LL5 - The Evil of the Daleks 5

There's a lovely moment in this episode where The Doctor expresses his pride and admiration of how Jamie performed in the Daleks' tests. I mentioned how The Faceless Ones was really Jamie's coming out party, and this story, even though The Doctor and Jamie are apart for most of it, is the first sign of how strong a pairing the duo makes.

There are few Doctor/companion pairings that are better than the Doctor/Jamie connection, which is unique, of course, because of the fact that Jamie is one of the few male companions in the history of the show. This pairing could only work with Patrick Troughton's Doctor, I find. Of all The Doctor's incarnations, Troughton's is most like the mischievous uncle. The one who lets you have an extra cookie from the cookie jar when your mom isn't looking, the one who will take you for a ride on his motorbike with sidecar, the one who will sit down and play with you, as a kid, and actually look like he's enjoying himself.

Jamie's youthful exuberance and wide-eyed innocence, coupled with battle hardened instincts made him a perfect match for Troughton's devious and scheming Doctor. This episode is truly a showcase for Jamie, following on from a strong outing in Episode Four. With Kemel's help, he destroys Daleks, saves Victoria, and confronts The Doctor over his perceived alliance with The Daleks. Often remembered, perhaps, for jokier moments towards the end of his run in the series ("Look at the size of that thing, Doctor!"), Jamie is truly one of the series' great companions.

The end of this episode is particularly noteworthy, as the three Daleks injected with the Human Factor seem to be displaying behaviour that could be best described as childish, eager to play games with The Doctor. We really are, now, seeing the Daleks as we have never seen them before, and nothing could be creepier.