The first series of the beloved LWT show came to something of a curious conclusion, briefly set up by the end of the previous episode, where Catweazle discovered that water (or "wat-a") was the missing element needed to return him to his own time. Why it took him 11 episodes to work it out when he already knew of the other three is a matter for the writers. In any case, you would think that they'd pull out all the stops to give the show a satisfying finale and round off all the characters in appropriate fashion, but this wasn't the case.
One of the main problems with this episode is that the principle characters are now rather unlikable, as though written to be obnoxious enough to stop kids from being upset when the series ended. Carrot is now fed up with Catweazle, complete with an element of venom which wasn't there before and far from being his 'brother' in magic, to the point where he even tells Catweazle to stop calling him as such. Pompous Mr Bennet is bed-ridden, Sam is lacking in his usual charm and everyone's favourite magician has now become a thieving little pikey as well as utterly selfish and much less likable than usual.
The one bright spot is the belated extension of the Bennet family, with a lovely turn by Hilda ("fancy...") Braid as Auntie Flo, who turns at the farm and mistakes Catweazle for the ghost she saw there when she was a girl. Her interaction with Bayldon is utterly charming, and it's a real shame that she couldn't have been there from the start, giving the two leads someone else to bounce off of. Eileen Moore also scores as a visiting doctor, leading to hints of possible romance between the pompous land-owner and her healing touch.
The ending plays out a little longer than it should, with Carrot refusing to believe that Catweazle has the ability to do any real magic, much less be the century-spanning time-traveler he claimed to be - little odd, as he saw him use his skills to good effect in the previous episode! Still, as Catweazle begins to fade from the 20th century, Carrot watches in cold realisation that he'll never see him again, in spite of how he'd been treating him recently. It certainly doesn't end things on a joyous note that our temporal wanderer is returning home, but with a tone of melancholy that Carrot's summer holiday of wonder is over, and how a dull, middle-class existence only waits for him back at the farm for the rest of his days.
One of the main problems with this episode is that the principle characters are now rather unlikable, as though written to be obnoxious enough to stop kids from being upset when the series ended. Carrot is now fed up with Catweazle, complete with an element of venom which wasn't there before and far from being his 'brother' in magic, to the point where he even tells Catweazle to stop calling him as such. Pompous Mr Bennet is bed-ridden, Sam is lacking in his usual charm and everyone's favourite magician has now become a thieving little pikey as well as utterly selfish and much less likable than usual.
The one bright spot is the belated extension of the Bennet family, with a lovely turn by Hilda ("fancy...") Braid as Auntie Flo, who turns at the farm and mistakes Catweazle for the ghost she saw there when she was a girl. Her interaction with Bayldon is utterly charming, and it's a real shame that she couldn't have been there from the start, giving the two leads someone else to bounce off of. Eileen Moore also scores as a visiting doctor, leading to hints of possible romance between the pompous land-owner and her healing touch.
The ending plays out a little longer than it should, with Carrot refusing to believe that Catweazle has the ability to do any real magic, much less be the century-spanning time-traveler he claimed to be - little odd, as he saw him use his skills to good effect in the previous episode! Still, as Catweazle begins to fade from the 20th century, Carrot watches in cold realisation that he'll never see him again, in spite of how he'd been treating him recently. It certainly doesn't end things on a joyous note that our temporal wanderer is returning home, but with a tone of melancholy that Carrot's summer holiday of wonder is over, and how a dull, middle-class existence only waits for him back at the farm for the rest of his days.
