May 19: Inferno Episodes 5 & 6

I'm willing to bet that the high reputation Inferno enjoys rests squarely on the shoulders of these two episodes, because these are the two that see the parallel world destroyed.  This is taut, gripping television.  It's interesting to see how relatively defeatist the Doctor is in these episodes: there's no last minute plan to save the world, because it's already too late.  "The heat and the pressures'll continue to build up until the Earth dissolves in a fury of expanding gases, just as it was billions of years ago," he says.  When asked how long they've got, he replies, "Maybe a few weeks, maybe only a few days."  Which admittedly seems slightly odd (how is the bore hole much different from a volcano?), but in terms of the drama it's very effective.

These two episodes therefore see an increasing sense of tension and desperation as a plan is made not to save this Earth but the one the Doctor is from.  Remember, they're not as advanced with the drilling there, so the Doctor might be able to stop them from penetrating the Earth's crust.  But in order to do so they have to rewire the nuclear reactor and dodge the Primords that are roaming the complex.  And while these two episodes also have quite a few scenes of people arguing with each other, this time it feels like there's a point behind it, and even when the point isn't obvious it still drives home the futility of it all.  Or as Greg Sutton puts it: "It's marvellous, isn't it?  The world's going up in flame and they're still playing at toy soldiers!"

So the world's being destroyed (illustrated by lots of tremors and a pleasing red haze for the scenes outside) and the Primords are closing in -- so the main characters can't even stop to catch their breath without the threat of being rubbed in mutagenic slime and regressing into a savage ape-like creature (as we see happen to Benton at the end of episode 5).  But the most interesting thing is to watch how each character deals with the impending doomsday.  Sutton becomes a lot more dominant, probably because he knows he's got nothing to lose and therefore no reason to toe the party line.  Section Leader Shaw is practical yet increasingly insubordinate -- she's willing to help the Doctor but she has little patience remaining for her superior, the Brigade Leader.  Nicholas Courtney, however, is the standout performer of the group, as his Brigade Leader becomes increasingly cowardly and scared and therefore belligerent and bullying as a result, as if desperate to hold on to some shred of power, even if it's ultimately meaningless.

Elizabeth Shaw, Petra Williams, and Greg Sutton watch the world
end. (Inferno Episode 6) ©BBC

But it's the final moments that demonstrate clearly why this story was worth doing: power has finally been channeled to the TARDIS console, and after a brief confrontation the Doctor is free to escape if he can while the world (or at least this section of it) definitively ends, as a huge flow of lava heads towards the hut that they're all trapped in.  Here we have a world that clearly does end -- all the fascist stuff is there to add to the drama, but the real point of Inferno is to actually show what would happen if the world was going to end.  And by making it a parallel universe they can have their cake and eat it too -- they can be bleak and absolute with their ending (no last-minute saves here) and still have the show continue on next week.  It's the ultimate cliffhanger ending and, because of its finality, it's deeply satisfying as a result.

So there's still one more episode of Inferno to go.  How are they going to top these two?