(541) State of Decay - Episode 4

This episode is the final episode to be transmitted in 1980. It starts with the reprise which still looks weird when Romana is backing away from Adric as he is about to be bitten. It must be said that there is a bit of Karma at play because later on Adric is prepared to sacrifice Romana to the Three Who Rule. I quite like Adric in this episode because he clearly trying to look out for his own interests but later on he tries to pretend that he was looking out for Romana. What makes this quite fun is the look on Romana’s face which clearly shows that she doesn’t believe him. Considering that this is the first time that all three regulars have appeared in the same scene.

The whole episode is building up towards the sacrifice and normally this would be either rushed or not really looked at but it takes up a nice amount of the episode and its dealt with in a good manner. I liked how the Doctor dealt with the situation and used the scout ship/tower as a weapon and used what energy it had left in shooting it up into the air and back down again. Tom Baker was on good form because he gives a good Henry IV speech and there were some classic fourth Doctor moments.

We finally get to see the great one twice. The first is a model mixed in with scanner graphic which works but had it been the model of the great one as it is then it wouldn’t have worked quite so well. The second is when its hand comes out of the ground. Visually it’s a strong image and one of the best shots in the entire serial. I think that overall this episode is the strongest in terms of directing out of the four. Peter Moffatt has done a great job in keeping the pace up and there are some great shots that he manages to achieve. Terrance Dicks has worked his magic again and has saved the best until last and tied things up nicely.

As the middle story it does a good job of being the middle story of being a trilogy it does what it needs to do but as a story in its own right its also very good. I think that its another good story in the JNT era and the next story is the final one for K9 and more importantly for Romana. The changing of the companion line up starts in the next story so there is still plenty to look forward to in this season.