In the
second episode of The Eye Of The Gorgon,
the boys are grabbed by the nuns (which is exactly as painful as that might
sound), while Sarah Jane and Maria have to look on helplessly as the latter’s
dad is turned to stone. In an efficient and economical bit of storytelling,
neither plot point is immediately resolved, meaning that the Impending Danger
That Will Destroy The World ™ is still hanging over the gang.
This
means that Joseph Millson doesn’t feature a great deal in this episode, even
though a number of people interact with his character – albeit through the
medium of his stone effigy (which leads one to wonder if actors who get
artistic depictions of themselves in a film or television programme, get to
take home the painting or garden gnome version). Juliet Cowan gets a
surprisingly moving scene in which she once again gets to hint at depths hidden
beneath the shallows.
When
Sarah Jane manages to confront the gang of nuns, she’s firmly told that what’s
going on is ‘salvation, not invasion’. This, and the vaguely catholic vibe of
the baddies this time round makes them look quite fundamentalist – their
methods stink, but they do seem to be acting selflessly for a higher purpose:
even their chanting isn’t evidence of any kind of mind control (well, no more
than any other church service). Somebody else who seems to be surprisingly in
control is Mr Smith: he sends Sarah Jane and Maria off on a wild talisman
chase, claiming that he doesn’t have enough information to save Alan from
irreversibly becoming stone. Later, when Alan is illogically revived, Mr Smith
is able to explain why. Such obstuffocation might become relevant later in the
season.
Even
if it isn’t foreshadowing the finale, Mr Smith’s delaying tactics do mean that
there are successfully three separate story strands as Sarah faces up to the
Wimples, the boys are playing escape room in the basement, and Maria resorts to
Plan Bea. Considering that all of that doesn’t even include the mild subplot
involving Maria’s parents, and is all neatly folded up within twenty five
minutes, it’s an instructive piece of narrative for anyone who thinks that
three companions is too many characters for an episodic sci-fi TV show (cough
cough).
The
Bea of Plan Bea is the ‘dotty old lady’ played by Phyllida Law. (She gets a
cheeky time travel reference – listen to the record she’s playing when Maria
comes to visit), and she has a chance to wear the talisman at the end, promoted
by Maria’s entirely logical but scientifically wonky theory that she could be
‘restored’ to an earlier version of herself in much the same way that her
father was. Perhaps surprisingly, the episode makes the correct and respectful
decision that Bea’s Alzheimer’s cannot be cured by sci-fi magic (a lesson that
the much more recent Class failed to
learn when dealing with not dissimilar territory), proving itself once again to
be a very mature stable partner to Doctor
Who. Indeed, what with the demonic chanting nuns, masked disfigured
villains and candlelit stone basements, with only a few tonal and aesthetic
adjustments, this could very easily be a story out of the classic era of Who, at least on the level of The Image Of The Fendhal.
There’s
a wordless gag involving Sarah Jane’s sonic lipstick (presumably The Doctor
never bothered to tell her it wouldn’t work on wood), and generally she gets to
do a bit more climbing and physical stuff than she has previously (no rolling
down a gentle incline this time round), and generally this a fast paced and
efficient two-parter that even manages to pull in a direct reference to Raiders Of The Lost Ark by the end. Keep
your eyes open; you might miss something.
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