Other Doctor Lives: W1A: Series 1, Episode 1 (2014)

*Premise spoilers*

It’s time to return to this bureaucracy-based comedy of errors, moving on from Twenty Twelve to W1A now. Despite a completely different setting/subject matter and only a few of the same characters, the two shows have much the same sensibility. The particular crises the characters are facing come from a different field, but they deal with them in much the same ineffectual way.

Post-Olympics, Ian gets a job as Head of Values at the BBC. His first day is an overwhelming swirl of meetings, expectations, and stuffy fish-out-of-water-ness. As he struggles with the open office plan, he’s handed his first dilemma: an upstart from Cornwall who’s arguing that Cornish voices and issues are underrepresented at the BBC. Elsewhere, plans for a new food competition show are imperiled when one of the prospective hosts falls through.

We’ve got some new characters of the week to introduce. We’ll start with Anna Rampton, Head of Output. She’s played by Sarah Parish, who I’ve seen in a number of things but who I’ll always associate with the Rachnoss Queen from Doctor Who’s “The Runaway Bride.” Anna is steering the ship with regard to this new show, Britain’s Tastiest Village. After discouraging reports from the show’s producers, they meet with another potential host to pitch the series. She’s also involved in some of the same senior meetings that Ian is.

As for Ian, he is just floundering here. He’s enthusiastic about his impressive new job, but he can’t get his footing. He’s thrown into meetings and has crises dropped into his lap before he even knows what’s going on, and when he is slightly prepared, he’s immediately preempted by more pressing concerns. There’s a fun sequence of him trying in vain to find somewhere to work, but every open computer has a sign on it that says something like “THIS IS NOT A HOT DESK!” and “FUCK OFF.”  When he tries to listen to the Cornish guy’s grievances, Ian doesn’t even know where to go where they can both sit down. I also like a bit where he tries to arrange for the intern to unobtrusively pop in while he’s leading a meeting to bring him a cappuccino.

Over the course of Twenty Twelve, it became obvious how many of the characters had particular repeated dialogue quirks—not flashy enough to be a catchphrase, but lines that came up over and over again, peppering their speech. I’m already seeing it with some of these new characters, like one who keeps saying, “I’m not being funny or anything,” to emphasize her point. It got more than a little old on the original show, and I suspect the same will probably happen here.

Some good narration from David Tennant today! Here are my favorite bits:

• Ian’s new job is described as “Head of Values at the BBC, a key and very senior new post, specifically credited in the light of recent learning opportunities at the corporation.”
• “Meanwhile in Tommy Cooper, the daily senior team damage limitation meeting, chaired by Director of Strategic Governance Simon Harwood, is already underway” – I just love that the senior team comes together for a “damage limitation meeting,” and they have to do it every day!
• After giving lengthy introductions to everybody else on the senior team, I like that Tennant wraps it up with, “...and two other people.”

Y tu Luna también: Maya and the Three: Episode 2 – “The Prophecy” (2021)

*A few series-premise spoilers—this miniseries is very serialized, and it’s tricky to say much without laying out some of this foundational plot stuff.*

Even though episode 1 of Maya and the Three isn’t all slapstick and fun—Zatz’s entrance is suitably creepy, and our first look at the realm of the gods would definitely be frightening for kids—episode 2 shows that this series is not playing around. There are still jokes and cool action scenes, but this story is coming in hard.

Maya is still reeling from Zatz’s revelation, that she’s actually the daughter of the goddess of death, and now the god of war wants to sacrifice her to increase his power. Her father and brothers lead the army off to do glorious battle with the gods and protect her, but fighting gods is much more intense than anyone thought. An early, costly error leads Maya to a new discovery, which sets her off on a journey to find the greatest warriors in the land, who are prophesied to be the only ones who can defeat the gods.

This whole episode is a tightrope between lighthearted fare and heavier themes. Maya eavesdrops on her parents thanks to her brothers comically dangling her from a rope outside the window…which gives her confirmation that her father had an affair with the goddess of death and she, Maya, isn’t even entirely human. Maya realizes that her people’s ancient prophecy was actually about her all along (she legitimately passes out from the excitement,) and she gets to go on a quest after all…but only after the god of war has wrought a devastating blow to her people. There’s lots of goofiness and some wildly stylish action, mixed with serious weight and genuine scares.

Speaking of the action, this miniseries deserves a definite shoutout for its fight scenes. They’re really well done and always cool to look at. At times, the characters run or leap like they’re in an anime. There might be Matrix-style slo-mo or a blur of color as the background races by. The show sometimes divides the screen between two or more characters in the fight, creating even more dynamic visuals. And on top of all of that, they offer some good character moments too. As dogged and tenacious is Maya is during a fight, she also brings to mind Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War—as in Sam Wilson’s, “I don’t know if you’ve been in a fight before, but there’s not usually this much talking.” Maya throws out insults with a shout or a smirk, she geeks out over her opponent’s cool moves, and she’s quick to apologize when a blow lands harder than she meant it to.

Adding to our impressive ongoing cast of characters, let’s look at a few of the gods. The god of war, Lord Mictlan, is superbly creepy, with a face made out of two snakes and whole skeletons dangling from the shoulders of his armor. He’s voiced by Alfred Molina with quiet menace. Meanwhile, Lady Micte, the goddess of death is voiced by Kate Del Castillo. She also played La Muerte in The Book of Life, but the depiction of the goddess is heavier here, less a benevolent goddess reigning over the land of the dead and more a complicated, powerful woman you don’t want to cross. Then there’s Zatz’s father Camazotz, the god of bats. He’s voiced by Joaquín Cosio, who costarred with Diego Luna in Narcos: Mexico as Don Neto.

