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sir_guinglain Nov. 6th, 2007 12:09 am)
sir_guinglain Nov. 6th, 2007 12:09 am)I haven't been reviewing these as attentively as planned, but enjoyed this story very much indeed, despite the overegging of Andrea's accent by Jane Asher. The two-parter has been a welcome return to focusing on Maria after the previous stories dwelt on Luke and Clyde more than might have been anticipated from Invasion of the Bane on New Year's Day, though there's been enough in the previous episodes to lend credibility to the crucial point that Maria is the person Sarah trusts most.
There were even more connections to Doctor Who than has become normal. The Trickster (so named by Alan, Maria's father) has some physical similarities to the Shadow and his Mutes from The Armageddon Factor; but his devotion to chaos, use of phrases such as "waking or sleeping, I will always be with you" and belief that the universe will be much closer to chaos if the Doctor is removed, suggests that this being might possibly be the Black Guardian itself.
This story seemed at first to be a format-confirming one, but there is to be no true reset switch. Alan now knows about Sarah and what goes on in her attic, and isn't happy about any of it. It looks like the final two-parter will open up the format further and suggest that there has been a detail of Luke's origin story which has been overlooked. More echoes of Doctor Who, too, with Planet of the Spiders-like ESP and Sarah's UNIT connections brought into this series's themes of parenthood, identity and loss. The finale has a lot to live up to.
There were even more connections to Doctor Who than has become normal. The Trickster (so named by Alan, Maria's father) has some physical similarities to the Shadow and his Mutes from The Armageddon Factor; but his devotion to chaos, use of phrases such as "waking or sleeping, I will always be with you" and belief that the universe will be much closer to chaos if the Doctor is removed, suggests that this being might possibly be the Black Guardian itself.
This story seemed at first to be a format-confirming one, but there is to be no true reset switch. Alan now knows about Sarah and what goes on in her attic, and isn't happy about any of it. It looks like the final two-parter will open up the format further and suggest that there has been a detail of Luke's origin story which has been overlooked. More echoes of Doctor Who, too, with Planet of the Spiders-like ESP and Sarah's UNIT connections brought into this series's themes of parenthood, identity and loss. The finale has a lot to live up to.
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