Day 15 — January 15th 2021
The Bride of Sacrifice and The Day of Darkness
The Bride of Sacrifice (The Aztecs — Episode Three)
Fair play, it’s pretty bold naming the entire episode after a character who only appears in a single pre-recorded scene.
Cor, I’ll tell you what; this is about as close to a ‘perfect’ episode of Doctor Who that I think you’re likely to get. I’ve proper loved it. All of the regulars get plenty to do, with key ‘character’ moments for each of them, and there’s still time to give the guest cast decent material too.
Barbara continues to be the heart of the story, and so it’s fitting that she gets the first truly great moment of the episode — grabbing a knife and holding Tlotoxl captive to get out of the cliffhanger. I feel like I should be saying ‘I don’t like the idea of a companion using violence in that way’, but god it’s good to watch. I’ve said in the past that Barbara is my favourite of the brilliant original companions, and it’s moments like this that only serve to enhance that opinion.
It’s no wonder the Aztecs think she’s a goddess, because I sure as hell do.
She gets another brilliant scene later on, arguing with Ian. I was going to quote some of it here, but I genuinely can’t choose which bit I’d want to use, and it’s far too long to simply replicate the entire thing. It’s so carefully written, taking us from Ian warning Barbara about Tlotoxl, to a full blown row about how she’s blinded herself to the reality of their situation, through to her relenting and sharing a touching moment with her friend.
It’s a crying shame that we’ve only got one more script from Lucarotti to come, because I’ve really noticed this time around how much he brings to the series, and to the characters. In my head, I’ve always thought of the original TARDIS crew — Ian and Barbara, at least — having so much character, and thinking that as the series becomes a bit of a revolving door through the rest of the 60s, that role gets watered down to ‘What’s that, Doctor?’. But what I’m realising now is that all that extra depth is brought almost entirely by the cast in most stories, and it’s only Lucarotti who really helps.
Of course, Doctor Who gets plenty to do today, too, by accidentally getting himself engaged to Cameca.
It’s a moment that gets talked about often with regards to The Aztecs because it shows up the lie that his character didn’t become romantic until the 90s.
Hartnell plays this relationship as genuinely falling in love, and it’s brilliant to watch. It then leads to one of my favourite moments in the whole episode;
Ian: ‘Where did you get hold of this?’
Doctor Who: ‘My fiancé.’
Ian:’ I see. Your what?’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes, I made some cocoa and got engaged. Don’t giggle, my boy, It’s neither here nor there.’
Both Hartnell and Russell play the scene brilliantly, and you get the sense that Doctor Who and Ian have become genuine friends by this point.
I think the best Doctor Who episodes are the ones which successfully balance the action and threat with humour, and this episode manages to get it spot on with little touches like this.
And then there’s Susan. Once again she’s confined to a single scene pre-filmed before Carole Ann Ford went off on holiday, but it’s an important one, and it’s one of the rare occasions where she’s given something to actually play, rather than being forced to scream and whine. We can take it as read that her disgust at being promised as a wife comes from the experience she watched Ping-Cho go through a few episodes back, and it’s lovely to see her given some material for a change.
I could carry on raving about this episode all day, and I’d end up listing pretty much every moment from it. I’ve not even discussed the poisoning scene — another belter of a performance from Jaqueline Hill — or the brilliant cliffhanger.
There’s only one possible score for today; a full on 10/10.
The Day of Darkness (The Aztecs — Episode Four)
There’s very little I can say about this episode without simply continuing my raving from the last. It’s another one which absolutely sings, and everything I loved in The Bride of Sacrifice — the dialogue, the performances, the little moments of levity among moments of darkness — remains present and correct.
I’m surprised by just how downbeat the ending is, and I’m not sure I ever really noticed it before. Barbara manages to change nothing. If anything, she’s made things worse by driving Autloc out into the wilderness, leaving Tlotoxl free to take charge. No doubt there’ll be a lot more sacrifices in the wake of the TARDIS’ departure. And then there’s Cameca, left broken hearted by Doctor Who’s cold farewell. I’d hate for our heroes to win every week, so it’s lovely to see an ending like this, but I’m amazed by it all the same.
What’s nice is that it’s not bleakness for the sake of it. For all the sadness, it leads to some beautiful scenes like the final summing up between Doctor Who and Barbara;
Barbara: ‘We failed.’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes, we did. We had to.’
Barbara: ‘What’s the point of travelling through time and space if we can’t change anything? Nothing. Tlotoxl had to win.’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes.’
Barbara: ‘And the one man I had respect for, I deceived. Poor Autloc. I gave him false hope and in the end he lost his faith.’
Doctor Who: ‘He found another faith, a better, and that’s the good you’ve done. You failed to save a civilisation, but at least you helped one man.’
It’s a lovely counterpoint to their argument in The Temple of Evil, and once again the cast are really raising their game to match the quality of the script. You don’t get performances like this in The Keys of Marinus with good reason.
I’m pleased to say that one of the few niggles I had with earlier episodes is even fixed today’ the painted backcloth of the Aztec city works much better in the film sequence of Ian and Ixta’s fight than it does in the studio. Once again it’s time to me to mention how much I wish all of Doctor Who had been shot on film.
If I had to pick a favourite moment from today then it’s Doctor Who leaving the temple, setting down his gift from Cameca… and then snatching it back. It’s a rare moment of real emotion, and it works beautifully. If I’ve one complaint then it’s that the episode should have ended there, with Doctor Who stepping into the TARDIS.
There’s a beautiful shot of Hartnell at the controls of the ship, which turns up in The Day of the Doctor with good reason, but the final scenes set inside the TARDIS are fairly superfluous and definitely aren’t up to the quality of the rest of the episode. I’m sure I’ll discuss my thoughts on them as part of tomorrow’s entry.
So very nearly perfect, and I’ll be going with a 9/10 for today.
