"Not mercy, madam. Policy."
The Doctor returns to Preslin's shop to find Steven and Anne trying desperately to find the TARDIS key. He doesn't explain where he's been or what he's been doing. All that we can say for certain is that he is unaware of the year and the proximity of St Bartholemew's Day.
Once he learns the date he hurries Anne off to her Aunt's house and takes Steven back to the TARDIS.
They are initially unable to get to the ship, since guards have been placed around the streets leading to de Coligny's home. Once those guards are removed, the Doctor and Steven can move on.
There is an excellent scene between Tavannes and the Queen mother that is surprisingly mature in it's outlook of politics for the series. I haven't taken the time to praise the guest cast in this one yet, so I'll take the time now. They are all excellent in their rolls and made listening to this story a joy for me.
The TARDIS is off. As Steven finds out about what happens, he grows increasingly angry at the Doctor's decision to send Anne to her aunt's instead of taking her with them in the TARDIS. The Doctor defends his decision, by saying that the web of history is too vast for anything as small as himself or Steven to grasp. It's hard, but history must be allowed to flow the way that it must. And perhaps she survived.
Steven is fed up and tells the Doctor that if he is that callous about human life, then he is getting off at the next stop, wherever that may be.
The TARDIS lands in 1960's London and Steven leaves.
Hartnell has a beautiful little monolog about none of his companions really understanding. He mentions the impossibility of returning to his home planet. By all rights, that should be the quote for this episode, but I decided that it was a little too obvious.
All of a sudden a young girl bustles into the TARDIS. She doesn't seem too startled by the TARDIS being bigger on the inside. She IS looking for a police man to help an injured boy, so maybe this just hasn't registered for her yet. She comes off very brash and her accent isn't thicker than it will continue to be in later episodes.
While the Doctor is trying to get this pesky girl out of his ship, Steven returns, hurriedly, and warns the Doctor that two policemen are on there way to the TARDIS.
The Doctor dematerializes, taking the young girl with them. Steven is put out by this treatment of the young girl, but she seems OK with it. She introduces herself as Dodo (Dorothea) Chaplet.
Steven wonders if Dodo might be the descendent of Anne, proving that the serving girl survived, against all odds. It seems amazingly unlikely that the two are related, but the Doctor suggests that he might be right. I honestly think that the Doctor was humoring him.
For the most part this is a very good episode, but there are some things about it that don't work for me.
Dodo seems to be nonplussed about walking into the TARDIS and being sucked away from her normal life. It was the 60's, maybe she was high.
The conceit that Anne is the great (to the x power) grandmother of Dodo is a huge leap. To make it work, Anne would have had to have not given up her maiden name (suggesting an illegitimate child), and all of the generations from 1572 to when Dodo was born would have to have at least one child who carried on the name.
If we use a bit of retroactive continuity it could make sense. We learn in The Doctor's Wife (it's 11th Doctor, so we're a long way from reviewing that) that the TARDIS takes the Doctor where he needs to go. I could buy the TARDIS searching through the time lines to find someone who was a descendant of Anne (to ease Steven) who also reminded her Time Lord of his granddaughter.
The reason for Steven's return isn't really given. The policemen coming towards the TARDIS aren't really a threat to the Doctor. Police weren't able to get into the TARDIS back in The Feast of Steven, so why should they be able to now?
There really isn't a reason for the Doctor to take off as quickly as he did aside from the need for the script to make Dodo the new companion. It's a bit of weak writing, but I'm willing to over look it, given the great story that came before.
Next up: The Steel Sky
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