Inferno Part 3
When Professor Stahlman cuts off power to the Doctor's experiment, the Doctor finds himself in a parallel, dystopian world where familiar faces are enemies, and he must uncover the truth behind the drilling project before it destroys both realities.
In "Inferno - Episode Three," the Doctor's experiment is interrupted when Professor Stahlman cuts off the power. The Doctor vanishes, much to the Brigadier's concern and Stahlman's delight. Liz implores Stahlman to restore the power, but he refuses, prioritizing his drilling program. Gold, a Ministry official, threatens to report Stahlman's unauthorized acceleration of the project. Stahlman dismisses his concerns, confident in his importance to the nation's power supply.
Meanwhile, Stahlman's physical condition deteriorates; his hand turns green, and he attempts to conceal it. While the Brigadier expresses worry over the Doctor's disappearance and unsolved murders, the Doctor awakens in a transformed workshop. His equipment is meticulously organized, a stark contrast to its usual state. The Doctor finds a notice board displaying an unfamiliar slogan and a picture. The doors to his workshop, now labeled "Technical Stores," bear a strange triangular symbol. As he exits, soldiers immediately attack him, believing him to be a saboteur.
The Doctor flees in Bessie, evading gunfire as he navigates the research complex. He encounters more soldiers and narrowly escapes capture, eventually seeking refuge in a storage tank area. There, he confronts green Bromley, a transformed version of someone he knows, and subdues him with a fire extinguisher. Climbing higher, he faces green Wyatt. Soldiers fire at a figure they spot near the tank, and the figure falls. A woman in an RSF uniform approaches him. The Doctor recognizes her as Liz, but she doesn't recognize him and orders his capture, calling herself Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw.
The Doctor is taken to the Brigadier's office, only to find it occupied by a Brigade Leader named Stewart, who also doesn't recognize him. Stewart accuses him of spying, but the Doctor insists he knows them from another world. He learns that in this reality, Liz is not a scientist, and the political landscape is vastly different. The Doctor tries to warn them of the impending danger from the drilling project, mentioning Stahlman and Sir Keith, unaware that Sir Keith is dead in this reality.
The Doctor is brought before Stahlman, who dismisses him as a maniac. Despite the Doctor's warnings about the malfunctioning computer, Stahlman orders him to be taken away. Back in Stewart's office, the Doctor is told he will be shot without a trial. He learns that this world is a republic, the royal family has been executed, and the facility is a scientific labor camp. He tries to convince Stewart of the impending danger, but Stewart remains skeptical, awaiting confirmation of his identity from Central Records. Shaw informs Stewart that Central Records has no information on the Doctor, deepening the mystery.
Meanwhile, tensions rise in Central Control as Williams reports a minor leak in an output pipe, and Sutton questions Stahlman's disregard for safety. Stahlman dismisses their concerns, prioritizing the drilling schedule. Back in Stewart's office, the Doctor seizes an opportunity and incapacitates Benton. The episode concludes with the Doctor's fate hanging in the balance as he remains a prisoner in a world where everything is familiar yet disturbingly different.
Events in This Episode
The narrative beats that drive the story
The episode opens with Liz Shaw discovering the Doctor's experiment has been cut off, leaving him trapped and vanished. Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart arrives, and they confront Professor Stahlman, who adamantly refuses to restore power, prioritizing his accelerated drilling project. Ministry official Gold threatens to report Stahlman's unauthorized actions, but Stahlman dismisses him, confident in his indispensability to the nation's power supply. Stahlman's physical condition begins to deteriorate, his left palm turning bright green, which he attempts to conceal from Petra. Meanwhile, the Doctor awakens on the floor of his workshop, now strangely organized with objects neatly arranged and Bessie parked facing outwards, signaling his arrival in a parallel reality. He discovers a cork notice board displaying an unfamiliar slogan, 'Unity is strength,' and a triangular symbol on the doors, now labeled 'Technical Stores.' Immediately, soldiers attack him, mistaking him for a saboteur, forcing him to flee in Bessie through the research complex, evading gunfire. His flight leads him to encounter transformed, green-skinned versions of familiar faces, Bromley and Wyatt, whom he subdues with a fire extinguisher. His desperate escape culminates in his capture by Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw, a stern military figure who does not recognize him, marking his full immersion into this hostile, altered world.
