WHO REVIEW: 15-5 - "The Story & the Engine"

 

It's wonderful that Doctor Who is still willing to take risks and give us new kinds of stories after all this time, even as its future is in the balance and it would be surely tempting to trot out the same sorts of adventures time after time. There's room for an old-fashioned alien invasion story, of course, even in the short seasons we now have, but the show is so much richer for having unique episodes like this.

After taking on most of the writing duties himself last year, RTD has invited far more new writers for this season. They're also writers from varied backgrounds, one of the strengths of the hit-and-miss Chibnall era (although the only writer actually returning from Chibnall's showrunning is Pete McTighe, the one white guy of this year's guest writers). Inua Ellams, a celebrated British-Nigerian playwright, is the first black man to write for Doctor Who and only the fourth black writer at all. This is also, I believe, his first television script, one that reportedly draws on some of the content and themes of his stage work. Apparently, he originally piched a different idea that was too similar to another script in production, although this eventually fell through, so who knows what story this might have been.

Ellams, along with director Makalla McPherson, create an episode quite unlike anything we've seen on the series before. The most obvious thing is that the main cast is entirely made up of people of colour and, aside from Varada Sethu, entirely black people. If not for the flashback to the hospital (which could have featured only people of colour with no problem, were it not for the necessity of including Anita Dobson for her weekly cameo), and the parade of earlier Doctors, it could have been an episode that only featured actors of colour. It's also one of very few stories set in Africa ("Praxeus" took place largely in Madagascar, and we've had a few quick visits to Egypt over the years). Ncuti Gatwa got his wish for an episode set in Nigeria, written by a writerwith whom he personally wanted to work.

A Nigerian barbershop is both a wonderfully unusual setting for a Doctor Who story and a cultural space that will be new for a large majority of the audience. After "Dot and Bubble" and "Lux" had the Doctor confront racism, "The Story & the Engine" sees him revel in the inclusion his new form can bring. It's only right that the incarnation who appears as the Doctor's memory of Abena surfaces is the Fugitive, with Jo Martin being the only other black actor to play the Doctor (a fantastic and genuinely unexpected cameo). While they all get a look-in (the barberhsop patrons must have been wondering who all those white guys on the screen were), the other regenerations are a footnote in this celebration of the Doctor's busy past.

I was, based on the Barber's mastery of stories and the glimpses of the giant spider in the trailer, fully expecting him to be Anansi, something the script teases us with. We're so primed now for the Doctor to face down gods that we immediately accept that this stranger is one himself (or several, as he claims). That the Doctor laughs this off thanks to having apparently already met most the gods he claims to be suggests a much longer association with them, beyond the Pantheon of Discord, even before we learn that he tangled with Anansi back when he was a woman with dreds. This is the first story to present gods with any positivity, noting their importance, along with stories in general, to the human condition.

There's a certain incoherence to the plot among these many elements. Omo and the Doctor both act like the former tricked the latter into coming, in spite of the Doctor actually going to Lagos of his own accord to piggyback off their comms. Quite why a gigantic spider has made its home on the Barber's worldwide web is unclear, as is pretty much every aspect of how the ship's engine works. The mysterious little girl who helps Belinda - confirmed in the credits to be Poppy from "Space Babies" - is a baffling conclusion that will presumably be explained further down the line. This messiness hardly matters in a story so packed with inventive visuals and ideas. A barbershop that is also a starship, exisitng both in a Nigerian backstreet and the depths of space and imagination (as close to the original concept of the TARDIS that we've ever seen). A heart within a brain within an engine. A man willing to kill the gods and doom humanity because he's angry he wasn't credited for his work. An entire story centred around hair, from the infinitely regenerating haircuts to the story of cornrows (a vital piece of black history that will be news to many watching). 

While Belinda gets short shrift in this episode, it's an absolute showcase for Gatwa's Doctor, allowing him to go all out in a story that would not work for any other version of the character. Sule Rimi and Michelle Asante both give heartfelt performances as Omo and Abena respectively, but it's Ariyon Bakare who impresses the most as the Barber. He gives an unsettling and inscrutable performance, skirting around the scenes to begin with and only slowly becoming a bigger and more emotive presence in the story, until he is fully humanised at the end.

