![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Face of Evil
Mar. 10th, 2012 08:29 amFace of Evil is one of those stories that hardly ever gets talked about, I think because it's good, but it's not *brilliant* and it tends to get dwarfed by the Fandom Favourites in the rest of the season (Robots of Death - hurrah; Talons - ffs, fandom). And it came out on DVD a couple of weeks ago and I haven't seen it in like forever cause of my Massive Hinchcliffe Hate, but I stuck it on today, and what struck me most is how bloody good Louise Jameson is.
I'm not much of a fan of Leela (STOP JUDGING ME). She's like the Donna of classic Who for me: a well-written, very well-acted character with a crappy ending that just happens to be the sort of character that doesn't really appeal. I like them both, but I don't get all fannishly excited about them. But Jameson totally carries this story. Every single scene with her, she's fantastic. Her performance feels so naturalistic, lacking any of the awkwardness that tends to crop up now and again with practically all the companion actors (sometimes it's not their fault, and they have the most appalling lines, but watching this, I bet Jameson would handle anything even Pip and Jane could throw at her.) She's easily the best of them since Hill and Russell. (And meanwhile Baker doesn't seem to be so much acting as Being Pissed Off That They've Gone With This Awful Leela Character.)
tFoE's a great intro to Leela as well. She doesn't have one of those amazing first scenes like Romana or Liz Shaw (it's pretty good though - she's getting chucked out of her tribe for blasphemy) but it quickly establishes her strength of character, her compassion, her independence and self-belief, all within the first episode. She also rescues the Doctor, and kills three people without remorse, which he gets rather angry about. Four doesn't get angry very often, but when he does, it's a scary thing.
And the story cheers me by giving a somewhat nuanced approach to the Doctor's views on violence (something that fandom has been making me arg about recently, for since the Doctor said that one time that he "never would" he is therefore a pacifist). Here, he is threatened with crossbows, and tries to talk his way out of trouble. It doesn't work so he pretends a jelly baby is a gun. Obviously, it's not, but since he can't talk his way out, he is resorting to a violent threat (it's what Delgado!Master does too: threats are only resorted to if charm (and hypnotism) fail). Later, when Leela kills men while rescuing him, he's furious, because he considers the deaths to be "unneccessary" but later he builds a gun for members of the tribe so they can defend themselves against the energy creatures attacking them. He also proves himself to be a damn good shot with a crossbow, having learned from William Tell, apparently. The whole story is a nice illustration of his attitude that violence is a tool: it must never be the first resort, or used excessively, but when in mortal danger, it's acceptable to defend yourself or defend others, using deadly force if you must.
Also Face of Evil has one of those rare classic Who cliffhangers that properly scared the crap out of me when I first saw it - the computer shouting "who am I?" in increasingly frenetic tones - and therefore has the honour of getting my vote for Story With Scariest Evil Computer.
I'm not much of a fan of Leela (STOP JUDGING ME). She's like the Donna of classic Who for me: a well-written, very well-acted character with a crappy ending that just happens to be the sort of character that doesn't really appeal. I like them both, but I don't get all fannishly excited about them. But Jameson totally carries this story. Every single scene with her, she's fantastic. Her performance feels so naturalistic, lacking any of the awkwardness that tends to crop up now and again with practically all the companion actors (sometimes it's not their fault, and they have the most appalling lines, but watching this, I bet Jameson would handle anything even Pip and Jane could throw at her.) She's easily the best of them since Hill and Russell. (And meanwhile Baker doesn't seem to be so much acting as Being Pissed Off That They've Gone With This Awful Leela Character.)
tFoE's a great intro to Leela as well. She doesn't have one of those amazing first scenes like Romana or Liz Shaw (it's pretty good though - she's getting chucked out of her tribe for blasphemy) but it quickly establishes her strength of character, her compassion, her independence and self-belief, all within the first episode. She also rescues the Doctor, and kills three people without remorse, which he gets rather angry about. Four doesn't get angry very often, but when he does, it's a scary thing.
And the story cheers me by giving a somewhat nuanced approach to the Doctor's views on violence (something that fandom has been making me arg about recently, for since the Doctor said that one time that he "never would" he is therefore a pacifist). Here, he is threatened with crossbows, and tries to talk his way out of trouble. It doesn't work so he pretends a jelly baby is a gun. Obviously, it's not, but since he can't talk his way out, he is resorting to a violent threat (it's what Delgado!Master does too: threats are only resorted to if charm (and hypnotism) fail). Later, when Leela kills men while rescuing him, he's furious, because he considers the deaths to be "unneccessary" but later he builds a gun for members of the tribe so they can defend themselves against the energy creatures attacking them. He also proves himself to be a damn good shot with a crossbow, having learned from William Tell, apparently. The whole story is a nice illustration of his attitude that violence is a tool: it must never be the first resort, or used excessively, but when in mortal danger, it's acceptable to defend yourself or defend others, using deadly force if you must.
Also Face of Evil has one of those rare classic Who cliffhangers that properly scared the crap out of me when I first saw it - the computer shouting "who am I?" in increasingly frenetic tones - and therefore has the honour of getting my vote for Story With Scariest Evil Computer.
