Game of Death

Beastmaster Episode Review

In which there is a game. And if you lose. You totally die.

What Happened

Tao suggests that he and Dar avoid a nearby city, because he's heard bad things about it. Reportedly, the inhabitants of Chalka feed each other to tigers when they are bored. Queen Lyoka is having second thoughts about the casual murder of her subjects, but her advisor Dagan is all for it. When someone lets the Royal Tigers loose, he leads a hunting party out to catch some more.

They try to catch Ruh, but fail when a Chalkan named Nomar interferes. Dagan hauls Nomar back to Chalka, and when Dar finds out, he decides to go free Nomar as thanks for saving Ruh. He only manages to get himself caught, but uses the opportunity to try and talk Lyoka into letting the tigers go.

Zad, who's been hanging around trying to get Lyoka to give him men for his army, manipulates things so that it looks as if Tao and Dar are assassins. Dagan insists that they must go into the Game as punishment.

If you're on a winning team, you get to live another day. Knowing how likely Dar is to win, Dagan puts Tao on the opposing team, forcing Dar to choose between his life and his friend's. That so doesn't work. In the end, Dagan threatens to kill the Queen, but Dar knocks him into the tiger cage. And that's the end of that.

What We Learned

• Brute force has its place.
• No people are completely unfriendly.
• If they are hunting tigers, Ruh will be safer here.
• So would Dar and Tao, not that it makes any difference.
• In Chalka, the safe course is to mind your own business.
• King Zad's only friend is himself.
• Dagan usually gets his way.
• Animals don't lie.
• Dar was going to get Nomar out. There was a change of plans.
• Don't plot against the Queen. It never turns out well.

What Did I Think?

I'm with the tigers: let me out of here.