The Fifth Doctor’s era is widely considered the last gasp of Who glory, and while it gives us a very different Doctor and a same-same-but-different sensibility, there is much that is well-constructed, thought-provoking, entertaining and even occasionally amusing in this three-season run. Compared to the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Doctors, the Fifth Doctor is not overly-blessed with unmissable brilliance, but there are still a few favorites I had to leave off this list. Still, enjoyable they may be, but even their strongest proponents could not claim them to be “essential.” For example, I’m personally rather partial to Black Orchid , because I really like cricket; Frontios gives the Doctor some excellent lines (“Oh, marvellous. You’re going to kill me. What a finely tuned response to the situation.”) if not too much else; and Arc of Infinity just makes me happy, even if it really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense (why execute the Doctor?) and makes Gallifrey look a lot like the aftermath of a White Snake video.
Also, there are many who would doubtless have you believe that at least one of the Black Guardian Trilogy ( Mawdryn Undead/Terminus/Enlightenment ) is worthy of inclusion here, but no, I won’t have it! Not after what Terminus did to Nyssa—plus, too much Turlough is hardly a good thing, and there are two others of his outings that I simply must include here. (For one of which I guess I must apologize in advance. But I feel really strongly about it.)
So what does that leave us with? Well…
THE FIFTH DOCTOR
Played by: Peter Davison
First Appearance: Newly regenerated in “Part Four” (Logopolis , March 21, 1981), but really in “Part One” (Castrovalva , January 4, 1982)
Last Appearance: “Part Four” (The Caves of Androzani , March 16, 1984)—but with later guest appearances.
Episodes: 69
Serials: 20
Seasons: 3
Style: Edwardian Cricketer
Catchphrase: “Sorry, must dash.” (Though “Brave heart, Tegan” might also qualify.)
Characteristics: The Fifth Doctor is the softer, gentler, slightly more muddled Doctor–he’s basically Bertie Wooster blessed with the intellect of Jeeves and command of space and time. Indecisive (to the point of flipping coins to make tough calls) and lacking in initiative, but brave and appropriately gallant, he is also naïve yet intelligent, sensitive yet snippy, compassionate yet pragmatic, non-violent and yet martial–a study in contrasts in every way. He is the youngest of the Doctors as of this date, with a certain floppy-haired handsomeness, and his general earnestness is often belied by occasional flashes of wit–though this occurs far less frequently than with his predecessors. It is worth noting that despite the ludicrousness of his ensemble, the Doctor will yet suffer more outlandish and improbable get-ups, except perhaps for the stalk of celery that sat ever on this one’s lapel. (Yes, there’s an explanation. No, it’s not a good one.)
Companions: From his immediate predecessor, the Fifth Doctor inherited alien know-it-all Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), alien philanthropist Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) and Australian flight attendant Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding). Later, he also recruited troubled alien public school boy Turlough (Mark Strickson), shape-shifting android Kamelion, and Californian botany student Perpugilliam “Peri” Brown.
THE ESSENTIALS:
1. CASTROVALVA, Season 19, Episodes 1-4
Written by: Christopher H. Bidmead
Directed by: Fiona Cumming
Setting: The TARDIS and the planet Castrovalva (except, not really)
4 Episodes: “Part One” (January 4, 1982), “Part Two” (January 5, 1982), “Part Three” (January 11, 1982), “Part Four” (January 12, 1982)
The Fifth Doctor has just succeeded from the Fourth, and yet the transformation is proving problematic. Adric, Nyssa and Tegan can only look on as his personality veers wildly across all his incarnations, reversing the polarity of the neutron flow one minute and name-checking Jo, Jamie and K-9 the next. Sticking him in the healing “Zero Room” and taking command of the TARDIS, the girls attempt to pilot him to the planet Castrovalva for repair, only to fall into a trap set by the Doctor’s diabolical nemesis, the Master (Anthony Ainley). Not only is this episode a total fan service-y blast from the past as the Doctor finds his way to a new identity, but this is also an excellent use of the TARDIS as a character as well as a triumphant attempt at agency by the Doctor’s companions, where even the much-derided boy genius Adric acquits himself with honor, and the extremely capable Nyssa is not entirely under-used. At least, comparatively speaking. (I know Nyssa isn’t a universal favorite, but to me she has always felt like a kind of Zoe/Victoria hybrid, but far more at the Zoe end of the awesome spectrum.)
