Time Bandits – Episode 7 “Ice Age” Recap & Review

Ice Age

Episode 7 of Time Bandits starts with the bandits, alongside Kevin, out in the Ice Age again. Unfortunately, they’re confronted by wild animals so they start shouting “go away” and it seems to work. In reality, it’s actually because an avalanche is about to hit them all. The gang hide behind a rock and are eventually found by Neanderthals.

Kevin finds Saffron atop a mammoth and she’s integrated into the society. The recurring joke involving Kevin’s family is a nice touch but it’s undermined by Saffron of course, who doesn’t act like a real person and argues with the Bandits, not even caring that she’s travelled back through time.

Kevin and Saffron catch up, with his sister explaining how she’s been able to communicate with the Neanderthals. Apparently Saffron has been here for nearly three years. 32 months and she’s been marking it off on the stone. In the middle of this, Kevin eventually breaks the news about his parents, but it takes a while given Saff revels in the fact that she’s now older than he is given the time differences.

These celebrations are cut short given the Neanderthals can all speak like Saffron, who has apparently been teaching them British slang all this time. She’s also invented the chair and the expression YOLO way before it’s supposed to. It hasn’t changed history significantly though, for some reason, and the leader is threatened by Penelope. She stares a hole through her and although the joke is quite funny, given he asks if she’s “mugging him off”, its ruined by Kudrow’s comedic timing.

Outside the town, Saffron shows a little bit of emotion and shock when she finds out that their parents have been turned into lumps of coal. They discuss Fianna and how she transformed their parents, but there are more pressing matters at hand. Penelope is forced to choose a challenge, which includes walking over to a rock in the distance and back again on her own.

Penelope does just this and starts heading back, unaware that the little creature before her whose eyes are glowing yellow is just a small animal. The bigger yellow eyes though belong to Fianna and she happens to be hiding in the rock.

With the challenge complete, Saffron parts ways with the group and they leave the tribe, intent on finding the next portal.

The Episode Review

I’ll admit, a lot of these episodes have been pretty poor on the comedy front but this one, with the cave people speaking slang English and changing things up so Saffron is the smartest person among them, is a nice twist that I certainly didn’t see coming. It also throws up some pretty funny scenarios and some genuine laugh out loud segments. It’s just a shame that Lisa Kudrow’s comedic timing puts a damper on this.

Its still not perfect, and the plot is a bit of a mess, but there’s certainly enough here to enjoy this time around.