Main cast: Charles Martin Smith (Dr Spencer Deighton), Martin Kemp (Michael Deighton), Kate Vernon (Tricia Lange), George Touliatos (Darrow), Thomas Cavanagh (Carl Toman), and Colleen Winton (Patricia Fowler)
Director: Tibor Takacs

Well, Blood Brothers knows how to start off an episode with style. Michael Deighton, looking all dapper in his evil corporate scum suit, nonchalantly activates the decontamination protocol in a laboratory while his brother, Spencer, is working inside. The protocol traps Spencer in and… wait, it’s just a dream?

Oh sod off.

Spencer’s the brain and Michael is the smooth-talking salesman. At the surface, all seems well, but Michael is itching to be the CEO of Metadyne Pharmaceuticals and he is always looking out for ways to get that position. Meanwhile, Spencer is a researcher for the company, which specializes in creating things like tear gases for the military, and because he’s a nice guy, he is looking for things like more peaceful devices one can use to shut up dissidents and enforce censorship without creating too much physical harm. Isn’t he a sweetie?

Then, Spencer and his assistant Carl discover a virus that can apparently eliminate all diseases in this world. Yes, all diseases. Michael is against this, because, as he points out, making people effectively immortal to everything but old age can lead to dire consequences related to overpopulation. Also, in its current form, the drug kills about 80% of the animal test subjects. Hmm, sounds like a new weapon of mass destruction to me, although the fact that it can cause 20% of one’s targets to be sort of immortal may deter buyers.

At any rate, this research pits brother against brother, although any complex morality issues in this episode are soon completely undermined by having Michael turn into a psycho whackjob who really wants to profit only himself by selling the drugs to filthy rich people. Oh, and he has Huntington’s disease, so he wants to use that drug on himself too. All this doesn’t explain why he can’t just let his brother finish the research, as with him being the CEO, he has the authority to steer the company into doing whatever he wants with the end product, but I suppose if things are logical, there will be no story.

Blood Brothers is well-paced and the cast delivers a solid, if often hammy (ahem, Martin Kemp), performance. Really, though, the entire episode seems to be written by and for people who consider a low priority issues such as whether things in a show make sense or not.

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