This is the episode where I think that it makes slightly
more sense. I don’t quite know why but it felt more like a Doctor Who story
than a Merlin story. It might have something to do with the fact there is less
stuff about Merlin in it than normal. The beginning of this episode see the infamous
moment with Sophie Aldred. It occurs when the glass cracks under the pressure
of the water and as she is ‘ejected’ from the pod she is in fact being pulled
out by members of the crew. It’s a rather worrying thought about what could
have happened had Sylvester McCoy not told the crew to pull her out.
The sight of Ace coming out of the water with the sword is
something that Aaronovitch must have thought of from the very beginning. It
must have been quite hard to resist the temptation of having the Doctor appear
with the sword. The first good thing that happens in this episode is how the
snake thing is dealt with. I like that its Lethbridge-Stewart that saves the
Doctor which isn’t the first time that’s happened. The first meeting of the two
Brigadier’s is rather amusing though Bambera is the more active one. I suppose
as she is the younger of the two, then it would make sense for her to be the
one doing the shooting. Her comedy double act with Ancelyn is still quite
amusing.
Morgaine does a wonderful job of being the strong threat
that she is. I still think that Jean Marsh is fantastic. Firstly she stops a bullet
and then grinds it into dust before killing Lavel and then resorting Elizabeth’s
sight which is sending mixed signals in my opinion. If you want to come across
as menacing then restoring someone’s sight isn’t the best thing to do. I think
that the character Lavel was poorly served in this episode, she was quite good
in the scenes with Lethbridge-Stewart so it seemed rather sad that she suffered
such a disappointing death.
This episode marks the return of Bessie although I don’t think
that this story really merited this. They even went to the trouble of changing
the licence plate to WHO 7.
The best scene comes when the Doctor storms in between
Ancelyn and Mordred. I don’t think that I have seen Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor be
like this before. He has got close but never like this. It’s a great moment for
McCoy. Despite nearly being killed, Sophie Aldred does a good job in this
episode despite being asked to stand inside a chalk circle. I could still see
Shou Yuing as a companion and that’s mainly due to her interaction with Ace.
The Destroyer is a very impressive creation. The mask is one
of the finest that I can remember seeing in the show. I liked that we didn’t see
it properly until the end because at first all we see is the silhouette and so
the build up to what it looks like is done well. The revelation is a good
cliffhanger and I am slowly starting to like this story much more than I use
to.
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