Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by Waris Hussein | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 04/04/64
Ian taunts Tegana, mocking him for killing a child, suspecting that he'll kill both of he and Ping Cho. Tegana tells him his ambitions are greater than the two of them - that he'll use the TARDIS to conquer the world along with his lord Nogai by overthrowing Kublai Khan. Before he can attack Ian, though, a man named Ling-Tau shows up - he works for the Khan, and takes the three of them to Peking (unfortunately for Kuiju, he's killed when he attempts to run from Ling-Tau).
The Doctor and Kublai Khan are playing backgammon together, and are betting on the outcome of each game. The Doctor has been winning every game, and bets Kublai Khan for his ship, which hasn't even arrived yet. Kublai Khan is reluctant to accept the bet at first because it's Marco Polo's gift to him (he offers him the island of Sumatra instead before relenting), but accepts anyway. The Doctor smiles, hoping to win his freedom back. During this scene, the Empress arrives, chastises the Khan for betting (which he doesn't admit he's doing) and leaves. Wives, huh? So nagging! Not to give myself away, but this is really the only bit in the episode I don't like, the "humor" of the scene falls completely flat for me. The only other scene involving the Empress involves her weeping later on. Not happy with portraying the first woman with a position of power in this story as a nagging, emotional wreck.
Polo enters and tells Kublai Khan that Tegana has arrived with Ian, Ping Cho, and the TARDIS. Khan informs him they're playing for the TARDIS, and Polo is upset, since the Doctor went above his head here. Polo leaves, and tells Susan and Barbara what is going on. Barbara says the Doctor will win the TARDIS back and Khan will still let Polo go back to Venice, so everything should work out alright - except for poor Ping Cho, who will still have to marry the 75 year old.
We then find out Tegana is accusing Ian of stealing the TARDIS, which would be a serious crime since the Doctor hasn't won it back yet, meaning it's the Khan's property. The Doctor leaves the throne room, chuckling to himself. Susan thinks he's won the TARDIS back, but it turns out he lost the last game, meaning Kublai Khan keeps everything. The Doctor being amused in this scene is delightful - he was so angry when they arrived and the TARDIS was broken, making him think they'd all die in the cold, but several times in this serial he's laughed at his predicament. Perhaps he just enjoys the battle of wits this several month long journey has provided him?
Even though Ian and Ping Cho both heard Tegana's claims of him opposing Kublai Khan, it's not enough for Polo to let him free - Ping Cho only gets to go because her fiancee promised to take her from Peking as soon as the wedding ceremony is over.
Tegana, speaking alone to Kublai Khan, says Polo is on the side of the Europeans, and that the two of them should keep that in mind. Kublai Khan agrees, and says he'll keep an eye on Polo. I wish we could see this scene - given later events, I would think the actor playing Khan would play it such that he is suspicious of Tegana.
Polo, talking to Khan later, says he regrets taking the TARDIS from the Doctor, that is was unjust. Why he has the sudden change of heart now, of all times, is beyond me. Perhaps he finally believed Ian and Ping Cho, despite forcing Ian to remain under guard? It's hard for me to believe that, though, since Polo had thought Ping Cho was on the side of the travelers, too, so why would he believe either of them now, since Ian is "capable of lying," like he said last episode? Ultimately, it doesn't really matter that much, as we'll see soon.
Luckily for Ping Cho, her fiancee drank quicksilver for some reason, and died (which is why the Empress is crying in this scene). Why he drank quicksilver, I have no idea, though Khan mentions he wanted to be young again, which... implies something pretty gross, considering he's about to marry a sixteen year old. I hope that interpretation is wrong. Either way, Ping Cho is happy, and even elects to stay in Peking a while.
Kublai Khan wants to meet with Tegana, then test Marco Polo to see if he's still trustworthy. On his way out of the throne room, Polo sees Tegana and says "I underestimated you, Tegana," to which he replies, very calmly, "No. You overestimated yourself," and enters the throne room.
The TARDIS crew tries to figure out what is going on with Tegana. The Doctor deduces he's going to assassinate the Khan since Nogai's army is outside Peking, which isn't where Khan thought it'd be - and without Kublai Khan, Nogai could sweep in and easily take over in the confusion. They overpower the guard and rush to the throne room to try to warn Kublai Khan. They run into Marco Polo on the way, who tries to get a guards attention to lock them up, but they all end up running to the throne room, just as Tegana lunges at Khan. He misses and kills the vizier, and Polo engages him in a swordfight (giving us another riveting scene of sword clanging and still images of the two actors holding swords. I don't hold this against the story as obviously it was meant to be seen on video). Polo ultimately disarms Tegana, and Khan sentences him to death. Tegana grabs a guards sword and kills himself in defiance, however.
Marco Polo pulls out the TARDIS keys and hands them to the Doctor and tells him to leave right now. The Doctor thanks him, Susan says a quick goodbye to Ping Cho (glad we got that out of the way, wouldn't want to delay this another two episodes), and they pile into the TARDIS and it dematerializes. As they watch them leave, Kublai Khan is amazed at the ship leaving, and surprisingly doesn't seem to be mad at Polo for letting them go in what is, ultimately, his property. He even says he'll let Polo return to Venice. The episode ends with a voiceover from Polo: "But what is the truth? I wonder where they are now... The past or the future?"
I said it before: this is a good episode. Excellent, even. Kublai Khan is not just a doddering old man, played for comedy - he's a smart, wise ruler, and despite his advanced age, he is imposing. Tegana is enigmatic to the last - killing himself in defiance of Khan's orders is wonderful and completely in character. The ending might be a little rushed - and Polo suddenly changing his mind about the TARDIS travelers is a little weird - but it ultimately works for me, as I wasn't bored like I was from about halfway through episode 2 until the sixth episode.
Tomorrow, Terry Nation comes back with another new alien, the Voord. And this entire serial is on video! Seven missing episodes down, only ninety more of those to go...
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Sea of Death"
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