Review: Being Human 2.4

George's boss gives him hassle. He is the lesser of two evils.

Unlike the relatively tight first series, by episode Four the second series has already hit the mid-series slump. Despite touching upon certain aspects of the storyline, the overall tone was one of filler, mainly due to George's storyline, which I find absolutely horrid.It did however have some decent performances and saw the end of the arc that's been chasing Annie for the past few weeks - maybe a little early, mind.
     Annie stumbles upon a dying bum and is nearly taken by the door once again. Luckily for her, the door is closed by fellow ghost Sykes (Bryan Dick, Eric and Ernie), a fighter pilot from the Second World War. Annie appeals to him to teach her how to fend off Hell, and after some coaxing due to his guilt issues he agrees to do so. Throughout the episode Annie iseen to learn how to detect Hell's broadcasts, read people's auras and eventually shut the Door forever. This storyline lays the groundwork for the end of this series and the beginning of Series Three, but I do feel that the conquering of Hell itself (well, Purgatory) should at least feel more epic. Instead, this storyline feels more complimentary to the rest of the episode, which is a shame considering Annie's role as the strongest character of the first series. 
     Mitchell's stroyline was similarly complimentary, taking the more serious aspect of his storyline and turning it into a slightly comic one. After Ivan arrived at the new "dry" compound to mock his plans, Mitchell became inspired and started a Vampires Anonymous program and encouraged Ivan to join in order to encourage more of the Vampires to get clean together. Ivan sticks it out but by the end of the episode Mitchell is forced to betray the members' trust when Ivan admits that after 192 years he can't last even a few days without blood. Ultimately it felt like this part of the plot went nowhere, although it does stand as some nice foreshadowing for next week, when Mitchell starts to lean over the edge again.

Sykes (Bryan Dick) discusses Ghosthood.

     And the there's George. As far I as I'm concerned George is only well-written as an ironically human counterpoint for Mitchell and Annie, and in this series it doesn't work at all because he's still considered comic relief. Not only is it cringe comedy (read: not funny), it also doesn't fit in with the tone of this series at all. And to top it off, I find Russel Tovey really, really irritating in Series Two. The episode saw George attempting to move on from Nina after last week's conciliation by trying to control the Werewolf and ghet a better job. After buying a man-sized cage (thus being accused of BDSM) and taking drugs before a full-moon, George controls the wolf and is able to wake up in comfort. He gets a job teaching adults languages at a school, where he meets single mum Sam (Lucy Gaskell, Casualty) and his overbearing, patronising boss. After teaching his adult class swear words (and being talked down to by his boss) George starts exhibiting Tourette's like behaviour - uncontrollable swearing and agression, which he discovers is his inner wolf, angry at his inability to rage. Despite this, he and Sam are still able to flirt and actually get together. George's boss finally gets to him in a bathroom and he beats him half-to-death.
      Making a character that I already find irritating irrationally angry and yet brilliant with women is not the best way to make him endearing. At the moment I can of course compare with Fades, where the main characters are put down all the time. We're made to think of George as the hero here, and yet in these four hours he's been angry, abusive, melodramatic, whiney, ignorant and sometimes downright stupid. I don't see why I should like this character, and the fact that he's probably Series Four's protagonist is, foir me, frightening in itself.

Mitchell runs Vampires Anonymous.

     2.4 suffered from George's stroyline, which I don't find at all entertaining in the least due to unsympathetic characterisation. Elsewhere, Annie's stroyline ended in a way that it really shouldn't have and one that further undermined her character. That's what this episode did, really. While Being Human should be a character-driven show, it failed here because those characters were mismanaged and driven in very wrong directions.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: Jason Watkins returns (via flashback), Mitchell gets said flashback and there's yet more George stupidity.

Review: Fades 1.4

Polus (Joe Dempsie) monologues to Paul.

