"The Green Death" - Episode Two

Doctor Who (1963) - Season Ten
Airdate: May 26, 1973
Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning
Written by Robert Sloman
Produced by Barry Letts
Directed by Michael Briant

I said yesterday that this story features what is arguably the most touching companion departure of the classic series. Yet, it is once again a case of a companion suddenly deciding to marry a guest character she's only just met. What this story proves is that even such a limited idea as that can be made to work if the writing and the performances are strong enough. In yesterday's episode, Jo first met Prof. Cliff Jones, and their first scene together was intentionally reminiscent of Jo's first meeting with the Doctor.

There's a sweetness to that approach, but I must say I find it ill-judged. A great deal of this story, at least as it relates to Jo, is about showing how much Jo has grown over the last three seasons. Indeed, we've been getting little hints of this all season long. Jo has clearly learned a lot from her association with the Doctor. I like that. I also like that the script is drawing a strong line of comparison between the Doctor and Prof. Jones. This actually lends credibility to Jo's decision to marry him¹. But to mark that comparison by making Jo revert to being as clumsy and useless as she was in her very first appearance undermines all of that character growth.

It has to be said that there is a great deal of padding in these early episodes. But it's hardly egregious. When Jo ends up trapped in the mine with a Bert, a lovable Welshman who manages, through writing and (more importantly) performance, to transcend his limited plot function, the story slows down quite a bit, as attention turns to rescuing them rather than doing much to advance the overall story. But the story isn't just spinning its wheels in an effort to eat up as much time as possible. The script takes the opportunity to invest in the characters, which will pay-off once the story is ready to take off.

¹ Of course, this isn't the last time a companion ends up with a human version of the Doctor, but when it happened in the new series, it was a hell of a lot more literal than it is here.