Another week, another ho-hum historical. Only the benefit of hindsight makes this story more significant than that, as we say hello to Jamie McCrimmon, and say goodbye to the pure historical. I don't want to sound too down on it, because it's significantly better than The Smugglers, but with that story so recent, and with the gorgeous Power of the Daleks having just gone by, I'm mostly just left feeling kind of bored by this. Still, it was quite interesting watching this brand-new Doctor take a shot at a story style that is so intrinsic to the era of his predecessor. His approach to it is one full of impersonation and disguise, something which Hartnell also did, albeit not with this frequency. All in all, he seems somewhat manic and unreliable, though it's clear to see how it all works out by the end when his plan comes to fruition and the Highlanders are rescued.
It really is remarkable how obvious it is that Jamie was never intended to go past this serial. He's hardly even in it, with the primary side character being Kirsty. The few bits he does get are promising, though, and I can hardly complain about him getting to stay on for longer, even if I am apprehensive (as always) about having three companions in the TARDIS at once. I just got to know Ben and Polly, so the possibility that they'll be edged out so soon is an unwelcome one. Polly gets some good and some bad here; her calling Kirsty a peasant is really unexpected and nasty, but then in the next episode they're as thick as thieves and being remarkably resourceful.
Kirsty is fairly charming, but unfortunately she disappears by the last episode. All the titular Highlanders are fairly wooden, with the best side character probably being the interminably unlucky Algernon Ffinch. He gets some really funny moments with Polly here, and by the final time he showed up outside the bar in Inverness, inevitably about to be screwed over again, I had myself a good belly laugh. Not exactly the sort of reaction one expects to have in a serial with such a dark and overcast tone over some parts of it. It pulls no punches with the treatment of the beaten Jacobites after Culloden, though my intuition tells me that some of it is fairly ahistorical. Not that anyone turns up to these expecting historical accuracy anyway.
In short... not bad. Not too memorable either in most regards. A very middle-ground Who story for me, but I think some more unique times are just ahead. Unless I'm mistaken, though, we've hit 1967, so it's time for our annual musical interlude first.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 16 May 2020.)
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