The beginning of the second half of this painfully short series promised to send the show in a darker direction. Instead of the stready buildup that I expected, the episode instead used the first three episodes as background on characterisation and spent a lot more time on the mythos. It's this style that I think is making the series feel quite off, but that's merely because I'm not really familiar with it. Besides that, this week provided everything I've come to expect from Fades and much, much more.
     The beginning of the episode saw Paul declared braindead, his Fade now active in the hospital. At the same time, the newly human Polus integrated himself back into humanity, learning to speak again (after spending half the episode with gutteral grunts) and then tracking down Paul. After a chase, Polus traps Paul on a roof, and explains how he was one of the first to become a Fade after the "ladder" to the Above was destroyed by the Second World War. In exchange for his freedom, Polus demands that Paul show him the bunker where the Angelics supporting Neil (as two had left his side) were keeping Natalie, who herself was breaking into life. The following assault on the bunker saw two of the Angelics die and Polus found to be immortal. Joe Dempsie is brilliant as the unnervingly alien Polus, from his inital animalistic growls to his monologue cateloguing the plight of the Fades since 1943. I loved how his character initally appears normal and the script relies on Uncanny Value to provide inital characterisation.
     Paul's family, however, continued to mourn his "death", as they prepared to turn off his life-support machine. Daniel Kaluuya was especially brilliant in Mac's intoned longing, truly capturing the nature of their relationship. Even the opening recount by Kaluuya saw that side of his character, which I think was an excellent touch. It's this love for his friend that gets the other Angelics' attention. They discover that Anna is his twin, and the episode climaxes with them using part of her soul to bring Paul back to life in a shower of moths. In a way this made his death feel rather pointless, but in a way it was essential both for the plot to proceed (so we could meet Polus without fear of death) and for the character to develop in the way it has. For a section in the middle of the episode the audience is very much led to believe that Polus is right and the Angelics are the murderers.

Neil (Johnny Harris) is betrayed.

     Mark's storyline was more focussed on Sarah this week, and it led me to wonder about where their tale is heading. Overall, it saw Sarah become frustrated with both the police, for questioning and then releasing her husband, and then with Mark himself who admitted to her that he didn't want to live knowing that she was always there, unable to touch him. To this end she ended the episode by telling a disheartened Neil that he had to fight on, and that she was ready to eat flesh and become like their enemies. I've always been cynical of The Tudors, but it can be said that it went distinctly downhill after Natalie Dormer left. I think this is a much better proof of her acting chops, as she skitted between subtle desperation and despair.
      Fades changes at such a brilliant and exciting pace, and it's so refreshing to see a drama like it on British television. It's really a shock sometimes to see such a brilliant set of scripts, actors and performances put together like Fades, and despite a somewhat slow start I am incredibly intrigued and relieved that the show hasn't undergone a mid-series slump.

Thanks.

Review: Doctor Who Classic: Mindwarp

The Doctor and Peri arrive on Thoros Alpha

"Ok. Today prudence shall be out watchword; tomorrow we will soak the land in blood."

The second adventure in Season 23 doesn't exactly live yp to its predecessor. Despite bringing back a fun villain from an earlier serial and bringing in Brian Blessed of all people, the script's characterisations of many characters, especially the Doctor, is off-putting. However, this also a serial that uses the Unrealiable Narrator trope - something Doctor Who never done before - and that perhaps puts the episode into perspective. Regardless, cover your eardrums and prepare the sickbags as I venture into Mindwarp.
     The Valeyeard introduces the escapade that the Doctor was in prior to the previous serial, presenting it as "The Present". The Doctor and Peri arrive on Throros Beta, a weapons manufacturing planet. Throughout the inital introduction to the scenario the Valeyard keeps interupting it to point out really unimportant things as a case for the prosecution, and it kills the sense of wonderment dead. The pair venture into some caves and are attacked by a plastic suit, who they accidentally kill, and they're then arrested by the guards who rule the caves. Trying to escape from the guards, The Doctor and Peri inevitably make their way towards the laboratory of Mentor Sil. Sil, played by Neil Shaban, was the villain in the previous season's Vengeance on Varos (which I'll be reviewing in November) and here his costume is a lot more convincing. The first episode ends with The Doctor being stuck into one of the machines that Sil's scientist, Crozier, uses to "pacify" business partners.
     And here's where the serial gets weird. Mindwarp, for the first time in Who, uses the Unreliable narrator technique, and thus everything we see after this point is being manipulated in some way by The Valeyard. This provides food for thought, but it certainly doesn't make watching the core episodes any more bearable. As part of this, Colin Baker is forced to play the Sixth Doctor as a selfish, traitorous megalomaniac. I think one of the cleverest things about this issue is that with the public (and private) animosity towards the character at the time, the viewers were incredibly likely to accept that this was who Colin's Doctor was, and thus the idea of manipulation would be more of a shock.

"What is... love?"

      Luckily, The Doctor is saved from braindeath by a previous patient, the barbarian warlord Yrcanos (BRIAN BLESSED), who then escapes. The Doctor, however, betrays them and the other two are left to escape into the tunnels. As The Doctor helps Crozier with his experiments, Yrcanos and Peri run into his former squire, Dorf, who through Crozier had been cursed with Lycanthropy. Crozier, meanwhile, is working on Sil's orders to help save his superior Lord Kiv (long-time Doctor Who monster actor Christopher Ryan, who played some Sontarans in Series Four), whose expanding brain was threatening him with death.
      The Doctor manages to capture Peri, and just as it appears that his betrayel has been a ploy of some kind (as the Trial!Doc suggests) The Doctor reaffirms to Peri his selfish motives. Trial!Doc works out that the situation is being manipulated, but both The Inquisitor and The Valeyard insist that The Matrix cannot lie. As I say, to me this made the manipulation all the more obvious when I first watched it, but Colin one of my favourite Doctors. On original broadcast I suppose it was much more likely for us to perhaps believe the Valeyard in this case.

