Day 41: A Bargain of Necessity

"The Revolution isn't all bad" says Barbara, in probably the best scene in this serial, "and neither are the people who support it". In preparing for these entries, my mind attempts to pick out various topics that I can raise after the episode's completion. Such was the case here, where I was all set to talk about how the obvious good/bad divide of this episode isn't to my tastes, whereas I would prefer greyer moralities, much like what was seen in the first episode where both sides threaten to kill the TARDIS crew. But then the wonderful Barbara Wright points out her discomfort with this idea, and that the Revolution may have actually been a good thing. And she is able to point out the inherent flaws that we face with most stories, that they always seek to take one side. She is quite clearly enjoying comfort and friendship on the side opposed to the Revolution, whereas the side of the Revolution has given her gaol cells and attempted killings. And yet she is able to see all sides of history, and of seeing the good and bad in all sides in conflicts, as a good historian should.

Speaking of history, I was inspired by this episode, as the intention was, I'm sure, to look up the original Reign of Terror, particularly Robespierre, the villain of the piece, and I'm able to see that he was a man who fought for reform, justice and social equality. Unfortunately, he did this through killing those who got in his way. And so we can see that there are no true good guys or bad guys, only real people.