in a nutshell: while a hurricane rages, seaQuest searches for a missing submarine full of children, while a team of seaQuest crew goes missing and tries to survive the storm and raise the alarm.

An excellent episode: easily one of the best ever.

The show starts with a downed French sightseeing submarine full of frightened children and two teachers. One of these teachers, after releasing the valve on the first of four emergency oxygen tanks, tries to comfort the children. The other teacher is on desperately radioing for help. The pilot is apparently dead, slumped over his console: the actor must have the cushiest job ever, getting paid to just lie there. The children's acting is just atrocious, pulling all kinds of weird grimaces as an attempt at terrified wailing. The teachers are pretty good, though.

Meanwhile on seaQuest, O'Neill has got the distress call on his system, but can't pinpoint the location: it is echoing, as though they are down a hole, while iron ore deposits are making tracking near impossible. In addition, a fast growing storm is hampering the search operation. Welcome to the Bermuda triangle, says Bridger, grimly.

Out in one of seaQuest's launches, Ford gives a malfunctioning monitor a good thump, with an ironic remark about "engineering 101." Who says the Commander has no sense of humour? Beside him, Krieg is having similar difficulty with the rest of their equipment. They appear to have a WSKR with them, which confused me. Presumably control of this WSKR was transferred to the launch? I can't see why. In the back, Westphalen and Lucas are taking it in turns to try and contact the French sub, both speaking French fairly well, but to no avail. Ford tells them that the turbulence is getting worse and that the other launches have been recalled, but Lucas protests that they can't stop looking. Character point: it is commendable that Lucas doesn't want to give up, but not very practical given the conditions; Ford, who is in a position of responsibility, can see the bigger picture, that their own safety is equally important. Just then Krieg calls out in alarm – they are getting way heavy and he is losing control. Ford desperately dumps everything he possibly can to make them lose weight, as they start falling down a hole, even the escape pod is jettisoned. And finally they start floating back up to the surface, preparing to abandon ship.

Roll credits.

On seaQuest, communication has been established with Ford's team, who are in a life raft on the surface, with a radio but little else, although Lucas has found himself a task – using an oar to salvage floating debris from the stricken launch. The sea where they are is calm, to Crocker's amazement, as the storms are worsening all around. The WSKR they had with them was lost, and must have been controlled solely by them as surely if Ortiz had been in control he would know exactly where it was when it vanished. Since Ford's team had the strongest signal from the French sub before going down (or up, rather) it is decided to head in that direction to continue the search. But the French sub running out of air is the priority: Ford's team are safe for now (relatively speaking), and the surface rescue teams will be searching for them.

Handing out WSKRs to the launches doesn't strike me as an effective use of resources. They only have three WSKRs. Why did Ford's team get one when it was made clear that there were other launches out searching? Surely leaving them in the capable hands of their operator is more sensible. It doesn't make sense. Unless they felt that giving control of one of them to a launch would allow it further afield than controlling it from seaQuest could manage?

Up on the surface, the differing personalities of the four castaways make for an interesting team. Ford instantly tries to assert some control over the situation, making plans for every eventuality and giving everyone a task to keep them occupied. He asks Krieg is he can fish. "I had a grandfather, yes," is Krieg's response. Meaning what? I had two grandfathers, plus a couple of great-grandfathers, and none of them taught me to fish. Anyway, Westphalen then deduces that they are in the Sargasso Sea. "Everything remains very calm, which is what I think we should do." There are no fish. Undeterred, Ford continues with his plans, telling Lucas to inventory everything and draw up a seven-day ration plan. Krieg is dismayed at this, protesting that he has no intention of staying here that long, and Ford bites his head off, allowing how he really feels to show for a second. These two personalities really do clash, with their opposing approach to just about any and every situation. The strain is starting to show.

Down below, the search is not going well, and the storm is getting worse. Occasional Extra Dr Levin (hey! Here he is again) lectures the bridge crew on fresh water sinkholes – the area they are searching is riddled with them, and it is likely the missing sub was sucked into one of them. Levin gets a good work out in this episode, and is clearly a man of many talents: an excellent scientist. In fact, just about every character gets a good work out in this episode. The bridge crew is totally focused on the search, and all have their part to play: O'Neill, Ortiz, Crocker, Hitchcock, Bridger. And another Occasional Extra – Helmsman Carlton – also gets plenty to do.