Fishy business

      We go into cliffhanger with Yrcanos preparing to kill The Doctor, but Peri saves him, insisting that he wasn't always that way. Here the episode splits into two unbalanced subplots; The Doctor watches over as Crozier transfers Kiv's brain into a different body temporily and Yrcanos, Peri and Dorf wander through the tunnels trying to build the resistance movement from Thoros Alpha. Despite how comparatively little happens in that latter subplot, the characterisations are just so enjoyable that they more than make up for it. In fact, the storyline for The Doctor feels very much like padding which, while mildly entertaining, contributes little to the story. The Cliffhanger sees one of the guards appear to kill Peri.
      The last episode feels rather like an enigma, as The Doctor's personality reasserts itself. At the Trial, The Valeyard admits that Peri was only stunned - another hint towards his manipulation of the evidence. The Doctor springs out Yrcanos from his prison, and stirs up the Alphan resistance once again. But alas, all is too late - he is removed from Time by the Trial and Peri is used as Kiv's next host. The Time Lords reveal that because of The Doctor's (supposed) manipulation, Crozier had changed the rules of Life and thus they manipulated events to stop it. Yrcanos kills everyone and the episode ends on the Trial!Doc's slightly tearful, slightly angry proclamation that he will see justice done.
      Mindwarp is stuffed full of good and bad performances. Sil is played wonderfully by Nabil Shaban but unlike in his original story he doesn't get much to do besides padding. Brian Blessed is over the top, as usual, but also strangely sentimental and despite his penchent for death is far more easy to support than this episode's interpretation of The Doctor in the core episode. And again, it worked at the time. What better way to disprove the interpretation of this Doctor's selfishness by letting the audience believe that they're right and then proving them wrong? I'd also just like to mention Peri's death, which is perhaps one of the worst handled final companion moments in the show's history. The villains were eventually pointless, and the story's only survivors are The Doctor and Yrcanos, so any of that fun character developmentis rendered worthless.

Bye bye, Peri.

      I like Mindwarp for its undertones rather than what's overtly on the screen. On its own it's a confusinly jumbled serial which lags in the middle and commits characterisation suicide, but with the Trial underlaying it the serial becomes a deep examination of our main lead and his public persona. It's a shame that so many good performanmces and performers went to waste, but the episode is an entertaining watch if you've seen the whole Trial and know all of what's to come.

Thanks.

NEXT TIME: Mutated Petunias and misshaped human sexual organs in Terror of the Vervoids.

Review: Doctor Who 1.9-10: The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances

"Those would have been terrible last words."

Before he was the showrunner, Steven Moffat worked mainly on comedy. His first work for Doctor Who was the 1999 parody The Curse of Fatal Death, starring Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley as various incarnations of the title role. Another life-fan of Who, Moffat consistently provided the best episodes of RTD's tenure, and this is where he started, in his first serious piece for Doctor Who canon. It's no surprise then that this two-parter is the best story of Series One by a long shot.
     Despite how the years have passed, the story is still touched by Moffat's sense of style and writing. Here we have all of his stereotypes - an empowered female character (Nancy), The Doctor liking mundane objects (bow ties, bananas) and a villain who isn't being deliberately evil for the sake of it. It also shares his only problems during the RTD era; he much prefered to focus on The Doctor and on the characters of his creation, and the current companion (Rose here) gets left out of the equation. Regardless of this, the story is still compelling due to said strong characterisations and the tense yet ultimately fulfilling nature of the scenario.
     Nine and Rose follow a capsule through time, a cylindrical object giving out a mauve alert symbol (red is apparently considered camp) to 1940s Earth. The Doctor realises that he's in the height of the blitz, while Rose follows a haunting little boy and somehow winds up hanging from a barage balloon as an air raid flies over London. The exterior Tardis phone rings, and a girl appears called Nancy (Florence Heath) tells him not to answer it. The call comes from the voice of the child, who keeps asking after his Mummy. Following Nancy, The Doctor discovers her modus operandi - she raids the houses of people flouting the rationing system to feed her troupe of orphaned children. At the house, the child appears again and Nancy gives a second warning, telling The Doctor not to touch him, or else become like the child.

"Run, rabbit run, rabbit run run run."

