PART 2 of 3
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Colin Teague
“And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more, and I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all and I thought it… good.”
First…a note on the solution to last week’s cliffhanger…hmm.
In one sense, I could see it coming. In another sense, it does seem extremely perfunctory.
I could be irritated (and I’ve readjusted Utopia’s rating as a result)…but really, in the end, not so much…because The Sound of Drums is…well…how shall I put it…
It was staggering!
It was staggering in its scope – the Master, in complete control of EVERYTHING. His naked ambition casting a shadow over Great Britain, and then the world. Watching the Doctor admit this…then running off into hiding…makes for powerful viewing.
This staggering scope stretches to the visuals – the UNIT aircraft carrier Valiant (the Brigadier would have loved it)…the Toclafane orbs…the first shot of Gallifrey in TWENTY YEARS…the BLOODY SKY RIPPING OPEN AND 6 BILLION BLOODY TOCLAFANE ORBS DESCENDING TO THE EARTH, DELIVERING DEATH! All hail Colin Teague, directing an episode of unusual camera angles, rich hues of colour, deep, dark shadows…and epic sights that will cause you to go cross-eyed!
Taking a breath…
Speaking of Gallifrey, there was staggering continuity porn on display. Delicious, glorious, mind-shredding continuity that was so deftly inserted into the episode that I wanted to cheer! UNIT, the Time Lords (the Gallifrey scenes raised the hairs on the back of my neck) and their citadel, the cloister bell, quotes from Logopolis (“peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully”)…all done to make older fans squee with delight…while new fans could fathom what was going on and STILL squee with awe & delight (Believe me, I know…I observed a pair of new, younger fans watching all of this with something akin to rapture).
Let’s spare a few words for the staggering John Simm…who could very well be the best Master since Roger Delgado first appeared on screen in 1971. Simm’s version actually gets off on hearing his name (the phone conversation with the Doctor is electric)…he seems to have discovered the joys of sex & marriage…he’s loopy, completely off his rocker…and he’s become the consumate, over-the-top showman. In essence, he has become a complete anti-Doctor: eating jelly babies, mocking the American President’s pretentiousness, believing in the reality of Teletubbies…a captivating, gripping, and (dare I say) hypnotic performance.
The regulars were also on top form. Tennant and Barrowman were their usual, magnificent selves (and I loved Jack’s revelation that he rebuilt Torchwood in the Doctor’s honour)…but the real plaudits should go to Freema Agyeman, who starts at level 10 and goes up from there. Her darker, vengeance-driven character is in-your-face in all the right ways…especially in telling off the Doctor when her family is put in danger. For the life of me, I still can’t understand why some elements of fandom continue to dislike Freema’s performance, especially after THIS episode.
“Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. Nice word…decimate.”
It all ends in the most STAGGERING of cliffhangers. The Doctor: captured, aged, at the Master’s mercy. Jack: completely helpless. Martha, on the run, vowing to return…and death raining down upon the Earth, backed by an extraordinary pop soundtrack that sticks in your head (and made even more creepy by the Master’s wife dancing along to the end of the world’s destructive beat).
Really, there’s not much more that I can say…other than hoping that they don’t screw this up in next week’s series finale. We don’t need a staggering mistake to harm the legacy of this breathless & bnlliant episode. Russell Davies has now attempted to destroy the Earth on three separate occasions…and this could well be the best of the bunch.
10
