The Wages of Sin

With the TARDIS now restored to working order, the Doctor is eager to start his travels again. The first journey is planned to be a limited run to test the TARDIS systems and his returning knowledge of dematerialization codes, and the Doctor decides to make the trip special by inviting Liz Shaw along with himself and Jo. As Liz never traveled inside the TARDIS she accepts, and the ship takes all three of them back to Russia in 1916 where it is stolen and the travelers stranded. But this is not the most tranquil time in Russia's history - moreover the world itself is in the grip of the first World War - and the Doctor and company are not only caught up in the machinations of the royal court but come face to face with one of the most notorious historical figures ever: Rasputin himself.

The Wages of Sin is penned by David A. McIntee, whose previous forays into the adventures of the Doctor have been a lot heavier into the sci fi angle of things, so to go into a purely historical after that is quite the switch for his own style, and after having the Doctor stranded on "modern" Earth for so long is a nice change. In fact, the third Doctor never had a purely historical outing at all so this is indeed something new for him. I myself am not that well versed in this area of history so as far as accuracy goes, I have no idea; as the Doctor often points out, history is written by the winning side so any accounts of the behaviour of Rasputin are going to be written by the very people who felt the need to murder him and remove his influence from Russia's inner circle. So there's a familiar theme for the Doctor and his companions: they know what is going to happen to Rasputin in a few days, and they can do nothing more than just watch it happen. The usual debates between Doctor and companions is held but it's a lot shorter and Jo and Liz are less combative about accepting the inevitible than Barbara was when she met the Aztecs.

And welcome back Liz Shaw! Some of the Big Finish audios in the Companion Chronicles suggest that she never saw the Doctor again, with Sentinels of the New Dawn being their last real meeting (at least for the third Doctor). That one took place just shortly after Jo had joined UNIT and the Doctor was not really digging the new companion vibe, but here we have Liz joining them and now feeling like something of an outsider as the Doctor and Jo are unmistakably a team. Liz feels the normal pangs of jealousy witnessing her successor with her previous mentor, but she is intelligent enough to know that she was only replaced because she chose to leave, and that is neither the Doctor's nor Jo's fault. The contrast between Jo and Liz is well displayed here, and while there have been companions previously who worked well together despite differences in their own intelligence levels (Jamie and Zoe.. Jamie and Victoria... hmm Jamie and everyone) it doesn't feel as if having Liz and Jo together as a crew would really work. Liz does develop a respect for Jo as she witnesses her coping with situations using her UNIT training but still has a slight pitying attitude towards her. Jo, on the other hand, would eventually feel outnumbered by two brainy condescending science types

Liz's return, though, is a one-off, and upon returning to her present she will stay there and leave the Doctor and Jo to continue their travels. And there are still plenty ahead for this team.

NEXT EPISODE: PRISONERS OF THE LAKE