ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
Like it’s predecessor, this is a story with more style than
substance. It looks beautiful and the visuals are almost poetic in their beauty
at times. The plot is once more quite simple, but it does allow us to get
involved with the characters and the Doctor and Clara’s relationship develops
further.
The Doctor and Clara arrive in an underwater town in 2119
where a small team have uncovered an alien spacecraft. Unfortunately, the
mission Commander is killed and two days later the team are menaced by two
blank eyed “ghosts” who force them to take shelter in the Faraday Cage of their
base which the ghosts cannot enter, one of the ghosts is their dead commander.
The Doctor and Clara are briefed by the acting Commander
Cass (Sophie Stone) who is deaf. When the base suddenly shifts to night cycle
the ghosts kill another crew member and add to their number. With Cass’s help the
Doctor lures the ghosts into the Faraday Cage where they are mouthing “the
dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple” which the Doctor believes to be
co-ordinates. They discover a stasis chamber but cannot open it. The Doctor
decides he must travel back in time to open the stasis chamber. He leaves but
after a short while he appears outside the base as a ghost.
The Doctor travels to 1890 before the village is flooded and
encounters Prentis (Paul Kaye) a Tivolian who has travelled to Earth to bury
the Fisher King (Peter Serafinovicz). In 2119, the ghost Doctor is mouthing a
set of names, which is the order in which the crew will die. The Fisher King
escapes from his stasis chamber and plans to send a signal to his people to
invade Earth by using as many ghosts as can be converted to send boost the
signal.
In the past the Doctor confronts the Fisher King and says
that he removed the glyphs from the walls of the church which will stop the
Fisher King’s signal from being sent. The Fisher King rushes to check and is
destroyed when the dam protecting the town is removed and the village is
flooded.
In the future the ghost Doctor releases the other ghosts,
but then the real Doctor emerges from the stasis chamber which he used to
escape the flood in the past. The ghost Doctor was created by him to trap the
ghosts in 2119 until UNIT can arrive to capture them.
There’s a storyline here that the Moffat era of Doctor Who
returns to often, which is the Doctor creating a paradox to solve the situation
(for example, the Pandorica in Matt Smith’s time, Time Heist in the previous
season). Although clever, it does feel like a bit of a cheat that the Doctor
set the whole thing up in the first place. Also, of course, being a paradox has
its own issues narratively speaking and I find that one of the least satisfying
things about this story. To be fair, the script does face this head on and
doesn’t shy away from the fact that an impossibility has been created.
The first episode is actually really good, but the plot and
pace go a bit wayward in episode 2 which is a shame as if they’d kept it at the
same level this would have been a standout story.
It is beautifully filmed. It has the dark fairytale
atmosphere that Moffat promised would be his style for Doctor Who and the
overall claustrophobic feel in the base is effective. The Fisher King is
eye-catching and impressive, but (like so many large Doctor Who monsters) it
doesn’t really do a lot.
Much more effective are the blank eyed “ghosts” who are
really spooky, particularly in the first episode when they are still the main
threat. The acting, by and large, is solid without anyone particularly standing
out. Kudos though to the production team for casting a deaf actress in the role
of Cass which is handled sensitively and is not shoved in your face to show how
hip the production team are being. There’s a great scene in episode 2 where
Cass is being pursued by a ghost which switches between what we can hear and
what she can to rack up the tension.
Peter Capaldi is now settled into the role and the hard
edges of his previous persona are tempered with a more friendly and humourous
side which is a welcome addition. Jenna is a bit sidelined here and doesn’t
have that much to do. Love the bit with the cue cards that Clara makes the
Doctor use to appear more empathetic.
This story is likely to be remembered as a distraction
before the meatier stuff later in the season kicks in and as such does its job
well, given more consistency between the episodes it could have been much more
than that. All in all, it was much better than my memory of it suggested it
would be.
NEXT UP: THE GIRL WHO DIED
© Text copyright - Raving Loony
Productions and
Andrew J. Müller,
Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2022
