The episode begins in earnest with the continuation of the search for Barbara. As they move through stiff doors and metallic hallways the Doctor catches wind of a strange sound. Is it the Daleks? After snapping at Susan to shut her mouth they follow the noise.
The sound leads them to a room filled with science! From the complexity of the instruments the Doctor deduces that the people who live here are supremely intelligent, which was maybe already apparent from the complex future city, but good for the Doctor for not jumpting to conclusions. However, Ian wonders how they use their intelligence. Touché, Ian. Too bad the Doctor clearly doesn't give a shit about the ethics of science. He's far more interested in being in the "midst of a very very advanced civilized society". Could this all be foreshadowing about the Dalek's? Are they an allegory for Cold War paranoia? Tune in next week.
After this bit of armchair philosophy, Susan locates the source of the noise: a Geiger counter. These assholes have been wandering around in radioactive fallout for hours. Surprisingly, the Doctor doesn't chew Susan out for saying the radiation levels were, and I'm quoting here, "fine" before they left the TARDIS. He seems only concerned with when she's right about something. The Doctor deduces further that a neutron bomb is the only explanation for why the city is perfectly in tact while everything else is dead.
In this scene we also start reaping some of the seeds planted in the previous episode. The Doctor admits that they don't need mercury for the mcguffin ship component because he was just bullshitting them so he could explore the city. But once he learns about the radiation he demands they hightail it out of there. But when Ian says "not without Barbara" the Doctor's response is, and again I'm quoting, "fuck Barbara." But since Ian possesses the mcguffin, which apparently is needed to run the TARDIS, he demands the group search for his bae.
The entire sequence inside the equipment room is intimate and forboding in how it roughly sketches the people we will soon encounter. This provides the perfect set up for the action that follows. As soon as the three step outside the room they're dramatically ambushed by the Daleks.The reveal is one of the best moments of the episode, conveyed in a fluid tracking shot that pulls back to reveal both their predicament and the first full debut of the Daleks:
The Daleks don't fuck around. They immediately issue their orders like cold, nazi robots that sound like prototype Krafwerk models. Ian, being the hero and all, tries to make a break for it but is shot with some kind of ray? or sludge is it? Something shoots out of a Dalek's thing and zaps Ian with a negative filter, rendering his legs temporarily paralyzed.
The editing of this quick action is pretty clunky, which seems to be the real weak spot of the show thus far. It handles pacing and tension and fluid camera work like a boss, but it just can't seem to figure out action yet.
The three are thrown into a cell and reunited with Barbara. Ian asks Barbara if she noticed anything that could help them, but all she can say is they don't seem to have any furniture. Fucking fantastic, Barbara.
when you nutted but he still running.
The editing of this quick action is pretty clunky, which seems to be the real weak spot of the show thus far. It handles pacing and tension and fluid camera work like a boss, but it just can't seem to figure out action yet.
But what if they're a race of Kenny Bakers?
Barbara begins to speculate that the Daleks aren't simply machines, but wonders if there is something inside them. Despite Susan laughing at the idea and Ian's disinterest, I'm inclined to put my money on Barbara. Even though the male character's of this show illustrate a run-of-the-mill sexism in their unwillingness to believe women, the women are constantly right about their intuitions and observations. It certainly makes an interesting balance of attitudes and it would be too simplistic to call the show itself sexist.
As the team talks about radiation poisoning the camera moves through a surveillance system to reveal those sneaky Daleks listening in to their conversation.
They have a mostly inaudible conversation about a whole slew of things. I think they say something about Thals? Then they drag the Doctor in for questioning.
I'd like to pause for a second to mention some observations on the series as a whole thus far. Despite the evident technical and narrative superiority of this serial compared to the last, there are some striking similarities that I hope don't become a pattern for the whole season. Take a look:
- Both the Cave People and the Daleks all look the same.
- Both the Cave People and the Daleks speak in slooooow monotones.
