I am doing a bit of a wild jump here and have just watched this episode, owning to the fact that it was on a sampler dvd I own, so thought "why not", even though I was unsure of it's placing in the run of the series.
Until I got my bearings with this episode, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it all that or much. And then we got to the arguing scene, which seemed - at first - to be a little contrived and forced with everybody suddenly leaping out of character and going into rage mode.
It was only as the episode progressed that the clever writing started to show through and it all started to have shades of
SAPPHIRE AND STEEL, no less, as I realised that the arguing was not a sudden dose of bad writing, but all part of the well thought through plot.
A phantom of the past trapped and generating negative events.
The clever writing didn't stop there.
Freddie Jones was clearly in his element, having been handed a script where he not only gets a double role as his own father, but also that very poignant and sensitive scene where he talks to his younger self. The 2-dimensional bluster of his character is stripped away and we see a man quietly reflecting on his life and literally looking back.
The episode ended nicely with that peaceful resolution, making this a lovely Christmas episode, with a good will to all message - and the show was clever enough not to show the "negative phantom" that had been causing all these shenanigans. Better left to the imagination. The candles flickering, then burning again was a smart way of showing the trail of the unhappy ghost as it left the building.
So yes, a good episode. Even though I did a bit of time-travelling of my own to review it out of sequence. Normal service will be resumed, now that medium atomic weights are available.
And, based on the evidence of this, I thing Richard Carpenter had it in him to write a sound
SAPPHIRE AND STEEL episode. Shame he never did.
8 out of 10