The bulk of the episode is devoted to the search by seaQuest, and the struggle of their stranded crewmen to survive up above. The storm has hit hurricane status (Hurricane Sheila), and the life raft is square in its eye. With the sea growing steadily rougher, the stranded sailors grow ever more uneasy, but never stop searching for a way out of their predicament. Unfortunately, an attempt to boost the radio ends in disaster, as Lucas knocks it overboard and then dives in after it. Ford has to dive in to get Lucas back, and the radio is lost. Down below, the sub-surface implosions of the radio cause consternation, but Bridger remains resolute. The raft floats, they float, and there is no reason to believe they are not still alive and on the surface. And some good comes of it, as Ortiz is able to get a longitudinal fix on the implosions, aiding the search somewhat.

Aboard the French sub the sense of despair is growing, and the oxygen supply steadily running out. The children are still crying, their teachers equally frightened but still trying to calm them and still radioing desperately for help. Up on the surface, Westphalen makes everyone eat and starts handing out rations, when Krieg is struck by an idea. To my amusement, he snatches a ration bar from Lucas' hand, prompting Westphalen to mildly tell him that there is one for him, too. But Krieg's idea is a good one – using the foil wrapping from the ration bars as a banner, since radar will bounce off it. They start ripping the wrappers off, with the practical-minded Westphalen reminding them to save the food. Later, with the wind and waves growing, Krieg has hold of their makeshift flag … only for the wind to tear it from the fishing pole and blow it far away. Another good idea bites the dust.

Down below, the search continues. Bridger sends Darwin out to look for Lucas and the others, first warning him of the risks of salt water. The main focus remains the French children. The extreme conditions are still making accurate readings almost impossible, so Bridger tells the crew to triple check everything, to do the math longhand if necessary. Ortiz and O'Neill have a great little conversation on a private channel on their headsets, which gives insight into their respective personalities. O'Neill is pessimistic, and can't stop imagining the children suffocating. Ortiz is more upbeat, telling him to put his energies into finding them. Then the talk shifts to their location. Ortiz is a firm believer in the mysteries of the Triangle, insisting that superstitions get started for a reason. A true sailor then, like Crocker (another believer). O'Neill, on the other hand, does not believe. Maybe it is one of those differences between officers and enlisted sailors? Then Hitchcock butts into the conversation and tells them to cut it out. She then goes to Bridger with her concerns. SeaQuest is trailing a communications buoy on a five mile tether, but with the storm growing steadily worse she is worried that it could act like a giant lightning rod. Bridger decides that it is an acceptable risk, and leaves it out there.

Up above, Lucas is growing ever more despondent, and resents Krieg's attempts to cheer him up. Krieg points out that he isn't doing this for Lucas' sake, this is who he is. Mr Optimism, glass is half full kind of thing. It's true. This is who he is, and he responds really well to the crisis situation he is currently in, not panicking, thinking clearly and helping to keep the others calm and motivated. Then they see lights – it is seaQuest's communications buoy. To their further delight, Darwin then pops up beside them. But the storm is growing worse, and the communications buoy is an obvious risk. Lucas tells Darwin to dive, to go, seconds before the communications buoy is struck by lightning.

Down on seaQuest, the lighting strike is devastating, blowing out every system they have. The boat is dead in the water. A dismayed Bridger does the rounds of the bridge, checking on his stunned and injured crew (who all, holding heads in various attitudes of distress, tell him they are okay). While almost everyone else is still recovering, Ortiz is sat cross-legged on the floor working on the innards of his station. "Electronic toast," he tells the captain. So is the rest of the boat. Bridger doesn't panic and has another idea. They have two WSKRs left. One is left tethered at point, and the other is brought inside and attached to the central console to supply power to the ship. We are not shown how Ortiz feels about having one of his 'babies' cannibalised like this. Presumably they can be replaced, eventually – Hitchcock has already said they will probably need to dry dock. Crocker and Hitchcock do the work, and I'm impressed by Crocker's engineering know-how. I thought he was a security officer. O'Neill, Ortiz and Random Extras assist. And while the damage control and repair work is going on, Crocker starts singing sea-shanties, getting everyone to join in with him, to boost morale. I can't say I like the singing scene, especially as it is a slightly different version than I learned as a child, not to mention they aren't the best singers. But I can see what was intended here, and it does work quite well, really.

Being an old sea dog and an old friend of Bridger, Crocker can see that beneath his calm exterior the captain is troubled and reassures him that he shouldn't feel guilty. Bridger assumes he is talking about their predicament, and reiterates that leaving the buoy out was a calculated risk at the time. But Crocker is talking about Lucas, and Bridger admits feeling guilty. Lucas is only 16 and shouldn't really have been out there, but he wanted to help. And the captain feels responsible for him – and for the rest of the crew, come to that.

