Series 1 Episode 39: A Change of Identity

Serial: The Reign of Terror
Episode: 3 (A Change of Identity)
Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions: Barbara, Ian, and Susan

Writer: Dennis Spooner
Director: Henric Hirsch
Producer: Verity Lambert
Original Air Date: 22/08/1964

STRIKE A POSE AND BEAR THE WEIGHT OF WELL-TAILORED CLOTHES (and other stories)

In which the Doctor is 'why the Lord created men', Susan has a headache, Barbara drinks wine, and William Russell is still on holiday.

Eee by gum it’s been an age.

Right, so what’s happening? Erm, oh yes, Babs and Susan have been whisked off to the guillotine. Ian is unhappy about this, but doesn’t seem to be able to do much more than stare through the bars of his cell like a gorm. Because William Russell is still on holiday. Still, maybe this means we get to see our favourite desmoiselles deliver themselves from their own distress? Here’s hoping.

Infuriatingly, at this point, we cut to the streets of Paris, where assorted crones are hacking away and the Doctor is not appreciating the stink of the streets.

Elsewhere, in an alcove, two gents in Poldark hats (oh no wait one of them has a hat the name of which escapes me but which looks like a sandcastle had sex with a bowler hat) are trying to cultivate patience. It seems they’re here to rescue whoever’s for the chop from the chop. How convenient! Though apparently the executioners are shit at their job because they never change their route from the prison to the guillotine, so maybe they just don’t give a shit that these Scarlet Pimpernel wannabes keep snatching their victims.

Back in jail, Ian is, surprisingly, not tearing the place down or indeed giving any indication that he is even in the building when the jailer comes to give him his food. Because William Russell is still on holiday. Handily, the jailer leaves the keys in the door when Lemaitre, the bossman who was having all the bants with Ian last week, starts yelling for him. I’m glad that post-Sensorites Ian seems to be a bit more chilled about the smallest possibility that the Bae may be in danger, but I’m baffled that, at a point where his chums are actually going to be beheaded, he’s not even trying to jump the jailer. Maybe it’s because he’s also come round to the idea that everything is always already fated so is resigned to quietly cracking up. Maybe it’s because William Russell is still on holiday.

One of these must be the key to unlocking Ian's character
development in this episode.

Anyway, the jailer’s boss is a dick and throws all the food against the wall and is checking the execution figures.

Meanwhile, Ian, WHO IS JUST CASUALLY BENDING DOWN TO GET HIS FOOD OFF THE FLOOR AND NOT IN ANY WAY ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE happens to spot that the keys are still in the door. He steals them, removes the key he needs, then puts a similar-looking key back in the door. INSTEAD OF JUST UNLOCKING THE DOOR AND RUNNING FOR IT. AND THEN HE JUST SITS DOWN TO EAT HIS BOWL OF SLOP. Ian, sweetheart, it’s a smart plan if you’re attempting a foolproof but leisurely escape, but TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE RIGHT NOW.  Also I may be cheating by referencing a future episode, but I’m absolutely using this as Exhibit A in my case for this being the moment when Ian gives Barbara up for dead and decides to live out the remainder of his life working as a spy to overthrow the regime that killed her; the reason we’re not getting any manpain from him is because he planned to store it up and use it at a later date to motivate him in his new career as eighteenth-century Bond. Or maybe it’s because William Russell is still on holiday.

The long arm of the lawless.

Anyway, when the jailer returns, he pretends to see William Russell happily eating slop in his cell, breathes a sigh of relief, and retrieves his keys.

Back in the streets, Barbara, a half-dead-looking Susan, and another random aristo are being carted off to the guillotine. In a cart. It looks rickety as fuck, and our poor actors aren’t having to do much acting as far as ‘looking like you’re being dragged through an enclosed space by a horse that doesn’t have much room to manoeuvre’ is concerned. Also, there’s a real horse. Production values for the win.

Anyway, Babs makes one last, desperate attempt to galvanise Susan: she reckons the horse has thrown a shoe and that the moment the soldiers start to unhitch it, they should make a run for it; Susan, however, doesn’t feel very well, and doesn’t think she can. Barbara is a better human being than I am and does not at this point employ the Chesterton Method of giving her a good shake, but simply gets her schoolteacher on and says she’ll help her but that Susan ‘MUST make an effort’; Susan says she’ll do her best. At this point, two random women start laughing at them; Barbara glares at them.

