Kinda

This is the craziest story to date. Unhinged but believable performances from Tegan and two of our wonderfully drawn colonialist characters Hinden and Saunders. Who look like they’re on drugs as they get taken over by the Kinda - it adds to the trippy, offbeat quality of the production. The sergeant character fits nicely within this alien “savage” community, a community that has more mental agility and powers (telekinetic) than their aggressors initially estimated… and it's pushing our characters to their mental limit.

The Doctor and his companions continue to impress. Davison’s Doctor is a great mediator with the skeptical colonialist. He doesn’t show his hand too early and is entirely practical in his approach. The trippy scenes with Tegan in a ghostly dimension are spooky and affecting. You get whiplash cutting between the scenes in the colonialist’s base and Tegan’s mental world. It's not clear initially how the two settings are connected.

It’s a bit of a cop out, shelving Nyssa for the whole story (apparent sickness) then her turning up again at the end. Having said this, the focus on a smaller number of main characters does work for the story.

In the end the scenes set on the colonialist’s base are a lot more interesting than those amongst the tribe - in many ways thanks to Hindle’s excellent and insane performance. The ending with a giant puppet snake also leaves something to be desired, even if it all ties up nicely.

Overall this story screams potential and is memorable for a lot of compelling reasons, but it’s cons mean it doesn’t live up to that potential.