More from Inua Ellams, please, and more episodes from writers from different backgrounds, completely new to Doctor Who.

Setting: Lagos, Nigeria, 2019

Maketh the Man: After a TARDIS scene in which he wears an orange-and-green-striped polo shirt, the Doctor changes into a Nigerian outfit which includes a pale orange kurta-style top, a loose brown waistcoat, a black kufi cap and a necklace. It's a uniue outfit for the Doctor but sticks to this incarnations signature colours.

The God Squad: The Doctor reveals that he knows Dionysus, Saga and Bastet, and we learn of his encounter with Anansi. Yet he doesn't mention the other god the Barber claimed to be, Loki. I was expecting the Doctor to reveal he was Loki himself.

Speculation: A question that arises: how does the Doctor remember an event he experienced as the Fugutive Doctor, a life that was erased from his memory?

There are two possibilites. The first is that it's simply a matter of a memory leaking through, presumably triggered by the presence of Abena. We've seen the Doctor display the occasional bit of knowledge from Gallifrey's distant past, and seen the lost faces in his mind batle with Morbius, so this isn't entirely unheard of.

The second possibility is that the Doctor has opened the watch that contains his stolen memories. This is tempting to believe. Perhaps, during the Fourteenth Doctor's long rehabilitation, he decided to open the watch, meaning the Fifteenth Doctor was born with all his memories intact. This is possibly supported by his openness in discussing his being adopted; perhaps he actually remembers his original childhood now.

Further reading: Inua Ellams has also written a short prequel story to this episode, "What I Did on my Holidays by Omo Esosa."

WHO REVIEW:15-4 - "Lucky Day"

And so, as I slowly catch up with my reviews, I write this with the knowledge of the big revelation of the season. Yet, while "Lucky Day" is clearly setting up the series finale, there's very little to go on in terms of what that finale will involve. On initial viewing, "Lucky Day" is a contender for the strongest episode of the season, even if it is frustrating that we have yet another Doctor-lite story in a series that only runs for eight episodes. How well it works once we know exactly where it was all heading may well change this, and, in any case, it's not an episode that's has the same impact on the rewatch. Too much hinges on the central reveal of the villain and wondering just how far certain characters will go. With that knowledge, it hasn't the same impact.

Of course, the most important thing about an episode is how it hits on first viewing, not pouring over it down the line, and on this basis, this is a cracking episode. Millie Gibson once again holds an entire episode in the almost total absence of the Doctor, giving us a more mature Ruby in a different way to the rapid fast-forward of "73 Yards." Ruby seems to be our standby now for UK-based political stories, acting as the realistic everywoman dealing with life a day at a time, after the Doctor. Considering that "73 Yards" had her continually under threat in one way or another, it's interesting that it's this episode that actually deals with her PTSD, albeit in a fairly shallow way. Doctor Who rarely tackles the long-term impact of the constant danger of TARDIS travel, virtually never on TV. It makes some sense of the sudden rush of former companions joining UNIT; what else do you do when you've adjusted to that lifestyle?

(It's a bit weird that Kate doesn't mention the companion support group that was set up only three years ago. Mel surely would have done, but she's off dealing with "something strange in Sydney Harbour," doubtless a set-up for The War Between the Land and the Sea.)

Even more impressive is Jonah Hauer-King as Conrad. He's just started to become annoying once the staged Shreek attack on his village begins; then it looks certain that he's going to be killed purely due to being an idiot with Doctor-envy, leaving Ruby to feel guilty about it for the rest of the episode. He becomes far more entertaining once the mask has slipped and he's revealed himself as a far-right misinformation peddler and conspiracy nut. As with many stories of this nature, Conrad has to be an unrealistically good actor to pull off the reveal; yes, Hauer-King is that good, but would Conrad really be, day in, day out, and unobserved? Still, that's an intrinsic flaw of the "secret enemy" story type.

There's a dichotomy in this case, though. For all we might cheer the Doctor's furious rebuke of Conrad and the bile-spewing trolls that populate our media these days, he's not entirely off the mark by calling UNIT to account. The joke, that there really are alien invasions every week in this universe and that you'd have to be a fool to not believe in them, falls down a little when you realise that UNIT has been operating for years with minimal oversight, keeping secrets from the general populace and hoarding incredibly advanced technoogy. It's hard to credit those commentators who think Conrad is unrealistic because his motivation is so inconsistent; that's an accurate depiction of the psychology of someone like him, both cynical and an opportunist. Yet, amongst all the nonsense, when it comes to UNIT's operations he does have a point.