Baby's first hangover.

I continue to be furious at the way in which Susan is treated in this serial. The writers just don’t know what to do with her, and while it’s good that we get to see all of the series regulars at their lowest ebb and vulnerable and on a bad day and whatnot, this really does feel like she’s being made deliberately useless to scupper Barbara’s initiatives and make it necessary that they be rescued by a third party.

Speaking of which, the two rescuers are now waiting in the wings to do some rescuing and are feeling lucky about the horse. Back on the cart, however, things are not going so well: Barbara gives Susan the signal, but Susan is all NO I CAAAAAAAAAN’T and tells Barbara to go on without her. Barbara is again a far better human than I am and simply tells her to pull herself together rather than giving her a good slap and dragging her bodily through the streets, but Susan insists that her head is splitting and her back’s aching. AND BARBARA YET AGAIN CAPITULATES AND JUST STAYS WITH HER LIKE THE SOUL OF COMPASSION THAT SHE IS AND HUGS HER AND ON THE ONE HAND I AM FULL OF ADMIRATION THAT SHE WOULD RATHER DIE THAN LEAVE HER FRIENDS BEHIND BUT ON THE OTHER HAND SUSAN GET IT THE FUCK TOGETHER. Even assuming that Susan has a migraine, which is absolutely fucking awful and genuinely incapacitating, ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE GUILLOTINED IS NOT A VIABLE CURE FOR A HEADACHE.

Seriously, these writers are pissing me off.

But oh. Hurray. Here come the men with guns to save the day. How they didn’t accidentally shoot any of the prisoners is anyone’s guess. Or maybe they did, because I can’t see the other random aristo anywhere. Maybe he ran for it. Anyway, they rescue the women, and OH SO NOW YOU’RE OK TO MAKE A RUN FOR IT, SUSAN. Though admittedly Barbara is pretty much carrying her along. At any rate, the writers in their wisdom decided that the only way the women could make it to safety would be with the aid of some random aristo vigilantes. And gave Susan a convenient headache to engineer a damsel-in-distress scenario. Fuck. The. Patriarchy.

But before I abuse capslock any further, let us return to a more genteel quarter of the city, where the Doctor has gone shopping. And is immediately drawn to the fanciest clothes in the place. Because, as I decided some weeks ago, this is essentially the Doctor's secondary theme tune:

Anyway, the shopkeeper is a nosey bastard and definitely some sort of informer, but the Doctor goes on and asks him all about where the prisoners are usually kept anyway. And asks to be kitted out in what turns out is a Regional Officer of the Provinces outfit…because he just happens to be a Regional Officer of the Provinces. His bullshit is beautiful when he’s doing it to people in whom I’m not emotionally invested.

Alas he has no dosh and wants to swap his own clothes for it; the shopkeeper dismisses it as fancy dress; they spar for a bit, but the shopkeeper agrees if the swap includes the Doctor’s fancy ring. Is it my imagination, or is that ring not special in later episodes? I’m thinking Zarbi? Anyway, a deal is struck.

But back to Babs and Susan, who is feeling better already and is sitting in a chair in the dining room (drawing room?) of a swanky house. Maybe Gallifreyans are just allergic to squalor. Which is why they’re so fancy. Headcanon, anyone?

A random maid who knows her lowly place even in the middle of a popular revolution supposes they’d like a bath and some food, and enlists one of the aristos (Jean) to help. He looks so delighted to be asked that I’m assuming this is some sort of eighteenth-century code for backstairs hanky-panky.

Babs can’t begin to thank the remaining aristo enough, but he insists she doesn’t mention it and apparently has a Christian names only rule; his name is Jules. The other two return with plates and a towel after what must have been a very brief assignation, and it seems I misread the mobcap on the woman because she’s not a servant but Jules’s sister, Danielle; I’m pretty sure we never see her again. (Though I’m now convinced that their names are not Jules and Jean but Jules et Jim.)

