As much as I have ragged on Adric as a character, I don't blame actor Matthew Waterhouse. Adric is no more his fault than Wesley Crusher is Wil Wheaton's fault. Today Mr. Waterhouse turns 56 years old, and I wish him the very best. True, I loathe the character he played, and I am counting the days until I can gleefully witness his demise. That being said, it is worth noting that he was the very first openly gay actor to appear on Doctor Who. That took a lot of guts in 1981. He also still holds the record as the youngest actor to play a male companion on the show. It's just a shame his character was such a smug piece of crap.

Speaking of which, let's talk about how Adric was a smug piece of crap in today's viewing.

Kinda - Parts 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

In the back half of the story the Doctor meets up with the Kinda wise woman and learns about the threat of the Mara - a serpentine entity from another dimension who is able to enter this world through the dream of an unprotected woman (I.E. - Tegan). Meanwhile back in the Dome, the  crazy dude left in charge gets more crazy and sets in motion a plan to detonate six huge bombs in order to protect the Dome from invasion by completely vaporizing it and making it un-invadeable. 

Adric runs off in a powered armor suit and promptly loses control of it before being rescued by the Doctor. About three minutes later Adric pontificates to Tegan about how all of their current problems are her fault because she was able to properly control her mind and keep out the Mara. Yes, the snot-nosed brat who was pissing himself trying to drive a souped-up tank is now criticizing Tegan for not being able to protect her mind from trans-dimensional attack while asleep. What a smug piece of crap.

Anyway, in the end the Doctor does a Very Clever Thing and traps the Mara inside a circle of mirrors, thus forcing it back to its own dimension. Adric gets no comeuppance or criticism whatsoever, Tegan gets shell-shocked from the trauma of her experience, and Nyssa wakes up from her four-episode nap.

It's a shame that the big snake effect at the climax was so dreadful, because all kidding aside the story really was quite good. Aside from Adric, who needs to die in a fire (in five more days).

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fifth
Companion(s): Adric, Tegan
Episode(s): Kinda - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,669 today, 1,973,285 total
Distance Walked: 4.30 miles today, 1,005.36 miles total
Weight: 246.78 lbs (five day moving average), net change -60.52 lbs