Day 563: Kinda Part 2

Adding to the fantastic nature of Kinda is the way in which it deals with companions, in particular Tegan. Tegan is left on her own a short while into Part 1, and she falls asleep in some remote part of the jungle. But it's a different sort of sleep, a trance state, where she's left completely vulnerable. The camera moves into her eyeball, into the darkness of her eye, and we see her mind get attacked by some unknown force.

The attack on her mind consists of some unknown force, which only wishes to be free, and to take over Tegan's body in order to gain its freedom. It does this by breaking Tegan's mind slowly, until she has no choice but to give up her freedom so that she can have some form of sanity left within her. One way in which this is done is by creating a perfect double of her, that thinks, feels and moves exactly like her. Thus the moral dilemma is created within both Tegans, as to which is the real one and which is the fake. The story does an interesting trick here, and chooses to leave this particular plot thread hanging for a little while, instead focussing on the work done by the Doctor and Adric. When we return to Tegan, we've lost all track of which one is the real one, and which one is the fake one. The fact that both of them claim equal stakes in being Tegan and acknowledge this fact, makes it hard to tell which is which, making it even more of a psychological dilemma as we try to distinguish between two identical minds. It's thoroughly disturbing stuff, and just one example of the horrific things that happen to Tegan within this episode. And around 10 minutes into Part 2, she breaks.

We've never really seen this sort of thing occur in Doctor Who before, or at least it's happened so long ago that we're liable to have forgotten about it. We've seen characters get hypnotised, yes, or be possessed by some alien entity, but this is something different. This is Doctor Who making this whole process scary again by trying a different tactic, actually breaking the mind of the person involved. It's torturing the characters, making it a far more intense experience and making the story more frightening as a whole.

So when we see Tegan possessed, we know that this is something that's put her under an intense amount of pain. And we don't just see her possessed in the normal 'possessed by a monster' acting, where the character will talk slowly and emotionless. This is a character full of emotion, seeking to do evil and take control. We see the creature taking control of Tegan smile, move and be free, making it more of a character, and more of a threat, as we see hat it has taken full control of Tegan. It then moves on, taking control of another character, Aris, in an incredibly painful sequence as the camera cuts quickly back and forth between Tegan reaching out at Aris and Aris holding back in a silent scream, before finally giving into the power of the creature. But what's done is done, and we've seen something truly traumatic.

This is a frightening episode of Doctor Who, as we see all sorts of psychological trauma affect the characters. It shows that scary things don't have to be monsters, they can sometimes be affecting you in the mind, in your dreams.