Tuesday, June 30, 2009

LL3 - The Evil of the Daleks 3



There's a fantastic scene in this episode where an angry Jamie confronts The Doctor about what the latter has in store for him, and that The Doctor is conspiring with Waterfield, Maxtible, and the Daleks to use the young Scotsman in some way. Of course, it's entirely true, but The Doctor (and, later, Waterfield) successfully direct Jamie's negative energy back on himself, subtly suggesting that he go off to the south wing of the house and try to rescue Victoria. This, of course, all plays into what the Daleks have in a store for Jamie - a series of test to determine the "Human Factor".

Patrick Troughton's Doctor, in full on scheming mode now, knows full well that Jamie's human nature will drive Jamie to do exactly the opposite of what he has been told not to do. This, essentially, is the real "Human Factor" - defiance in the face of what humans think is right and wrong. Frazer Hines excels in this episode as his storyline seems to now be taking centre stage.

Other characters are thrown into the mix as well. What is wrong with Artur Terrell, for instance? His mind jumps all over the place during this episode - is he being controlled by the Daleks? What are his intentions? This story has been wonderful at introducing characters long before their intentions have become clear. It's been a slow but steady buildup, dramatically, but it's been well worth it, and proof that, done well, stories of seven episodes could be made to work, and made to work well.

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