     Rose is saved from certain doom by the first appearance by Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), whose inital characterisation is loveable but holds a certain underlying dickishness. His omnisexuality, included from the off, is an interesting feature. Fandom often accused RTD of a "gay agenda" because of his sexuality and the higher number of homosexual characters in his works, but this is possibly the most sexual episode of the series and it doesn't discriminate. Jack introduces himself as a former Time Agent who has gone freelance, and is persuaded that Rose is a member of the organisation, and offers to sell the "Chula warship" for a price. His ship, like the Child, is capable of transmitting over any electrical device as well as using little healing robots called Nanogenes.
     The Doctor, still looking for answers, follows Nancy one last time. She leads him towards the crash site of the warship, and then points him in the direction of London's Albion Hospital. There he finds Dr. Constantine (Richard Wilson) surrounded by patients who have become like the Child, all of them sharing the same injuries and acting like programmed zombies, all of them looking for the Child's mother. Constantine finally succumbs to the plague, in the only scene in Doctor Who which still freaks me out. This two parter is scary, still, and it was the first time NuWho really proved that it could be. Sure, The Long Game's corpse-robots were creepy, and the Dalek was a tad merciless, but the combined mixture of body horror and the tension of whether our characters will succumb make this extra special.
     Having scanned for alien tech, Jack and Rose teleport into the hospital to meet up with The Doctor, who shows the time traveller exactly what his shuttle has done. Jack explains that the shuttle was empty, and that he was a conman attempting to sell them the shuttle and then have it destroyed by a German bomb. We go into cliffhanger with the zombies suddenly cornering the trio and the Child about to touch Nancy, but all is resolved when The Doctor appeals to the zombies' childish hive mentality by telling them to go to their room. The trio venture up to the room where the Child was kept, and in a creepy scene they ponder his nature before finding that the Child has indeed returned to his room. Using Jack's sonic blaster they escape to a saferoom, with Jack teleporting back to his ship and bringing up his colleagues while Nancy says goodbye to her adopted family. Both sides head to the bombsite, where they convene.

"He's... Empty"

      Jack's meddling with the warship - an alien ambulance unit - leads The Doctor to the truth. As the ship calls upon the Zombies as an army to protect it, The Doctor explains that the ship was filled with Nanogenes like those on Jack's ship - ones that found the dead Child and used his body as a new template for the human race, taking over everyone who appeared, to them, different. As The Child approaches to lead the army, Nancy breaks down in tears and the Doctor works out that the Child is Nancy's, one she had as a teenager and was too ashamed to even tell of his parentage. Nancy finally accepts her motherhood and the Nanogenes follow suit, fixing all of the zombies and reverting them to perfect health. Having attempted to save the others by stopping the bomb from exploding himself, sacrificing his life, The Doctor deems Jack worthy for companionship and saves his life by inviting him aboard.
      Perhaps more indicative of Moffat's comparatively more mature attitude to this story is the sexual undertones underlying everyone's relationships. As per the title of the second episode, Moffat uses "dancing" as a metaphor for sex, which seems inconspicuous to young viewers but cheeky to the older ones. That aspect of the episodes balanced out the horror and made it a lot more watchable than it would have been had it only been one or the other.
     The Empty Child two-parter is, quite simply, a well-written and well acted story. Moffat's focus on character while also presenting intriguing and heartwarming sci-fi ideas makes this story so much more, and the fact that it's so scary and yet so ultimately optimistic makes it a first for NuWho. As I said above, it is by far the best story of Ecclestone's tenure from both subjective and objective viewpoints, and I love it.

Thanks. RIP JOHN LENNON

NEXT TIME: The Slitheen (well, one of them) return, and Torchwood gets some groundwork.

Review: Merlin 4.2: The Darkest Hour (Part Two)

Lancelot (Santiago Cabera) isn't long for this Earth.

Merlin's main issues, at least for this series, seem to actually stem from the main character and the grandiose phophesising that surrounds him. Sure, the mytharc is important - someytimes it's the only thing that can save a bad episode. But as we learnt from some of the later parts of RTD's Doctor Who, prophecies are only as good as the event they build up to, and after four series it just sounds silly. Despite this, the second half of the premiere was a great improvement because it took time to focus on the characters in ways that, unlike last week, didn't seem hollow.
      Merlin seems to have survived his encounter with a Dhuroka (presumebly because of his magical existence) and on Arthur's orders he is taken back to Camelot by Lancelot. I really liked the fact that they actually showed that three series have given Merlin and Arthur a brotherly cameraderie, the absense of which pushed last year's premiere over the edge into shit for me. While Arthur and his remaining knights wandered through tunnels, magical river spirits arrived, based on a prophecy, to conveniently heal Lancelot and Merlin, who called upon The Dragon for advice. Less cryptic than usual, the Dragon pretty much told them to do what they were going to do in the first place without as much melodrama.
      A more interesting side of the plot took place at Camelot. After shutting the gates to conserve resources, Inspector Lynley (I'm not called him anything else) got a talking down by Guinevere. After telling Morgana about her meddling, the witch had a tantrum and told Lynley about the prophecy (they're fairly common) proclaiming Guin king. He tries to kill her, but he doesn't have the heart; Morgana then tries to knock her out and leave her for the Dhuroka, but she's found by Gaius just in time. Everything was painfully obvious and Lynley is still a character that feels quite pointless, but Gaius at least feels like he cares about the situation.

