The Face of Evil - Episode 3

As this is the penultimate episode I really hope that something happens in this episode that really makes me re-evaluate the entire story. This is traditionally where the story should get interesting as all the build up had already been done. This is the first episode where I think that the Doctor and Leela are working on the same team. I was so underwhelmed with the cliffhanger that I didn’t really comment on it and I’m not going to do so here but I at least wanted you to know that I at least acknowledge this.

After a few moments I am hit with the realisation that this might be getting better pretty quickly as the story goes back to the Doctor and Leela who are in the Doctor’s mouth (strangest line I’ve ever written. The CSO that is used to show the Doctor and Leela walking through a wall is quite good. It shows an improvement on what we use to get during the Barry Letts era. Even in the big chamber where there are a few CSO screens, it looks pretty good and its used to good effect.

I like the idea that the Doctor’s actions have consequences and the people and setting he encounters is because of him. We are given a bit more information about what the Doctor did and it done in a clear way and it makes sense. It’s always nice to go to somewhere that the Doctor has visited before but the viewer hasn’t.

The action finally moves to somewhere a bit more interesting in this episode. After being stuck in the savages den and in the forest and now it goes somewhere a bit more modern. Most of the drama take places on a spaceship and this is where we are introduced to the Tesh’s who are dressed in this god awful green costume. Another problem is the corridor sets are too bright and whilst this will be a problem in future stories it’s the worst thing that I can come up with in this part of the story.

The cliffhanger is much better in this episode because its such a barmy and mad way to end the episode. The final shot is of the Doctor saying “Who am I?” but with someone else’s voice. I still haven’t been won over with this story but this is the first time that I have thought anything positive about one of the episodes.