Monday, 10 February 2014

The Ambassadors of Death - Episode 7

As we reach the final episode, its where the story needs to reach a satisfying conclusion but the thing is that it doesn't feel like there is an epic finale that a normal story would have. We get a nice speech from General Carrington about why he's done what he has done. It becomes clear that its all due to fear because of a previous mission he was on. As reasons go its a rather good one and doesn't feel like its been bolted at the last minute. When Carrington is arrested its hard for me to feel angry at him, I just find myself feeling sorry for him. He did what he did because he genuinely thought it was the right thing to do not because he wanted to start a war or take over the country. John Abineri has been consistently strong from start to finish and of the supporting cast members, he has been my favourite.

There is another great shot of the ambassadors forcing their way into a secure building.

The episode is building up to a live television programme where Carrington is going to show the world what is under the helmet. Of course for narrative reasons it can't be done straight away and this allows them to stretch things out a bit longer. Also as with these things just when the live transmission begins, it comes just as the brigadier and his soldiers battle their way in. It's great how its all done in the nick of time and in the episode it happens at just the right time.

This is an episode where the Doctor and Liz get to work together and Liz gets to do something constructive. I know that I've gone on about how badly Liz has been treated since she joined the show but its a point worth making and it does annoy me. The Brigadier gets to be a action hero when he escapes from the Military Police and its a great little moment and then he gets to have a scrap when he and some soldiers arrive at where the Doctor and Liz are being kept. It's the most active that the Brigadier has been for several episodes. This is very much his episode as the Doctor and Liz are like supporting characters.

As an episode its a very good one and does what it does very well and despite it not feeling like a normal final episode but its not been a normal story. It's been about trying to get some aliens who has been held hostage back to their own people before war starts. I still stand by my view of this adventure that compared to the other stories in the season its not as good as Inferno or The Silurians but in different ways it has its charms and as a seven part story it's much better than some of the six part stories that there have been recently. 

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