EXPLAINED! The relief of a successful regeneration.
2. EARTHSHOCK, Season 19, Episodes 19-22
Written by: Eric Saward
Directed by: Peter Grimwade
Setting: Earth, in the future and the past, as well as onboard an alien freighter
4 Episodes: “Part One” (March 8, 1982), “Part Two” (March 9, 1982), “Part Three” (March 15, 1982), “Part Four” (March 16, 1982)
Aside from any other merits this story might have—and it does!—this is a farewell to Adric, and while I am not numbered among those who despise him and his ilk (after all, I must confess to having been a Wesley Crusher fanteen), the manner of his departure is both dramatic and moving, especially given his whining for attention as this serial commences. This one also gives us the return of the Cybermen (oh, hi guys!), a somewhat dystopian, but hopeful, vision of humanity’s future and a truly confusing time paradox of the type I can never quite get my head around. Still: fun!
EXPLAINED! Um… what happened to all the dinosaurs.
3. THE KING’S DEMONS, Season 20, Episodes 21-22
Written by: Terrence Dudley
Directed by: Tony Virgo
Setting: 13th-Century England
2 Episodes: “Part One” (March 15, 1983), “Part Two” (March 16, 1983)
I am going to get in so much trouble here. But the fact is, I believe that The King’s Demons is absolutely must-see stuff for those new to Classic Who because, come on, not only do we have an old-fashioned historical given to us in a mere two episodes (which: when was the last time that happened?) but it also gives us a Master who is increasingly petty (a recurring theme of the era) and one of the most ill-advised companions of all time in android, er, chameleon, Kamelion. Sure, he/it doesn’t last much past this one—which is due to the difficulties faced by the production team operating it—but while he lasts, Kamelion is the height of Doctor Who lunacy, and I believe in a warts-and-all reveal of just what legacy new viewers have stumbled into. (Which will be even more evident when we get to the Sixth Doctor…) Also, the visit to the Court of King John is very entertaining, there is a kick-ass sword fight between the Doctor and the Master, companion Turlough’s here (but, whatever) and the fact that the Magna Carta is considered the basis of modern democracy (by no less source than the Doctor himself) is, frankly, hilarious.
EXPLAINED! That the Doctor doesn’t actually know everything.
4. RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS, Season 21, Episodes 5-8
Written by: Eric Saward
Directed by: Matthew Robinson
Setting: Contemporary London, and a future orbiting space station
4 Episodes: “Part One” (February 8, 1984), “Part Two” (February 15, 1984)
Oh, you Daleks! What a cunning, if incomprehensibly elaborate, plan this was, to entrap the Doctor, to free your creator Davros (Terry Molloy) from future custody and to find a defense against a biological weapon set to wipe out your race. But, like all your plans, it was pretty much doomed to fail–except that this time, we all can’t help but feel a little sorry for you. Genocide is no joke. But for all that this serial is very much a collage of the Daleks’ Greatest Hits, it makes this list because it is really all about the companions, not only featuring a fun-filled flashback of all of the Doctor’s previous fellow-travelers (excepting Leela–eh, I didn’t have much truck with her, anyway) but also a tearful but determined departure by long-time stalwart Tegan, who, after all the death and danger and destruction she has faced at the Doctor’s side, is sad as hell and just can’t take it anymore. I think it’s delightful to see such a glaring example of the toll this companion’s life can take on the intrepid all-too-human souls who accompany the Doctor. (Turlough remains, though… whatever.) There’s also a rogue android here who is entirely likeable after having escaped the Daleks’ control—if only he had been the show’s experiment with a humanoid AI companion, things might have worked out very differently. Note: This 2-part serial is notable in this era for consisting of 45-minute episodes, which means it is actually a 4-parter broadcast as two. The remainder of the Fifth Doctor’s adventures were broadcast twice-weekly in 25-minute installments, though the following season (with the Sixth Doctor) would revert to this format.
EXPLAINED! The glaring differences between Doctors’ varying moralities, as evidenced by how the Fourth Doctor refused to effectively abort the Daleks, while this one barely hesitates to wipe them out with a deadly pathogen. It’s not a continuity error—it’s a regeneration!
5. THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI, Season 18, Episodes 25-28
Written by: Robert Holmes
Directed by: Graeme Harper
Setting: The planets Androzani, Major and Minor
4 Episodes: “Part One” (March 8, 1984), “Part Two” (March 9, 1984), “Part Three” (March 15, 1984), “Part Four” (March 16, 1984)
Two alien drug lords battle it out for supremacy in a bloody, creepy, utterly captivating tale of obsession, obfuscation, self-interest and self-sacrifice. With echoes of everything from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Dune to many other tales besides, The Caves of Androzanni yet becomes its very own being, a singularly thrilling, maddening, saddening adventure and a fitting departure for the often wishy-washy Fifth Doctor. This serial is also imperative viewing for anyone new to the mythos, since it has long been accounted one of the best–if not the best–stories of the entire series. Not just of the Fifth Doctor’s tenure, but of the whole fricking shebang. Personally, I don’t think it’s the best, but it comes pretty damned close, and certainly in terms of casting, production design, direction and writing (with the great Who scribe Robert Holmes in the chair) it is absolutely first rate. Still, whether or not it deserves all the hype is irrelevant; the fact that it is so revered makes it necessary that any new Who fan make their own assessment. To have omitted it here would have been, as the Fifth Doctor might have said, just not cricket.
EXPLAINED! What the hell that celery thing was all about—though what took companion Peri, first introduced in the previous serial, so long to ask about it remains something of a mystery. Okay, so there you have it. Now, just how mad are you about the whole The King’s Demons thing? I’m on tenterhooks…
NEXT TIME: The Sixth Doctor—The Zany Narcissist
Rachel Hyland is Editor in Chief of Geek Speak Magazine.
I think I’d have left off The King’s Demons largely becauase Kameleon was such a bust as a companion. The technology just wasn’t up to the demands of the character and so he apparently spent most of his time in a closet on board the TARDIS. Also the Doctor should have picked up immediately that “Sir Gilles” was using a fighting style that wouldn’t be developed for a couple of centuries.
I also always liked Nyssa, but apparently unlike Rachel I liked Turlough as well. The idea of having a companion with ambiguous loyalties was somewhat overdue and, at least through the Guardian trilogy, was fairly well done. (OK, we knew the Doctor would triumph, but still…) Adric, I hated, but his departure was nevertheless something of a shock.
I am sorry, but Mawdryn Undead is one of the quintessential 5th Doctor stories. Far more important than the forgettable Kings Demons (which introduced a character that was instantly abandoned).
Like Caves of Andronassi, the episode highlighted 5 as the Doctor who would always pay a horrible price to do the right thing. And while the Brigadier returned as a bit of stunt casting in Battlefield, this story gave him more character development than any other in all of the series.
A rather interesting list you’ve got going here for The Fifth Doctor’s era. While I expected “The Caves of Androzani,” “Earthshock”, and “Castrovalva,” three of the best Fifth Doctor stories, I’m surprised the other two made it on the list. “The King’s Demons,” while it does have a few things going for it, is quite silly and one of my least favorite Master stories (I’ve always been a fan of the Master, can’t help it, I love my over-the-top evil villains). As for “Resurrection of the Daleks,” well, it just kind of sits there trying to be another ‘Earthshock” and not succeeding, though, again, there are admittedly some good bits to be found in there (also, have to point out that I was upset they left out Leela, she’s one of the best companions in the whole history of the show despite her poorly written exit scene). I am one of those who would add the Black Guardian trilogy (or rather “Enlightenment”, which is excellent, whereas “Mawdryn Undead” is merely good and “Terminus”, well, it had some good concepts but suffered from so many production problems.) I’d also personally add “The Five Doctors” even though it’s obviously just one big fan celebration-I love those kind of episodes, flaws and all, can’t help myself. There are a few others from this era that I enjoy-“The Visitation,” “Planet of Fire,” and “The Awakening,” but I’d agree that they’re not essential. A good list otherwise, though, and I agree that Nyssa was overlooked and could have easily been one of the great companions (where I don’t agree with you is that this is the last great gasp of glory for the classic series as McCoy’s last two seasons (minus “Silver Nemesis”) are two of the best and had they started making the show that good a bit earlier it may have lasted a little longer.) Anyways, can’t wait to see the next two lists, I imagine there’ll be some interesting and contentious commentary for these two eras (as there usually is).
