Day 219 — August 7th 2021
The Masque of Mandragora Parts Three and Four
The Masque of Mandragora — Part Three
This is one of those times where I wonder if I was just being a bit grumpy yesterday, because I’ve found lots to enjoy with this story in this episode. The big thing that’s standing out to me here is the dialogue, and I shamefully don’t think I gave that a second thought in the opening two episodes. I’ve praised the locations and the set design and they’re always the things that people reach for when saying how good the BBC are at costume dramas. It means you tend to overlook the fact that the writing on them is generally pretty top notch, too, because it’s a lot easier to write than the high-flying science fiction nonsense.
I wonder if that’s the other reason that this episode has held up so well for me? Aside from the cliffhanger reveal of the glowing orb in place of Hieronymous’ face this one doesn’t really have a lot to do with science fiction. It’s far more about court intrigue and satanic cults. It gives the characters room to grow and develop, and it’s made the dialogue so much richer as a result, because they’re saying real things rather than babbling on about the Mandragora Helix. I’m especially fond of Doctor Who’s comforting words to Giuliano as they enter the temple;
Doctor Who: ‘You’re not afraid, are you?’
Giuliano: ‘Afraid? Oh, no.’
Doctor Who: ‘That’s funny. Most people would be. Come on.’
They’ve spent so long lately on this incarnation’s ‘Olympian Detachment’ that I can’t think of many other little human moments like this with Baker’s Doctor Who — aside from perhaps a couple with his companions. It feels rare that he’s so friendly with the guest cast, and that probably goes a long way towards making me warm to them, too.
While I’m sure that I’m reading too much into things, I think some of the guest characters are given a bit more of a life beyond what we see on screen, too. I very much read Giuliano and Marco as being in love with each other, and I’m fairly certain that it’s the intention of the story, too. The Duke is given some lengthy chats with Sarah Jane, but unlike almost every time they paired Jo off with a man he doesn’t seem especially interested in her in that way. Compare that to Marco’s refusal to betray Giuliano while chained up in the dungeon… I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch, and it makes it all feel so much more alive as a result.
Something I have noticed with this episode though is that we’re back to that slightly awkward thing of the story having no roles for women outside of Sarah Jane. There’s a couple of women in the town while Doctor Who makes his escape in Part Two, and I’m sure some more must show up in other location footage, but none of them have any lines or real involvement in the story. It’s a tale of grizzly old men plotting against each other. It strikes me as surprising, because surely someone should have suggested giving the Mandragora Helix a female voice? Just something to tip the balance a bit.
Still, for all my complaining, some of the grizzly old men in this one have the best dialogue in the story. Hieronymous and Federico are especially good value now that they’ve stopped working together and are instead locked in a battle of the egos;
Hieronymous: ‘Intrigues are brewing. Plots are being prepared. You are
in great danger.’
Federico: ‘The only plots, Hieronymous, are mine, and they are going well.’
I could watch these two bickering with each other all day long. As the conversation goes on, it reveals that the story isn’t without a streak of humour, although it seems to have only really developed in this third episode;
Hieronymous: ‘It is written that a blow will be struck against you here, in the palace. You must bring your guards here to protect your noble person.’
Federico: ‘You try my patience, Hieronymous. You can no more tell the stars than you can tell my chamber pot. Go. Get out of my sight!’
I can’t let this episode pass without making mention of one of the strangest parts of it — Doctor Who realises that Sarah has been hypnotised because she asks why she can understand Italian. Now I have no issue with the idea that the TARDIS translates all languages for our regulars (and for us), and I think it’s just an accepted part of the format that you just go along with it. It’s not something I’ve ever thought to question before now. But are you really telling me that Sarah Jane has never thought to bring it up before? She’s a journalist! It’s just such an odd thing to slip in, especially when it would be so easily fixed. If Doctor Who had said he realised because Sarah already knew the answer I’d have bought it, but this? Bizarre!
Anyway, things are looking up. I’m going with a 7/10 for this one, and as much as I’ve said this episode works all the better for leaving out almost all of the science fiction, the cliffhanger is a belter, so it gives me hope for the final episode…
The Masque of Mandragora — Part Four
For all my talk last episode about how eschewing the Sci-Fi elements and focussing in on history makes this a better story, I’ve really enjoyed this episode, and it’s full of scientific gobbledegook! I think it helps that we finally get an explanation of exactly what the Mandragora Helix is trying to do in 15th century Italy;
Hieronymous: ‘Had it not been you, there would have been other travellers drawn into Mandragora Helix. Earth had to be possessed. Unchecked, man’s curiosity might lead him away from this planet until ultimately the galaxy
might not contain him, and we of Mandragora will not allow a rival power
within our domain.’
Doctor Who: ‘Well, you see, that’s a great pity because I can’t allow you to interfere with Earth’s progress.’
