Another
good historical episode. While I think
“Rosa” and “The Demons of the Punjab” are stronger overall, this one has a
fabulously-foppish Alan Cumming, which can’t be discounted under any
circumstances.
When the
Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham arrive in a small English village in the early 17th
century, they find it in the throes of a witchhunt. The Doctor tries to take over the situation,
but none other than King James I shows up, and he’s out to uncover every
instrument of Satan. Of course, our
heroes realize that this threat, whatever it might be, is extraterrestrial
rather than supernatural, and they do their best to investigate despite the
presence of the incredibly superstitious/untrusting king.
First
off: Alan Cumming as King James I. Yes. He’s preening and dandified, arrogant and
lethal, ignorant and searching. He does
a nice job of being antagonistic without being an outright villain; a
one-on-one between him and the Doctor is the best scene of the episode. While I think the show is a bit too winking with his sexuality, it’s
not bad, and Ryan reacts reasonably well to a 17th-century king
flirting with him.
I like
the way the alien plot/mystery rolls out – we figure out pieces of the puzzle
along the way, with new wrinkles being added as we go. The story also throws in some good historical
bits, such as a ducking stool for “testing” witches and the theme of witchhunts
being sustained by people turning on one another for fear of having the finger
pointed at them.
It’s a
bit hit-or-miss with the companions. Yaz
gets to bond a little with a scared villager, Graham does his best filling in
as “Witchfinder General” when King James decides the Doctor isn’t able to fill
that role (more on that in a sec,) and they all find the odd clue that helps
contribute to solving the mystery. On
the whole, though, they feel sort of unfocused.
The Doctor doesn’t interact a whole lot with any of them here, and there
is sort of a sense of them doing busy work while the Doctor handles much of the
heavy lifting.
The
season so far has hinted at sexism as a concept, but this is the first time
it’s really gotten in the Doctor’s way:
in addition to the king declaring her the witchfinder’s “assistant,”
he’s obnoxiously patronizing and, in the middle of a 17th-century
witchhunt, it’s only a matter of time before the Doctor is declared a
witch. It makes sense that this would be
an issue, but I have a couple of quibbles here.
First, it seems disingenuous that this is the Doctor’s first major personal encounter with sexism/people
disregarding her because of her gender.
I know the 17th century was a real bad time to be a woman,
but it’s not like the present is sexism-free.
Second, while the Doctor is of course annoyed and angry at her treatment
here, I wish she didn’t seem surprised.
As a person who’s been traveling in time quite literally for centuries,
the Doctor has undoubtedly witnessed
sexism countless times, and to have her be so taken aback to experience it now
makes it seem like the previous male Doctors didn’t take much notice of it
because it didn’t affect them. Come on, Doctor – don’t be that guy.
Apart
from that annoyance, though, the Doctor is pretty great here. Besides the aforementioned tête-á-tête with
King James, she a) warns against interfering in history then promptly attempts
to save a life, b) reassures frightened people in a situation brimming with
paranoia, c) name-drops Houdini, and d) tries to interrogate sentient
mud(?) All in a day’s work!
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