Day 146 — May 26th 2021
The Mind of Evil Episodes Five and Six
The Mind of Evil — Episode Five
The titles have gone back to red! I don’t know if this is the first episode of Season Eight that’s happened on, but I was surprised when the titles for the first couple of episodes to this one were still pink, as I’d assumed that was just a Terror of the Autons thing. I have to admit that I quite like the pink version — they go a nice shade of blue underneath the Doctor Who logo which looks great too.
I’m pleased to say that the story has recaptured my attention with this episode. I wonder sometimes how much my mood on any given day affects how much I enjoy the episodes I’m watching. The first two parts of Mind of Evil scored decently enough, but yesterday’s two both left me bored. I know I was feeling quite tired yesterday (the hazard of having a toddler is that some nights sleep is a distant dream…) so I wonder if that played into things? I suppose I’ll find out in another eight years’ time when I watch this one again…!
But yes, much more up my street this one, so I’ll kick off by saying that it’s getting a 7/10. It helps that there was plenty of humour laced across these 25 minutes, in a way that’s felt curiously missing for some time. It’s not that the Pertwee years don’t have humour in them, they patently do, but I’ve not enjoyed an episode from a comedy standpoint this much since Troughton left the series.
Almost all my favourite little bits of laughter came curtesy of the Brigadier, who’s on fine form today. I love his mild irritation with Major Cosworth, shooting him sidewards glances as he interjects on the briefing. There’s something about that scene which wouldn’t feel out of place in The Office, and Nick Courtney (naturally) plays it brilliantly. And then there’s the Brig undercover, pretending to be working class delivering food to the prison as a cover for sneaking his soldiers through the gate. Again it’s down to Courtney that this works so well.
The absolute comedy highlight, though, is the Master being forced to wait for Doctor Who and Jo to finish their game of Draughts before they’ll talk to him. ‘Doctor, I…’ he begins, before Doctor Who holds up a finger, shushes him, and makes his move on the game board. I chuckled at that. Once the game has been played the Master tries again… only for Jo to do the same thing! Shushing him she makes her retaliation and clears the board. ‘Yes, well,’ Doctor Who concludes. ‘The trouble with this game is that it’s too simple’.
Oh God I hooted. I’d so not expected Jo to do that, so it caught me totally off-guard. I can’t remember the last time an episode of Doctor Who made me laugh as much as that.
It’s not all fun and games today, though. We also get another action sequence. Yesterday I complained a fair bit about the action scenes in this era already starting to feel formulaic and dull, so it’s like they’ve designed this one specifically to have me eat my words. It’s great watching UNIT storm the prison, and for the first time since The Invasion they feel like a fully-staffed competent outfit. There’s no excuses here about why there’s only four soldiers on hand, we’ve got loads of extras scrambling up walls and shooting the baddies.
We also get a really interesting shot early in the episode of the Brigadier in a helicopter. I say interesting because when the helicopter first appeared on screen I rolled my eyes and prepared to make a note about another recurring element in this era, but when we cut to the Brig sat inside it I realised just how rare that sight was, and how well it worked. Overall this is probably the best episode of the colour era so far when it comes to showing UNIT at work.
Even Mike Yates gets to be quite competent having been captured by the Master. He gets to make his escape and bring down one of the enemies in a rather good sequence.
So all is not lost — there’s still everything to play for, and I’m hoping The Mind of Evil can go out on a high note…
The Mind of Evil — Episode Six
This one has continued to entertain, and I’m going to be very boring because it’s for all the same reasons that Episode Five was an upswing for me. Specifically, again, it’s the humour. It’s nice to have Doctor Who and the Brigadier back together because when given dialogue and character as good as the material Don Houghton writes they’re unbeatable. Of course we get the famous ‘thank you, Brigadier. But do you think that for once in your life you could manage to arrive before the nick of time?’, but I was also particularly taken with their exchange in the Governor’s office later on;
Brigadier: ‘Did you get the Master?’
Benton: ‘Sorry, sir. He seems to have got away.’
Doctor Who: ‘What about the missile?’
Benton: ‘Well, we didn’t…’
Brigadier: ‘Isn’t it here?’
Doctor Who: ‘No.’
Brigadier: ‘Oh.’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes, well, apart from losing the Master and the missile, you’re doing very well, Brigadier.’
Benton gets in on the action today, too, getting to act very pleased with himself when appointed Acting Governor. It’s been something of a recurring theme in Houghton’s two stories — John Levene being given a little bit of business which he really shines with. Levene can get a lot of stick from Doctor Who fandom, but when you get to see moments like this you wonder why he’s not thought of more fondly.
We also then get a little hint of the kind of tension that cropped up in Season Seven — with Doctor Who telling the Brigadier what to do and the Brig making plans behind our heroes back. It feels like a very real relationship, and as with Doctor Who and the Silurians it’s not hard to see the Brigadier’s stance on events.
The final confrontation between Doctor Who and the Master in this one is another example of just how lacking Terror of the Autons was in that regard. For starters it’s shot on location and on film which automatically lends it an air of spectacle, but it’s also just a bit more interesting than the chat they had in the lab in the last story;
The Master: ‘I think I should warn you that my [missile] is aimed and ready to fire. I just have to press the requisite button.’
Doctor Who: ‘That’s very clever. My word, you have done well.’
The Master: ‘Shall we get on with it? Did you bring the circuit with you?’
Doctor Who: ‘Oh, yes. Here.’
The Master: ‘May I examine it, please?’
Doctor Who: ‘How do I know that you won’t take the circuit and fire the missile anyway?’
The Master: ‘I’m afraid you don’t. You’ll just have to trust me this once.’
Doctor Who: ‘No. I don’t think so.’
And I absolutely love the Master phoning up to let Doctor Who know that he’s survived. This is the point where it really becomes a game between them, and it’s almost a shame going in to this knowing that he’ll be showing up again tomorrow — I feel like we could do with a bit of a gap before he returns.
Overall The Mind of Evil has been a bit frustrating. Some great ideas and some brilliant dialogue, but it seriously sags in the middle. A 6/10.