Inspector Lynley. (Nathaniel Parker). Or Edgaban. Whatever.

     The Knights arrive at the Isle of the Blessed and run into Callieach. She and Merlin knock out all of the Kinghts except Lancelot so they can talk, and Merlin tells her that he is prepared to sacrifice himself to close the veil to prevent Arthur from doing so. She tells him that his time on this Earth is not yet over, and we see Lancelot walk into the Veil, closing it. Back in Camelot he gets a symbolic Viking Funeral (odd for early Medieval England, but ok) and Morgana tells Lynley of her intent to hunt down Emris.
     I was most annoyed at Lancelot's death. It would have been a bit of a copout if a less important character had gone, but I really thought that we'd get some mileage from the Love Triangle in Mythology. Instead, Arthur appeared quite cold as he refused to comfort her beyond a pat on the shoulder and then walked away as she grieved. I had the feeling that Lancelot would die the moment he promised Guin his life last week, and hoped that I was wrong.
     This week the characterisations were much better than before and at points I felt for them more than I had ever done in the previous series. Arthur and Guinevere's romance is still a song yet to be sung and now that Lancelot is out of the picture it looks set to be rather boring, but this premier has set up enough storylines to promise at least a few decent episodes this year. And I know that regardless of their quality they will share the problems at its centre - I just don't care about them any more, as they are Merlin. The second half of The Darkest Hour wasn't perfect, but it was at least entertaining and left me thinking that this series at least will have a good future.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: Either really bad padding or the most game-changing episode yet.

Review: Fades 1.3

"... Ok then."

Halfway through this series, and Fades continues to amaze me. The series continues to mix old horror tropes into new directions with a focus on character that at times feels intrusive. While it was hard to tell at times, this week certainly raised the stakes in the series' mythology, and raised the stakes in the more personal side of the story as well. We were left on a brilliant cliffhanger that left me really wanting next week.
     At home, Paul's relationship with Jay came to the forefront, bonking her for the first time and having the relationship revealed to his sister. As the key feature of their relationship for the first two hours, it felt a little strange when the discovery was cut short when an angry Paul accidentally used his powers to fuse sister Anna's mouth together. Mac became depressed after no one remembered his birthday, until Paul (who's been seeing increasingly more vivid visions of apocalyse, this time with a strange anti-christ figure) remembered and set the record straight. This takes up roughly half of the episode, and Paul only ventures back towards the Angelics when he collapses in Mac's house. In general, I found this side of the storyline to be genuinely human, combining humour and emotional poignancy. I was moved and amused; there's nothing wrong with that.
     Neil, however, was facing a different story. Incredibly wounded from the attack last week, he called upon Angelics from other areas to help him out. They tried to track down the first Fade to escape through, known as Pullus, who we see clips of throughout the episode undergoing a cocoon based transformation. Paul arrived just as Neil began to die of his injuries, and managed to cure every scar and blemish on his body - even his trademark blotted eye is healed. Paul also helps the Angelics to capture Natalie in order to discover the new Fades' limitations, but it's too late - we see at the end of the episode that Pullus has emerged from his cocoon as a human-looking man, the same man seen in Paul's apocalyptic visions. At the same time, Paul is hit by a van and is seen to die, delivering our cliffhanger.

"We were Angelics. I still am."

     Another more touching side to the story was the Mark storyline, which was a lot more involved here. Mark, fresh from last week's revelations, kept badgering Mac's dad about his suspicions surround Neil. On Sarah's request, Neil goes round and tells Mark the truth, translating across Sarah's feelings. This makes his reconsider everything and there's a poignant moment where he has a one-sided conversation with Sarah. Mac's dad is seen to have been promoted beyond his abilities, and is being stressed to find a culprit for the various deaths caused by the Fades. He arrests Mark, who has connections to all of the victims.
     One thing that I thought was impressive this week was the way that the episode raised the stakes everywhere. It wasn't uneven as Being Human oft was in that department, as I'm seeing while reviewing the second series. It also got on with things. Factors that I expected to last the whole series have now been "resolved" in interesting ways, and so it'll be more surprising when we do see how the plot thickens over the second half of the series.
     Other than that, it's business as usual from Fades. With consistantly brilliant performances by all leads, the story has raised the stakes to an even pace, racking up the tension to breaking point. At the same time, 1.3 delivered touching and human developments of our main leads and their relationships, taking the trivial and making it just as good as the supernatural. Maybe it's because I'm the target age range for this channel, or perhaps it's because I've never seen anything like it, but Fades has continued its consistant quality beyond my expectations.

