Continuing the Fixers boxset, the second of three two-part serials sees The Doctor and Ray travel to present-day Blakeney, Norfolk. All is not right on the coast, however, as the duo soon discover that the town’s infamous seals have grown larger and have a few more appendages than normal…

Grief and stories with a reflective mood seem to be a running theme in this boxset, with both of these themes playing a large role in the narrative. This time, The Doctor is forced to face a raw, more exposed version of grief, as his and Ray’s explorations of the town find them drawn to a boating tour guide named Ann. Her partner, Barbara, was recently killed by a mutated seal, and she’s not at the stage where she’s quite ready to forgive and forget. As a result of her joining the duo, she ends up killing this seal in a fit of rage. This draws ire from The Doctor, as the seal itself seems to be a victim of something much larger.

Unlike the previous dealings with Peg, this story’s manifestation of grief creates some interesting conflict between The Doctor and Ann, at least initially. There are moments of brilliance, especially in the first part, where the writer understands that The Doctor’s anger towards Ann should be brought into question, which is ultimately done by Ray. What should bring about some mature moments of reflection, however, never truly arrives. The short runtime means that any reflecting done on behalf of The Doctor is inevitably cut off for the sake of moving the plot forward. It’s a bit of an oversight, especially considering that what happens later in the plot near-demands the results of The Doctor’s soul-searching. 

While these themes of grief are strong but go unfinished, the biggest problem with this story continues in the same vein as the previous adventure as well. Oil and Water’s villains leave much to be desired, with the surface-level villainy bringing down the overall reflective mood and its explorations of grief.

One part of this villainous pairing is a sentient oil known as The Fuel, which infects all aquatic life in the area as well as the workers onboard a new-age power station. From its position, The Fuel’s plan is one of revenge, as it seeks to infect and kill everything on the planet because they put it through so much pain as they used it as an oil alternative. It’s not a particularly bad plan, nor is it even terrible motivation; the problems with it stem from the fact that it never has any time to develop. We never get any time to immerse ourselves in how this sentient fuel goes step by step, invading body after body. Within a normal Classic Who story length of 4 to 6 parts, this would get at least an episode or two to flesh itself out, which, in a story like this that only has two parts, basically gets left to the last minute.

This problem is also present with the other half of the villainous pairing as well. Anti-capitalism is often a slam-dunk theme in any Doctor Who story; however, here, because of the lack of time, there really isn’t any vehicle to focus this theme through. The best the story gives is Ivy, who runs the station’s operations. For most of the story, though, the real version of her isn’t present, as she’s influenced by The Fuel, so we never get to spend any time exploring her character and the themes of the dangers of capitalism she’s a vehicle for.