I would have mentioned KINDA. It was one of the few times the series has really attempted a genuine anthropological/mystical story, what with its basis in Buddhist cosmology and its serious use of mythic archetypes (e.g., the tribal “trickster”), as well as its attempt to articulate a non-Western sense of experiencing time and reality. All this, despite the much-anticipated appearance of the Mara being undone by a dodgy prop that makes it about as threatening as Bob Clampett’s Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent hand-puppet.
Drop Demons and slot in Mawdryn Undead.
Or maybe even The Five Doctors, which admittedly is fanservice all the way and knows it.
[i]The Fifth Doctor’s era is widely considered the last gasp of Who glory[/i]
Which is categorically incomprehensible to me, comparing even the best of the stories here with the best late Seven.
The Fifth is “my Doctor,” so I can’t be entirely rational about this entry. “Castrovalva,” “Earthshock,” and “Androzani” are all no-brainers. “Remembrance” is a pretty obvious choice too. I’d have substituted either “Enlightenment” or “Mawdryn Undead” for “King’s Demons”…I’m sorry, but that story just kind of sits there. It’s instantly forgettable.
And I think there is a case to be made for “The Five Doctors,” if only because it was the first story I ever saw, as an 11-year-old, and immediately made me a fan. If it can do that, I’d say it qualifies as “essential,” at least for me.
Finally, a word about the costume. American 11-year-old me didn’t know, and had no way of knowing, that the Doctor’s outfit was supposed to be sporting gear. I mean, trousers, a bit stripey, but OK. Open-necked shirt, fine; people wear those every day. V-necked sweater, well, it was the 80s; lots of people wore those. How was I supposed to know it was a cricket outfit? It doesn’t look anything like what American athletes wear. Add in the coat that’s not far from the “badass longcoat” that the Tenth wears, and a cool Panama hat that’s not far from Indiana Jones’ fedora…looks like an action hero outfit to me.
@@.-@ Check out the latest DVD release of Kinda. They replace the dodgy snake with a CGI snake, and darned if it doesn’t look awesome. You’d never know it wasn’t supposed to be there originally, and it lifts the whole story.
There does seem to be a certain tension between “essential” and “favorite”, and the definition of essential seems to be a shifting target. Is it essential to understanding DW? in that it summarizes the era? in that it is one of the “classic” stories that all fans know? in understanding why we love DW? Rachel seems to lean towards the former points, while most commenters I think lean towards the later.
I personally agree that I would have put Black Orchid in my enjoy greatly, but not essential list. King’s Demons, however, wouldn’t appear on either. Sure, it was ambitious, and shows how much the folks in charge had lost the plot, but I’m not sure that makes it worth of being an essential.
I would include Five Doctors because it is such a piece of fanservice. It was fun to see (almost) everyone again, and it rather explains why there was such a hue and cry about there not being an all Doctor outing this November.
I agree with Enlightenment (but then I like Turlough), and Kinda (though I like Nyssa far better than Tegan or Adric, so having her sleep off the story in the Tardis continues to rankle).
Mawdryn Undead was an intersting story, and it was good to see the Brig again. But it sure would have made more sense if it had been Ian as planned (the Brig retires and becomes a math teacher? I might have bought him as a rugby or rowing coach…).
Five is “my” Doctor, the first I saw as a child and therefore my favorite. I am partial to Black Orchid and Enlightenment for pure entertainment. :)
I’m glad you included The King’s Demons, as you’re right: it is a wonderful example of what is happening with The Master.
Earthshock is probably the most important of his episodes and one of importance for the entire show, to my mind, for having a companion die.
I think Kinda is an important one, too, as it shows the vulernability of the companions, despite the Doctor’s protection, and came before Earthshock.
Another vote to drop Demons and insert Mawdryn.
I wasn’t a fan of the multiple-companions thing. Between Harry Sullivan’s departure and Adric’s advent, Four worked with one companion. There was certainly historical precedent, though at the time I didn’t know anything about One, Two, or Three. We might think better of Nyssa today if she’d been the sole companion. She sure wouldn’t have had to share screen time. And when we did finally get back to one companion, we got … Peri. I watch her with a perpetual wince.