- Both the Cave People and the Daleks mistake the four for an enemy group.
The Doctor is clearly confused by their accusations. He asks them to explain, and for whatever reason the hyper-paranoid surveillance nazi machines acquiesce and in a full on Bond villain moment, they spill the beans. The Dalek tells him that 500 years ago there were two races inhabiting the planet, the Daleks and the Thals. After the neutronic war the Daleks retreated into this city while most of the Thals were wiped out. The Dalek says that the Thals that still exist must be "disgustingly mutated" and survive through drugs.
The Doctor determines that the metal case they found outside the TARDIS was a case of the very drugs they mentioned. He convinces them to let one member of the party go back to the TARDIS to get medicine, to which they agree.
Back in the cell we get a montage of women helping men walk:
Oh for god's sake, Barbara, just hold it so I can pee.
The Doctor tells them the plan, featuring another of his golden line flubs: "It's possible they may have been anti-radiation gloves.....drugs."
It's immediately evident that the Doctor is too weak to go fetch the drugs, especially if hideous mutants are roaming the countryside. The next choice is apparently Ian, but his legs are still out of action. What follows is perhaps the most ridiculous sequence in the show thus far: for an unseemly amount of time Ian loudly INSISTS that he go or that everyone waits until his legs work again. It's kind of embarrassing.
Not even on crutches.
Dalek: "There are others"
Ian: "Damn you man, can't you see they're just women."
Also, notice Barbara takes this exact moment to suddenly feel ill. Oh that's ok Barbara, we'll send the fucking child into the mutant forest.
This is all a long way to get to the point that for (mostly) legit reasons Susan has to be the one to go. But she really, really doesn't want to. And who can blame her? It was the conviently passed out Doctor who got them in this mess. And Susan warned them about people in the forest, but no one believed her. What's more is Ian pulls man rank on Susan and continues to insist he go, but Susan tells him that he couldn't unlock the TARDIS, but in a classic bro move he continues to insist he can. Seriously, Ian? You suddenly know more about the TARDIS than Susan?
But flip-flopper Ian, the guy who moments ago suggested women could never do this task, is now himself tasked with giving Susan the ole' chest out, stomach in pep talk.
Perhaps I'm being unfair here. The desperation that ensues when the group realizes that Susan must go it alone is palpable.
After Susan agrees and is taken out by the Dalek we cut back to their surveillance room where we discover that their plan is to let the four die of radiation poisoning and use the drugs to duplicate more for themselves.
The following jungle sequence is weird. The filmmakers use a lot of different effects to create a sequence of Susan running through the jungle at night during a lightning storm. There are tight model shots, quick pans of the set, and more running in place. It has the overall effect of creating a strange studio dreamscape, which I'm all about.
At one point Susan sees something offscreen and screams and at another we see what appears to big a lumbering blanket. The shot was too quick for me to get a decent screengrab, but here you go anyway:
Perhaps this is the grotesque mutant Thals we've been hearing so much about.
She makes it to the TARDIS and once in she cuddles the medicine like a metal baby.
The look on her face says she's seriously considering ditching those people. Can you blame her? The Doctor's a prick who continuously gets them into life-threatening trouble. Ian's a showboat and Barbara's, well, I'd go back for Barbara. The episode ends with her facing the open TARDIS door, looking out on the dreamscape jungle.
This is another solid episode with a few hiccups here and there. And that is not meant as a complaint. I don't think older shows are somehow lesser because they're not as tight. In fact, the slack sometimes gives the show room to experiment and often results in some of its most sublime moments. And this episode has quite a few: the first shot of the Daleks, the drama of Susan's plight, and as always the performances are great.
But the weird chivalry shit is dull, not because its sexist per se, but because it's so unmotivated. Susan is a fucking traveler of both time and space. Who are you, Ian? A goddamn science teacher.
UP NEXT: The Daleks Part 3
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