Other Doctor Lives: Criminal Record: Season 1, Episode 3 – “Kid in the Park” (2024)

*Episode premise spoilers.*

This episode advances the main story of Adelaide Burrowes’s murder and the possible false conviction, but it also gives another important case separate from June’s investigation, which I think works well.

When a 9-year-old boy is shot outside a block of flats, June hears that Hegarty is taking the lead and volunteers to join the task force. While she obviously wants to find the shooter, she’s also keeping her potential enemy close. At the same time, she’s teamed up with Sonya, a lawyer hired by Errol Mathis’s mother to try and prove his innocence.

Shaun Dooley, who’s something of a Hey It’s That Guy for me, appears on the show as one of Hegarty’s cronies. I first noticed him in the last episode, but he’s a little more prominent here. I’ve seen Dooley in plenty of things, including more Other Doctor Lives projects: he was in Broadchurch with both Jodie Whittaker and David Tennant, and he was in Official Secrets with Matt Smith. Not to mention, he actually starred on new Who in “The Ghost Monument” during the Thirteen era!

The “I’m a maverick cop who plays by my own rules, but I have to because of police corruption!” is definitely an interesting angle to take. In working with Sonya, June shares information that isn’t cleared to be released to the public, and she gets into Whitecross prison to meet Errol by lying about who she’s there to see. It makes for an odd viewing experience: Hegarty is corrupt and that’s bad, while June is sneaking around to conduct an unsanctioned investigation under false pretenses and that’s good. On the one level, I understand that you can’t work through the proper channels when the foundation is rotten, but it does on some level feel like the show wanting to have its cake and eat it too.

I like that this episode introduces a case that’s completely separate from Adelaide’s murder, other than June’s desire to keep an eye on Hegarty. Because she is conducting this investigation in secret, she’s fitting in her detective work on it between her actual job, and there are other crimes going on that need investigating. And I enjoy seeing how June attempts to learn more about Hegarty while she’s working on the task force. At this point in the show, she’s seen him actively gunning for her, so it makes for some suspenseful interactions between the two.

Speaking of which. I continue to be impressed with Peter Capaldi’s work as Hegarty. There are moments where he more overtly throws his weight around, though always in kind of a buttoned-up/corporate way, but a lot of the time, he’s a subtle menace. We see him being up to no good, and we see his suspicions toward June and his desire to get her off the scent, but it’s done fairly quietly.

I especially like some good nonverbal moments from Capaldi here. He does a nice job showing Hegarty weighing decisions in the moment, making calculations for his counter moves. In this episode, we get the moment where he’s picking officers for the task force and deliberates over June’s name, along with a pivotal scene where he has to decide whether to intervene in a volatile situation.

Doctor Who: Series 12, Episodes 5-8 – “The Ark in Space” (1975)

A post-regeneration episode is obviously our introduction to a new Doctor, but it’s often packed enough with big-picture stuff—the companions dealing with the change, possible regeneration-crisis issues, settling on a new outfit (I kind of love that that’s become such an essential part of any post-regeneration episode)—that it’s not always the best indication of who the new Doctor really is.  Often, a Doctor’s second adventure gives us a better, more settled look at who they are, and that’s definitely a factor in this entertaining space yarn.

The Fourth Doctor brings Sarah Jane and Harry (on his first TARDIS trip) to a seemingly deserted space station far in humanity’s future.  They soon realize that the space station’s inhabitants aren’t dead or missing, but frozen in stasis—they’re on an enormous ark filled with humans waiting to find a new home.  However, while they’ve been sleeping, something else has infiltrated their space station.  The Doctor and co. revive some of the crew to deal with the alien threat.

Pretty decent story.  The Wirrn have a lot of hallmarks reminiscent of other Who aliens, such as hive minds and a penchant for infecting and taking over human bodies, but even though the devices are familiar, they’re depicted well and feel like a palpable threat.  There are some good one-shot characters as well; I especially like medtech Vira and commander Noah.

Harry makes a mixed showing his first time out, which feels appropriate, since he really has no clue what’s he’s in for.  He’s totally bewildered and wrong-footed, and he makes a couple of well-intentioned screw-ups, but he makes up for them by putting his medical training to good use and learning pretty quickly on his feet.

