Doctor Who: Series 12, Episode 6 – “Praxeus” (2020)

Pretty solid episode for me. It doesn’t build upon the buzz-worthy goings-on of last week’s episode, but that’s fairly standard for Who (for me, airing “A Good Man Goes to War” and “Let’s Kill Hitler” in series 6 and then going straight back into random adventures through time and space will always take the cake.)

Something major is going down on present-day Earth, seemingly-interconnected unexplained phenomena occurring around the globe. It involves three continents and an ocean, a missing submarine, a missing astronaut, and birds acting very Hitchcock. The Doctor and co. take a divide-and-conquer approach to investigating the mystery and figuring out how to stop it.

The episode takes the “divide and conquer” part seriously – our heroes begin the story scattered all across the globe, coming together/separating again as needed for the sake of the mission. It’s an unconventional approach for the show, but it mostly works. All the main cast come off well. The Doctor hits her groove globe-hopping, geeking out over a fancy lab, and trying to prevent imminent death. Meanwhile, Yaz steps up in a big, brave way, Ryan picks up on an important clue, and Graham once again proves what a good egg he is (never change, Graham!)

It also helps that all the one-shot characters are engaging, continuing a positive trend throughout much of the season so far. I enjoy all of them, especially Jake, an ex-police officer with emotional issues and Gabriella, a thirsty travel vlogger whose filming partner has gotten swept up iin whatever’s going on. All of the smaller characters populating this story feel like more than cannon fodder or props for the Doctor to exposit at. They feel like people with lives that existed before this experience and (for those who surivive) will continue after it, even if they’ll never be the same.

On the whole, I’m satisfied with how the mystery shakes out. It gets convoluted at times and it’s not without its plot holes, but I’d say it comes together reasonably without too much handwaving. I like some of the connections that get made, and we spend part of the episode in a very novel location for the show, definitely something that hasn’t happened before.

This episode was in a tough position just because last week’s was so mind-blowing, and from that standpoint, it’s admittedly a bit of a letdown. However, unlike following up “Spyfall” with “Orphan 55” at the start of the season, the biggest sin of “Praxeus” is just not being “Fugitive of the Judoon.” While it’s not a perfect episode, it’s still entertaining and interesting and has some good stuff to offer.