I cannot believe this person left out The Mara. “Kinda” and “Snakedance” are two of the more interesting episodes in that entire era. And “Mawryn Undead” is the one that introduced Turlough, who was pretty crucial to the story of the fifth Doctor. His episodes may have been a little wonky, and that battle between the Guardians was stupid as hell; but that was the pulse of the show during a significant poortion of Davison’s tenure. If this person is so adamant about portaying the show in it’s full light, wonkyness and all, then they would realize that. It sounds like the author is just another one of those fans who picks and chooses what they like, and then acts like that is the full crux of the show; like they bear a grudge against every other aspect that they did not like. That is no way to write a review or critically analyze anything. An they’re writing is extremely sloppy. Almost like they didn’t bother writing a second draft, and wrote the first draft while they were drunk.
Like other posters here, the Fifth Doctor is “my” Doctor. I ran across
Doctor Who on PBS one night in ’88 . . . it was the last twenty minutes of “Logopolis,” and I was intrigued enough to watch “Castrovalva” the next week, tho’ for a few episodes I thought it was a parody of a sci-fi show ’cause the special effects were so bad, but then I figured out that yeah, the special effects were just that bad :)
I can agree with lots of the list but also w/ the posters who mentioned “Black Orchid” and “Kinda.” And wasn’t there an episode set in the 1600s? I don’t remember the name of it.
I think you are thinking of The Visitation, set in 1666 ( the year of the Great Fire of London – not that the Doctor would have anything to do with that… eh??)
I’m not sure I quite get this “my Doctor” being the first one you see business. I saw and liked a lot of Four on first broadcast as a child, and may have caught the very end of Three’s tenure when I was very young, but late Seven is unquestionably my Doctor. (I would not be entirely surprised if the 50th anniversary reveals the entirety of NewWho as set up by Seven.)
Once again, the reference to Davison making return appearances is a bit overstated. His one canonical return apperance was in a very brief, Steven Moffat-scripted Tenth Doctor short called “Time Crash,” one of the various short segments produced for the annual Children in Need charity broadcasts. Plus he was in Dimensions in Time, but as I said last time, that doesn’t count.
I agree about Nyssa’s level of awesomeness. Very Zoe-like, but not quite on a par with Zoe.
“Mawdryn” has its merits, but the frustrating thing about it is that it single-handedly created the UNIT dating controversy by claiming the UNIT stories had taken place in the years they were broadcast rather than 5-10ish years later as they were written to be.
@8: Wasn’t Nyssa sleeping through most of “Kinda” done to accommodate the actress’s unavailability? Which recalls the early years of the series where serials had to be structured to accommodate the actors’ vacation time (since there were so few breaks in production to allow time off between episodes), so you’d have the Doctor taken prisoner for two episodes or Susan enrolled in an Aztec school for two episodes or Ian locked in a separate French prison cell for two episodes, and the character would either be absent altogether or seen only in prefilmed inserts.
@11: I liked the use of multiple companions. It gave the show more of an ensemble flavor and allowed more character development of the regulars, because they were reacting to each other instead of just to events around them. Part of John Nathan-Turner’s purpose for the Fifth Doctor was to make him more vulnerable, since he felt Tom Baker had become too dominating a presence, always in control and never really seeming to be in genuine danger. So he gave the Doctor companions who could be a source of conflict or danger. Adric was always getting into trouble, Tegan was argumentative and stubborn and by the way had an evil snake spirit living in her dreams, Turlough actually started out as an infiltrator tasked with killing the Doctor, etc.
I can’t believe you’d list King’s Demons instead of either
Enlightenment (one of the best constructed episodes, with good pacing and a smart script that gave all of the companions something to do and the Doctor some good lines), or Kinda (most excellent and strange and like nothing else — and showing the weaknesses of the era at the same time if you think that’s important, since everybody laughs at the snake). Between Earthshock and Kinda you get an idea of the philosophical whiplash that helped to kill this era of Who, and you also get hints of the companion awkwardness without suffering through serials that make you want to throw popcorn at the screen.
( I have opinions, okay, I intellectually recognize Five’s era is a bit weak but he’s my Doctor.)
