by Helen Langdon
“The Daughters of Stone” is the first Wizards vs Aliens episode without Benny (with Percelle Ascott’s name now gone from the credits), although it’s not like he’s been wiped out of the universe entirely. Tom asks what would Benny do, and the answer is, probably much the same as Katie does. In this story light on the aliens and heavy on the wizards, Katie calls Tom in to investigate ghosts in her grandfather’s theatre, which turns out to be a witch from the Neverside (witches are entirely different to wizards, being evil, and leave the negative gender connotations aside).
“The Daughters of Stone” is the first Wizards vs Aliens episode without Benny (with Percelle Ascott’s name now gone from the credits), although it’s not like he’s been wiped out of the universe entirely. Tom asks what would Benny do, and the answer is, probably much the same as Katie does. In this story light on the aliens and heavy on the wizards, Katie calls Tom in to investigate ghosts in her grandfather’s theatre, which turns out to be a witch from the Neverside (witches are entirely different to wizards, being evil, and leave the negative gender connotations aside).
OK, so, Katie. Finally, Katie discovered the truth about Tom’s unreliability – when he hasn’t made it to their dates, he’s just been off fighting aliens and using magic. Even before she finds out about the magic, Katie’s being awesome, refusing to let Tom face the danger alone (although sensibly agreeing to him going first, given that he’s about half a foot taller than her and thus the perfect human shield). And then when she knows more about what they’re facing, she plunges headlong into it, bringing along the equipment that allows them to discover the hidden Threshold of Enchantment. She’s no quivering damsel and says as much.
Which is why it’s so disappointing that at the end of the second part, seemingly out of nowhere, Katie decides that magic is too much for her and agrees to Tom wiping her memory. Essentially, it’s as if she’d said, “Well, I know I just helped you out of a life-threatening situation, and I know you’re going to continue to be in them, but I’d get too stressed if I really knew that, so just make it so I don’t remember this really big, important part of you, this thing that makes you who you are.” It feels like a cheap trick to maintain the status quo. Without this to develop the characters, the only thing that changes in this entire hour of television is the return of Tom’s grandfather from the Neverside, and that Lyzera now has a drop of wizard blood (hinting towards a possession spell in the next episode, perhaps?).
Up until that ending, “The Daughters of Stone” was a pretty good episode. Old Bethesta might have been the hammiest character to have graced the show since Brian Blessed’s puppet was sadly retired (so many rhymes, and her threat to drink bone soup out of Ursula’s kneecaps), but parts of the episode were genuinely scary, with that ventriloquist dummy (inherently terrifying) and the shadow phantoms more threatening than most of what the Nekross can come up with.
Up until that ending, “The Daughters of Stone” was a pretty good episode. Old Bethesta might have been the hammiest character to have graced the show since Brian Blessed’s puppet was sadly retired (so many rhymes, and her threat to drink bone soup out of Ursula’s kneecaps), but parts of the episode were genuinely scary, with that ventriloquist dummy (inherently terrifying) and the shadow phantoms more threatening than most of what the Nekross can come up with.
It was also great to see Tom and Ursula’s reactions to Simeon, with neither of them thrilled to see the prodigal son. Tom’s even openly antagonistic, which doesn’t kick in until Simeon asks about the absence of his daughter. It was an emotional reaction that rang far more true than Katie’s. Equally, Ursula’s near-death experience brought a tear to the eye, although given how often she’s been almost dead, it’s starting to lose some of its impact.
So, that leaves just one unanswered question – Lyzera is an alien. So how did she make a Narnia reference? Have the Nekross now got a library to help them assimilate better while in disguise on Earth? Maybe next time we’ll find out as she breaks on through to the Neverside (sorry, cheap joke, but it had to be made).
So, that leaves just one unanswered question – Lyzera is an alien. So how did she make a Narnia reference? Have the Nekross now got a library to help them assimilate better while in disguise on Earth? Maybe next time we’ll find out as she breaks on through to the Neverside (sorry, cheap joke, but it had to be made).
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