The penultimate episode of this
story sees the four regulars have their own adventures. The Doctor is on course
to play in front of Nero and befriends him. Unfortunately there is a lot of
nothing happening in this story. Instead of trying to install some action into
this, Dennis Spooner decides to base a large chunk of the episode Nero’s palace
instead of having more of Ian which is something I was yearning for. Had there
been more of William Russell then I would be more warm to the whole four
episodes but sadly what we have is about 20 minutes of the Nero running around
after Barbara and the Doctor enjoying a sauna.
The scene where Nero is chasing
after Barbara is a bit like a sketch from the Benny Hill show. It’s rather
silly and whilst I know that its suppose to be a comedic episode its still a
bit frustrating. Another thing that was frustrating was how the Doctor missed
Barbara yet again. It’s quite a while before we finally get to the more serious
side of the story and that of Ian’s situation. He’s about to be trained to be a
gladiator.
Vicki gets to spend some time
with Locusta. Locusta is a woman who poisons people. I quite like the character
and thought that Anne Tirard played the role quite well and seemed to add some
sanity to the plot. Vicki ends up nearly
poisoning Nero which would have been against history.
The Doctor is still due to play
his musical instrument even though he can’t actually play a note. The scene
where the Doctor does end up playing the instrument he decides that he is going
to play it but so quietly that no one can hear it. It’s quite a bold plan of
the Doctor and it fits in with the feel of the story. The moment where the
Doctor stops Nero from drinking the poison is the Doctor’s attempt to prevent
history from being changed and it brings the events of ‘The Aztecs’ to the viewers
mind. Nero gets someone else to test his drink and it is filled with poison.
The rather pithy comment that he makes when the person drops dead I think is
rather out of step with the show.
The episode ends with Ian in
another fight in front of Nero and Barbara. It’s quite a good fight and it
leads to a nice cliffhanger where Nero does the dreaded thumbs down thing. What
almost makes it seem tense is Barbara’s reaction. The episode is rather a let
down because after the mix of comedy and drama in the previous episode, it was
sad that it seemed to be more comedy in this one. My view of the story hasn’t really
changed and it’s easy to anyone why this story isn’t as well loved as it is.
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