Jean and Danielle: 100% shagging

Jules tells them he’s making plans to smuggle them out in the morning, but Susan protests because obv she thinks her grandfather is still somewhere out in the countryside suffering from smoke inhalation; Barbara takes this opportunity to point out that Ian is still in the clink.

Which brings us nicely back to jail, where surely Ian must’ve figured out that the Bae and his Space Daughter are mostly likely dead by now. He manages to unlock his cell and does lots of unnecessary and actually probably not that stealthy zipping about the prison corridors. Stepping over the jailer, who has handily passed out from the drink, he escapes…BUT OH WHAT’S THIS? Lemaitre (which I’ve just realised means The Master…thanks, A Level French), the bossman who was all up in Ian’s grill last week, WATCHES HIM GO. Apparently he’s being let off the leash so that the Master (ok ok I know it’s purely coincidental, I just like pretending I’m in the middle of an elaborate Moffat arc at all times) can see whether Webster (the dead guy in Ian’s cell) really did give him a message for James Stirling. Whilst I do appreciate the continued absence of manpain from the recently sort-of bereaved Mr. Chesterton, it is odd that he’s just going through the motions, without dialogue or any discernible motivation. Maybe it’s because, for all their flapping over one another when they’re not actually in that much danger, Babs and Ian’s default reaction to news of one another’s certain demise is basically ‘nope, you’re wrong there’. Or maybe it’s because William Russell is still on holiday.

So sneak etc.

Back at the house, Susan is feeling much better after a hot meal and is clearly recovering from her extreme allergic reaction to being in an unlovely place. Babs wants to help clear up, but they wrote in that woman Danielle especially so she could do that thing, and anyway, she and Jean must use this time to resume their backstairs dalliance under Jules’s nose (oh let me have my fun). Anyway, Susan and Babs work out where they were on the map from Susan’s calculations about the relative position of the sun. Jules looks grim when they point out the house they were in, and immediately calls Jean away from doing the dishes with Danielle. Susan starts talking about her grandfather again but Babs cuts her off so they can show Jean the house; I’m beginning to think that Babs suspects the Doctor is dead at this point, as she doesn’t seem to want to let Susan dwell on the subject.

Anyway, it turns out Jules and Jim Jean know about those two guys who were shot by the soldiers in the first episode, and that this isn’t the first time one of their escape routes has been rumbled. Apparently their third musketeer, Léon, is in charge of that route, and oh someone is definitely informing on them; I wonder if these two things are related.

The women try to work out where exactly it was that
Susan lost her character development.

At any rate, Jules promises to send someone to look for the Doctor at the house that burned down, and to work on getting Ian out of prison, and generally won’t rest until the four of them are reunited. Good man.

At this point, Susan gets another headache and is sent to bed. Barbara follows…to tuck her in? I dunno. But there’s a knock at the door, and oh it’s the mysterious Léon! And OH Léon tells them about a mysterious stranger who’s been asking for Jules at the Inn near the prison. So Ian made it to the pub, then.

Enter Barbara, and EWWWWW Léon immediately starts creeping on her in an ‘I will kiss your hand intensely’ sort of way whilst murmuring emphatically ‘the pleasure is all mine’. She’s going to need another bath to scrub off the slime from this slimer. He promises to ‘take good care of her’, and Jean looks mildly horrified (about how rapey this all sounds); Jules drags Jean away to leave Barbara to be leched-on. Then this happens:

Oh Barbara, you really need that drink. And are probably going to need a fair few glasses for your own sanity if you’re going to have to endure being stared at in such a predatory manner all evening. I can’t tell whether she’s into it or whether she’s finding it all a bit awkward, as a) I’m definitely projecting my ‘WTF’ feelings onto her and b) she slapped the jailer when he came onto her so I’m assuming she’d let Léon know if she were unhappy with the situation, possibly with violence; however, c) while no means no, not saying no doesn’t mean the same thing as consent, so I’ll leave you to your own conclusions as to whether Babs is staring at him because she’s into him or whether she’s staring at him because she’s a coiled spring and is as grossed-out as I am. (I should also stress that I don’t begrudge her the odd dalliance here and there, because who wouldn’t find the prospect of a bit of historical slap and tickle with a few smouldering looks thrown in an appealing end to a shitty day, but frankly this out-of-the-blue ‘lust at first sight’ thing between these two makes me feel genuinely uncomfortable. I was into Barbara’s all-too-fleeting fling with Ganatus in The Daleks because they actually spent time together and got on like a house on fire whilst they flirted outrageously to pass the time whilst spelunking, plus Ganatus is jokes, but this is just shoehorned in so his inevitable betrayal will have more dramatic impact.) And my skin is kind of crawling. Maybe it’s because this Léon character has never even met Barbara before and literally the first thing he does is put the moves on her and it’s yucky. Or maybe it’s because…

