"The child travels with me. She keeps her eyes on all the lyres."
Dennis Spooner throws us a curveball at the beginning of this one. At the end of the last episode the TARDIS goes crashing down a cliff causing the occupants to be thrown violently about the ship.
This episode repeats the cliffhanger, shows us the TARDIS propped on it's side, slightly overgrown with vegatation, and then cuts to Ian decked out in Roman gear eating grapes in a palatial (for the BBC) villa.
We are given no clue as to how they got from one situation to the other until Vicki and Barbara make it to the marketplace. On the road Vicki complains about the lack of adventure, they've been here nearly a month and nothing's happened.
While at the market two slave traders take notice of the two women. The more experienced man tells his trainee slave trader that this is going to be the last village that they pass through before getting to Rome. At least the last one without the long arm of the law to mess with their raiding.
The slave traders pay a few coins to a vendor in the market for information about the two strange women. She tells them, after several coins have greased her palm, that they live nearby at a villa belonging to a man on campaign in Gaul. Everyone expects that they are taking care of the place for him. They make their coin by trading the produce of the land at the marketplace. She also tells them that she heard one of the women say that she was from Londinium.
That was Barbara who was giving a history lesson to Vicki.
This was a fine way to present the exposition. It filled in the gaps that we needed to have filled in without having the travelers awkwardly explain their circumstances to one another.
Over dinner that night the Doctor announces that he will be heading for Rome. Ian and Barbara are being bone idle and he wishes to do some exploring. Vicki jumps at the chance for adventure and when the Doctor agrees, jumps in the air squealing in joy. It's a testament to Maureen O'Brien's skill that this is cute rather than sickeningly annoying. I can't imagine Susan doing the same thing.
Ian and Barbara try to go along too, but the Doctor is in a mood and turns everything they say into a negative. The four work very well together.
Left to their own devices Ian and Barbara enjoy some wine. These brief moments show the two at their most intimate. Barbara compliments Ian on what a fine Roman he makes and combs his hair (after a little fight and a very sullen Ian) in the local style. This isn't the mad passion that some have suggested it to be, but it doesn't take much to imagine the two becoming something more after they leave the TARDIS.
On the road to Rome a mysterious figure has been lurking in the bushes brandishing a sword. When an elderly man carrying a lyre passes by the assassin strikes pulling the man into the thicket and sheathing his sword in the old man's flesh before heading down the road.
In the midst of their fun Ian and Barbara are beset by the slave traders. Ian puts up a fight. Barbara tries to help, but ends up knocking Ian out with a misplaced vase to the head.
On the road to Rome the Doctor and Vicki stumble across the corpse of the elderly musician. Vicki thinks that there were robbers back then and supposes that he must have been killed and robbed. The Doctor points out the fact that he still has his possessions and picks up the lyre. Vicki suggests that they might not have had the time to take the man's belongings. The Doctor counters that they had time to drag him off the road.
The discourse is interrupted by an armed figure beating the bushes with his sword. The Doctor, still holding the lyre, approaches the man and inquires as to his business. It turns out that he is a centurion charged with looking for the lauded Maximus Pettulian. Maximus is expected in the court; Nero is anxious to hear him play and the whole court is concerned for his safety.
Seeing the Doctor with the lyre the centurion makes the assumption that the Doctor is Maximus Pettulian. The Doctor, wishing to meet Nero, doesn't disillusion him.
Things are looking worse for Ian and Barbara. The slave caravan runs into a man in need of three strong men. Ian is among the three men that he buys. Worse yet, Ian's new owner isn't headed for Rome, Barbara's destination.
The Doctor and Vicki arrive in Rome. The centurion sends them to their quarters and then meets with the assassin of the real Maximus. It turns out that the mute assassin was supposed to kill the skilled musician so that he couldn't upstage the egocentric Nero. The killer is sent to the Doctor's room with orders to get the job done or loose more than his tongue.
This is a fine episode full of the wit that marks a Dennis Spooner script. Vicki has worked her way seamlessly into the TARDIS crew.
And for the first time in a long time, the Doctor messes up Ian's name. Chesterfield.
Next up: All Roads Lead To Rome
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