Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by Waris Hussein | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 03/28/64
Tegana demands they all leave the TARDIS. They do, and Tegana lets Susan go once Polo arrives. Susan apologizes to the Doctor. He's not angry with her, just glad she's alright (you're a more patient man than I, Doctor). Tegana then lunges at the group, reasoning that he has enough reason to kill them all, now, but Polo still won't let him. Ping Cho arrives, and when Polo asks where they got the key, Ian says he found it in Polo's room before Ping Cho can reply. Polo doesn't press for details and they leave.
Later, Barbara forces Ian to talk to Polo. I love this scene, because it's one of the early indications that Barbara and Ian are closer than just coworkers. It's not explicitly stated or anything, but the ease with which she makes him do what she wants implies that perhaps there's mutual romantic interest between them. That's how I see it, anyway - I can't see Jacqueline Hill or William Russell play the scene, but I have seen the Romans, and by then they're clearly very, very close in that story, if you catch my meaning. Anyway, Barbara's idea is still dumb, because we're now in episode six of this serial and they're still trying to reason with Polo. It's not going to work! Ian tries the absolute truth by telling Polo he's a time traveler and the TARDIS is his time machine, but Polo doesn't buy it (and I can't say that I blame him. Ian and his friends have made some dumb moves over the past six episodes, and as Polo points out, he's lied to him several times). Polo asks him where they got the TARDIS key. Ian can't say specifically where Polo had it hidden, so Polo knows Ping Cho got it for them. Why should Polo believe Ian when he lies so much? It's not just that he lied, though, he says to Ian: "What's important is that you're capable of lying," he says. And I take his point, but surely someone as well-traveled as Marco Polo would be more suspicious of people than that. This is someone who stole someone's property from right underneath him to further his own ends - and he takes issue with a few white lies?
The next morning, it is discovered that Ping Cho is gone, and Ian thinks she left because she's afraid of being punished for having given the travelers the key. It seems Ping Cho didn't bother to say good bye to Susan, either - further proof SUSAN SHOULD JUST HAVE LEFT LAST NIGHT because even Ping Cho isn't bothered enough to say goodbye to Susan when her life is on the line. Ian offers to go find her, and though Polo suspects ulterior motives, allows him to leave over Tegana's protests.
Ping Cho is back at the last city, speaking with Wang-Lo, the creepy, overbearing inn owner. The TARDIS is apparently still here (perhaps I missed it - why didn't they take the TARDIS with them? Why was it left here? Just for plot purposes?). Ping Cho wants passage to get away from Polo and his caravan, and tries to pay Kuiju to let her go with him because she does not want to marry a 75 year old. He takes her money and leaves, and later an upset Ping Cho is speaking with Wang-Lo, who tells her she's been robbed. Ian suddenly appears, and he and Ping Cho go off to look for Kuiju. When they go to look for the TARDIS, they realize it's been stolen, and assume the bandit Kuiju took it, and later assume that he's taken it up an old unused road, because otherwise they'd have seen him take it out of town.
Tegana still thinks Ian is going back just for the TARDIS and is arguing with Polo. Susan and Barbara enter the room, laughing at something we're not told about (the plot of the past few episodes, perhaps?). Barbara and Susan are glad Ping Cho ran (Susan, of course, not upset at all that she left without saying goodbye. God, that cliffhanger was dumb), because neither of them would want to marry a 75 year old at her age either. Polo, aghast, allows Tegana to go back for Ian and Ping Cho, despite knowing Tegana is wanted at Kublai Khan's court.
Meanwhile, Polo and the rest have arrived at Kublai Khan's court. We get an amusing scene where the vizier demands everyone supplicate themselves before the Khan, and the Doctor refuses, apparently because he has a bad back (but it's likely just because the Doctor is already disrespecting authority, but maybe I'm just projecting one of my favorite later character traits on him here). He was able to sword fight last episode just fine, but I'll be fair and say maybe that exacerbated his back pain. As the Khan enters, everyone kneels, but the Doctor can't get completely to his knees and touch his forehead to the ground like everyone else. Khan is angry, but once he discovers that the old man in front of him is called the Doctor, he thinks he may be able to help him with his own aches and pains, since Khan himself is old and feeble. The Doctor says "I am not a doctor of medicine, sir, otherwise I should be able to cure these pains." I love that it's been fifty years, and we still don't know why he's called Doctor (I mean, we've gotten reasons, many in 21st century Who, but whether any of them are actually true or not is up for debate). Khan is also angry with Polo since Tegana is not there, since his master is camped closeby, which Khan wants answers for. Polo is obviously unaware of this, and I bet if we could see the video of this episode, we'd see Polo's actor visibly upset and/or angry at Tegana at this point, seeds of doubt about him finally taking root. The Doctor and Khan leave, arm in arm, both feeble old men. Susan laughs at them, but Polo chides her, saying how wise and powerful Khan is. He clearly thinks highly of him, no matter how badly he wants to get back to Venice. Barbara doubts Tegana will come back with Ian and Ping Cho alive.
Ian and Ping Cho, meanwhile, have found Kuiju, and surprise him, disarming him and forcing him to tell them he was employed to steal the TARDIS by Tegana, who happens to appear at that moment. Ian threatens to kill Kuiju. He's desperate, this schoolteacher from 1963. He wants to get home very badly, and I feel like he'd kill Kuiju, if Tegana didn't tell him to go ahead since Kuiju was of no further use to him. He doesn't kill Kuiju, since it won't get him anywhere. The episode ends with an armed Tegana telling Ian and Ping Cho to "Come. Come!"
To be honest, this episode was much better than the last few. Though there are still some dumb moments - why the TARDIS crew keep trying to reason with Polo without proving Tegana is plotting against him is beyond me - it moves along at a better pace. I suspect finally seeing Kublai Khan is nice, since that's what these episodes have been (oh, so very slowly) building to. That he's just a doddering old man at this point is charming and very, very Doctor Who. They could have played him as a powerful , burly man who shouts and throws his weight around but instead, we get a doddering old man, still a wise leader, but interestingly near the end of his tenure due to his advanced age. I'm a big fan of Kublai Khan in these episodes. Hopefully this ends strongly tomorrow...
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "Assassin at Peking"
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