the episode is a version of "O Come, All Ye Faithful", a Christmas carol from 17th-18th centuries and still popular today.

 

Sapphire finds herself trapped in the world of Great Expectations, the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens. There, she is found to be the book's character Estella and meets other of the book's characters, Pip (Phillip) and Miss Havisham in the form of Ruby. She also sees Steel in the role of Matthew Pocket from the novel.

 

When Arthur asks Ruby about her parents, she tells him she doesn't have any. Arthur seems to assume that means her parents died when she was young, but her vocal tone implies she's never had parents. Since she seems to be an agent of the higher power like Sapphire and Steel, it may be that none of the "elements" (as the agents are called in the series opening preamble) have parents. If so, how then do they come into existence? Are they even truly alive?

 

At the end of the episode, Miss Havisham shouts over and over, "What have I done?" She also does this in Great Expectations upon her realization that her bitterness towards men has ruined the possibility of happiness in her wards Estella and Pip.

 

When Estella falls prone, Pip tries to convince himself she has not died but is only resting from an attack of the vapours. In Victorian times, "the vapours" referred to hysteria or wild mood swings.

 

At end of the episode, a man is heard delivering a eulogy. From the words, it is from the writings of Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson (1829-1896).

  

Memorable Dialog

 

time isn't linear.mp3

will you shut up?.mp3

I don't have any parents.mp3

one way of looking at it.mp3

there's so much beauty in your world.mp3

we're not human.mp3

are you aliens?.mp3

a resonance.mp3 

 

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