The second part of the Infernal Devices box set, A Thing Of Guile starts off slow and unassuming, but reveals its brilliance over the course of the story.
WRITTEN BY
Phil Mulryne, who also wrote the opening story of The Churchill Years(based on Ian McNeice's interpretation of Winston Churchill in Series 5) and a few Fifth Doctor stories.
PLOT
After saving the universe from the Horned Ones and foiling the Time Lords' misguided experiments, the War Doctor has become a prisoner of Cardinal Ollistra, who uses an electronic leash to ensure his allegiance whilst they investigate a secret Dalek base concealed from Dalek High Command itself...
ANALYSIS
When I first started this episode, I was quite surprised at how little it engaged me. The characters were needlessly sniping at one another(a major pet peeve of mine), the main plot seemed like a rehash of the earlier box set and the Trojan war horse analogy reminded me of Moffat's writing(his love for creepy poetry).
It slowly became more and more interesting as we explored the asteroid and discovered the Daleks' renegade experiments(a clever reflection of the previous story) and then... the twist: the characters were MEANT to not get along pointlessly all along, because they were affected by Ollistra's psychic weapon, the Anima Device.
To others, this may seem like an interesting twist, but to me, it was akin to Darth Vader's "No, I am your father." It instantly brought back all the memories of Clara and Twelve in Series 8, and any old modern day blockbuster, and rolled the trope on its head.
And it of course helps, that the actual Dalek storyline(when we finally get to it) is also very interesting and rooted deep in classic Dalek lore.
CHARACTERS
John Hurt almost reminded me of Jon Pertwee's Doctor in this, with all the moralising and complaining. But apart from the Anima Device's effects, I was quite surprised that the War Doctor chose to spare the long-suffering Kaled mutant when he begged for death. I'm sorry for sounding insensitive, but it seems to me like euthanisation would not be out of this incarnation's vocabulary.
The relationship between the War Doctor and Cardinal Ollistra grows ever more interesting. Here, the Doctor finds himself her prisoner, not ally, and it becomes more obvious how differently they approach fighting the Time War. Their acidic rivalry is one of my favourite things about this series and the way they keep surprising one another keeps the storyline constantly unpredictable and interesting. Jacqueline Pearce is of course, no stranger to conniving, villainous performances as her stint on Blake's 7(which I've yet to see) will prove.
Captain Solex and Co-ordinator Jared from the previous story sort of take the companion role in this story, in the sense that they(and Ollistra) travel with the Doctor in this adventure. We also learn more about them and get a better sense of them as noble Time Lords twisted in different ways by the War: Jared devolves into a bitter coward(the Doctor defends him after his death by saying that as a bureaucrat, he shouldn't have been on the battlefield in the first place).
Solex of course abandons morality in favor of survival, as his actions with the Technomancers proved. Here, he too shines in a more positive light as his discovery of the Daleks' awful experiments finally breaks his denial of the Time Lords' darker side.
I also really liked Commander Trelon, played by Oliver Dimsdale. A Time Lord fan of the Doctor's, who really exemplified what that sort of character should be like: not Osgood, who becomes full of herself and wears his clothes, but someone who becomes a genuine down-to-Gallifrey hero following his teachings and sense of morality.
NOTES
*I'm getting really tired of all the "It's an Earth expression!" jokes.
*Why is the Doctor made a prisoner anyway? I mean, doesn't Ollistra recognise that he just saved the universe(including the Time Lords) from destruction?
*Perhaps it's due to the Anima Device, but the Doctor seems to show a remarkable lack of interest in the lives of those onboard the Tempest as the Daleks are attacking it. This may also be because of his hardened personality now, of course, but then he refuses to euthanise a Kaled mutant, so... I'm confused.
*Although most of the story was retroactively improved by the Anima Device(not to say saved), I still found one thing really bizarre: the story follows a sort of B-A-C format, where it starts off in the middle of action, then cuts to several hours back in time until we get caught up with events and then it cuts to the future. I mean, what's the point? Was it just for the teaser?
*Whilst it's understandable that the Doctor is sulking after being tied up with the artron leash, you'd still think he'd want to investigate the hidden, renegade Dalek base himself instead of letting Solex and Jared wander outside on their own whilst he hangs back in the TARDIS with Ollistra.
*You have to love the "Eldritch worms" living on the asteroids. What a name.
*Stasers can get "energy jams"? Really? That was the best you came up with?
*Where exactly do the crew of the Tempest transmat to when they flee the ship?
*Why on Earth would Trelon spitefully reveal to the Daleks that there are Time Lords on the asteroid?
*Since the characters become separated in the Dalek base, we get a lot of the "talking to him/herself for the audience's sake" trope.
*What exactly was the mutant Kaled made out of? I mean, he seemed to know everything about the Daleks and their experiments, so presumably he was once a Dalek, but in that case, why betray them and reveal everything to the Doctor? Surely he'd have some kind of leftover loyalty to his own race?
*Did the Doctor take the Anima Device from Ollistra in the end? Because leaving it in her hands would be extremely careless.
*During this review, I kept mis-writing the Anima Device as "the Anime Device". The latter sounds more horrifying to me.
CONTINUITY ADVISOR
1) During an argument with the Doctor, Ollistra reveals that the Anima Device is from the Omega Arsenal, at which point the Doctor says that some of those weapons should never be used. This is of course clever foreshadowing to The Day Of The Doctor, in which the War Doctor steals the Moment from the Arsenal. Not necessary, per se, but a natural tie-in regardless.
2) Solex complains that the Doctor ruined the Time Lords' scheme to resurrect their soldiers, which happened in the preceding story. A completely natural reference, given that it just happened.
3) Ollistra berates the Doctor for his actions on Vildar(planet, where the Doctor obtained the Annihilator from under the Time Lords' noses) and Aldriss(planet of the Technomancers). Same as the previous reference.
4) We hear the original staser sound effect from The Deadly Assassin. That's just great.
5) To make up for the gaps in Solex's history lessons, the Doctor quickly recaps the events of Genesis Of The Daleks. Makes sense, given the events of this story.
6) The Kaled mutant reveals that Dalek scientists are attempting to think outside of conventional Dalek wisdom. This was alluded to in Doomsday, with the creation of the Cult Of Skaro, though in that story, the Dalek High Command were responsible for it. So, I'm gonna put this reference in the back-burner to see if the next War Doctor stories do anything with it.
BEST QUOTE
Whilst not original to this story, the Doctor's quoting of Odyssey at the beginning and end of the story is a nice, macabre touch.
CONCLUSION
Slightly middling, but still of a very high quality of storytelling. I am definitely looking forward to what happens next.
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