I've been out of the country and without Internet access for a bit, but I'm back now! I'll be a little behind on News Satire Roundup for a while, as I still have a couple episodes from last week to catch up on before I get to this week. And now, onto your (belated) Sunday Who review!
The
penultimate episode of the season is a doozy.
Unlike many of the strong penultimate Who episodes out there, it’s not the start of a two-part finale,
but it still brings a big creep factor, features some excellent character
moments, and packs a real emotional punch.
While
visiting 21st-century Norway, the Doctor, Graham, Ryan, and Yaz
coming across a blind girl living alone in a deserted, boarded-up house. She tells our heroes her dad is missing and
there’s a monster outside; naturally, the Doctor can’t resist. Things get even wilder, though, with the
reveal of a portal inside a mirror. By
the time team TARDIS makes it to the other side, they’re tested in serious
ways.
Where to
start? The Doctor had seven grannies
(but the fifth, who told him disturbing stories when he couldn’t sleep, was her
favorite.) There are what appear to
helium blood lanterns on strings, Ryan can’t say for sure that he’s not a vampire, and Yaz speaks the
Doctor’s language. Also, Who has stepped up since “The Crimson
Horror” in series 7, since Hanne, the blind girl who kicks off the adventure,
is played by actual blind actress Ellie Wallwork.
Those are
some of the tastiest tidbits, but it’s a fine episode overall, with effective
use of its locations and a story that holds together well. It’s suspenseful, scary, and mysterious in
all the right places, and as everything ramps up, it becomes deeply personal
and places some big demands on the characters.
In
particular, it’s a big episode for Graham, and Bradley Walsh doesn’t
disappoint. The episode setting already
places him in a precarious position, because Norway is a place he and Grace
always wanted to visit and never got around to.
I’ve liked how the season on the whole hasn’t forgotten about Grace, and
that really comes to a head here.
(Besides that, we learn that Graham has learned from experience to
always carry sandwiches in his pocket while on adventures with the Doctor,
bless him.)
Ryan also
has quite a bit to do, struggling to figure out how to come through for
Hanne. The Doctor tasks him with keeping
her safe, but she’s a thorny kid with ideas of her own, and he doesn’t know at
first how to approach her. Yaz,
meanwhile, has less focus on herself, but she acts as the Doctor’s right-hand
woman through much of the episode; we also see her coming through for Graham in
a moment when he really needs it.
But even
though I love all the companions here, it’s still the Doctor’s episode for
me. I’ve loved her so much already this
season, but she (and Jodie Whittaker) really blows me away in this one. I love that she’s excited to be terrified,
that she doesn’t promise something she can’t guarantee but still vows to do
everything she can, and that she’s delighted that there are still new,
potentially-universe-destroying things out there to surprise her. Most of all, though, I love her compassion
for something that could kill her. The
climax of this episode might be my favorite sequence of the season so far, and
Whittaker knocks it clean out of the park.
I cried, and I loved every minute of it.
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