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Events gather pace in Devil's End. Gosh, it's terribly exciting! I love that the cliffhanger at the end of episode three is of the Master in peril. There's not many shows where the big finish would be a case of "Oh no! Something bad's going to happen to the bad guy!" Actually, on reflection I think it's probably more a case of "Oh no! The bad guy's doing something and the whole village is in peril!" But it looks more like the Master's the one really at risk. He's the one facing a clearly huge Something, whilst everybody else just wobbles and falls over. Anyway, said huge Something turns out to be a pair of bad tights that shout a lot. It's a shame, because the Dæmon is a bit of a let down, really. All he does is yell, for no good reason. Does he always conduct his conversations at that volume? He's really belting it out. In the first three episodes we had the Master being sinister and charismatic, wielding a new and unearthly power. Now we have him cringing at the arrival of some giant alien who isn't half as interesting as he is. I think I'd rather the Big Bad of the story was the Master with his "magical" powers, rather than a shouty giant with saggy stockings. But hey ho.
Back in the village, Jo is as splendidly daft as ever, running straight off into the lion's den, because she feels she ought to. Or because her dream told her to. Or something. Still, on the upside, Mike goes dashing off after her, which at least gives him something to do. Otherwise all he's done so far in this episode is fall over a lot, and deliver some rather lame dialogue. Poor Mike. He remains one of my favourite Who characters, but there are times when I still half-wish he'd stayed an image in my childish head. He was never lame in the Targets. Anyway, whilst Jo faints for no readily apparent reason, and does a confused run from door to door and tree to tree, Mike winds up in the cellar of the local church, where he reveals a previously unknown talent for identifying magical traps, which he later displays to Jo. Either it's a talent or he's spent the last half hour throwing books onto paving slabs just for the hell of it. Well, he's Mike. Of course it's a talent. Who needs good fashion sense and military bearing when you can sense the presence of bad magic, and be wobbily heroic on motorbikes?
Speaking of which, whilst all this is going on, the Doctor is dashing back to the others on a motorbike. He's not wobbly, even when one of the Master's minions tries to shoot him. His dialogue is rather ropey, though. He's just been telling the Brig's head technical boffin that he can run the entire National Grid through one transistor if he reverses the polarity. Oh yeah?! Should have stayed where he was, though, as no sooner has he dashed back to rejoin the others (or Benton and the batty old Miss Hawthorne, anyway, as Jo and Mike are otherwise engaged at the church), when he's attacked by the lethal combination of some Morris dancers and some people prancing around a Maypole. Now that is scary. Save your monsters, your demons, your Daleks and your Cybermen. Morris dancers and a Maypole will have your viewers gibbering in fear every time. At least the Morris dancers don't have one of those "comedy" horse's head things. Probably have to be on after the watershed if they did. Anyway, the batty Miss Hawthorne rescues the Doctor, with a grand combination of Benton's remarkable markmanship, some good old-fashioned blarney, and that remote-controlled Bessie joke from back in episode one. Hurrah for Bessie!
And then it all ends with Jo being a pillock again, as she and Mike spy on the Master summoning the shouty alien feller again. Running out of your hiding place to shout "No!" at the Master always works, Jo, yes. Absolutely. Admittedly it was a crap hiding place that should have been discovered two seconds after they stood in it, and Bok looked like he'd seen them anyway. But running into the middle of the room and screaming a lot is definitely not the best way to not get noticed.
*Sigh*
Sadly the episode ends there. Gosh, I do hope she and Mike will be okay. And that those Morris and Maypole dancers are severely punished. If not for trying to burn the Doctor to death then at least for all that bloody silly prancing.
The Master is confronted by a pair of giant ankles in bad stockings.
The Dæmon is Nora Batty!
Nora Batty has the power to convert Time Lords into metalheads, apparently...
Mike, being jolly dashing, and having a ripping adventure, what!
Whilst Jo faints. Pointlessly, if at least artistically.
