The reprise is slightly different
with Ian’s reaction to the blood having being slightly less than it was at the
cliffhanger and the Doctor’s reaction being non-existent. The background which
looked like garden furniture was there purely to disguise what was behind it
which was a posh looking lounge. When they do reunite with Barbara, she is
living quite the lifestyle with servants and she gets to live like a queen.
Everything seems to be going well but it’s the old adage of life in that if it’s
too good to be true then it usually is and Ian is naturally mistrusting of all
the hospitality. Everyone else is quite willing to ask for their biggest wish. Even
when Susan wants an expensive dress it’s no problem and The Doctor wants a
brand new laboratory and new instruments. Everything seems to be going well
until they sleep when some strange rock is put on their foreheads. Except the
one placed on Barbara’s head falls off and she is the only one that hears the
incredible sound that follows.
When she does wake up there is
the extraordinary moment when Barbara sees that the room they are in isn’t as
nice as when we saw it but its all decaying with the nice gown made for Susan
is just a rag. We are now in the situation where its Barbara versus the rest of
the regulars and when she is hiding from Altos she breaks down and cries. There
is a strange thing when Altos is looking around for Barbara but doesn’t see her
when she couldn’t be more obvious if she were waving her arms in the air. That
said it doesn’t really diminish her performance and it’s the first time in
several episodes where I feel like she’s been given something solid to do.
Altos is the first most
significant supporting cast member of the episode. There is something quite
creepy about him from the very first moment that we meet him. Robin Phillips is
quite good as Altos and when the alien influence has gone he is a character
that is good to have around and his involvement the rest of the story is a good
thing. We get to meet Sabetha who is Arbitan’s daughter. She is the one that
puts the rocks on the regulars heads but were not meant to feel anything bad
towards her as she is under the influence of the brain creatures. It’s a good
performance from Katherine Schofield.
We get to see the alien menace
that has cause the Doctor, Ian and Barbara to be brainwashed. They are small
things and it’s quite hard to believe how they could ever accomplish whatever
it was that they wanted to do. Jacqueline Hill has to hit the tubes with the
aliens but only hits one yet the rest of the aliens die.
Ian having his hands round
Barbara’s throat isn’t a sight I thought I would have seen. It does show just
how much the power that these alien threats have over the regulars. William
Russell gets to do a bit of emotionless acting as he lures Barbara to the weird
creatures. It’s great to see William Russell and William Hartnell are
pretending to see a wonderful laboratory but are in fact are seeing an empty
room and the Doctor picks up a manky mug having to pretend that it’s a wonderful
piece of scientific equipment.
The cliffhanger was a little bit
weak because it didn’t have the same sort of drama to what we had at the end of
the previous episode. Susan being scared is hardly a big incentive to tune into
the next episode. As an episode it felt like a mini episode that was
distracting us from the main story and trying to pass the time until we get to
the central plot. It’s not that this episode is mediocre but all this episode
seems to achieve is to introduce Sabetha and Altos and also explaining why we won’t
be seeing much of the Doctor in the next episode. 
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