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

*Spoilers for episode 1*

Part two of the season premiere works for me somewhat better than part one. The humor doesn’t feel as unsporting, and it focuses more on the absurdity of how the commission attempts to handle the crisis.

Algeria has issued a deadline: if they don’t come to some satisfactory resolution with the commission before midnight, they’re pulling out of the Olympics. The commission has found an idea that they think might work, and Ian and Siobhan meet with a leader in the local Muslim community to see if they can salvage this situation.

Basically, there’s one building in the Olympic Park that already faces the correct direction, so the commission is hoping it can be retrofitted and turned into the new shared belief centre. This way, it’ll have the requirements needed to serve as a mosque without the construction of a separate facility for Muslim athletes, which would cause other religious groups to cry favoritism. But of course, nothing goes smoothly, and the waters are immediately muddied by complications. Shoutout to the poor architect who’s brought in to consult with them and confronted with an onslaught of nigh-impossible competing visions. As he nears the end of his rope, he introduces himself as, “Mike Whittaker, emergency architect. Laughing in the face of physics.”

Siobhan immediately makes things worse by inviting a PR person from the Church of England to their meeting with the Muslim leader, although it turns out her blithely indifferent approach applies to all faith groups, not just Muslims. At one point, she’s arguing on the phone with a representative from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and when Ian corrects her on where Canterbury actually is, she drawls, “Well, it doesn’t matter whether God’s in Sussex or Kent, you know? Get over it.” We also get some amusing bits from Graham consulting his pocket computer—he’s trying to educate the rest of the commission on minarets but accidentally looks up “minotaur” instead.

Here are my picks for top David Tennant narration lines of the episode:

• “As the crisis deepens, the Church of England has issued a statement urging the Olympic authorities not to favor any one single faith over any other during the Games, including faiths that are insisting on their own mosque.”
• Love this, when Siobhan brings her Church of England PR buddy to the meeting – “Despite the public commitment to a multi-faith 2012, the situation has suddenly become much more multi-faith than Ian had bargained for.”