Anyway, back in jail, the jailer is drinking booze from a jug the way I would be drinking that wine from a glass if I were Barbara back in that room. A familiar voice rings out: it’s the Doctor! And sweet God above he looks FAB. U. LOUS.

Kitted out in All The Tat, he proceeds to shout at the jailer, present him with false credentials, and generally yell about how important he is; he is thoroughly enjoying himself. The jailer defers to him, and the Doctor goes on to mention how three traitors—a man, a woman, and a young child—were brought to the jail having fled from his province. The jailer tells the Doctor that the women were dispatched to the guillotine, and OH MY HEART Billy I salute your acting face. That’s Gandalf-level face acting right there.

When you think your Granddaughter and Space Daughter
have been guillotined.

Fortunately for my bleeding ventricles, the Doctor doesn’t look crushed at the news that his Granddaughter and Space Daughter are dead for long, because the jailer mentions that a rescue has taken place. There’s more good acting as the Doctor is momentarily too stunned to register this new development but shortly afterwards is too-quickly too sharp and steely, and wants to know by whom they have been rescued. It’s really lovely to watch Billy in this scene, actually: while the jailer witters on, you can just see him breathing a little more heavily to calm himself down and manage the sudden flood of relief so that it doesn’t show on his face. Beautiful stuff. And subtly done. And you can see the change in the quality of the bluster, from really having a ball bossing the jailer around in his fabulous hat to shit suddenly getting serious and having to balance the urgent need for information against not blowing his cover.

Moving on to a new paragraph of my love-letter to Billy Doing Acting, it is at this point that the Doctor demands to know what’s happened to the man, and when the jailer tells him that his Space Bro has escaped and knocked him out and fought him with the strength of ten men (lies and filth), the Doctor pulls the most incredible face and doesn’t seem to have trouble believing it. So, as he muses to himself, all three of them are now somewhere in Paris.

What even is your face.

Enter Lemaitre, who looks the Doctor up and down and asks for his papers. Yadda yadda bad guy being sneaky he tells the Doctor to come with him to meet the top brass with him seeing as how his province is getting discussed in the morning and yeah now the Doctor gets to meet Robespierre.

Back at the house, Barbara’s wine glass is empty, and Léon is asking her where she comes from; Babs is evasive and says he probably won’t like the answer seeing as how she’s English so that makes them enemies. Because war. Léon says he prefers to think that means she has no interest in France or the revolution. How prophetic and post-Brexit of him to intuit isolationist disinterest in European affairs. She says that’s a strange thing to say, and he says perhaps he’ll explain one day. How cryptic. Babs goes to see if Susan’s all right, and Léon stands by the fireplace like a poser.

Back in jail, someone is trying to see someone who’s just gone to see Citizen Robespierre…it’s the shopkeeper from before! And he’s here with ‘evidence against a traitor’…THE DOCTOR’S RING!

MERDE! WILL THE DOCTOR BE RUMBLED? DOES SUSAN ACTUALLY HAVE MENINGITIS? WILL BARBARA HAVE TO SPEND ANY MORE TIME WITH CREEPY LÉON? HAS IAN TRULY GIVEN UP HOPE AND IS HE NOW INTENDING TO STAY IN THE PUB FOREVER? WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT WEEK WHEN THE ANIMATION TAKES OVER? WILL WILLIAM RUSSELL EVER COME BACK OFF HIS HOLIDAYS?

Summary (as applicable to this episode)

Does it pass the Bechdel test? Yup.

Is the gaze problematic? Nope.

