After a silly bit of Fantastic Voyaging and shrimp fighting in the previous serial, this one feels much more like the opening serial as it has a more restrained horror element. The plot doesn't totally work but the atmosphere does, and there is a good sense of a sinister manipulating force. This means the human cast get to carry it, and the performances mostly justify this, with good changes in the performances and some good 'leads' in the support. Unlike the previous serial, the design is also good, with an atmosphere to the episodes which adds to the horror element.
It is not a classic by any means. The monsters when they appear are good but a little limited – although maybe I am being too kind due to only just seeing the rat/shrimp Nucleus thing? Anyway, the creatures do have a bit of the Blue Peters about them, with their pink streamer paper mouths. I thought they still worked, not so much because of their design, but because of the darkness of the episodes – humans turned into worms, screaming as they go, and the main villain thanking the Doctor for helping him to commit suicide – these give the silly worm things more presence, and the Goddess character too.
The performances are mostly good. Baker seems more comfortable in the Gothic realm. Jameson bothered me a lot in this serial; her performance is thinner, but more worrying is that her material is too. And by material I mean her character, but also her outfits – this one looks the skimpiest to date, and it is distracting just how obvious it is. We'll see if it is an one-off, but nothing suggests it is. New 'cast' member K9 appears briefly but doesn't bring anything to the serial. Otherwise though, a solid serial even though it has its weakness; I enjoyed the Gothic sensibilities and the darker elements of the resolution.