This is the second in the trilogy and picks up with Robert transcribing his thoughts on the image of Sara Kingdom and the ghost or rather echo of her in the house at Ely. We have a confirmation that human society is now less advanced than 1000 years previously when the house was first built, later we learn of the ruins of cities beneath the waters and that the Daleks are still known (is this set after Dalek Empire?). Robert delivered his report to the council of elders and returns to Ely to record her character testament on an old fashioned beeswax recording machine ‘capturing her soul‘ in the same way that the house did 1000 years ago.
As with ‘Home Truths’, there is an ‘inner story’ told with the framework of the ongoing arc – with Sara telling the story and Robert listening and with fragments of current events being slowly drip fed through the narrative.
Sara tells Robert the story of the TARDIS landing on an asteroid, in a structure surrounded by ocean – the TARDIS sinking into the water. The platform is occupied by pioneer miners who are running low on oxygen and are facing imminent death. The idea of pioneers is a very RTD concept – he employed it in The Impossible Planet for example and is mentioned in his original series one story outline. Guerrier also used this in the ‘Shadow of Death‘ Second Doctor part of the Destiny of the Doctor series. Here the ramshackle, precarious. prefabricated buildings also fit in with this theme. The miners are dealing with the unknown and events soon start to become desperate.
The nature of the threat is revealed as the travellers attempt to rescue the TARDIS. They lower a rope around the ship, but the water fights back a tendril attacking and taking one of the crew. The silvery waters rise and pour into the structure, this echoes ‘Waters of Mars’ and the sea itself is alive. This inner story is pretty straightforward, but again provides illumination on the character of Sara, her role as a security agent and relationships with Steven. the Doctor and her brother.
Breaking out of the story, Robert presents his recordings to the council for their judgement on the fate of Sara – they are blank. When he returns to Sara at Ely, he gives her their judgement and asks her to disperse – give up her existence. In some ways, the theme of these stories are what it is to be alive, is the image of Sara in the house actually sentient? Is it alive in the same way that Sara herself was and thus worthy of a continuing life? These are weighty issues and the trilogy explores these effectively. By the end of the episode we assume that Sara has obeyed this order and is gone.
Some time later, Robert returns to the house, with his daughter (as the house – Sara helped to grant this wish of his). Robert starts to tell his daughter the story of the water planet and the miners. The switch of narrator here is very effective – then the switch back to Sara again. The story itself is fairly straightforward, but well described in the narration and tense enough to carry the story along, but not intrusive enough to take time away from the weightier matters of Sara and Robert an dher ongoing existence.
We are back in the house, Sara seemingly back. Outside, disease has caused society to collapse. Robert is older, his daughter, now 11, is ill. Robert has summoned Sara back to try to help. In the inner story Sara is taken by the sea, but it spares her after communing with her mind. The Doctor offers the sea a choice to destroy it or grant its wishes (mirroring Sara’s own choice in Ely), but arranges for the miners to leave. This sentient sea strand is reminder of another Russell T Davies era story – 42, with its sentient sun being damaged by the mining it for fuel.
The ‘Drowned World‘ story is less complex than the previous instalment, slightly less successful, but still satisfying and thoughtful. Our sympathies for Sara/the house switch back and forth, sympathy turning to pathos and then suspicion, as she is rejected by the miners she helped saved, then lists the people who have visited the house and treated her badly. This section also deals with her guilt at having killed Bret and how she wants to make amends for that – in this case saving the miners. Finally she offers to cure Robert’s daughter in return for him staying with her for the rest of his life. The story ends on Robert’s choice – stay with Sara, with his daughter, as the world outside collapses or leave?
A Journal of Impossible Things 