The thing about this story is that whilst I may not
understand all the bits and pieces about whats going on I can still say that I
am enjoying it. This second episode is still just as bonkers as the first. The
episode introduces two new characters who are quite integral to the story (well
one of them anyway). The first is Panna who according to the information text
on my DVD, appeared in the original version of ‘The Prisoner’. Anyway as Panna,
she gives a rather dignified yet mesmorising performance and I liked her as a
character. She was with Karuna who is a young girl and is basically Panna’s
eyes. They are only really in the episode in order to give Sanders a box. The
effect used when he looks inside the box is very good although I thought that
Sanders’ contribution was a bit flat.
There are two performances which really stand out but before
I mention them I have to talk about Nyssa because due to what is going on from
start to finish, I didn’t think about Nyssa until I was writing this review. It
shows just how unnecessary having three companions is. The two performances
were Janet Fielding and Simon Rouse. Both give fantastic performances for
different reasons. Fielding’s performance is great because it starts off as a
rather scared Tegan where she is talking to herself (quite literally) and then
by the end she has become the human form of the Mara. When she wakes up back on
Deva Loka, she gives one of her best performances ever and she seems to be
having the time of her life. The performance that Rouse gives is arguably one
of the greatest in Doctor Who. His madness is unlike anything that has really
been seen in Doctor Who before or since.
If I had to make one critiscm of the episode it would be
that I didn’t find Aris convincing when he had the Mara on him. Considering he
spent the previous episode and most of this episode as a mute then it would
have been best to keep him that way because he just doesn’t really work as
anything else. That is really as bad as it got because the cliffhanger wasn’t bad.
The fact that Todd ended the episode screaming might be a bit bad but I thought
that considering she hasn’t done it up until this point means that whatever is
in the box really is terrifying (obviously I know different). But it works as a
cliffhanger and ends the episode in a good manner and complimented the episode.
So two episodes in and my opinion of the story is that its
working well and all the characters have something to contribute and others
really stand out amongst a good group of performances.
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