In the Doctor’s workshop, Liz Shaw investigates the power outage and realizes Professor Stahlman deliberately cut the power to the Doctor’s experiment, trapping him in an unknown location. The Brigadier …
The Doctor regains consciousness in his workshop, now meticulously reorganized with an ominous slogan—Unity is strength—replacing his usual chaotic arrangement of equipment. The power junction box has been replaced with …
In Central Control, the Brigadier and Liz Shaw confront Professor Stahlman over his refusal to restore power to the Doctor’s hut, where a critical experiment was abruptly cut off. Stahlman …
In Central Control, the Brigadier, Liz Shaw, and Sir Keith Gold confront Professor Stahlman after he cuts power to the Doctor’s experiment, trapping him in a parallel world. Stahlman dismisses …
The Doctor exits his workshop to find the world irrevocably altered—doors now bear ominous new symbols, and soldiers immediately open fire without provocation. His initial confusion turns to alarm as …
The Doctor emerges from his workshop in the parallel world, only to find the doors marked with unfamiliar symbols—Technical Stores and a sinister triangular emblem. Before he can process the …
Captured, the Doctor is escorted to the Brigadier's office, now occupied by Brigade Leader Stewart, a scarred, one-eyed counterpart to the Brigadier, who also fails to recognize him and accuses him of spying. The Doctor attempts to explain his origin from a parallel space-time continuum, revealing the stark differences in this reality: Liz is a Section Leader, not a scientist; the world is a Republic where the Royal Family has been executed; and Sir Keith Gold, whom he knew as the Executive Director, is dead. He tries to warn them about the dangers of the drilling project, mentioning Stahlman and the malfunctioning computer. The Doctor is then presented to Stahlman 2, who dismisses him as a maniac, ignoring his warnings about the computer and accusing him of sabotage. Back in Stewart's office, the Doctor is informed he will be shot without trial, and learns the facility is a scientific labor camp. Despite his desperate pleas about impending danger, Stewart remains skeptical, awaiting confirmation of the Doctor's identity from Central Records. Section Leader Shaw later reports that Central Records has no information on the Doctor, solidifying his status as an unknown, and thus a spy in their eyes. Concurrently, tensions rise in Central Control as Williams reports a minor leak in an output pipe, and Sutton questions Stahlman 2's dangerous disregard for safety, while Stahlman 2's physical transformation continues, his hand becoming green and growing thick black hair. The Doctor's situation grows increasingly dire, facing execution while the parallel world's drilling project hurtles towards catastrophe.
The Doctor, pursued by armed soldiers after being branded a saboteur, executes a high-stakes evasion sequence through the research complex. He abandons Bessie after a chaotic chase—losing soldiers in hay …
The Doctor evades pursuit by Benton 2 and Latimer 2 after abandoning Bessie, scaling a storage tank to escape armed soldiers. At the summit, he encounters a hostile green Bromley—a …
In Central Control, the Doctor is brought before Stahlman 2 and Stewart, who immediately dismiss his claims of sabotage and interdimensional travel as delusional. Stahlman 2 reveals Sir Keith Gold’s …
In the aftermath of the Doctor’s dismissal as a spy, the scene shifts to a tense exchange between Greg (a technician) and Williams (Assistant Director of the drilling project). Greg, …
Confined to Stewart's office and facing imminent execution, the Doctor observes the escalating crisis in Central Control as alarms begin to sound, signaling the drilling project's approach to 'Penetration Zero.' This intensifying chaos, including reports of a minor leak in an output pipe, underscores the validity of the Doctor's earlier, dismissed warnings about the project's inherent dangers and the malfunctioning computer. As Stewart and Shaw are called away to address the growing emergency at the drill head, the Doctor recognizes a critical window of opportunity. With calculated precision, he gestures for Benton, his guard, to come closer, feigning a conversational opening. Swiftly and decisively, the Doctor jabs his fore and middle fingers into Benton's sternum, incapacitating him instantly. This bold, physical action marks a pivotal shift, transforming the Doctor from a passive, condemned prisoner into an active agent, determined to intervene in the unfolding catastrophe. The episode concludes on a high-stakes cliffhanger, with the Doctor having secured a momentary advantage and a chance at escape, but his ultimate fate remains uncertain. The parallel world's drilling operation, driven by Stahlman 2's relentless ambition and disregard for safety, hurtles towards an inevitable, destructive climax, leaving the audience to ponder the Doctor's next move and the impending doom threatening both realities.
The Doctor, now a prisoner in the parallel world, is interrogated by Brigade Leader Stewart in his office. Stewart coldly informs him of an immediate death sentence under the Defence …
In Stewart’s office, the Doctor—already branded a saboteur—attempts to warn the Brigade Leader about the existential threat posed by Harry Slocum’s rampage and the malfunctioning computer system. Stewart, now a …
In Stewart’s office, the Doctor’s desperate attempts to reason with the Brigade Leader collapse as Stewart—now a hardened enforcer of this dystopian regime—dismisses his warnings about the drilling project and …
In Central Control, Sutton and Williams report a minor but potentially dangerous leak in output pipe number two as the drilling project nears final countdown. Sutton insists the issue demands …
In the tense final moments before the drilling project’s countdown, Sutton—already frustrated by Stahlman 2’s dismissive attitude—directly challenges the Director’s authority by insisting a minor leak at the drill head …