The Rescue

The Powerful Enemy [Episode 1]

For the first time, an episode opens with a scene introducing us to the characters on the destination planet instead of immediately checking in on the TARDIS.

Hannah: Straight in on the action. I thought it would be more melancholy than this.

And indeed, as the TARDIS lands on the planet Dido, the Doctor seems rather out of sorts.

Hannah: He must be all messed up because Susan's gone.

The most poignant moment comes when the Doctor decides to explore the terrain and calls for Susan, moments before he remembers that she's not there anymore.

Hannah: Awwww! That's so sad!

When we see one of the natives, Koquillion, Hannah is a little taken aback by the spiky and intimidating (not to mention faintly ridiculous) costume.

Hannah: Oh. That's pleasant! They're very striking. Except that his mouth isn't moving when he talks.

The Doctor has been to Dido before and vouches for the friendliness of the locals; this claim is somewhat undermined when Koquillion pushes Barbara over a ledge.

Hannah: His wonderful friends have just thrown someone off a cliff.
Me: I think we can assume that's not one of his friends.

The Doctor is at a loss to explain what could have happened to change the Didonians, but Hannah knows the genre well enough to have a fair idea.

Hannah: Earthlings. Always Earthlings.

Barbara comes across a crashed ship where a young girl, Vicki, tells the story of how the entire crew were killed except for herself and the now crippled Bennett, both of whom are now being terrorised by Koquillion. The story ends with her sobbing into Barbara's arms.

Hannah: Another mopey child. It's almost as if Susan was back.
Me: You're very fickle, aren't you? You said you missed her yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Ian are a little preoccupied with balancing on a ledge above a pit full of sand beasts. Any sense of threat immediately evaporates for Hannah when she sees their faces in close-up.

Hannah: (laughing) Aw, how awful! It looks like they're made out of pipe cleaners!

And then...

Hannah: (laughing even harder) It's a person in a suit!

After the episode ends, Hannah notices something surprising on the DVD menu.

Hannah: Oh, there's only two episodes?
Me: Yes, why?
Hannah: It just seems like a really big story.

Desperate Measures [Episode 2]

Hannah is even less impressed with the creatures in the pit when she finally gets a good look at them.

Hannah: He's lying on the floor with his legs out like a mermaid. Or a shrimp.

She's also completely unconvinced by Bennett's handicap.

Hannah: He looks absolutely fine, I don't think there's anything wrong with him at all. He's probably faking it to claim benefits.

She's dangerously close to guessing the plot twist. Sure enough, when Bennett goes missing and the Doctor discovers a trapdoor in his room, the penny finally drops.

Hannah: You never see the two of them in the same room.

Yes, Bennett is Koquillion; he's been disguising himself in a Didonian ceremonial mask and robe to hide the fact that he's a genocidal maniac who has wiped out their entire race.

Hannah: Ah, so that's why you never saw his mouth move; it actually was a mask the whole time. I thought it was just a bad effect. And he can actually walk! When I said he looked fine I thought it was just bad acting. I mean, it was bad acting, but I thought it was bad acting from the actor, not the character. I knew those two hadn't been in the room at any one point, I always look out for these kinds of things.
Me: You always look out to see if there are two characters that aren't in the same room?
Hannah: If there's something fishy going on.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Vicki joins the TARDIS crew. Not that she has many other options.

Hannah: Knew it from the moment I saw her face. I'm not surprised in the slightest. I might actually even recognise her.

Arriving at its next destination, the TARDIS materialises on a ledge over a steep ravine and immediately falls off. This has the effect of throwing its passengers off their feet, something that Hannah finds puzzling.

Hannah: I thought the ship had its own gravity?
Me: No, you asked me about it when we watched Marco Polo and I didn't tell you. So now you know.

Incidentally, Hannah got her hopes up when she first saw Koquillion, and later admitted to being disappointed that she didn't get to see a planet "inhabited by giant alien insects."

Hannah: I like meeting new alien races, and then we didn't. Instead we just got reminded that humans are dicks.
Me: Why insects, particularly?
Hannah: He looked like an insect in that great big ceremonial hood thing. It just looked interesting and I wanted to meet a whole race of aliens who looked like that.

We may come back to this topic in a couple of weeks' time.

The Score

Hannah: It was a good story with a little twisty plot ending, but confusing because you have no idea what the original aliens looked like and then these random people in white robes just magically appeared to help the Doctor. And they've picked up another companion already; they're so quick and easy to find. Apparently they need a young girl following them around so they've decided to pick up the next one they meet.
Me: What do you think of Vicki?
Hannah: She's alright. Two episodes isn't enough to really judge someone's character. They could have gone for something else though, instead of another young woman.

5/10

Hannah: There's so much more they could have done, and so much they did do that they could have done better.