1.7 - The Long Game

Spends half an hour introducing Adam, and trying to entice us with mystery then just gives up. When the Doctor and Rose are handcuffed that particularly feels like bad story telling. The Editor lays out his plans in a very exposition heavy way, breaking the show don't tell rule of story telling. It feels lazy, or perhaps rushed. Would it have been better if Adam had another episode between Dalek and this? It would give him a chance to learn the rules, so breaking them would be more egregious because I like the idea of Adam getting booted, even Turlough didn't have that indignation. Despite actually conspiring against the Doctor.

The Long Game is a somewhat underrated story. Whether, that's because it's not quite as good as the stories that surround it or what but I think there are two good plots.

The first is the overall Satellite 5 plot which is a pretty typical Doctor Who potboiler. There's a mystery, a strange and creepy situation on Floor 500, and a truly great performance by Simon Pegg as the villain. The Doctor does a good job arousing intellectually lazy humans to be curious to find the truth. It's nothing special, but it's pulled off with good style.

The Adam Mitchell plot is fascinating to me and it's an interesting take on a companion as we witness a full fledged companion wipeout. It's not enough to want to see the stars or to be special or a genius, to be a Companion for more than just an episode requires a strength of will and character that he didn't possess despite whatever genius he had. His failure put the Doctor and Rose's life in danger.

While it's not essential viewing, it does set up the Series finale as the Doctor leaves others to sort out the details with horrific consequences.

Now I understand why Adrew Cartmel rejeccted this back in the late 80s. Its pants!