Day 121: The Savages Episode 3

For the first time in a while (read: I can't be bothered to look it up) we are in a Doctor Who story where nobody dies. Stuff happens to people yes, and there are threats that we know will be carried up on regarding life-force energy, and yet nobody dies. This is interesting, because it has no impact on the story's quality at all. Death does not indicate terror, nor does it lead to fear. This story is quite good at ratcheting up tension despite the fact that death is not an option, instead it is forced to be more creative with its punishments. Take for instance, seeing the Doctor reduced to a grunting vegetable when we see him after he has been drained of energy. It's an uncomfortable image because we are seeing this character whom we trust and like reduced to complete helplessness, and we know instinctively that there may be no way out of this. Death is not required to create horror, sometimes it can be created through more undignified concepts, like a lack of death, just doomed to wander around without your senses for all eternity.