Fantastic,
wild episode! Big goings-on here. I’ll avoid spoilers for now (more to get into
after the season is over, definitely!), but this one is major and has me super
excited/curious for what’s to come.
When
a platoon of intergalactic law-enforcement mercenaries, the Judoon, cordon off
Gloucester, the Doctor and company swoop into action to help minimize
collateral damage. The Judoon are on the hunt for a fugitive, and they appear to
have an ordinary English couple in their sights. Our heroes try to find out
what the Judoon are really after and get there first, before the Judoon wipe
the city off the map in their ruthless pursuit of justice.
Nice
story setup. The Judoon don’t see a ton of play on Who, but they’re solid antagonists, so I like seeing them return here
(along with the Doctor’s penchant for rhyming descriptions of them!) Some of
the mystery surrounding their fugitive seems a little telegraphed at first, but
it winds up going places I never would’ve expected. We also get some strong guest
characters of the non-Alien-Rhino capacity.
Strong
showing for the Doctor. I enjoy watching her get in the Judoons’ faces over
jurisdiction and suffering no fools when it comes to investigating what’s
really going on, classic take-charge Doctor. Serious stuff happens to her in
this episode, but even as she reels with it, she keeps her head and presses on.
Big implications here, and it’ll be really interesting to see how the Doctor
deals with it going forward.
It’s
an episode that sees the companions separated from the action for a sizable
chunk of the story, but despite that, they still feel pretty well-used. They
all have memorable lines, and Yaz and Ryan in particular get a few moments to shine
in their dealings with the Judoon. More importantly, all three of us really
step up in terms of getting the Doctor to let them into her life in a real way,
not just the madcap adventuring they’ve been doing. The last scene is glorious
and has a lot of very genuine feels behind it. Graham, Yaz, and Ryan often feel
more like a unit of companions rather than three people with individual
relationships with the Doctor, which I think has kept the group from really
bonding, but here, even though the last scene is still with all of them
together, it feels much more intimate and honest than a lot of Thirteen’s
interactions with her companions.
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