A shocking revelation upon reading the course notes was the fact that Ricky and Jake were lovers. It’s both an interesting contrast with Mickey’s character and a surprising look at the norms and culture of the UK. First of all, despite the unrivalled machismo of Ricky, we find out that Mickey is actually the man, in the sexual sense, as he biologically still prefers the opposite sex. This fact rings true about some people I know personally; strong, buff and rebellious “men” who in the end, turn out to be homosexual. Although this was hinted by Jake’s reaction upon hearing the news of Ricky’s death, I just thought it was a normal response. As a best friend to a dying person, I’d mourn the same way too. Also, I find it quite amusing that the UK can just showcase a gay couple in a sort of family show. Yes, the scene was deleted but maybe it was removed to make it more subtle and not obvious to the kids. Regardless of the that, it got me thinking about Captain Jack’s character as well and the show’s plight in the 1960’s had these story elements been broadcasted at that time.

Back to the episode, I found the “The Age of Steel” a fitting climactic action-packed conclusion to the “Rise of the Cybermen”. It was a very bond-esque entry featuring a lot of espionage moments, a fully transformed supervillain, high-tech gadgets, The Doctor in a tux and most importantly, EXPLOSIONS! There were several thrilling action scenes in this movie and it’s good they made this into a two-part episode so they can focus on character and story development in the first and then full-blown action in the second. There was an effectively suspenseful scene that stood out; the one where the inactive Cybermen were getting powered up one by one as they reach out to grab The Doctor and Angela Price. It had a claustrophobic feel to it and really provided some danger to the characters.

I must admit though, the show can be quite dark at times. Although the mood, or tone doesn’t change and still remains light-hearted fun, the implications of some characters death would show that there is real morbidity to the show. I like to imagine a lot and one thing that disturbed me about this episode was putting myself in the cyber suit. I probably would react the same way as them upon losing my physical and emotional identity for a metallic appearance. I would understand Lumic though and why he was so willing to be transformed but his choice to do it to other people against their will was unforgivable. Also, the writers killed the parallel Jackie which for me fun to watch as I hated her in this world but I still can’t believe they killed her off.

This is by far the most action packed episode of the series and I wish the concluding episodes of continuous plots would end like this. It was never boring and the only complaint I would have is how slow the Cybermen’s movements are in one scene and the next one would show them travelling a much greater distance than what their speed would allow them to do so. But it’s a minor flaw to the episode and I think the two-part story introduced the Cybermen as formidable villains quite well.