Jon Pertwee being fabulous.
Although he does turn into a stuntman with a bad wig shortly afterwards.
Menaced by Maypole dancers, and a man with a serious newspaper fetish.
Whilst elsewhere in the village, Jo and Mike choose the worst hiding place ever,
and hope that all the bad people are looking in the other direction.
Bak's bock! I mean Bok's back!
Hurrah!
Next time, more deadly danger. And lots more boring shouty alien. Ah well. It can't all be fabulous, I guess.
Back in the village, Jo is as splendidly daft as ever, running straight off into the lion's den, because she feels she ought to. Or because her dream told her to. Or something. Still, on the upside, Mike goes dashing off after her, which at least gives him something to do. Otherwise all he's done so far in this episode is fall over a lot, and deliver some rather lame dialogue. Poor Mike. He remains one of my favourite Who characters, but there are times when I still half-wish he'd stayed an image in my childish head. He was never lame in the Targets. Anyway, whilst Jo faints for no readily apparent reason, and does a confused run from door to door and tree to tree, Mike winds up in the cellar of the local church, where he reveals a previously unknown talent for identifying magical traps, which he later displays to Jo. Either it's a talent or he's spent the last half hour throwing books onto paving slabs just for the hell of it. Well, he's Mike. Of course it's a talent. Who needs good fashion sense and military bearing when you can sense the presence of bad magic, and be wobbily heroic on motorbikes?
Speaking of which, whilst all this is going on, the Doctor is dashing back to the others on a motorbike. He's not wobbly, even when one of the Master's minions tries to shoot him. His dialogue is rather ropey, though. He's just been telling the Brig's head technical boffin that he can run the entire National Grid through one transistor if he reverses the polarity. Oh yeah?! Should have stayed where he was, though, as no sooner has he dashed back to rejoin the others (or Benton and the batty old Miss Hawthorne, anyway, as Jo and Mike are otherwise engaged at the church), when he's attacked by the lethal combination of some Morris dancers and some people prancing around a Maypole. Now that is scary. Save your monsters, your demons, your Daleks and your Cybermen. Morris dancers and a Maypole will have your viewers gibbering in fear every time. At least the Morris dancers don't have one of those "comedy" horse's head things. Probably have to be on after the watershed if they did. Anyway, the batty Miss Hawthorne rescues the Doctor, with a grand combination of Benton's remarkable markmanship, some good old-fashioned blarney, and that remote-controlled Bessie joke from back in episode one. Hurrah for Bessie!
And then it all ends with Jo being a pillock again, as she and Mike spy on the Master summoning the shouty alien feller again. Running out of your hiding place to shout "No!" at the Master always works, Jo, yes. Absolutely. Admittedly it was a crap hiding place that should have been discovered two seconds after they stood in it, and Bok looked like he'd seen them anyway. But running into the middle of the room and screaming a lot is definitely not the best way to not get noticed.
*Sigh*
Sadly the episode ends there. Gosh, I do hope she and Mike will be okay. And that those Morris and Maypole dancers are severely punished. If not for trying to burn the Doctor to death then at least for all that bloody silly prancing.
The Master is confronted by a pair of giant ankles in bad stockings.
The Dæmon is Nora Batty!
Nora Batty has the power to convert Time Lords into metalheads, apparently...
Mike, being jolly dashing, and having a ripping adventure, what!
Whilst Jo faints. Pointlessly, if at least artistically.
Jon Pertwee being fabulous.
Although he does turn into a stuntman with a bad wig shortly afterwards.
Menaced by Maypole dancers, and a man with a serious newspaper fetish.
Whilst elsewhere in the village, Jo and Mike choose the worst hiding place ever,
and hope that all the bad people are looking in the other direction.
Bak's bock! I mean Bok's back!
Hurrah!
Next time, more deadly danger. And lots more boring shouty alien. Ah well. It can't all be fabulous, I guess.
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