Jemma Redgrave gets the her best material probably since "The Day of the Doctor," and gives her best performance to go with it. There's a sense now that the nepotism she allegedly fought against is weight around her neck, as she's constantly expected to live up to the mythical figure her father has become. Her moment of "going too far" is perfectly in character, given this was the woman who was willing to nuke London to deal with an alien threat; this is small beans in comparison. She's also dead right when she says the Doctor would have stopped her, but it's notably exactly the sort of thing the Doctor would do himself in nobody stopped him (q.v. his behaviour in "The Interstellar Song Contest").

There's a sense of this episode lashing out against authority, yet not having the courage to actually condemn the arrogance and unchecked power that both UNIT and the Doctor have. They're presented as the good guys primarily because it's their show and we know they're the heroes, but there's no actual attempt to show this outside their contrast to Conrad and his Think Tank. Of course, we have the finale and the spin-off to come yet, so who knows. Still, given that twenty years ago or so UNIT had its own private Guantanamo for people who got curious, and that even the Brigadier didn't trust them, and that according to (the admittedly baffling) history presented in Flux the organisation was founded by an alien warlord, we might have a few questions for it. 

Then again, UNIT has always been wildly inconsistent in its presentation (as is often the case, this episode seems confused as to whether it's a British or international operation). Regardless, Conrad is still an evil bastard, even if he does occasionally have a point. I look forward to him coming back in the finale, and hope to see him get a leg bitten off, the ungrateful bastard. Honestly, like being smothered in Ruby's lipgloss was really such a chore...

Setting: London and Dorset, 2024-5; briefly, London 2007.

Placement: Ruby and the Doctor's initial encounter with the Shreek takes place between "The Devil's Chord" and "Boom;" the Doctor's confrontation with Conrad is somewhere between "Empire of Death" and "The Robot Revolution;" and his and Belinda's meeting with little Conrad at the beginning actually takes place in their "present."

Maketh the Man: Considering he's in it for all of ten minutes, the Doctor gets to show off a lot of looks. In the beginning he wears a long brown duster with big orange checks, over a white T-shirt, black trews and a beanie, which seems almost archetypal for his Doctor. Next we see him in his long brown leather coat, a red-and-orange striped top and blue trousers. Finally, for his TARDIS scene we see him in his much-publicised all-white look. On the subject, the pinstriped business-suit look is fire on Ruby.

Links: 

• The name "Think Tank" for Conrad's group of extremists is a clear reference back to the villainous organisation in Tom Baker's first serial, Robot. Whether, in universe, it's simply named after an earlier group that was aligned against UNIT, or whether it's a degraded descendant of the original, isn't clear.
• Trinity Wells is back again. Why are people excited by this? Why do people like her? I do not understand.
• Not so much as a link as a character trait, but I love this Doctor's penchant for shitty practical jokes, and his doubling over in laughter at the reaction.
• Ruby is still getting to know her new mum, and also apparently a new dad, which is delivered in such a throwaway fashion I feel like it must be a major plot point hidden in plain sight.

WHO REVIEW: 15-3 - "The Well"

Well, well, well...

There are going to be spoilers from the outset for this one, although if you'd heard the rumours swirling about before the episode aired then you probably know what's coming. However, you can still back out now if you don't want to know the twist in this one. If you don't mind knowing or you know already, click "read more..."

WHO REVIEW: 15-2 - "Lux"

 

Zoinks!

We're only two episodes into the season, but "Lux" already look like the Fifteenth Doctor's standout story. While it seems to be a bit of a marmite episode, most commenters I've seen really liked it, and I'm with them. This was a barmstormer, an episode that throws everything it can at the screen and manages to pull it off. There a few flaws, mainly with pacing, but this is a story that barely puts a foot wrong.

