A Journey Of A Thousand Eons...: 35. Kidnap (The Sensorites, Episode Five)

There is an actual kidnapping in this episode, but it takes place in literally the final scene, and it’s Carol being kidnapped.

Carol...remember Carol?  Girlfriend of John, who was so traumatized by contact with the Sensorites that he needed special help to be brought back to normal--said help apparently meaning having him sit around for all of last episode with a silly lightbulb-festooned hat on his head?  Her.

See, Ian (properly recovered thanks to the antidote, although still weak) and Susan retrieve the Doctor from the aqueduct.  His coat is torn up, but he’s unharmed.  The City Administrator kills the Second Elder and frames the Doctor for his murder....a frame that is broken up in seconds because the Doctor is now wearing a suave cloak that the First Elder gifted him with.  With our crew’s approval, the City Administrator is named Second Elder, just as John remembers that he is EEEEvil and Stuff.  The Doctor suspects there’s a reason why the nightshade has popped up in a section of the aqueduct that’s dark and noisy and goes with Ian to solve the Sensorites’ dilemmia, but the City Administrator has sabotaged the weapons given to them and altered the map drawn for them....and then, you know, kidnapping.

I know that one of the hazards of evaluating these serials is getting mad it isn’t what I expected it to be as opposed to what it is.  But I think the first two episodes established a very clear mission statement that has been defused by The Adventures of The City Administrator.  While some elements of that original intent continue to shine through--especially the way he develops the non-EEEEvil Sensorites as they continue to interact with the Doctor, making it clear this is a genuinely compassionate race--I keep seeing it all shoved aside for the capering of these goofs.  And some aspects, like the caste system, have been dropped entirely.  I just feel there’s a lot of missed opportunities here, and that what we’ve gotten for the last three episodes isn’t what we’re promised in the first two.

Now they’re passed all the crazy psychic stuff, I am surprised that Stephen Darnell’s John and Ilona Rodger’s Carol are a lot better.  And here it is, the penultimate episode, and Susan continues to have initiative and purpose; pity we couldn’t have had more of that.  And once again, we get a Doctor and his crew who kind of mess up due to their own self-interests...and I like that.

I’m really not sure what I feel going into the finale.  There’s still time for it to wrap up in a satisfactory way, but I have a feeling that I will walk away from this serial with a low opinion.