In this era of the show, it wasn’t
clear to the viewer when a story started and when it finished. So for the 1964
viewer, this was effectively the first in a two part episode. At the end of the
previous episode, Ian has been knocked out and is by a dead body. Tarron’s
introduction into the story is quite odd as he is casually sitting in a chair
waiting for Ian to wake up. He is the one that has to investigate the murder
and quizzes Ian. I love the serious moment of music when Ian is told he will be
charged with murder. It quickly comes and goes and just seems like a comedy
moment. The legal system is that Ian is guilty until proven innocent. This
means that there is a greater sense to prove that Ian didn’t murder anyone. There
is still no sign of Susan, Barbara, Sabetha and Atos. When they do finally make
an appearance there is no explanation as to why they weren’t with Ian when he
discovered the body.
The Doctor makes his first
appearance since The Velvet Web and it’s like a massive sense of relief. When
he comes back, William Hartnell instantly throws himself into the story and
instantly decides that he is going to defend Ian. We learn that before we saw
him he had arranged with Eprim who was going to give him the micro-key and it
was his body that we saw at the beginning of the episode. He was also a friend
of Atos. Hartnell loves the opportunity of being the lawyer. His body language
is very amusing. It’s good to have him back. Carole Ann Ford and Jacqueline
Hill get to do their Cagney and Lacey impression (several years before the duo
were on TV) when they start asking questions.
Being the accused means that William Russell doesn’t get to do very much
but at least Ian is in the focus of the story and so he is always on screen. It’s
good to have the regulars back together. I do love the scene where they are re-enacting
the scene of the crime. It seems weird that they stop the story to basically go
through what we already know
Eyesen is a dodgy character. He
is the one that just has to continuing with the assumption that Ian is guilty.
Even though he doesn’t do anything sneaky, its clear just by the way that
Donald Pickering is performing that there is something about him which wont
help the regulars. The fact that Ayden is the one involved is revealed relatively
quickly. Ayden makes a bid for freedom and he is easily caught by Barbara and
Susan and just as he is about to name who helped him he is killed but it’s not
clear how.
Kala is instantly a character
that oozes badness. She doesn’t show it in this episode but its clear that she
will do something. We are thrown off the scent by her being there when Ayden is
killed and she sobs.Susan is captured and to be honest I hadn’t noticed that
she was gone. I was so involved with the court action I didn’t notice she had
left. When her voice sounds its quite a surprise and it leads to the
cliffhanger which is another good one because there is the mystery of who has
got Susan and what will they do with her.
This is another good episode
where despite the action taking place in the same area it moves along at a
really good pace and there are characters that are well written and it sets up
the final episode nicely because it’s a question of having to get Ian cleared
of the charges and get the keys back to Arbitan. I think that having the
regulars back together seems to have bought a bit of familiarity back to the
story. An enjoyable 25 minutes.
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