Episode 21 : ""

Summary

A tense episode which is one of the best.All the charaters perfectly played

Review

A liitle different than the usual format.If I have to find any fault at all then there are a few holes in the plot. First of all how were Davids suspicions aroused that it could be an alien killing and also why was the alien in the opening sequence driving like a madman ? After that the story unfolds and although a massive opporunity was missed by the police chief as he put the handcuffs on to check for heartbeat and pulse..I was shouting at the TV "Check it now you chimp !!"this is a story with some very diverse characters,all played very well. Once the whole town see's the alien burn up on the town square you just know its gonna be a hell of a fight to keep the whole town alive. The unusual thing as well is that David and the aliens both had a common goal and were actually working together from about half way into the episode.Even to the fact that they even wished each other good luck...hellfire I even felt sorry for the head alien when he said that if it was any comfort to David ' he would have to answer for his failure. The change in character of the lady doctor too was very convncing..although Davids tolerance at times is of bibical proportions. The way the whole situation was saved was totally believable in my (humble) opinion.Remember , there were some pretty dodgy noxious substances being fiddled about with in those days.And ,just to add a touch of 1967 psychedelia ,the fumes were a groovy purple!!!! One of the final scenes was amongst the best of the whole series for me.This was when David attended the doctors funeral and is asked who he is by his wife.When she says shes sure shes met him before my heart plum missed a beat...Maybe , just maybe she could have overcome her memory lapse and become one of the believers in the later episodes... I dunno about you other folks out there but to me Roy Thinnes looked more than a little weary in this episode.His acting was as ever superb but well maybe getting beaten every week in this programme was probably taking its toll.... But as i said before , this episode was amongst the best of the series.

Review by Nigel, submitted 2004-12-02

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