Other Doctor Lives: Twenty Twelve: Series 2, Episode 1 – “The Boycott: Part 1” (2012)

Series 2 kicks off with a two-parter. It’s certainly a big story, although part 1 hasn’t really impressed me. We’ll see how things shake out in the second episode.

The commission has a big problem. The Olympic Park’s “shared belief center” for athletes to pray/worship has finished construction, and now Algeria is threatening to boycott the Games because none of the building’s walls face Mecca. Before the commission has even drafted their own statement in response, other countries have already started weighing in, with some supporting Algeria and others in opposition.

Our character of the week is Fi Healey, head of legacy. She’s been working with the commission for a while, but she’s only just moved into the building. Kay is less than thrilled about this—she gets annoyed when people constantly confuse sustainability with legacy, and now Ian wants Kay and Fi to share an office. Fi is played by Morven Christie, who I know from Lost in Austen and the Twelfth Doctor story “Under the Lake” / “Before the Flood.”

You would hope that the Olympics would consult with multiple faith leaders before constructing a multi-faith building, but admittedly, I can believe that this group wouldn’t have thought to do that. So now that they’re in this mess, it’s safe to say that they’re not handling it well. For the most part, the commission kind of regards this as an Algeria problem, like this issue is frivolous and unreasonable. There’s an “if we give one religion ‘special treatment,’ then they’ll all expect it” attitude, and one member of the commission muses on whether anyone would miss Algeria if they did boycott the Olympics.

Ian is at least searching for solutions and trying to meet with people who could help, although that naturally doesn’t go well, either. But his primary concern is more about optics than the actual grievance at hand. He makes more than one statement praising London’s “multiculturality,” even as he questions whether that’s really a word. And we learn that Sibohan thinks “Islam” and “Muslim” involve two different religions—which kind of tracks for her, to be honest.

The narration doesn’t stand out as much to me in this episode, but we still get a few good lines for David Tennant. Here are my favorites:

• I like the phrasing here – “Their earlier press release may have bought them some time, but Ian’s worry now is that they may have already spent it.”
• Nice introduction to a guest character here – “As Parliamentary Undersecretary of State with responsibility for Afghanistan, South Asia, North America, the Middle East, and North Africa, Richard Parker is a man who doesn’t have time to suffer fools, either gladly or in any other way.”