Doctor Who (1963) 14.04.02

Face of Evil - Part 2

The Doctor and Leela return to the village which is deserted. The tribe is gone on a mission to free Xoanon, their god. The attack goes poorly. Half of the Sevateem are killed. Calib returns to the village and finds the Doctor and Leela. Calib poisons her with a Janis thorn. The Doctor gets some help from Tomas who doesn't want to see Leela die. Tomas keeps an eye on Calib while the Doctor uses an old medical device to create an antidote for the poison.

Andor, Neeva, and the rest of the survivors of the attack return to the village. Calib doesn't believe the Doctor is the Evil One, unlike Andor and Neeva. The Doctor is put to the test, which he passes, with some advice from Leela. The rest of the tribe seem convinced and set the Doctor and Leela free. The Doctor builds a weapon for Tomas, a ray gun to help them fight the invisible creatures.

The Doctor and Leela go to investigate the giant carving of his face. They find an entrance by going through the mouth. The Evil One turns off the barrier that keeps the invisible creatures from overrunning the village. Andor is killed by one of the invisible creatures while Tomas uses the gun to fight them.

Thoughts

Leela seemed to be the only woman in the Sevateem but there is a brief glimpse in this episode of another woman. She doesn't have any lines. She is part of the attack party that goes to free Xoanon. She is carrying a weapon but the brief moment in which she appears occurs before the attack begins. I don't have a problem with Leela being the only female warrior of the tribe but there has to be other women in this tribe. Where are they?

There's a weird transition that occurs when Tomas returns and finds the Doctor, Leela, and Calib in the village. Calib goes from standing one moment to on the ground the next. The only explanation given is that the Doctor did something to him which broke his leg. It seems a bit out of character for the Doctor to do something like that.

The story continues to roll forward. The Doctor gets to talk to the Evil One, who sounds just like the Doctor. The Doctor learns more about the Sevateem and makes conjectures about their origins and the origins of their tribe's name. He still doesn't remember exactly his previous visit to this planet.

I'm still enjoying it but it isn't exactly great television.