Thanks.

Review: Being Human 2.3

Annie helps George get over Nina and help Hugh.

Decidedly better than previous weeks, 2.3 recovers from this series' early slump by providing serious drama on one end and heart-warming comedy on the other while still following this series' arcs. As Being Human often does, it places an absurdly close emphasis on the development of character and this serves to make both drama and comedy much more potent.
     Mitchell finally felt the fallout of last series' finale this week, as he gathered the vampires together to prevent them from killing further. Making a deal with corrupt police constable Ian Puleston Davies (his characters are all the same, and I can't really remember his name), he blackmails the coroner to reset the system that collapsed when Herrick died. Cara strays off the path by killing two bullies, and to prove his worth to the vampires he punishes her by brick to the teeth, and is hence proclaimed the Vampire Leader of a group operating out of the old funeral parlour. This storyline felt vaguely Shakesperean - Mitchell becoming leader sets the stage for the tragedy that will become him up until his end in Series Three. This was nicely punctuated with such dialogue as, "The king is dead, long live the king," which reinforced those connotations. There was also an interesting setup wherein we're made to wonder whether the instinctive Vampires or the cold-blooded Police were the bigger monsters.
     With Annie invisible and Nina out the door, George and Annie's storylines came together this week as a rather dickish George helped Annie to get disenchanted former love Hugh back together with an old girlfriend, Kirsty. To this end George becomes her boyfriend and intends to give her to worst date ever, but instead his "worst dates" are her favourite things to do (there was a particularly unfair dig at German cinema.) Eventually George breaks up with her by telling her that she has to get on with her life, and she rings Hugh. They kiss and make up, and the mortals live happily ever after. This storyline, in keeping with the main plot of the episode, made many references to a "regime change" in the lives of its characters. George had to move on from Nina, as Hugh had to move on from Annie and his girlfriend from herself. This focus on characters that would otherwise be extraneous is one of the myriad of reasons that I love this show. I genuinely felt for Kirsty within five minutes of her introduction. That there is good television.

"You're putting the system back into place."

     The episode's big reveal came with the CenSSA storyline, which as the backbone of this series is beginning to develop a life of its own. The man running the scientific side of the organisation was seen to hear a snippet of Mitchell's plan before George inadvertantly destroyed the microphone planted in their house. We'll meet him again much later in this series of reviews, when I review one of the DVD extras focussing on his web series. Kemp is told, and the episode ends with a meeting with Proffessor Jaggart, who is revealed to be Mitchell's latest flirt Lucy. This changes the dynamic entirely - we've got another instance of Dating Catwoman.
      2.3 was a step better than the seemingly two-part introduction because it focussed on a more specific theme running throughout the episode and threw in some lightheartedness to dilute the stodgy sense of pessimism. In other words, it managed to hit that perfect balance between comedy and drama, and that is exactly what Being Human needs to do.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: Nina sits in the Chamber, Annie learns about The Door and George meets someone new.

Review: Doctor Who Classic: The Mysterious Planet

Drathro and the Twins

Doctor Who, Season 23, Story One - The Mysterious Planet

Michael Grade didn't like Doctor Who. He really, really didnt like it. After several complaints about Colin Baker's tenure on the show in 1985, Grade put the show on an 18 month hiatus and the production team had to come up with something to keep the show alive. In keeping with the public mood surrounding the show at the time, JNT decided to have an entire season of interlinked stories where The Doctor would be put on trial for the crimes that he had committed. Composed of four single stories with the plotline running through them, the 14-part Trial of a Timelord arc is a strange period in the show's history.
     The first story, written by verteran writer Robert Holmes, introduces the main Trial storyline. The Doctor, taken away from Peri, has been called here to face trial by a mysterious figure called the Valeyard, who acts as the prosecution and uses video evidence from The Matrix (from the previous Gallifrey stories) to claim that The Doctor is guilty of various crimes ranging from interferance to Genocide. He's played interestingly by the former Emmerdale actor, Michael Jayston, and for this serial at least the Trial aren't annoying yet.
     The "video evidence" in this serial is taken from The Doctor's past - an adventure from after Revelation of the Daleks but before Season 23. Peri and The Doctor arrive on the planet Ravalox, which the Doctor is visiting because it's eerily similar to Earth and, despite the Gallifreyan database's claims, is teeming with life. The Doctor and Peri are notably more friendly to one another here, another part of the show's attempt to regain viewers. Watching them are two weapons traders, Glitz and Dibber. I love Glitz; he's easily one of the best supporting characters in the Eighties. They're here to scavenge a robot called the L3, which has taken control of an underground city run by human slaves. They need to take down a Light Converter, which is being used by a local tribe (led by Joan Sims) as a totem pole. The Doctor and Peri discover the underground tunnels - the entrance appears to be the entrance to the London Underground. This disturbs The Doctor, and he intends to find out why Earth has been so changed.

