Barbara manages to escape from El Akir by knocking the handful of coins that he is to reward her captors with out of his hands. While the guards are trying to pick up the littered gold, she bolts.
Unfortunately she ends up in the harem. Fortunately, for her, everyone in the harem hates El Akir worse than the Red Sox hate George Steinbrenner. Maimuna, the elder daughter of Haroun, hides her and offers her what protection that she can offer.
Meanwhile Ian is in the hands of a racial caricature. It's not Amos and Andy, but it's the closest that Doctor Who has gotten so far. Ibrahim is one of the thieves who captured Ian in a pre-filmed insert last episode.
The thief has removed Ian's shirt and staked him in the sun. To make things more interesting he's placed some date honey on Ian's chest and wrists and made a trail back to an ant's nest. Ian will tell Ibrahim where his treasure is or the little ants will feast.
Up until now the worst that can be said for the middle eastern characters in this story is that they are played by WASPs and not shown in many dimensions. El Akir is evil, Sahpadin wants Joanna, Haroun seeks to rescue his daughter and avenge his wife and son. Saladin has depths that are alluded to in the stunning performance by Bernard Kay, but even he can be summed up in one word, pragmatic.
Ibrahim is a very flamboyant character who speaks in poor English and refers to himself in the third person. He's a bit of a sadist and a bit of a coward. The torture that he puts Ian through is part of an act and I wonder/hope that the exaggerated mannerisms are a part of that act; an affectation to mess with the heads of crusaders who have heard tales of the heathens who hold Christ's tomb.
The truth is that I like Ibrahim. He manages to be both threatening and amusing at almost the same time. The one thing that allows me to feel this way and not feel like a complete jerk is the fact that the character could have worked just as well if it had been a different nationality or ethnic group.
The actor playing Ibrahim (Tutte Lemkow) was born in Norway and is of Jewish heritage. He's one of the "ethnic" actors who also appeared in Marco Polo.
Ian manages to trick Ibrahim into untying the school teacher's feet. This gives Ian the ability to kick his captor and enough leverage to get himself out of his predicament. Ian forces Ibrahim to take him to Lydda.
Back in Jaffa, Leicester has taken Vicki in for questioning. He suspects that the Doctor is a spy and is highly suspect of the former Victor. There is another confrontation between he and the Doctor that is put down by the king.
Richard confesses that he knows that the Doctor was not the one who told Joanna of the love match; he didn't want to confront Leichester because he knew that there would be fighting soon. The marriage will not happen. Joanna is right, Richard can't fight Rome.
Richard is despondent. He desperately wants to see Jerusalem, but he has no heart for the carnage that he would have to wage to get there.
The Doctor and Vicki leave. Ostensibly to Acre to get out from under Leicester's gaze, but really to the TARDIS.
Leichester has the Doctor followed.
Barbara's situation isn't as safe as she had hoped. One of the harem girls (haremettes? haremites? harempudlians?) tells Akir of Barbara's hiding place. He is about to strike Barbara when he is himself struck down by Haroun.
Ian and Ibrahim have arrived by this point and it's not long before Ian and Barbara are riding horses back to the TARDIS.
A bit of quick thinking is required when Leicester captures the Doctor and prepares to execute him. Ian steps forward and tells the lord that the Doctor is a traitor who was responsible for the raid that killed several of his companions. He requests the honor of killing the traitor.
The travelers manage to sneak into the TARDIS. When it vanishes Leicester bemoans the fate of poor Sir Ian who was dragged off to some dark fate by the forces of Satan.
This was a solid ending to what is now one of my favorite historical stories. I was disappointed not to see Saladin or Joanna again, but there was a lot of ground to cover and adding scenes for those characters would have muddied things up or forced a fifth episode that didn't need to be made.
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| We're still not certain if it's a wimple. |
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