In general, Sarah Jane doesn’t fare quite as well here.  She’s imperiled twice in relatively short succession (although, in her defense, the damseling is directly related to Harry’s bungles in both cases.)  I get that having to be rescued from danger and/or getting captured by the bad guys is a big part of the companion’s job description, but there are times when you have a multi-companion TARDIS crew and it feels like the woman is disproportionately in need of saving, or that there’s a different tenure to the female companion’s endangerment—I’ve gotten this vibe at different times, most prominently with Eleven, Amy, and Rory.  But, just as Harry starts to turn it around, Sarah Jane is used more effectively later in the story.  The scene of her threading the cable through the ventilation shafts is a classic—brave, but scared, too, and I love the Doctor distracting her from her fear by getting her mad.

Like I said, this serial gives us our first settled look at Four, and already, it’s evident why he’s so beloved.  I adore Four—he’s such an interesting mix of kooky, animated, detached, and impatient, drawing you in with that manic grin and then stunning you with those occasional reminders of how alien he really is.  I like that he can get so annoyed at or thrilled with Harry with equal measure, and the aforementioned scene with Sarah Jane is a highlight of the story.  I also really enjoy his interactions with the chief Wirrn, and just the fact that he’s someone who totally gets that this gigantic bug alien is an intelligent creature he can attempt to reason with.

Nickel Boys (2024, PG-13)

Up to Best Picture nominee #7 now. This movie reminded me in a little of If Beale Street Could Talk—both are visually stunning period pieces dealing with heavy, traumatic subject matter. It also made me very curious about what the book is like.

What’s It About?

Elwood’s promising future seems to slip away when he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once on his way to technical college, he’s now being sent to a bleak, brutal reform school. While there, he befriends a boy named Turner who shows him how to survive Nickel Academy.

Who’s in It?

Elwood is played by Ethan Herisse, who I saw in When They See Us as Yusef Salaam. I’m not familiar with Brandon Smith, who plays Turner. Both actors turn in lovely, subtle performances, although they’re not accessible in the traditional way. The film is shot entirely from a first-person POV, first Elwood’s, and then later with some of Turner’s perspective mixed in. As a result, we only see either boy onscreen when the other is looking at him. The only time we see them in a shot together is in a scene where they're both looking up at the same reflective surface. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who I thought was great in Lovecraft Country, is spectacular in her small role as Elwood’s nana. The film also features Hamish Linklater as Spencer, the man in charge of Nickel, and Luke Tennie (Sean from Shrinking!) as a fellow student.

What’s It Nominated For?

Nickel Boys was nominated for two Oscars:

·        Best Picture

·        Best Adapted Screenplay

What Do I Love About It?

·        As I said, this movie reminds me of If Beale Street Could Talk in the way it can explore such intense, horrific subject matter and combine it with some of the most gorgeous shots I’ve seen on film. It’s something in the cinematography and the lighting, and it’s amplified by the fact that such moments of beauty are captured within a story that contains such ugliness. It’s simply breathtaking.

·        As Elwood and Turner deal with life at Nickel, I appreciate that we’re really able to understand where both of them are coming from. Elwood, who had been getting into civil disobedience prior to his arrest, believes in the importance of standing up for what’s right. He believes in taking a stand for the morality of it, and critically, he believes that change is tangibly possible. He doesn’t want to keep his head down to protect himself, because he thinks that turning a blind eye to Nickel’s abuses makes him culpable too. It’s easy to look at the two boys and say Elwood has the “right” viewpoint. But this is his first time at Nickel, and he has people on the outside who care about him, teaching and encouraging those principles by which he lives. Turner has been on this depressing, dangerous rodeo before, with no one to support him. So it’s understandable why he thinks Elwood’s ideals are naïve, why he looks out for himself because nobody else will. As he points out, a desegregated lunch counter doesn’t matter much to him when he couldn’t afford to eat there anyway.

·        I appreciate the brief glimpses we get of the adult Elwood years later, almost obsessively following the news stories about the unmarked graves discovered on the former grounds of Nickel. It’s an effective reminder that, despite society’s penchant for black-and-white photos, this history was very recent and affected plenty of people who are still alive today. It also shows how the memories of Nickel continue to affect Elwood and other boys who were sent there—some are never able to “move on” with their lives, and those that do still carry the mental and physical scars from those years.

Warnings

Violence (mostly offscreen,) language (including racial slurs,) drinking/brief drug use, and strong thematic elements.