Apologies for the delay. This has been almost-finished for weeks. For upcoming installments I'm going to play around with a different format, maybe less play by play synopsis and more impressionistic notes.
The final episode of the serial begins with Hunky Brother running to Ian's help as Chicken Shit dangles over the crevasse. "It's too smooth!" he yells as his grip begins to slip. Before Hunky Brother can do much of anything, Chicken Shit pulls out a knife a cuts the rope, saving Ian but falling to his death.
Turns out he wasn't a coward after all.
The sequence lingers on Ian and Hunky Brother's face, contemplating the toll of this expedition.
a great tracking shot btw.
We then cut to a rather brief Dalek sequence that gives us the Doctor and Susan chained to the wall. The Doctor and a Dalek are talking over each other about finding another way instead of radiating the entire planet, but the only discernible dialogue is in a close up of the Doctor's face as he mumbles about "senseless, evil killing!"
Back in the cave we realize that the party is down to four people: Ian, Barbara, Hunky Brother, and a plus one Thal. Hunky is ready to throw in the towel and they seem to have reached a dead end, meaning they'll have to recross the crevasse. A heated argument about Chicken Shit dying for nothing breaks out, but Ian insists he died for them. Their lamp begins to flicker and they turn it off to save power, which reveals a light source into the cave.
psst. hey kid, wanna travel space and time?
They find it and peek through into none other than the Dalek's own water treatment plant.
Back on the other side of the city Alydon and Foxy discuss the Doctor. Apparently he succeeded in knocking out the power of the radio or static or something (it's not entirely clear), but his absence means he must have been captured.
Alydon determines the time to attack is now! He gives a rousing speech: "We may be farmers but have we forgotten how to fight?!" Then answer: yes, Alydon, jesus that's what the last two episodes were literally about.
Back in the Dalek control room the Doctor tries to make a bargain for his and Susan's life (it's still uncertain why the Daleks wouldn't have killed them already). He tells them about the TARDIS and their ability to travel through time and space, but the Daleks don't believe it. The Doctor points out the fluid link as proof of the technology, to which the Daleks simply say they will wait until everyone is dead and then go examine the TARDIS.
The Doctor tells them that without him they'll never figure it out, but the Dalek responds: "Every problem has a solution." This exchange, though brief, is one of the best of the serial with the Daleks. It really gets to the heart of how both the Doctor and the Daleks think and frames their struggle as one of humanist improvisation and the death-cult of unfeeling pragmatism.
The scene ends with the Daleks being made aware that the Thals have breached the city.
From here on out things get chaotic in the best possible way. We follow the frantic advancing of Ian, Barbara, and the Thals as well as the confusion of the Daleks within the control room.
We cut to Ian and company moving through the old familiar hallways of the Dalek city. Barbara says that all the hallways look alike, a clever reflection on the economic production design of reusing the same set over and over again, but hey it works.
Back inside said control room we're treated to a show of Ian smashing a camera from the perspective of the screen.
The Daleks bark orders to unseen armies, directing troops from their command center. We learn the last stages of their operation are about to begin. The Doctor desperately pleads with them not to kill everything on the planet.
Ian and company fortuitously cross paths with Alydon. The plan is now to find the control room and knock it out, but just as this is said the Daleks start sealing off corridors with heavy metal doors.
We get a quick shot of Dalek confusion (for some reason).
And then back to those sealing doors. Barbara is fixin' to be crushed by one, but it seems the doors can be halted with force.
Quick cut back to the Daleks who are now counting down from the thirties.
Following this is an incredible 180 degree pan of the control room, beginning with the dead Thal, through some Daleks, and ends by looking down a long hallway with Ian and company sneaking their way in. All the while the countdown to radiation continues.
Once Ian and Alydon make their way into the control room the ensuing battle gets pretty frantic.
They free the Doctor and Susan. Barbara hurls a rock at a Dalek. Some Thals get zapped. Some Thals jump on Daleks, others knock them down. In the chaos the countdown stops and the power source of the radiation meltdown is destroyed, which also immobilizes all of the Daleks.
This is followed by a startling quiet and a survey of the damage. The frantic editing serves the fight scenes well here. In the past this has lead to incoherent confrontations, but here it is used deliberately to reflect the chaos of multiple characters involved in frantic life or death struggle.
The serial concludes back in the forest near the TARDIS. The Thals are eating while the Doctor works on some machinery. Alydon asks where the Doctor comes from and if he'll stay, prompting a short monologue in close up:
"You wanted advice, you said. I never give it. Never. But I might just say this to you: always search for truth. My truth is in the stars and yours is here." Translation: I'm gonna explore space and time, make do with this shit-hole, loser.
We're then treated to a series of final words, gifts, and goodbyes. The Doctor shakes Alydon's hand and Barbara and Hunky Brother share a tender moment. He gives her some material for a dress and kisses her hand, by Barbara goes in for the full french. She's a lady who knows what she wants. They enter the TARDIS and it disappears.
Inside the TARDIS the Doctor runs around the console pulling levers and hitting buttons. There's a loud disconcerting sound and the four fall down as if struck by something.
UP NEXT: The Edge of Destruction Part 1, "The Edge of Destruction"
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