The Valeyard (Michael Jayston)

     He heads underground while Peri is intercepted by the tribespeople. Joan Sims locks up Glitz and Dibber together with her. The Doctor is arrested as a "water theif" but is eventually saved and goes to see the L3, who calls himself "The Immortal". Glitz reveals that he's here for Time Lord knowledge being kept here. The L3, called Drathro, forces The Doctor to work on his power system. He manages to escape and is followed by Drathro's L1 robot. Along the way he finds the leader of the L3's guards, Merdeen, who has been secretly escorting people to the surface. He meets up with Glitz and Dibber, but they find themselves trapped by tribesmen on one side and the L1 on the other. The L1 is disabled temporarily but they're taken to the tribe and locked up. The L1 breaks in, disabling The Doctor and allowing the others to escape. The tribe luckily destroys the L1, but they believe that this is the Immortal and thus go storming into the underground. The Doctor and Peri follow, but are collared by Merdeen who shoots them into a cliffhanger. Turns out he was shooting another guy, who had tried to rat him out to The Immortal. The tribe discover the L3 and he kills Joan Sims.
     The Doctor goes in and faces the L3. They have an interesting conversation about what makes organic life more important than mechanical life. Glitz and Dibber accompany Peri through a hatch into the chamber, but they're trapped there by the L3. As Peri and The Doctor are tied up, Glitz bluffs his way into getting the information by claiming that they can save him; they kill him and The Doctor finally stops his machine from exploding. Everyone lives happily ever after, and The Valeyard moves onto the next stage of the trial.
     I like The Mysterious Planet more than common sense says I should. It's shoddy, the villain's design is ridiculous and the acting is melodramatic and over the top. But because of Joan Sims and the way that Glitz' joke-a-sec personality takes over, it has a feeling very similar to a Carry-On film. Robert Holmes, as we'll see when I look at The Caves of Androzani, is excellent at characterisation and satire, and that's why these two side-characters are in ways better than the main characters. Colin's wit and exuberance comes off much better here than in other areas and thus the character is more empathizable; Peri too, although she's a little absent in what would become her penultimate story. I'll comment more upon the Valeyard at the end of the Trial, but I will admit that the strong performance soon does become tedious by the third episode of the story. However, it does produce some of the season's best lines and monologues, and the best one in this serial is the one in Episode Four in which The Doctor claims that The Valeyard should, based on the tired decadence of his arguments, change his name to The Knackers' Yard.

The Time Lord is on Trial.

    The Trial dynamic is interesting in this serial, despite how tiring it gets later on. Unlike previous arcs, where it was either a string of serials following on from one another or completely different serials connected by a common theme, this instead tries to do both. Here, at least, it's successful - the trial scenes enhance the story rather than slow it down. Some scenes are in fact censored the Valeyard, and this makes the core concepts that bit more intriguing.
     The Mysterious Planet is a great start for the Trial of a Timelord Arc, with satirical side-characters and a comedy aesthetic that I love. The villain is a little shoddy, perhaps, and overall the ideas are not that innovative or interesting, but the key arc behind it all more than makes up for it. I love the core story and I love the rambles on Ravalox, where character is king.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: Brian Blessed, A character I've met but you haven't and another craaazy scientist.

Review: Merlin 4.1: The Darkest Hour (Part One)

The Knights of the Round Table

Merlin's third series was an incredibly mixed bag, with the series' formulaic nature often hampering the progress of both the characters and the mytharc. I had hoped at the end of the last series that the status quo would finally be shattered, and that finally this series (which has now had its fifth series comissioned) would become a lot more dynamic. Perhaps I was hoping for too much from this already tired concept, but mostly it didn't stray too far from the slightly-altered norm.
      With Uther a broken man, Arthur is in charge of the kingdom. Morgana sacrifices , at her request, her sister Morgause to summon the demon Callieach and open the veil between worlds, releasing creatures known as the Voices of the Dead, or the Dhuroka. These creatures soon attack Camelot, bringing it to its knees. Arthur decides that if another sacrifice must be made then he should be the one to give his life. Merlin goes with the Knights of the Round table and the episode ends on the cliffhanger of death.
     There were some wonderfully tense moments in The Darkest Hour, particularly during the scenes in which the Knights and Merlin visited a village completely massacred by the Dhuroka. Stylistically the episode was much darker than it had been before, mainly to encourage fear of this forthnight's villains. The Dhuroka, straight out of a Moffatian fantasy, are a clever decision when creating fear and suspense - or they would be, if we didn't know how the story of Merlin will inevitably end.

