The very good arcs follow one another, as evidenced by The Aztecs.
In addition to being fairly faithful to reality (at least, what was thought of it in the 60s), we have here for the first time the idea of ​​HAVING to not change the course of events, with a Barbara as ashamed of "corrupting" a man who believes in her, who has confidence, just for her own will, but also and above all disconcerted by not being able to help this civilization which is according to her too primitive.
She realizes in certain points what the Doctor feels when them sees us, poor primitive humans according to him.
I also like the idea of ​​this search for an episode almost exclusively focused on Barbara: Ian fights people, okay, but in the end, everything is brought back to Barbara, and in such a logical way that the episode becomes very good.
Really, episode in 6/10.

I think Barbara's white savior-plot was very annoying to watch. But it's very funny that this was balanced out by a B plot of the Doctor getting cozy with a random old woman

i thought this was going to subvert expectations and show that even if aztec culture had some bad elements, there were mostly positives and people enjoyed their lives. i think that was what they thought they were going for but instead it was too focused on how evil and primative and barabaric these non-europeans are for having human sacrifices and physical punishments, as if europe at this time also didnt. barbara is incredibly white saviour-y; she thinks the spanish wiped out the aztecs and burned all their records because of the human sacrifices and not out of a desire for conquest and riches and power. its also notable how the one person who is presented as reasonable and against the human sacrifices, the high priest of knowledge is explictly stated to be some different and unlike the rest and the rest would never change their evillll ways. there is stuff to like though - i like that we get to see the doctor fail and make mistakes, like almost getting ian killed with the poison and accidently getting engaged. its fun when the doctor isn't always right. and him and cameca are actually really cute together i think theyre a good fit. would be nice if she could have become a  companion! i dont even know why tlotoxl is a villain and we are meant to dislike him - barbara is a false goddess and she is legitimately trying to destroy his culture. also i think they purposefully made him up to visually look the most different and 'savage' so the audience would dislike him more. just a lot of racist stuff and only really good for doctor character stuff

While I greatly enjoyed most of the Episodes we got in this Season, I don't believe there were that many 11/10 Stories for me (surprisingly, since I am big on the Hartnell era). Marco Polo as great as it is, but suffers from being missing, thankfully this is still completed and what a watch!
Jaqueline Hill plays the role of Barbara already superb, but this one is a great showcase for her Character. At times I find myself having only minor issues, sadly Susan gets the short stick again and her “Subplot” isn’t very interested. The other leads get a lot of great things to do. Especially the idea of the Doctor accidentally getting engaged is entertaining and actually does work pretty well I must say. A true treat for any pure historical fans filled with a good sense of action and humor! Easily one of the crown jewels of this season, not sure if I prefer this or Marco Polo (as much as I love the latter, it can suffer from its pace a slight bit, this one is paced perfectly with 4 Episodes, no complaints on here.

The pacing is solid and I like that Barbara gets her chance to be the focus of a serial, but the plot is steeped in 60s white-saviourism. It's written by someone who I think did want to represent the Aztecs well and had a lot of respect for (or at least interest in) the culture, but it's overshadowed by the message being "these people will always be bloodthirsty savages and you can't change that"