Day 305 — November 1st 2021
Enlightenment Parts Three and Four
Enlightenment — Part Three
I don’t know if it’s just part of being a Doctor Who fan, but I’m always expecting the worst. Yesterday was a great day, with both episodes scoring 9/10 in a story I wasn’t expecting much from. I found loads to enjoy, from the writing to the direction and the performances. And yet I woke up this morning and found myself thinking that it was probably all going to go downhill once we reached Captain Wrack’s ship, because it had to fall apart somewhere.
Enlightenment might prove to be the story where I learn to just enjoy things a little more, because while I feel as though I’ve been watching this episode looking for faults, I’ve actually really enjoyed it again. All the things I’ve enjoyed about the previous pair of episodes are still there, but switching up the setting and shifting across to a different ship helps to keep the whole thing fresh. We’re given a completely new set of guest characters who’ll take us into the rest of the story, and that’s exciting.
That’s not to say that we don’t continue to get great material out of the characters we’ve already met. Marriner is probably one of my favourite characters in a while — he manages to be incredibly creepy while also not actually doing anything especially evil. Christopher Brown really sells me on the idea that he simply doesn’t know how to talk to an ‘Ephemeral’ like Tegan. Janet Fielding continues to shine in this episode, too, finally given some great material to work with. I think I’ve a better handle on the character of Tegan from these few episodes than I’ve gotten from the two seasons leading up to them.
I also love the completely oblivious reaction that Doctor Who gives to her gorgeous outfit for the party. The casual shrug is in keeping with his missing Nyssa’s new look in Snakedance, and it feels like a fitting trait for this incarnation. He simply hasn’t got any interest. I know John Nathan-Turner was dead against ‘hanky panky in the TARDIS’, and while I don’t usually agree with that point, I’m finding it fun here. I also enjoy the running gag of Davison flipping a coin to choose the direction he’ll head in — I think this is the third time we’ve seen him do it, but I’ve never noticed it as a ‘thing’ his Doctor Who does before.
I’ve not really had very much to say about Turlough yet since he showed up, but I think this story is proving to be a strong one for him, too. I love his coming face-to-face with Wrack, and the way she teases him about his divided loyalties;
Turlough: ‘Why ask? I thought you could all read minds.’
Captain Wrack: ‘But yours is such a devious one. It’s fascinating. I should
like to peel it away, layer by layer.’
I’m not convinced that having a character trying — and failing — to kill Doctor Who for twelve consecutive episodes was a great idea. It’s certainly interesting and different, but it does make Turlough look a bit rubbish every time he has to call for the Black Guardian to come and help him again. The other problem is that it makes Doctor Who look a bit silly for having not noticed what’s going on. That issue gets fixed a bit with this story, in which it’s made clear that Doctor Who either does know what’s going on or has a very strong inkling.
There’s one place that I don’t think this story is very good, and that’s the cliffhangers. It’s more the execution of them than the actual concepts. I moaned that the revelation of the ships being in space during Part One was a little rushed, and watching this episode I think I can say that Part Two bodges the final moments, too. There, we end with a close up on Doctor Who’s face as Turlough makes to jump overboard. It’s a fine moment, but I think it would have been even more striking to end on the visual of Turlough drifting off into space, which we get at the beginning of this episode. It’s one of the most striking images the show has presented in ages, and I’m a bit baffled that they didn’t make it the cliffhanger.
8/10
Enlightenment — Part Four
Ooh, I knew Turlough would come good in the end! I mean, he sort of had to given that he’ll be around for another season yet, but there’s still something really exciting about watching him make the choice and destroy the Black Guardian. When I think about Enlightenment, it’s this final sequence that I picture, with the two Guardians facing each other down across the table, so I’m surprised to discover that it only accounts for about five minutes at the very end of the story. All the same it’s a great sequence, and I’ve enjoyed it considerably more than I was expecting to.
I spoke a bit during Part Three about how Turlough was a tough sell as a character, but I think the amount of joy I felt when he makes his choice shows just how much I’ve warmed to him already. A lot of that is down to Mark Strickson putting in a great performance — he’s probably the most skilled companion actor of this era. There’s so many little moments in there which make the character feel rounded, and there’s a point, when he’s in the chamber, where I genuinely thought he might turn against Doctor Who… even though I know he doesn’t! That’s skill.
It’s helped along by the quality of the writing. I believe everything that’s going on here far more than I usually would, and certainly more than I have for a lot of the rest of this era. I long for a world in which Barbara Clegg wrote the entire Black Guardian trilogy for this season, because I think it would have held together far stronger with this kind of characterisation throughout. It even retroactively gives a reason for Doctor Who not intervening when he suspects Turlough is under the control of the Black Guardian; he wants the boy to make the choice for himself.
Tegan continues to be well served in this episode, and I think in future it’s going to be her relationship with Marriner which stands out to me, far more than any of the stuff with the Guardians. This episode goes to great lengths to spell out just how detached the Eternals are from anything we would call life. Doctor Who describes them as ‘empty nothings’, and I think Christopher Brown in particular really sells that concept. There’s a wonderful moment early on where he tried to profess his love for Tegan before admitting that he doesn’t know what that is, and then there’s the great exchange when she thinks Doctor Who has been killed;
Tegan: ‘Is the Doctor dead?’
Captain Striker: ‘I don’t know.’
Marriner: ‘The sparkle has gone from your mind. There are only grey shadows there. I see grief. What is grief?’
It’s testament to how good the writing and performances have been that when Marriner is banished back to eternity at the end I felt sorry for him, in spite of having spent the entire story putting the creeps on Tegan. Doctor Who doesn’t often move me to genuine emotion, but it’s always good when it does.
The other thing which I think will stand out about this story when I look back on it is the striking visuals. They’re the kind of thing which would have stuck in my head as a kid. This final episode gives us a load more, including the sailors being forced to walk the plank into the void of space, Wrack’s face splitting like the crystal as she tries to blow up Striker’s ship, and the sight of the finishing line, glowing in space.
If I’ve one complaint to make here then it’s one of my own making. There’s a load of photos taken for this story which show Wrack and NAME taking Doctor Who captive in the TARDIS, and I was looking forward to adding them to my list of guest characters in the TARDIS. Sadly it doesn’t happen on screen so it doesn’t count (but hey, Lynda Baron still working, maybe Big Finish can plug the gap?)
I’m ending on another 9/10. Enlightenment may not have been the diamond, but this story is definitely a gem.