Is/are the woman companion(s) dressed 'for the Dads'? No. Though Susan and Barbara finally get to show a bit of clavicle. Scandalous.

Does a woman fall over/twist her ankle (whilst running from peril)? No but Susan does have a headache that prevents her from running.

Does a woman wander off alone for the sole dramatic purpose of getting into trouble so she can be rescued later? Nope. But Susan gets a convenient illness every time they want to shoehorn in some men who can rescue the women.

Is/are the woman companion(s) captured? Rescue-captured?

Does the Doctor/a man companion/any other man have to rescue the woman companion(s) from peril? The Doctor seems to be on a one-man mission to save his Crew, but he spends most of the episode pissing about with feathers; Ian's locked up and immediately opts for a long-term escape plan and then doesn't go on a rescue mission so much as go to the pub, so Babs and Susan have to try to save themselves YET ARE PREVENTED FROM DOING SO BY BULLSHIT WRITING INVOLVING HEADACHES so have to be rescued by random aristos.

Is a woman placed under threat of actual bodily harm? Yup. Everyone is.

Does a woman have to deal with a sexual predator? Leon is a bit predatory so I'm going to say 'ish'.

Is/are the woman companion's/s' first/only reaction(s) to peril gratuitous screaming? No.

Does a woman companion go into hysterics over something reasonably minor? No.

Is a woman 'spared' the ordeal of having to do/witness something unpleasant by a man who makes a decision on her behalf/keeps her deliberately ignorant? No. Though Babs seems willing to let Susan die rather than allow for the possibility of her Space Daughter having to deal with her headache any longer.

Does a man automatically disbelieve or belittle something a woman (companion) says happened to her? No.

Does a man talk over a woman or talk about a woman as though she isn't there? No, though Jules does treat his sister like a maid. 

Does the woman companion have to be calmed/comforted by the Doctor/a man companion/a man? No, but Susan has to be cuddled and comforted by Babs a lot.

Is a woman the first/only person to be (most gratuitously) menaced by the episode's antagonist(s)? I think there's all-round jeopardy this week.

Is a man shamed into doing/not doing something because the alternative is a woman doing/not doing something? No.

Does the woman companion come up with a plan? Barbara comes up with an escape plan but Susan pours cold water on it at every opportunity.

Does the woman companion do something stupid/banal/weird which inspires a man to be a Man with a Plan? No.

Does a woman come up with a theory and is it ridiculed by the Doctor/a man? Yes and no.

Does a woman call the Doctor out on his bullshit? N/A.

Does a woman get to be a badass? Not so much.

Is the young, strong, straight, white male lead the person most often in control of the situation? Not really. The aristos seem to have most control over stuff. 

Is there past/future/alien sexism? A bit with Danielle and also Léon's icky chivalry.

Does a 'present'-day character call anybody out on past/future/alien sexism? No.

Does an past/future/alien person have the hots for a woman companion and is it reciprocated? Yes and...question mark?

Did a woman write/direct/produce this episode? No/No/Yes.

Verdict

Susan gets more shoddy treatment this week, and the fact that (as I think I may have mentioned) William Russell is still on holiday makes Ian's characterisation a little...off. On the one hand, we don't get any manpain, which is refreshing, but on the other hand his half-arsed escape attempts just don't ring true. Interesting, though, that the one time (?) we get to see what Ian would be like if he thought Babs were actually dead is when William Russell isn't really there so he just goes to the pub and resigns himself to life as counter-revolutionary spy. Barbara is proactive and no-nonsense, which I always love, though her interactions with Léon give me the creeps. Though again, she's willing to die with Susan rather than administer any kind of tough love. The Doctor is loving his new wardrobe, and we get to see some good acting from Billy, which is gorgeous. Next week we're into the animated episodes, so I fully expect to be howling about not getting to see the Space Baes reunited as Zarquon intended. Though mostly I expect to be howling about how nobody knows what to do with Susan in this serial; the change from her fantastic characterisation in The Sensorites to being a dramatic dead weight in these episodes is genuinely upsetting. Especially as her function in this week is to give the writers an excuse to have the two women rescued by an all-male third party rather than being allowed to make their own escape.