Arrangements for War

After escaping from the Forge, the relationship between the Doctor and Evelyn is strained. Evelyn cannot understand the Doctor's casual acceptance of Cassie's death and feels she needs some time to be on her own to come to terms with it. The Doctor takes them to Vilag, where an arranged marriage between two warring kingdoms will bring about a truce that will repel an alien invasion in the future, but the presence of the TARDIS travellers moves events in a different direction. Embroiled even further than they ever have been before, the Doctor and Evelyn struggle to save a planet from destruction.

Hm. Arranged marriages always have the same thing going for them: neither party involved is really into the idea, especially when they're doing it for political reasons. Where's the love? What's the point without it? Can ones love of ones people really make someone sideline their own life? Princess Krizstyna doesn't want to do it - she wants to marry Reid, a lowly infantry trooper - but she's going to go through with it for the greater good, no matter how many pieces her heart breaks into. That is, until Evelyn tells her that love is worth fighting for, right around the same time the Doctor bumps into young Reid and tells him the same thing. And then things get tricky.

The Doctor becomes the Princess's advisor, and Evelyn becomes a political consultant for the third party state that is hosting the wedding while falling in (love?) with Governor Rossiter. Separated over the course of a month, the Doctor and Evelyn keep track of each other when they spot the other in the media in their new roles - a far cry from the peace and quiet the Doctor had promised Evelyn. Mind you, Evelyn doesn't seem to be too upset about getting involved despite her earlier complaints. It's only when things start to crumble and the war begins to brew again that she wants back out, even going so far as to leap off a speeding train to avoid extradition to a hostile state. The Doctor gets himself on the bad side of a sadistic security guard and gets kicked around once or twice for it. And all the time neither can reveal why the war must cease, for warning the fighting nations about the impending invasion (and it does come) is one of those revealing the future clauses that we usually see only in historical adventures on Earth.

Good cast. Good dialogue. Good things going BOOM in episode four. Is being plunged into a war the best medicine for the rift between the Doctor and Evelyn? Seems to work, and Evelyn gets herself an offer she barely refuses to stay behind and marry Rossiter. But is she ready to stop travelling with the Doctor yet? Time will tell.

NEXT EPISODE : MEDICINAL PURPOSES