@16 No, she wasn’t on break. The script was designed for two companions rather than three, and it was too hard to shoehorn her into the plot. There were just too many companions in the Tardis at that point and Nyssa’s role in the group was ill-defined. In just about every story she is the one that gets sidelined in the interest of a tighter plot (this was just the most in your face about it). The major exceptions I can think of are Black Orchid (where only her physical appearance is important) , and Time-Flight (where she is possessed most of the time).
There is a lot of love for her here, which I agree with. With a different collection of fellow companions, she could have been great. I think the problem was that she didn’t really have a schtick. She was bright, but not Zoe precocious, and even if she was, Adric was already the whiz-kid onboard (this also meant she couldn’t be the kid either). She didn’t provide the emotional connection, that was Tegan. Her most sterling quality seemed to be calm competence. While a wonderful quality, it is not the stuff of riviting storytelling. Now if this was new series Who, the fact that her father was killed / body snatched and was now running around as the Master would make for some serious drama (I mean how screwed up was that?), but instead she just ended up the fourth wheel.
My first Doctor was the Fourth, but my favorites are the Third and Second.
Then again, although I didn’t find Sarah Jane a favorite companion at first, when revisiting her in later years I felt a great affinity for her, and when Elisabeth Sladen died it hurt like losing a dear friend. So maybe in a way she was “My Companion” without my even realizing it.
I’m with everyone else who is surprised at the lack of “Kinda” and/or “Snakedance” on the list in place of the mediocre “King’s Daemons.” Honestly, “Castrovalva” and “Earthshock” aren’t all that great, but this is a list of “essential” episodes, and they are both that. And “Caves of Androzani” is one of the best Who stories ever….
(Then again, I’m one of the six people in the world who thinks that Davison’s best episode is “Warriors of the Deep,” so what the hell do I know?)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Oh, krad…there should have been another way…
I always had problems with the 5th Doctor, because I grew up watching “All Creatures Great and Small”, and so I got used to thinking of Peter Davison as the drunken reluctant vet, Tristan Farnon. Kept expecting him to approach monsters by sticking his hand up their backside, so to speak…
I’m another one who’d be seconding “Kinda” as a possibility – it’s one of the few pieces of genuine science fiction which makes it into Dr Who, and I quite enjoyed it not only for the riffing on the various Buddhist themes, but also for the way it played with tropes surrounding colonialism (I’m Australian, colonialism is something which is part of the culture which shaped me).
Right then:
‘Kinda’
An interesting attempt to try a different type of story and an early ‘nobody dies’ tale.
‘Enlightenment’
The fifth Doctor’s finest hour as a character as he deals with the arrogant Eternals and a highly conflicted Turlough
‘The Awakening’
An early (first?) 2-parter thus paving the way for the standard episode length of nu-Who
‘Resurrection of the Daleks’
A fun and at times very creepy (those policemen gunning down panicking refugees) return of the daleks after a long gap. Also introduced the 45 minute episode.
‘The Caves of Androzani’
A startlingly bleak tale, the opposite of Kinda, complete with a character breaking the fourth wall by talking directly to the audience and somehow the production gets away with it. One of the best casts that ’80s Who put together as well.
Anyway, those were my favourites with fairly spurious reasons as to why they are vital episodes!
@24: “The Awakening” was actually the series’ sixth 2-parter, preceded by “The Edge of Destruction” in season 1, “The Rescue” in season 2, “The Sontaran Experiment” in season 12, “Black Orchid” in season 19, and “The King’s Demons” in season 20.
All right then, in an attempt to continue to justify the fact that I chose ‘The Awakening’ simply because I like it, I would say that it established beyond doubt that a 45 – 50 minute story could work.
But basically, I just like timeslip stories. Sapphire & Steel anyone?
@26: I never liked “The Awakening” much myself.
Are you kidding? One simply cannot have too much Turlough.
“Last gasp of glory.” I love the classic series. I really do. However, in my opinion, Doctor Who has never been better than it is today. I get nostalgia, but I’m a little tired of, and honestly don’t understand why, people keep belittling the reboot- and in this case, for that matter, apparently every doctor that came after five, including that amazing seven and (sadly short lived) eight.
It’s fine, I love King’s Demons too,. I am also a huge fan of Black Orchid. Being an American the cricket scene makes no sense to me except for the the fact that Tegan is for once totally enjoying herself. They all are until the madman in the attic plot kicks in.