Day 571: Black Orchid Part 2

You know how yesterday, I was somewhat optimistic about Black Orchid? How I described it as a harmless bit of fluff that's good for a nice unwinding at the end of a stressful day? Well, as the story develops, I may have to change my opinion of this story after the initial impressions. There is just so much that's wrong with this story. For a start, the major conflict becomes that the Doctor is wearing a costume that is exactly the same of that of the murderer. This causes the two to be confused, and the Doctor to be arrested. Now, in the right hands, a plot based around the idea of people being confused for one another can be quite good. This is not the case here, providing us with a predictable series of events as the Doctor quickly clears his name.

But that's not the only issue. There's also the fact that this is a two part story, which means that the entire plot has to be wrapped up in this episode. So we're taken on a series of vast leaps as characters are quickly introduced, while we learn of secret motivations and one character who basically has an entire development sub-plot where she comes to terms with the fact that her presumed dead fiancé has in actual fact been hiding in the attic after being driven insane, and his only help comes from a Brazilian tribesman and a solitary butler. Which is quite a bit to go through in life, and I don't necessarily feel comfortable with the fact that we're just expected to take her sudden acceptance of this at face value.

So we end up with rather a poor story at the end of the day, but that still can't take away the fact that the first episode is still rather lovely. Maybe when I rewatch this story, I'll fast-forward through the plot, because sometimes it's nice to just relax in front of something where not much happens and everything is relatively calm.