"You check your history books, Ian, before you decide what people deserve."
Another lost episode and a damn shame too. This was a good one.
When last we left our heroes, Ian had been captured by Leon and some soldiers at an abandoned church.
Leon has the guards manacle Ian to a pillar and try to get things out of him. The narration makes it clear that Ian's wrists are bloody from his struggle to free himself. This isn't exaggeration for the audio either, someone comments on them later in the ep.
Leon claims to have been loyal to the Revolution from the start. He joined Jules' group to find out what he could about James Sterling and Ian is the first solid lead that he's gotten.
I have to give Ian credit. He made a promise to a dying man and he's sticking to it. Not only did he make the effort to find Sterling and deliver Webster's message, but he refuses to divulge the message to Leon even though that refusal will result in misery for Ian.
Back at the prison the Doctor and Barbara are still catching up and still being eavesdropped on by Lamaitre. The warden pulls Lamaitre away from his task with a message that Robespierre demands to see him at once.
Before leaving, Lamaitre orders the warden to not let Susan out of her cell under any circumstances. If he returns and finds that her door has been opened then the warden will be getting another view of the guillotine.
The Doctor leaves Barbara after telling her to wait a few minutes and then just walk out of the prison.
The Doctor confers with the warden. It seems that the young woman that the Doctor has been speaking with is up to her eyeballs in traitors. She knows EVERY traitor in the country, but would rather die than give that information up. If only there was some way that they could figure out who her people are. If only there was some way.
The warden suggests that the woman might be able to lead them to her allies if she was allowed to escape. The Doctor is awestruck at the brilliant idea set before him and makes certain that the warden believes that it is his own. The warden is to leave the doors of the prison open and get out of sight.
The Doctor plays the tune and the warden dances to it.
Barabara makes it out without incident.
Back at the church Ian is being subjected to a good gendarme bad gendarme act courtesy Leon and a talkative soldier. They've left things too long though and Jules arrives. There is a fight. Leon is killed. Ian is freed.
Ian, Jules and Barbara meet back up at Jules' house. The three exchange notes. Barbara is upset to hear that Leon is dead. She points to the good that the Revolution did and says not to judge it on Robespierre's insane actions. The quote at the beginning of this post is Barbara's response to Ian's "Leon got what he deserved." And somehow both Ian and Barbara are right.
Lamaitre has his meeting with Robespierre. The paranoia is ramped up to 11. The guy who's killed thousands of people because he thinks that they were working against him has caught wind of something serious in the rough and deadly politics of 18th century France. Lamaitre is to look into the movements of one of the great and powerful.
Back at the prison the warden is surprised to see the Doctor still there. Didn't he take soldiers with him and follow the young woman?
The Doctor launches into the second part of his plan, release Susan and he personally will follow her to Barbara and all of her traitorous friends,
Lamaitre's orders block the Doctor. The warden is too concerned keeping his head to risk it.
The Doctor pulls another trick. He tells Susan to stay beside the door where she can't be seen from the outside. He then tells the warden that the girl has run away. When the warden goes to check the cell, the Doctor conks him over the head, takes his keys and opens Susan's door.
Only to be captured by a newly returned Lamaitre.
The Doctor and the Citizen have a quiet talk in private. Lamaitre reveals that he has known the Doctor to be a fake from the beginning. He shows him the clothing and ring that the tailor turned over to him. He makes it plain to the Doctor that a man in his position needs many friends, even enemies.
He will release Susan, but only if the Doctor takes him to Jules.
The end credits roll with the Doctor having done so.
There is some excellent dialog in this one. The interview between the Doctor and Lamaitre and the argument between Barbara, Ian and Jules stand out.
If I had to nitpick anything about the story so far it would be Susan's "illness." She seems near death at one point and then it turns out that it's pretty minor. I would have said something yesterday when the physician said that she would be fine, but I thought that he might have been lying. Apparently he wasn't and Susan was the picture of health in this one.
Of course the disease served to heighten the tension and act to move the plot along. This subplot didn't deliver, but there have been worse subplots in Who history that delivered less.
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| What a handsome couple. |
Next up: Prisoners of the Conciergerie
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