The story starts off at a surprisingly mundane note: The Stranger
(Colin Baker) wakes up outside of a nightclub, and it might just be
because he has drunken too much, which might be the reason he seems to
have no recollections at all. Miss Hennessy (Louise Jameson), owner of the
nightclub, asks him in and offers him a coffee, which might be out of
pity, or because she actually feels attracted to him. The story really
kicks off when two hitmen, Egan (David Troughton) and Saul (John Wadmore)
show up at the place, and they quickly accept the Stranger as one of their
own and take him to their hideout. Slowly, the Stranger starts to remember
again, remembers that he once actually was a hitman, and one of the best,
who was participating in the Terror Game, where he and his
terrorist friends kill people for no other reason than to prove they are
still there, while the controlling forces (not gouvernment but something
higher up) try to capture and reeducate the hitmen. Obviously his travels
so far were part of the re-education program, and his companion Miss Brown
(not in this story) his custodian. The Stranger wants out of that violent
vicious circle, but ironically he on the other hand also wants to murder
Raven (Nicholas Briggs), the supposed target of the hitmen who also
happens to be Miss Hennessy's sidekicki - because you know, Miss Hennessy
is more than a mere nightclub owner, she's actually a top agent of the
controlling forces ... In the finale, the Stranger does not kill Raven
but save him from Egan and Saul, who then make their escape via what is
known as the Web (some interdimensional gate I suppose). With
everything ending happily, Miss Hennessy offers to become the Stranger's
new custodian, but he makes his escape through the Web as well. As
with many science fiction stories, this one doesn't make too much sense at
the beginning, but neatly wraps up everything at the end thanks to clever
storytelling and a decent directorial job. Of interest about this episode
of The Stranger is also that so far the character and series
have just been considered (and were to a point intended) as a continuation
of Doctor
Who, with all references to the actual series omitted, and
even the main cast suggests as much. With this story though, The
Stranger himself gets an origin radically different from the
Doctor, and one that take the series into a new and interesting direction. Well
worth a look.
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