"You destroyed a whole planet to save your skin. You're insane.
Ian manages to escape from the death trap with his suit jacket and an ample step. That's the kind of shoddy death trap that I'd expect from a people who abhor violence.
In fact the beast below isn't even dangerous; Vicki considers it somewhere between a pet and a friend and feeds it. She calls it Sandy. Possibly as a shout out to the pet of another famous orphan girl.
Unfortunately Sandy still looks like a spiny harbinger of death and destruction. When he approaches Vicki for food and a tummy rub, Barbara only sees a monster intent on killing the kid. Barbara takes up a flare gun and kills Sandy.
Poor Vicki is in tears when the Doctor and Ian arrive at the crashed ship.
A few months on Dido with an emotionally abusive protector and the threat of imminent death at Koquillion's whim have left Vicki a little high strung. Seeing the one source of joy that she has known on this planet violently put down before her very eyes probably isn't helping matters.
The Doctor has a word with Vicki and puts her at her ease. Later she states outright that she really trusts the Doctor, but we don't need that bit of dialog. We can see her trust when she leads the Doctor to Bennet's room and she takes his hand.
The Doctor sends Vicki (not Victoria we found out last episode and I forgot to mention it) back to Ian and Barbara while he tries to see Bennett. The door is jammed shut and the Doctor starts working on it with a piece metal that probably helped keep the ship together before the crash.
We can hear the Doctor going at it when Vicki returns to the others.
This scene between the three companions worked. There is an obvious chemistry between them. The two teachers explain that they left Earth in 1963. Vicki thinks that they are teasing her since they didn't have time machines in 1963; they didn't know anything back then.
The Doctor finally batters his way into Bennett's room only to find it empty. Exploring, the Doctor soon discovers a trap door that leads out of the ship and a tape recorder that tells anyone who tries the cabin door to go away.
The Doctor leaves the ship and makes his way to the People's Hall of Justice. Justice apparently involves lots of smoke on Dido. The Doctor looks about the room awaiting the arrival of Koquillion. He's not disappointed. The scene where Koquillion walks through the smoke filled hall is full of menace.
This is the Doctor we know today. He's figured part of the problem out, but doesn't know everything he needs to know. To get what he wants he confronts his enemy knowing that it isn't the safe thing, but the right thing.
The Doctor tells Koquillion that he knows that he is Bennett. The Doctor knows the ceremonial robes and masks of the people of Dido and isn't fooled by his charade. Bennett tells the Doctor that he killed someone on the starliner before it crashed. After the crash the natives invited the survivors to a feast. Bennett used munitions from the ship to blow up the building that it was in, killing the people who knew of his crime as well as the native population.
Vicki hadn't been told that Bennett was arrested. Bennett needed an alibi so kept up the act to convince Vicki that the people of Dido killed the crew.
Now, of course, he'll have to kill everyone else. There's a struggle between the two. The Doctor puts up a desperate fight, but is quickly knocked down. Bennett is about to kill him when two Didoians arrive. They silently advance on him. He retreats as if chased by ghosts until he backs off the cliff that Ian had almost fallen over.
The Doctor passes out and reawakens onboard the TARDIS.
Ian confesses to borrowing the Doctor's key. So the lock defense mechanism that was mentioned in The Survivors has either been removed, it broke down on it's own or Susan and the Doctor lied about it. Maybe it had something to do with the Sensorites taking the lock. Who knows. I'm discounting the possibility that the Doctor showed Ian how to use the key. The Doctor only showed Barbara which switch opened the external doors last episode.
The Doctor was brought out of the Hall of Justice. He presumes by the survivors of Bennett's murderous explosion. Barbara and Ian have brought Vicki with them, she's waiting outside.
The Doctor goes out to have a word with her.
The cave is dark except for the intermittent light from the lamp atop the police box. The Doctor tells her what really happened and offers Vicki a place aboard the TARDIS. This is the first time that he's made the offer. Susan was with him for (presumably) familial reasons and he kidnapped the teachers.
Vicki enters the ship. Her reaction at the interior is good, not one of the all time greats, but not bad either.
She agrees and the TARDIS is soon landing on a not too stable hillside.
Meanwhile, and 2400 years later, the rescue ship tries to make contact with the liner. The two surviving Didoians silently smash the receiver.
Next up: The Slave Traders
No comments:
Post a Comment