Ace is locked in a room with Bellboy where she learns he made the robots, including the random pewpewpew robot from part one. Or maybe it is not so random after all? Maybe it is Chekhov's Pewpewpew Robot? Now past the halfway point, it seems we are beginning to turn the corner in unraveling the mystery as Ace starts to get the backstory of the Circus from Bellboy.
The Doctor makes a break for it and runs away from the clown robots, so they immediately turn on Captain Cook and capture him instead. The Doctor meets Deadbeat and talks to him, then Deadbeat takes the Doctor to where Ace and Bellboy are. Bellboy says Deadbeat's name is really Kingpin.
Morgana, the clown and the Ringmaster all argue about what to do, and we see that they are all scared of failing the secret masters they serve.
Now back in the cage, Whizzkid talks to Captain Cook about the Circus, saying
"Although I never got to see the early days, I know it's not as good as it used to be but I'm still terribly interested."Because he is a FAN. Do you see what they did there? Whizzkid is a fan of the Circus but he also acts like a stereotypical fan of Doctor Who itself, whom the programme makers have decided to have a go at like Number Two in Fall Out "turning upon and biting the hand that feeds him."
This petty and unwarranted attack continues as Captain Cook tricks Whizzkid into going into the Circus ring before him:
"Oh, yes, of course. I mean, there's no real danger, is there? Really?"
"Only for those without resource or imagination or panache. I'm sure you have all those qualities."
Do you get it? Is the programme making itself blatant enough? It is saying that fans lack all three of these qualities themselves, and so they have to get them vicariously from watching the Circus or Doctor Who. I'm only surprised they did not go the whole distance and have Whizzkid's appearance be that of a stereotypical Doctor Who fan as well. But Whizzkid is a manny, he is not a long cat, nor is he made from socks.
Kingpin and Bellboy both have missing memories so they can't tell the Doctor and Ace everything about what is going on in this story, which is important for the story's pacing because it helps preserve some of the mystery for later.
"It's this place, you see. It does things to you."says Bellboy, to give an excuse for this laser-guided amnesia.
The Ringmaster does another rap to introduce Whizzkid to the Circus ring. Like Nord he gets nil points and then pewpewpewed, with only his glasses remaining for the Ringmaster to hold up.
The Doctor, Ace and Kingpin escape while Bellboy stays behind, and when the clowns come he makes the robot ones kill him while the real clown does more business with his hand. This buys the others precious time needed for them to escape.
The Doctor, Ace and Kingpin go down to the cave with the eye and they see that Kingpin's medallion has an eye on it so they know it is important and related to the eye in the well. But the medallion is borked and so they have to find the missing bit before they can progress this plot any further. The Doctor gives himself up so that Ace and Kingpin can go look for it, and also so that he can be present in the end-of-part-three cliffhanger scene.
The Ringmaster does yet another rap, but this one is shorter than the ones he did before, subtly suggesting that he is running out of ideas and so hinting that it will not be long before he ceases to be entertaining and the Circus masters will then turn on him.
The Doctor, Captain Cook and Mags all go out into the ring together. Captain Cook makes them create a moonlike lighting effect that causes Mags to transform into a weredoge and the Doctor to make a face. Cliffhanger!
Part three is a really good episode in which all the setup of the first two parts starts to pay off at last, while still keeping much back for the grand finale next time.
However, the scenes with Whizzkid just seem mean-spirited and spiteful on the part of the programme makers. His presence in the story adds very little - only another victim for the Circus - while at the same time he seems out of place in this sci-fi universe and thus it detracts from the show's credibility.
Whizzkid sets a sad and unwelcome precedent for geeky characters in the new series of Doctor Who to be caricatures of Doctor Who fans, such as those we see in Love & Monsters or Day of the Doctor (in these examples they are actual fans of the Doctor, not of a proxy like the Circus is here). I have to wonder why the producers feel the need to do this, what is it that is gained by baiting and insulting your show's fans to their faces?
We will probably never know the answer for certain, but to guess at it we could do worse than considering that, if Whizzkid is a stand-in for fans of Doctor Who (which he is) and the Circus is a stand-in for Doctor Who the show (which it is) then the stand-ins for the producer must be the Ringmaster... a character forced to perform again and again for an insatiable audience, rapidly running out of ideas and secretly longing to escape before their inevitable end at the pewpewpews of their uncaring masters.
Little wonder, then, they are so insecure that they see any criticism, no matter how constructive or well-meaning, as an ad manninem attack upon their person and hence respond in kind. The fans and the producers both have a deep-seated love for the show - it is The Greatest Show in the Galaxy after all - and ought to be on the same side, but they have been divided and set against each other by the secret masters of the Circus.
So just who are these secret masters and what do they represent? We will have to wait to find out in the final part of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
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