I don't know why Avon looks so happy here, this is Moloch, Ben Steed's second sexist script for the series.
I think Avon has just realised how bad it is.
Tarrant isn't too happy either.
Servalan is annoyed too. And just like in Harvest of Kairos she is on the receiving end of the sexism. Every time we cats hear Moloch say "Give her to your men" we are like this:
It is unpleasant. We know it is supposed to be, because Moloch and Section Leader Grose are baddys, but it is very uncomfortable because it exists alongside all the other sexist things Ben Steed puts in his stories - not just in both of his other scripts, but in Moloch there is the character of sexist, woman-hating Doran, who we are in some strange way meant to sympathise with because he teams up with Vila and, by the end of the story, with the others in time to get killed off (in a manner not too dissimilar from the way Jarvik is killed off).
If you can get past the sexism that permeates to the core of the episode (which you can't, not really, but let's pretend), there are some good scenes. The bit where Vila and Servalan unwillingly work together to escape is well played, with both Michael Keating and Jacqueline Pearce doing the comedy moments well.
Michael Keating in particular is on good form throughout Moloch and almost, almost manages to redeem Vila's scenes with Doran by way of his reactions to Doran's lines.
It's an episode of Thriller!
I also like the scene where Avon works out what is going on. Once again, as with Harvest of Kairos, there is a decent science fiction buried somewhere in Moloch. But the execution of the reveal of Moloch is shockingly bad.
"I am Moloch."
"Yes, that is how I reasoned you would look."
Avon gets the best line of the episode there.
For the anticlimax of the episode Moloch teleports up to the Liberator and then immediately goes
So much for Moloch.
"Zen. Course: 011. Speed: Standard by six. Get us out of here."
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