Until now I’ve been a bit baffled about what, exactly, the helix is and what it’s trying to do. I grasped the idea that it had dragged the TARDIS in so it could reach Earth, but then… what? They wanted to give Hieronymous some special powers just for a laugh? It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, and nor did the fact that the Helix had already been on Earth before. I think I’ve got the hang of that now — the Helix can travel to Earth when the galaxy is in the right position, but it’s a rare and slow process. When it ‘swallows the moon’ in a lunar eclipse it’s actually the constellations falling into a position which will let it travel through. We also get a description of how the Helix will achieve domination, and it’s an interesting break from the usual invasion;
Doctor Who: ‘Nonsense? It isn’t nonsense, miss. Just you remember what Hieronymous did to you. Mandragora doesn’t conquer in the physical sense. It dominates and controls by Helix energy, astral force. It takes away from man the only thing worth having.’
Sarah: ‘Which is?’
Doctor Who: ‘Well, a sense of purpose, what else? The ability granted to every intelligent species to shape its own destiny. Once let Mandragora gain control, and man’s ambition wouldn’t stretch beyond the next meal. It’ll turn you into sheep. Idle, mindless, useless sheep.’
I wish we’d had some of these explanations right back in Part One, so I could have a grasp on what’s at stake as the adventure unfolds. I don’t think it would be too difficult to make work, either. You could have the Helix tell Doctor Who that it wants to go to Earth when the TARDIS gets caught, and Doctor Who refusing. Then when they get to Earth and realise it’s hitched a ride anyway he tells Sarah Jane why it’s so imperative that they stop the thing — you can even use the exact same explanation quoted above, because it’s fab. I just think that if I’d had a better grasp on what was happening from the start I’d have found a lot more to enjoy in the first half of the story.
I even love that there’s an explanation for why this story takes place when it does, and it’s put beautifully;
Doctor Who: ‘What better place than fifteenth century Italy?’
Sarah: ‘Yes, but why the fifteenth century?’
Doctor Who: ‘Because it’s the period between the dark ages of superstition
and the dawn of a new reason.’
That’s such a brilliant idea, and I’m amazed that we’ve not seen Doctor Who try to do more with the idea of averting the Enlightenment. It’s especially fun because alien threats in an historical setting always feel special because they’re still something of a rare commodity in the show at this point.
While I’m on the subject of the alien threat itself, I do wish they’d made more of the hooded figures with faces of glowing light. It made for a great cliffhanger to Part Three, but the effect is better achieved during the reveal at the masque in this episode. Here it looks more like the light is filling the robes than simply being an effect overlaid onto the image, and it’s such a great idea. I want to see more of the Brethren tearing off their masks to reveal the horror beneath.
And on the subject of things I wish they’d done more with, Robert James is in the cast for this one — making his first Doctor Who appearance since his brilliant turn as Lesterson in The Power of the Daleks — but he’s given hardly anything to do! He turns up for a few scenes here and there, but largely contributes nothing to the story. I’ve said before that I love when actors from the 1960s show up again and that it always feels a bit special, so it’s a shame to see such a good actor wasted on such a nothing role. The rest of the cast are all pretty brilliant in this one, too, and I feel like I’ve grown to appreciate them more the longer the story has gone on.
All things considered the resolution of the story was perhaps a little easy — and I’m still not entirely sure what Doctor Who did or how he took control, but I don’t really mind because it was a lot of fun to watch, and Tom Baker seems to be having an absolute ball. He’s back in full grinning mode in this episode, and that’s always the best version of his Doctor Who.
And it ends with the perfect set up for a rematch with the Helix;
Sarah: ‘Will [Giuliano] have any more trouble from Mandragora?’
Doctor Who: ‘No, he won’t, but the Earth will. Their constellation will be in position to try again in about five hundred years.’
Sarah: ‘Five hundred years... That takes us to just about the end of the
twentieth century!’
Doctor Who: ‘That’s right. Now that was an interesting century.’
Sarah: ‘What do you mean, was?’
Of course they picked up threads of this in The Sarah Jane Adventures, with Sarah Jane encountering a presence from the stars in the second season. The original story idea featured the return of the Helix, but the idea was changed as the story progressed, and so it became the ‘Ancient Lights’ instead. But I like to think that they might still be one and the same. In the Doctor Who Magazine special covering the story, Russell T Davies suggests that the pair are ‘distant cousins’, and also suggests that the Helix would have to be defeated too easily… which is strange given how quickly Doctor Who polishes it off here!
I’m going with an 8/10 for this one, and I think I’ll be adding it to the list of stories I want to rewatch once this marathon is over. Going in knowing what the Helix is and how it works might mean I appreciate the early stages of this story a bit more than I did on this occasion.
