The Mutants - Episode 2

I’ve reached a stage in this marathon (need to come up with a better more positive name for this) and I think my I sort of know which stories are ones that I am going to look forward to and which ones are going to be the dreaded ones. During the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton eras I was prepared to expect that my opinion of the stories and episodes would change. They largely changed to a more positive view. The problem with the Pertwee era is that when his stories are good they are very good and when they are not good they are very poor and season nine has been the first season which has been largely below average. I have been trying to put my finger on just why I haven’t warmed to this adventure.

Now that Geoffrey Palmer’s character got killed in the previous episode it means that the Marshall is perhaps the most interesting of the supporting characters and he is the only one that has some colour in their performance. The rest of them are as bland and uninteresting as it is possible to be. This is possibly one of the reasons why my interest has gone on holiday for a few days.

One of the few positives to take from this episode is that at least we get to see what is inside the sphere even if its just for a moment and we don’t really know what it is. Another is that George Pravda returns to the show after appearing in ‘The Enemy of the World’. I was so happy when he first appeared in the episode because it was like a breath of fresh air.

Jon Pertwee has the better slice of the action in this episode as he spends the time trying to find out what’s in the sphere. He also gets to have some good scenes with Pravda. Katy Manning on the other hand gets some good stuff but unfortunately is stuck with Ky. She’s put in the predictable position of being put in danger where she has to walk on Solos with its poisonous atmosphere. This is about as good as it got for Jo.

Considering it has such an important political and social message, I cant help but admit that I find this story totally boring and nothing of any good has come from this episode. I feel like I am ready to give up on this story. Don’t get me wrong I am going to stick with it, but I think that this one of those stories that I will just have to endure instead of enjoy.