Day 130: The Smugglers Episode 4

Here's the thing about The Smugglers. It is very 'meh' as a story. There is honestly nothing much to remark about the story itself in this. We've had this problem before, but at least those times the story was interesting enough to keep my interest. Here, I've just watched the last episode and would be hard pressed to tell you what happened over the course of the serial. Is this a bad thing though? By having a story that is average, at least it's not bad, and so audiences won't turn off in embarrassment. But that is missing the point, because averageness does not lead to audiences keeping interested, there is nothing here that will make the viewer want to continue watching. Even with stories that I didn't entirely enjoy, such as The Web Planet, that at least had spectacle and ambition to keep interest. Here, there is absolutely nothing beyong a middling story and some pirates with the promise of an action scene later on. The series is becoming duller as it grows older, it needs some brave new idea, and quickly too.