If you want to remain completely spoiler free, maybe you should skip this article as I can’t very well talk about it without giving LOTS away. Sorry for those who haven’t seen it yet.
“What this country needs right now… is a Doctor”
Russel T Davis pens this episode which if last week was all about loading the rollercoaster, then this one is about ramping up the incline for the rush of the final episode next week.
This third series of Doctor Who is barreling towards it’s conclusion, as we join our stalwart trio as they escape the predicament The Master left them in last week, thanks to a Time Agent, his standard issue vortex manipulator, a Doctor and a sonic screwdriver, only to plunge them into another, more threatening one.
The through thread of the season is revealed completely, the mentions of Harold Saxon, the way the governement has been monitoring the Jones family, it’s all shown in the big reveal. Harold Saxon is none other than The Master (a wonderfully manic performance by John Simm) controlling, or at least nudging humanity as he sees fit with some form of mind control known as ArchAngel.
He’s cementing his power over the governement and opening the door for first contact with a species that look like they escaped from the cult favorite Phantasm movies (though I bet we learn more about who and what they are next week. The Master intimates that if The Doctor knew what they were, it would break both his hearts).
The U.S. pushes it’s way into the first contact situation and assumes control of it with the return of U.N.I.T. and the introduction of a new line of ship, the Valiant. The Doctor and his companions sneak in with perception filters, and watch as The Master’s plan begins to come to fruition.
And it may be too late to stop them as the third act of the episode show us the TARDIS installed with something called a Paradox Machine, Martha watching the decimation of the earth, and a tortured Doctor and Captain Jack (who dies AGAIN) in the hands of The Master!
Not too spoilery I hope?
Things I did like: After John Simm’s performance in Life On Mars, it was fascinating to watch him hold his own against Tennant. While The Doctor emanates goodness there is a sense of underlying menace to everything The Master does no matter how manic he is while doing it. It’s a good pairing of actors in my book.
The Master refers to his wife Lucy as his Companion. And there are more paralellels between him and The Doctor, they truly are slightly twisted mirror images.
A few nice throway mentions of Torchwood, and Jack revealing his job to The Doctor.
We get to see Gallifrey and some early history of The Master!
The Doctor’s revelation to The Master that they really are the last of the Time Lords.
And The Doctor’s explanation of the perception filter… “It’s like when you fancy someone and they don’t know you exist.” Martha and Jack share a look, and Jack voices both of their thoughts “You too huh?”
So the third series comes to an end next week, and Christmas and the fourth series are a long ways off, dammit. Not to mention the DVD set of series 3 will be a ways off too, sigh.
What am I gonna do?!
Well, I’ll walk you through the whole series again as it airs in Canada on the CBC and State-side on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Still it’s not like I can’t go back to Series 1 in the interim and watch em all over again, what do you say My Sweetie? Take a journey with me in the TARDIS?
This post was Authored by TD, Our Resident Authority on all things BBC