Zatz proves more complex than a demigod villain working at the behest of the gods. It’s clear that Lord Mictlan’s realm is a volatile, dangerous place, and while Zatz keeps his head down and listens to his orders, he doesn’t necessarily want to follow them. In particular, every encounter he has with Maya leaves him more impressed with her. He doesn’t want to see her sacrificed to Lord Mictlan, and in fact, he’s kind of rooting for her.

Luna’s performance, and Zatz’s characterization, is giving me Princess Bride vibes all over the place, which is a lot of fun. First, there’s his recurring, “Be well, Princess Maya—I’ll see you soon,” which is totally, “As you wish.” Then he pulls his best Inigo-Montoya-with-the-man-in-black later in the episode. While he offers some comedy, Luna plays it for the most part to the earnest/serious side, which works. He brings an ominous edge to a lot of his scenes, and he displays some major gravity when the scene calls for it. In this episode, he has an okay, no more effing around moment during a climactic fight, and he is absolutely stone cold. So cool. 

Joel Fry-days: Alice and Steve: Season 1, Episode 4 (2026)

*Spoilers for episode 3*

Hot damn! This is another really strong episode for Joel Fry. I continue to be cautiously optimistic about where Daniel’s story with Marni is going, and Fry gets some topnotch acting moments. It’s a return to Alice behaving incredibly badly and shirking accountability, but while she does some awful things here (and Steve does too,) it still avoids the heavy cringe factor of episode 2.

At the end of episode 3, Alice and Steve had begun to reconcile, and she made him promise to end things with Izzy. Right after he’s forced himself to do the deed and Izzy storms out, a bomb Alice had lit a couple episodes ago finally drops. Although she’d all but forgotten about it, it wreaks havoc on Steve’s life. It’s now open war between the two, who set out to make each other’s lives hell. Meanwhile, Marni tries to help Daniel open up more sexually. (This isn’t actually what it sounds like—I’ll explain further when I get to the Daniel/Joel Fry part of the review!)

Our character of the week is Izzy, played by Yali Topol Margalith. She’s both hurt and furious at Steve for breaking up with her, an action he regrets almost immediately—whenever he’s not slinging blows at Alice in this episode, he’s trying to convince Izzy to take him back. She attempts to prove that she’s strong, independent, and doesn’t need a man, although one of her friends points out she’s not getting off to a stellar start with that.

Because Alice and Steve have known each other for so long and been so close, they have all the dirt on one another and know just how to use it. They both can cause maximum damage: to their reputations, their careers, Alice’s marriage, and beyond. And because they can both be impetuous, they move quickly to blowing up their fragile truce instead of trying to work things out or make amends for what’s already been done.

However, within all that anger, the hurt still comes through. Steve is a pathetic wet cat of a man as he tries to apologize to Izzy, literally on his knees at her doorstep. And Alice’s evasions are in part because she knows she’s a mess and struggles to truly be vulnerable. It can be easier for her to lash out than to face up to that.

Steve’s opening shot in his war with Alice is to air all her dirty laundry to Daniel, who’s understandably upset at hearing about all the different times she lied to him. Daniel needs some time apart from Alice, standing his ground that he’ll be the one staying at the house with Dom. One thing I really like about this portrayal is that, as much as other characters paint Daniel as weak, passive, or cowardly, he actually speaks his mind quite a bit. Although he doesn’t rage or beat his chest, he expresses his anger and hurt in no uncertain terms. He doesn’t lie back and take things. That’s not to say he isn’t overly timid/avoidant at times, but Joel Fry does a splendid job of showing that Daniel can be sensitive and still have a backbone.

There are a couple scenes here between Daniel and Alice that are just splendid: one where his anger is burning pretty brightly and he’s able to be firm, and one where his hurt takes precedence and you can feel the effort it takes for him to speak. Joel Fry’s performance in both of them is just wonderful. As I’ve said before, Daniel isn’t nearly as expressive as the louder, more self-centered characters around him, but Fry does a magnificent job of quietly conveying Daniel’s feelings through his more reserved nature.

Okay, let me back up now and give some context from the last episode. Marni tried to hook up with Daniel in Antwerp, and he was completely blindsided by this. Once he finally managed to convince her that he didn’t want to cheat on his wife, she pried for some more information and found out Alice calls all the shots in their sex life. Marni told Daniel, “You need to get in touch with your sexual self, like stat!” and offered to help him (as a friend.)

So once again, Daniel is very upset with Alice and mainly has Marni for company. She takes him out to “cheer [him] up,” and the conversation quickly turns to her project to help him explore/assert his sexual desires. And look, maybe this is going to be about Daniel getting more comfortable voicing what he wants in the bedroom, which could either help him and Alice or lead to him realizing he’d be better off with someone who cares about his needs. It could still be heading toward Daniel having an affair with Marni or some sort of “Daniel is a ‘low-T’ beta male who needs a proper shag to finally assert himself as a ‘real man’” story, but at this point, I don’t think so.

And honestly, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that Daniel is somewhere on the asexual spectrum. I’m trying not to get too excited about it, because I don’t want to get my hopes up. But while Marni assumes Daniel is just uptight/repressed (and is super allonormative about it,) his characterization throughout this storyline could definitely support an aspec interpretation. When Marni pushes him to admit who he’d want to have sex with in the pub or encourages him to tell her about his fantasy, he feels more than uncomfortable. To my eye, he feels at a loss. Does he not want to say what he wants, or does he not know? 

There’s all kinds of goodness going on with Joel Fry’s nonverbal acting here! I love it soooooo much. If they actually go there, I’d be ecstatic, but as I said, I’m trying not to hope too hard. Either way, Fry is doing such a fantastic job with this character!