Conspiracy
The third part of this arc opens with Ian and his slave friend still locked in the cells to become gladiators, and the Doctor and Vicki guests of Nero. Tavius, the man who thinks he's involved in a conspiracy with the Doctor, keeps on whispering cryptic things to him, leading the Doctor to finally decide to figure out what all this conspiracy is about, while Vicki decides to wander around the castle, and try not to interfere with the course of history. Nero, wanting to hear the Doctor's lyre playing, decides to throw a feast in the Doctor's honour, with the Doctor as the entertainment.
Barbara soon reappears, being given by Tavius as a new attendant for the Empress. Unfortunately for Barbara, she quickly catches Nero's eye, and receives a dire threat from the Empress about trying to mess around with him. Of course, the instant the Empress leaves, Nero begins chasing Barbara around the castle, repeatably meeting the Doctor moments after Barbara disappears. Nero manages to chase her back into the royal bedroom, and almost manages to start getting it on when the Empress walks in, slightly peeved at her husband, but deadly angry of Barbara.
Vicki meanwhile had found the court poisoner of all people, and was casually chatting it up about how her job is perfectly safe, and she is in no danger of repercussions whatsoever (this is what literature students would call a Chekhov's Gun). The Doctor and Nero begin having a steam bath, rudely interrupted by Nero's bumbling attendant, who spills hot water all over Nero. The Doctor soon finds out that Nero is not actually in on the plot he's stumbled upon, and finds out that he is to play at the banquet, to which he laughs, slightly nervously.
Vicki, still with the court poisoner, discovers that the Empress wants to poison 'some poor slave-girl', and, in a slightly misguided moment of heroism, switches the poisoned cup and Nero's cup around. Nero, overseeing the preparations for the banquet, starts chatting up Barbara again, then asks for a kiss yet again, which Barbara only escapes by quickly proposing a toast. She gulps down her drink, and Nero chides her slightly, before raising his cup to drink as well. Vicki, having run into the Doctor just outside the hall, casually mentions that she may have accidentally poisoned Nero, allowing the Doctor to rush in and save Nero from drinking at the last moment. Nero is thankful of this, but slightly suspicious to say the least.
The Empress goes and yells at the poisoner for a bit for her 'failure', before having her taken away by the guards. So much for no danger of repercussions. They then cut to the banquet, where Nero is stuffing his face, ogling the girls, and looking around for Barbara, who conveniently isn't there. He soon calls on the Doctor to play, who, in an awesomely sly move, plays music that only those with the most keen and perspective hearing can hear. Of course, the Doctor can't play at all, so he simply waves his hands around in front of the lyre, and lets everyone think that he's playing. Full on, old school, Emperor's New Clothes.
The Emperor, upset that he can't hear it, storms out, and listens from the hallway as they all applaud him. Royally pissed off, he goes to his chambers, and drags Barbara with him to the gladiator school, he wants to see someone get hurt real bad. At the gladiator school, he instructs the head gladiator trainer to 'accidentally' let the lions get free when the Doctor is playing in the circus, and then orders a gladiator match. The two gladiators who are forced to fight are of course Ian and his slave-friend, and Ian and Barbara are finally re-united, just in time for Barbara to watch him fight for his life. Ian refuses to take the advantage and kill his friend, but the episode closes with Ian on the ground, Nero ordering his friend to chop off his head, and his friend raising his sword to finish him off.
This episode contains one of those things that I really like about old Doctor Who that is very rarely seen in the new series. The Doctor finds himself in a situation where he can't use his skills to save himself, and without using a sonic screwdriver (which hasn't been introduced yet), or flying around in the TARDIS, or anything at all besides a bit of cleverness, saves himself. If Nero discovered that he wasn't actually a great musician, he'd be dead. If Nero discovered he was part of some plot, he'd be dead. Instead, he's taking steam baths with him, and laughing the entire time. That right there, is some awesome Doctoring.
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