Up above, the waves are growing stronger and the raft is being swamped. Everyone is feeling the strain. Lucas is sunk deep in depression, believing Darwin must have been killed by the lightning strike, but Ford distracts him with a new project. Among the flotsam they rescued from the launch was a camera, and he asks Lucas to fix it to wind continuously. Lucas brightens immediately – he does better if he has something to do. Westphalen is growing worried about the size of the waves, and recommends using the rope they have to tie them all to the raft. She hands the rope out, then bursts out laughing at the puzzled looks on Ford and Krieg's faces. "Knot tying is not a big submariner skill," Krieg protests. "Don't I love this?" Westphalen laughs as she tethers them all herself.

Levin calls Bridger down to the sea deck, as Darwin has returned, safe and well, albeit a little blistered. He is able to tell Bridger that not only has he found Lucas, but also the missing French sub. Shame he can't give the exact location, but now they know they are close. And the WSKR work is complete. Hitchcock warns that power is limited – they can have one station at full capacity, or all of them at a fraction of capacity. One station at full capacity, Bridger decides. All of them, but one at a time. And so a frantic round of work begins, with each station given 30 seconds at a time to work. O'Neill at communications, Ortiz on sonar, Carlton at the helm. Then right at the end of one of his cycles, Ortiz finds something – the start of a massive area of sinkholes. The first they look at contains an ancient locomotive, to their amazement – it must have fallen off a cargo vessel over a hundred years earlier. Rather than risk losing the last WSKR, Bridger decides they must move the boat to investigate each one in turn. That could take hours, someone points out, but the captain is grim. No, it will only take two hours – because that's all the air the French kids have left.

Sure enough, the downed submarine is onto the last canister of emergency oxygen, and the teachers are despairing of ever being found. Up above, Krieg apologises to Westphalen, apropos of nothing. "I knew it," she exclaims at once, not needing to ask the reason for this apology. It turns out that Krieg had eaten some lobsters the doctor had placed in the galley refrigerator as part of an experiment. It is an entertaining conversation, which achieves what no doubt Krieg had intended – distracting them both from their predicament. And then a huge wave crashes over them, knocking Ford overboard. Luckily, Westphalen's knot holds firm, and Krieg is able to pull him back aboard. Lucas's despair is growing, and Westphalen comforts him by admitting that she is scared, which allows him to admit the same thing. He admits that he doesn't want to show fear in front of the older men, as they don't seem the least bit afraid, but Westphalen assures him that they are. They are just putting a brave face on it. She gives him a big hug of reassurance, all motherly, which is not a trait we see in her that often. Lucas then finishes his work on the camera, and Ford uses it to send a signal through the water, clicking out the launch's designation – MR7 – in Morse code.

SeaQuest's search for the sub continues, as Bridger uses old fashioned techniques with a spirit level and his gut instinct to decide on a line to search along, much to Carlton's bemusement. Darwin is able to describe the hole where he found the submarine (the dolphin does have his uses), and Ortiz matches this description with a nearby canyon – right along the line Bridger was taking them. Down in this hole they find the missing submarine at last. Ortiz apparently is in charge of getting the magnetic grapnels secured to it (how is this the sonar operator's job?), but Levin identifies a new problem. SeaQuest must rest on the ocean floor to get close enough to secure the sub, but it is in a massive cavern, and seaQuest's weight is already starting to collapse the narrow strip of land they are resting on. When it collapses, seaQuest will sink and be trapped. But Bridger is in top form this episode and has another bright idea. When Ortiz has finished securing the French sub, they allow their weight to collapse the cavern, and pump their ballast out at the exact moment that allows them to bounce free on the inrushing salt water.

The French children and their teachers all cheer loudly as O'Neill finally gets a radio message to them that they have been found and are safe at last. Although presumably they will have to get them out of their sub fairly quickly and not just tow them along below, as their oxygen is almost exhausted. On seaQuest the crew also cheers … but then O'Neill yells at them to be quiet, and they are all so shocked by this uncharacteristic shout that they shut up at once. O'Neill has heard Ford's signal, just in time. The battery in the camera dies at last, and the four weary strandees can do nothing but lie back in their water-filled raft. But then a light shines – seaQuest is surfacing right beneath them. They too are saved at last.

And that is the end. Although, inevitably, it has its flaws, overall it is a strong episode. The pacing and plotting works well, and the emotional impact is everything that could be desired, as the urgency of the search comes across beautifully. Every character has a part to play, the whole ensemble working together as a real team with an air of professionalism that makes it all feel wonderfully plausible. What also worked really well was having two points of anxiety: the original search could have been distracting, as it is for total stranger, but the tremendous urgency to find the children before their air ran out really communicated well across the screen, and of couse made the problem of the missing seaQuest crew all the more worrying for both their colleagues and the viewers, because despite their real peril, the search for the children had to come first. This conflict of interest really made the story more interesting, with seaQuest's own crippling damage adding a third level of drama. Well done to the writers.

Jo, March 2004