H3 - A Change of Identity

Well, Barbara and Susan (the latter of whom is well and truly useless in this episode after developing superpowers in the last story) manage to escape their fate at the base of the guillotine thanks to some French rebels, Ian escapes from his prison cell and what was an agonizingly long film sequence of him fiddling with the keys left in his prison cell door, and The Doctor readily swaps his prized blue ring for a disguise that will no doubt aid him in his quest to rescue his friends.

Oh, and a bunch of French people talk to one another and such. I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure who is whose side in this story, or what sides there are to begin with. My knowledge of this period in French history is minimal, at best. In previous/future historicals, there'd be a quick scene where Barbara turns to the young TV viewers (aka Susan/Vicki) and gives a short rundown of what era they're in and what's going on at the time. With Dennis Spooner's attempts to cram humour into the story at the expense of wordy exposition, these valuable scenes are now gone.

Never mind. I'm sure it will all get sorted out in the end. Which is good, because the next two episodes don't exist, and it will be the job of telesnaps and home recorded audio to get me through this...