I had forgotten to mention that this is a 100% studio based
story with only a few shots of the house shown sporadically throughout the
three episodes. It takes nearly five minutes for Ace to be rescued although it’s
not clear whether she saved herself or the Doctor was the one that saved the
day. In fact for the first 10 minutes or so I really didn’t understand what was
going on. It all looked very nice but I couldn’t write down what happens in
this episode.
Mrs Pritchard continues to be a laugh a minute character as
she pretty much puts the boot into Gwendoline calling her a music hall trollop
which I thought was a bit strong. That said she continues to be an impressive
presence in the story. It difficult to know what to make of Smith because he
seems like a villain but has troubles. There is a scene with Smith where he
looks less than well and Matthews slowly becomes a chimp and whilst this
happens he has a rather sinister chuckle.
Inspector Mackenzie is a character that appears to be a
comedy character. He was sent to the house in 1881 and mothballed and is then
woken up and proceeds to eat food. It seems like he has been created like this
because at the moment there is zero humour and I think that the story needs
something but not too much and McKenzie gives us that.
As this is Ace’s story its only right that I talk about her
ventures in this episode. She starts off of course about to be attacked by the
monster but its one scene in particular which always has the same effect on me.
It when she is in bed having breakfast and talking to Mrs Grose. The line where
she says she might take a walk around Perivale village and every time I hear
that line I just wish that they had some money in the budget to do location
filming and around 1880’s Perivale.
The biggest development is the introduction of Control.
Control was heard (briefly) in the first episode and their involvement in the
episode is greater in this episode. Although even by the end of the episode we haven’t
seen a physical body. With this being a three part story it would have been
wiser I think to include either Control or Light in this episode. I worry that
the final episode is going to be a rush job.
Light appears at the end of the episode and its bright light
on the Doctor’s face is what forms the cliffhanger. To be honest it’s not a terrible
ending but it’s not the sort of smash grab feel ending that I think the story
needed but I suppose that it suited the style of the episode. Overall though I
think that this story is one of style over substance. There is very little
going on but at least the sets look very impressive so there is something to
keep me glued to the screen for the remaining episode.
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