Yeah, Fenric is confusing but brilliant--my first time through, I thought I was just too slow to get it, or maybe that it had been written as six episodes and had to be cut down to four and that was why it didn't have time to explain anything. After watching Ghost Light and The Happiness Patrol and reading a bit about that era, though, I realized it's a recurring problem with Cartmel's script editing: someone turns in a coherent script, it gets snipped and trimmed in the wrong places, and you end up with a story where all the pieces are there but a lot of the connecting tissue that fits them together is gone. So a lot of stuff isn't clearly spelled out until it's too late, like "The haemovores aren't actually revenant Vikings, though they might've been what was chasing the Vikings--they are Fenric's hitmen from the future who agreed to be brought back in time to help him secure their timeline" and "Millington is trying to resurrect Fenric because he thinks he can harness Unliiiiimited Cosmic Powar to make it up to Turing--sorry, Judson--for causing the accident that fucked up his life" and "The Vikings exposed themselves to Fenric's influence when they nicked his loot, which is how their descendants can still be susceptible to his control centuries later."
As for how much Seven knew, I think he suspected all along that something was dodgy about Ace's past, but he only really put it all together over the course of the episode and he was bluffing when he told Fenric he knew from the very beginning.
I also kind of think, in my fluffiest of headcanons that wants everything to be all right for Ace, that after Seven revealed he hadn't meant a single thing he said in the "break Ace's faith" scene, she realized it was kind of a backhanded compliment: like their recurring "Ace, you haven't been bad and brought along any explosives, have you? Excellent, now blow that thing up" banter, he was actually picking on the things he loves best about her. That speech was crushing because it was about all the stuff that other people judge about her, and she'd thought the Doctor was a refuge and a mentor because he actually celebrated the things she was insecure about: not quite fitting in, being strong-willed and mouthy, being rubbish at tests and formal expectations but great at practical stuff where it really counts. So all he had to say was "I was lying through my teeth because I had to" and everything snapped back into place: "...couldn't even pass a chemistry exam" becomes "and quite right too, I loathe exams, did I ever tell you I only scraped by with 51% on my second try?"
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-12-02 11:31 pm (UTC)As for how much Seven knew, I think he suspected all along that something was dodgy about Ace's past, but he only really put it all together over the course of the episode and he was bluffing when he told Fenric he knew from the very beginning.
I also kind of think, in my fluffiest of headcanons that wants everything to be all right for Ace, that after Seven revealed he hadn't meant a single thing he said in the "break Ace's faith" scene, she realized it was kind of a backhanded compliment: like their recurring "Ace, you haven't been bad and brought along any explosives, have you? Excellent, now blow that thing up" banter, he was actually picking on the things he loves best about her. That speech was crushing because it was about all the stuff that other people judge about her, and she'd thought the Doctor was a refuge and a mentor because he actually celebrated the things she was insecure about: not quite fitting in, being strong-willed and mouthy, being rubbish at tests and formal expectations but great at practical stuff where it really counts. So all he had to say was "I was lying through my teeth because I had to" and everything snapped back into place: "...couldn't even pass a chemistry exam" becomes "and quite right too, I loathe exams, did I ever tell you I only scraped by with 51% on my second try?"