On the one hand, there's nothing much that's new here. Screaming people trapped on film, threatened with immolation, are straight out of Sapphie & Steel; stepping into black-and-white has been done time and again, from Pleasantville to the most recent season of Black Mirror; even the villain being overwhelmed when they achieve their goal and ascending to the next level of existence has been done before (hell, they even did that on Mighty Max). And, of course, splicing cartoons and live action together has been going on at least as far back as the sixties, with Disney producing a bunch of films that combined the media, with the biggest and most impressive being Who Framed Roger Rabbit, with which this story shares a lot.

Yet it's all put together and realised with such verve and style that the result is exhilirating. Mr. Ring-a-Ding is a technical marvel, beautifully manifested. In the old days cartoons and film would be overlaid by hand and spliced together, whereas now CGI is used. Nonetheless, this is impressive (and the character himself was hand drawn, which makes a real difference). The moment when the Doctor and Belinda circle round Mr. Ring-a-Ding, who stays 2D but appears fully part of the 3D environment, is remarkable. It's even better for it's subtlety, but there are other moments that are just as impressive while being overtly showy: Mr. Ring-a-Ding's gradual evolution into a physical being is almost tangible, as well as utterly hideous, as a cartoon character would be in the flesh.

None of this would mean anything without a strong story held up by strong performances; fortunately, "Lux" is a stunner here too. Alan Cumming gives a suitably manic vocal performance as a godlike being manifested as a cartoon character, becoming genuinely sinister when the story calls for it. Both Gatwa and Sethu give evocative, three-dimensional performances, even when they're reduced to cartoon characters. The script gives them great material to work with, allowing both of them to show sides to their characters that bring them more depth.

We've seen the Doctor faced with racism before, of course, in the equally good (but very different) "Dot and Bubble," but that was a distinctly different situation. Here we see him embedded in a racist culture, albeit fortunate enough to meet understanding and sympathetic individuals. His statement that sometimes he must wait for people to change immoral and corrupt systems is a more mature approach than that seen in "Rosa," although I still believe that episode worked well. It's important to see the series face this again, especially as we have a TARDIS team played entirely by people of colour for the first time. "Dot and Bubble" (and "Rosa," for that matter) warned us against the risk of racism rising again in the future, but the Fifteenth Doctor's trips to the past have sidestepped the issue ("The Devil's Chord" simply ignored it, while "Rogue" was deliberately an unrealistically mixed historical setting). 

"Lux" is a clear follow-up to "The Devil's Chord," with Lux Imperator another member of the Gods of Chaos (aka the Pantheon of Discord). This works far better though, taking the concept of the God of Light and that of a living cartoon character, using them to their full potential. It's fascinating to see how Lux manifests as Mr. Ring-a-Ding, showing us that these supposedly all-powerful gods can be constrained by the limits of how they enter the world. (It also raises the possibility for previously defeated gods to reappear in new forms that are more powerful and harder to defeat.) The script sets up numerous elements so that the viewer can guess at how they'll be resolved (although the repeated mention of "Blink" meant I was going "Have we seen Ring-a-Ding blink?" and wondering if that was what he never does). 

The most notable element of the story is the Doctor and Belinda's being pulled into the film stock and converted into cartoons, a gloriously silly sequence that nonetheless allows the characters to open up about they're hopes and fears, getting to know each other on a more honest footing. Belinda is still a bit too quick to accept the Doctor's lifestyle but never lets go of her determinaion to get home. The next scene is the fan-pleasing one, where we get to see ourselves (or people like us) as characters in the show. This sequence does go on a little too long and slows the otherwise gripping pace. It's another element that's not remotely original; about half the fantasy shows on TV over the last thirty or forty years have had the characters find out they're fictional characters and meet their audiences and/or actors. (Usually they step out onto the set, rather than push themselves out of the TV.) It works well though, largely thanks to strong performances by the fans (particularly Bronte Barbe as Lizzie, who's tremendously likeable). The self-referencing winks at the camera do go on a bit too long, though, and the Doctor and Belinda are a bit too accepting of the idea that they're fictional themselves.

Linus Roache gives a beautifully sympathetic performance as Reginald Pye, the mourning projectionist, while Lucy Thackery gives a lovely monologue as Renee, waiting for her son to return. It's one of those episodes where everyone is bringing their A-game, in front of the camera and behind, and it really raises the episode to something special.

On the negative side, I have been singing "I'm Mr. Ring-a-Ding!" in a loud, annoying voice all weekend.

