The second episode of the new season is wildly different from “Space Babies,” which I like. Not that I don’t like “Space Babies”—I do, quite a bit! But I love that Who can be so many different things, with possibilities as varied as the range of the TARDIS.
In 1925, a malevolent entity was able to come through when a composer played a forbidden chord. They’re known as Maestro, and music is theirs. By the time the Doctor and Ruby arrive in 1963—to see the Beatles record their first album—music has gone wrong, which is making the entire world go wrong. It’s up to our heroes to put it right.
What I find most interesting about this story is that music doesn’t vanish when Maestro comes on the scene. By 1963, it’s still there, but it’s meaningless. There’s no passion, no pain, no soul, no rhythm. It’s indicated that eventually, it will run out altogether, but for now, it’s just a pale shell of what it can be. That’s a much more interesting choice to me, and I love the Doctor and Ruby’s visceral reactions to hearing the Beatles and others play tuneless drivel.
Naturally, the episode offers up a message about what music is really worth, about all it can do. While it’s not a full-on celebrity historical in the traditional sense, the Doctor and Ruby have very moving conversations with Paul McCartney and John Lennon as they try to figure out what happened to the world. In particular, the Doctor asks Paul, “When it’s just you on your own, don’t you think that there must be better songs, songs that lift you and devastate you and make you soar? Songs that are tucked away in secret somewhere, in the back of your mind?” And we see evidence of how, without music, the world is darker and drabber, leading to more senseless conflict and pulling history off the rails.
Maestro is played by Drag Race star Jinkx Monsoon, who comes in hot, bringing a lot of energy and flair to the episode (not to mention audacious costumes!) They’re equal parts campy and menacing, and I like that their particular yen is for unsung songs, the unfulfilled potential of artists who “never had the luck.” Certain elements at play over the course of the story create some interesting possibilities for what may be coming later in the season, and I’m intrigued by the implications here. Looking forward to what’s next!
At this point, I cannot say enough about how much I love Fifteen. He’s a top-tier Doctor for sure—I just adore him! I love how he moves almost like he’s dancing, I love his curiosity and determination and compassion, and I love how much he continues to share a lot of himself with Ruby. Again, he has a beautiful conversation with Paul in this episode, and there’s a fantastic moment early on when he and Ruby are running to the TARDIS wardrobe to change and he excitedly yells, “I’ve got wigs galore!”
I feel like Ruby got to show a bit more initiative in “Space Babies,” but I still like her here. As a musician herself, she plays a key role in this episode, and I’m curious about the further hints we get about the unrevealed secrets of her past. On the latter front, though, I just hope the show is careful—as we’ve seen happen before, when the companion is the mystery, you run the risk of making them feel more like a plot than a person. So far, I think the show is doing pretty good with Ruby, but I want to see her continue to develop and grow.
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