Morgana (the stunning Katie McGrath)

      Katie McGrath seems to have learnt her lesson, and so far her villainy is less Disney villain more realistic sadism. This week she was accompanies by the King's brother, Elgaban (I'll never get any of these names right) played by Nathaniel Parker. I wish this revelation of his treachery could have been kept until a later episode; I suspected it from the moment he appeared (he was colour coded black, of course) and confirming it ten minutes later just ruined any suspense that that situation could create. In a similar vein, Morgana was told to beware of someone called "Emris" - Merlin, as we know -, puzzled on his identity for a bit and then had a vision showing that it was Merlin. What a waste.
     Other characters were also badly treated. A few of the knights didn't have speaking parts, while others served only to annoy. Angel Coulby, argueably the most important female character in the story, had only a few lines soley regarding Arthur. Two knights that we don't know the names of did get some character development, but I had no idea who they were and thus couldn't really judge.
     Merlin's return wasn't as catestrophically bad as last year's, but the episode didn't really improve upon any of Series Three's problems. Notably, it neglects advancements in the plot for atmospheric aesthetic, which may be fine for the casual viewer but isn't very fulfilling for someone watching for the Arthurian legend. It was, however, a step in the right direction; characterisations are falling into place despite unfair emphasis and it looks as though we're moving towards something brilliant.

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From hereon in, Merlin will be reviewed in Doctor Who's stead on Saturdays. Next week our story concludes, and the week after that we get an early treat from Misfits writer Howard Overman.

Thanks.

Review: Doctor Who 6.13: The Wedding of River Song

Doctor Who?

Series Six will be remembered, in my mind, as the series of Moffat's Arc. Tacked onto the end of single episodes, this is an example of an arc that manages to be both intrusive and too light. It's as if Moffat only envisaged his episodes and unlike RTD didn't really touch upon the other scripts, which means that this series - already fragmented by a six-month long split - was incredibly inconsistent in quality. Now, after two years' worth of build up, is our climax.
     In many ways it was very similar to the finale preceeding it - a period of distortion where time and space were collapsing. But unlike The Big Bang, The Wedding of River Song answered questions, and in a way tht made them compelling rather than tedious. There were no big surprises, not really - everything panned out pretty much as most fans had expected it to, but the way it was handled felt fresh and so incredibly watchable.
     All of time is happening at once - pterodacyls fly over London as Emperor Winston Churchill sits inside Buckingham Palace surrounded by his Roman guard. The Doctor, kept as "the seer", recants to Chruchill how time froze in place when River emptied the cells on the spacesuit instead of killing The Doctor. The Silence infest the Palace but The Doctor is evacuated by a swat team led by Amy Pond, who in this reality is the head of a society fighting The Silence. At their base in one ofthe Cairo pyramids, River Song greets The Doctor with joy. He insists that he has to die or time will disintegrate, and the base is attacked by The Silents. River takes The Doctor up to the roof and reveals that she called upon everyone who ever loved The Doctor, and that there were so many they appeared to block out the sun. Eventually she gives in and The Doctor dies at Lake Silencio as in The Impossible Astronaught.

     However, as seen earlier in the episode, an older River reveals to Amy that the Doctor who died at Lake Silencio was in fact the Tesselecta from Let's Kill Hitler. This had always been a common fan theory ever since the device was introduced, and the fact that the device was given a lot of study in the "previously" intro made the solution rather obvious. However, I didn't feel let down by it. I've been very critical of this series, and for once this episode moved me. I was excited to learn the solution, no matter what it was, and that's either a testament to Moffat's writing or a critism of how intrusive the arc has really been that I can't wait for it to be over.
     And thus, like The Big Bang - the comparison is very worthy of thought, both set in a crumbling reality with River Song facing people who want the Doctor dead because he might destroy the Universe, with The Doctor appearing to sacrifice himself before being miraculously brought back - there isn't much more to say. Unlike Moffat's other efforts, his finales are so far have been rather simple tales and I've enjoyed them. For me, this climax wasn't truely mindbending or confusing, and the characters that I'd been getting tired of bowed out (hopefully) in a way which made me intrigued for next year. Thank you, and goodnight.

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Merlin 4.1 is coming tomorrow, and from then on will take Doctor Who's place on Saturday nights. Mondays will feature the Classic Doctor Whos that I mentioned in "High Turnover," as will Being Human Series Two on Tuesdays and Fades on Wednesdays. Thank you if you've read all of my Series Six reviews, and if you haven't then why not click on the "DW32" tag at the top of this post? Anyway.

Thanks.