Settings:  Miami, Dade County, Florida; 1952.

Title Tattle: Missed opportunity to go with "What's Up Doc?" Amazingly, no one says this in the episode.

Alternatively, "Who Framed."

Maketh the Man: The Doctor wears a gorgeous pastel blue suit, with a white shirt and pink bowtie, and two-tone brogues.

The Shallow Bit: Varada Sethu is, of course, very beautiful, but in that yellow dress she is truly stunning.

The Regeneration Game: We might speculate that the regenerative energy Lux drains from the Doctor uses up a life, or maybe even limits his regenerations again. Most likely, though, he's got plenty left for his, apparently, limitless roster of regens.

Flood Warning: Mrs Flood turns up in 1952, the first time we've seen her in another time zone. There's still no clue to her identity. With regards to the overall arc, something to with the Land of Fiction certaily seems feasible, especially with the focus on fictional existences in this story. Impossible to say how, or even if, Mrs Flood or Belinda fit into all this. We might also ask why the Doctor can't just land on May 23rd and take Belinda for coffee until she syncs back up with her own time. Of course, this might lead to him being hit in the face by whatever is waiting on the 24th. It's a fun - and brave - touch to tie this into the end of the series, as right now we don't know if it will be renewed.

Links: This isn't the first time the Doctor has encountered living cartoon characters: the Eighth Doctor arrived in an animated world in the 2002 novel The Crooked World. Neither is it the first time he's crossed over into the "real" world and discovered he's a TV character: both DWM and IDW produced comic stories with this basic idea (the 1999 Eighth Doctor strip "TV Action!" and 2013 Eleventh Doctor special "The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who," respectively).

WHO REVIEW: 15-1 - "The Robot Revolution"

It’s taken twenty years, but RTD has finally given us a story about a space planet in the future with rebels running up and down corridors.*

Introductory episodes are a tricky business, given that they have to devote a large part of their runtime to creating a new companion and introducing the Doctor and their world to them; and, these days, set up a whole new arc or mystery connected to the new companion. RTD’s favoured approach of a new companion and/or Doctor every year makes this a necessity, so each of his seasons tends to start with a fairly thin story, although he’s too good a writer not to add some extra depth to the adventure.

So, “The Robot Revolution” might be a bit of a runaround, but it fulfils its primary objectives, which are to introduce Belinda and to be entertaining for 45 minutes. Cliched and silly it might be, but it’s tremendous fun, and Belinda is never anything less than fantastic throughout. The basic idea of buying and naming a star leading to aliens thinking you’re their queen is obvious but extremely fun, and I don’t actually recall it being used in sci-fi before (feel free to correct me). At least it’s better than in real life, where naming stars through commercial companies is completely meaningless.

Varada Sethu is brilliant as Belinda, giving an entirely believable and likeable performance as someone who is entirely done with this shit, be it work, romance, or space/time adventures with ancient aliens. She sells the character perfectly even when she verges on the unrealistic, as she does occasionally when she’s a little too easily accepting of the bizarre situation she finds herself in. (Although, this is 2025 Britain in Doctor Who, where alien invasions are a regular feature of recent history.) It’s been a long while since we had a companion who doesn’t want to be one, especially on screen. Donna comes close, but only for her first appearance, and after that she’s desperate to join the Doctor. The last companion genuinely in this vein was Tegan, and of course, she came round as well.

What both the script and Sethu’s performance show so well is that Belinda is both supremely capable and used to being underestimated and taken for granted, especially by men. Alan is clearly one in a long line of men who have treated her as less than she is. Her attitude to the Doctor is perfect: we finally have someone who is suitably impressed by the wide universe that has opened up in front of her, but has no time for the Doctor and his posturing. While the Doctor isn’t exactly a man, he usually presents as one, and while his attitude of superiority might come from being a Time Lord it still comes across another arrogant bloke. It works especially well with the Fifteenth Doctor, whose charm is his primary weapon. Belinda simply refuses to be seduced by this. Sethu and Gatwa have fantastic chemistry, but it’s of a completely different sort to Gatwa and Millie Gibson, with an entirely different dynamic.

