A Journey Of A Thousand Eons...: 56. Conspiracy (The Romans, Episode Three)

Well, I guess we know where Spooner’s head is at....

Even though there are little crumbs of the things I usually like about the pure historicals, it’s become clear that this story is all about the Komedy...to the point where the cliffhanger has nowhere near the impact it’s intended to, even though Ian’s about to get his head chopped off.

Now that Derek Francis’ Nero has been established, the serial is all about him.  We are forced to sit through scenes of him pursuing Barbara in chases that must have inspired Scooby-Doo, sparring with his jealous wife and being tricked by the Doctor’s riff on ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’  And when we get something interesting, like Vicki befriending the Court Poisoner, it’s made subservient to the wackiness.  The threads spun out in the first half are given lip service, but only in the barest sense.  And given this is part three of four and we all know where Nero ends up, I fear that it will never get back on track.

There is a very strange schizoid feel to this serial, as it began very seriously with slavers and the promise of court intrigue (the Doctor still hasn’t figured out the harpist he’s impersonating is secretly a master assassain) and has degenerated into bedroom farce.  I found myself having to recallibrate every time Spooner returned to Ian’s plotline to the point where the cliffhanger doesn’t register with anywhere near the impact it was expected to be.

This serial started out with a lot of promise, and it keeps sinking further and further into not-very-amusing comedy.  I continue to hold out hope...very, very little hope