It's good to finally have someone call the Doctor on his invasive behaviour as well. I don’t think we’ve had anyone pick him up on this sort of thing since Rose was angry at the TARDIS translating her thoughts without her permission back in “The End of the World.” The Doctor does this sort of thing to friends and foes alike, in all their regenerations, but the smile on Fifteen’s face as he does it makes it especially satisfying when Belinda calls him up on it. As for the mystery he’s investigating, I’m tentatively engaged. While I wish that occasionally Doctor Who would just recast an actor they like in a new role without making a big thing of it in-universe, I like that it’s simple enough that Mundy Flynn is just Belinda’s descendant, while also accepting there must be more to it than that because families simply do not produce identical people generation after generation. We’ve clearly also got some kind of time loop situation going on here, even beyond the one that the episode itself centres on. (It might also be significant that we have an episode coming up set in 2008, the year Alan bought Belinda’s star, but then again, it might not.) Oh, and the imminent destruction of the Earth, for a change.

Everything that happens on planet Missbelindachandra One is hewn from purest cliché, which is rather the point, as it’s been warped by evil Alan’s manipulations. That doesn’t make it any less cliched, of course. The sets and CGI mattes are great, the robots are fun (even if they’re essentially just Hydroflax with a Vardy’s face on), and everything chugs along nicely. However, the humans on the planet are paper thin, most notably Sasha 55. While I love the idea of the Doctor spending six months having an adventure off-screen and building relationships that we only come into at the end, there’s nothing in Sasha’s character or Evelyn Miller’s performance to tell us why he cares for her. Yes, she’s got “doomed potential companion” written all over her, and Gatwa’s acting sells the Doctor’s grief beautifully, but there’s nothing there that suggests he should care about her more than any of the other mooks who get vapourised. Polishbot had more character.

Really, though, all this fluff is there to hang Belinda’s story on, and to make a point about controlling and misogynistic men. This is also quite thin on the surface, but there’s more going on under the hood. Alan’s obviously a prick at the beginning, but not necessarily dangerous, which only highlights the slippery slope men can go down in our society. “Planet of the incels” may be glib, but it’s also a pretty good description of our own. As much as Alan’s transformation and his desire to “weld” with Belinda are nods to Superman III, the concept – both the welding and the enforced marriage – are clearly an allegory for rape. There’s very little made of Alan’s apparent plea for death via his every ninth word, but nothing at all made from his subsequent message: “Belinda mine forever.” It’s the only such hidden message that isn’t spelled out for the viewer, and the most important, showing us that whatever suffering he’s gone through, he genuinely feels entitled to Belinda. This is a fun, silly episode, but it could be made as something much more serious in a more adult series without changing that much.

There really is a lot to love here, even if on the surface it’s by-the-numbers Doctor Who. The Blinovitch Limitation Effect – not that it’s called that here, but that’s what it is – is genuinely satisfying for once, giving us a trippy loop through time rather than the usual fizz of sparks. (Although the Doctor explaining how two of the same atoms can’t occupy the same space at the same time should have been dropped, since there won’t be a single atom in common between the two versions of the certificate.) There’s some nice, dark comedy here, best illustrated by the robot casually vapourising the cat. Most importantly, though, solidly good fun.

*Thanks Miles Reid-Lobatto for that one.

Settings: England, 24^th May 2025; planet MissBelindachandra One, around the same time; briefly England in 2008.

Title Tattle: Just a tweak, and "Revolution of the Robots" would be the archetypal Doctor Who title.

Maketh the Man: The Doctor’s outfit at the beginning of the episode, a blue pinstriped kilt with an optional tartan fleece, is absolutely gorgeous. Sadly he has to swap it for beige fatigues for the rest of the episode, although naturally Ncuti Gatwa makes these look amazing as well. Hopefully he’ll be back in the kilt before the season’s out.

Flood warning: Mrs Flood is back, suddenly living next door to Belinda and talking to the camera again. Her “You haven’t seen me,” when the Doctor shows up is the first time I’ve actually enjoyed the character, so hopefully she’ll grow on me as she crops up throughout the season. I’m still finding it hard to care too much who she is given what a let down all the reveals were last season, although I am tempted by the idea she’s Iris Wildthyme. RTD is a fan of Paul Magrs, after all, and if Beep the Meep can show up on the TV series, anyone can. I haven’t seen Mrs Flood drinking heavily, though, so it seems unlikely.