What if the graffiti that often present in the modern world was more than just paint?
A brand new terror approaches, and even not blinking will not serve as a defense against this menace that hides in the open.
What They Say:
A problem happens with the Tardis, trapping the Doctor inside and leaving Clara to fend for herself against a two dimensional enemy.
The Review:
It’s a little surprising to me that coming off the previous episode that featured a mummy that the writing team didn’t move what is another horror-tinged episode that starts with a more undefined menace before twisting into a spin on a zombie theme to a different place in the series order so as to not either overdo the horror or provoke comparisons of the two scripts with elements that share more than a little in the root source department so close to each other, but here we are and I don’t feel this episode comes up much worse for wear because of its airing order. Of course, some of that is due to the nature of the enemy involved being an inventive enough of a revamping of the (dangerously close to overplayed if not there already) zombie theme. This is especially true early on as the more unusual and creative new hints of the menace hide some of somewhat standard zombie elements appearance until they are completely in one’s face and which because of the origin of how this evolves it helps throw off the scent and create buy in for me. I feel a lot of the credit is due to the writer doing a fantastic job of presenting a brand new danger to the Doctor which takes him off the main stage while forcing Clara to step even more into a role that she has slowly been kind of assuming over the previous few episodes to help give her a bit more to do than just be a ride along source of inspiration, even -or perhaps especially- when so much companion inspiration appears to be accidental or tangential to their intentions.
There is so much that I loved here in the fact that it feels like a buffet stocked with so many wonderful items that I can’t quite figure out where to start first, but I guess in that case approaching it somewhat in the order presented isn’t a bad way to go. Going from that starting point, I absolutely loved the idea of the TARDIS being able to be all sorts of size in its projection into reality which is an idea that the series has touched on in the older (or I guess “Classic”) episodes. To that idea, other TARDIS like the Master’s have been shown to hide as a wide variety of other objects of various shapes and to an extent this was also seen with the Doctor’s TARDIS appearing in a massive form after his fall on the fields of Trenzalore in The Name of the Doctor but it is just really an amazing thing to see what is basically the show’s most stable setting (character?) get seen in a whole new way when it’s existence is so rarely manipulated in such a fantastic way.
To some extent even the changing of the control room’s (or desktops as they are now referred to in the series) look or the exploration of just how big the inside of the TARDIS is haven’t quite made me feel the same way as it gave the chance for the TARDIS to be seen in a whole new light that helped me feel a bit more just how fragile the world the Doctor travels in is, as despite the TARDIS having been captured or stolen by others over the years the idea that it could wind up being a prison for him if things went just a bit wrong had never really occurred to me. I loved every minute of it as it went from the initial novelty of being small enough to appear to be like a circus act of clowns in a car to try to get out of to growing to be something to be dreaded as the Doctor becomes unable to get more than his hand extended out at the end (which creates a great visual gag). There is a bit of me that wonders though that since the Doctor can control how much of a weight footprint the TARDIS projects when it lands as opposed to its actual weight if he might not be better off from time to time letting a bit more of it project so that people can’t just lift the box up on wander off with it as often as happens and what this ability to change projection of its scope might mean for future writers to explore.
The change in the TARDIS could have totally preoccupied the entire episode and I probably would have been alright with it but the writer uses that as a reason to both give Clara a chance to spread her wings but also to place the Doctor into the role of observer who gets to help a bit here and there but is largely unable to just burst on the scene and do everything himself which has in the past made for some great (and not so great) episodes where the focus is not directly on him. I absolutely loved watching Clara play the Doctor as she is a character I rather like and it is a lot of fun to watch as she adopted so many of the Doctor’s mannerisms and approaches which caused the Doctor for the first time to be in a place where he sees his reflection in her and the experience of watching as he got a feel for just how it is that he comes off in situations was a delicious change of the normal terms. Not that the chance to do so is likely to change his approach any, but maybe having had Clara again serve as his mirror in yet another way may help with his current journey to get a feel for just what kind of man he is- as well as how obnoxious he can come off sounding like as Clara channels him very, very well.
But with Clara in the role of the Doctor that means there is an opening for a new companion and the episode finds a fantastic young man named Rigsby to play that role. The youth is a graffiti artist who is currently repaying his debt to society by doing community service as a member of a work crew that is painting over all the graffiti in the area including some of his own handy work and who winds up like so many of the people who cross the Doctor’s path as being in some strange mix of both the right and wrong place at the right and wrong time. There is a certain poetic touch to the idea of someone spending their time covering over their old actions (which frankly may in some way reflect the Doctor and his own travels) that may have been deemed character developing enough in some other writer’s hands, but thankfully despite Rigsby’s (at the time) one-off appearance there is still effort put into his character in order to make him feel like more than just a plot device to fill in a temporary opening in the roster for ‘the Doctor’ to make use of while saving the day.
It’s interesting to watch as he plays kind of the same role most companions do, especially at first, of not really solving a problem that is present but more serving as a conduit for the Doctor (or both Doctor and Clara in this case) to see the problem in a different way that inspires them to find a new solution that otherwise may not have occurred to them. Rigsby also serves as a perfect way for Clara to show off that she still is her own person even while in the Doctor’s place when she comes up against the impulse of someone in a crisis looking to play heroic martyr when the situation does not require it and handles it with aplomb which is a key part of what I really enjoy about her character in the first place.
The big moments of the episode, of course, revolve around the new aliens that appear and I’m pretty pleased that the effects most managed to live up to what was asked of them in order to really pull of this enemy that fights in a way unique among all the Doctor’s opponents over the many years but which doesn’t feel like the effect budget can’t keep pace with the writer’s imagination and is hampering the presentation as has happened so many times over the over half-century of the series. It’s fun to see a new antagonist emerge that operates in a decidedly unique and cold way and which requires that Clara come up with a very clever way of fighting when she is completely cut off from the Doctor. Seeing a solution that is brilliant and also something that doesn’t feel like it requires some enormous jump of logic or some piece of futuristic (or alien) knowledge in order to overcome is greatly appreciated in the wake of the previous episode’s climax not to mention more than a few other episodes across the storied franchise’s run. Then there is this climax which does require that the Doctor step in and do his thing with his alien tech that feels like it works naturally rather than a Deus ex Machina like approach as he dons the Monster Hunter hat that he tries so often to avoid but which has earned him a reputation that spans across the stars and is a role that, despite her skill in walking in the Doctor’s shoes for a bit, even she cannot fill.
We already know he is a man who fights monsters but it is the regret he has over having to again take on that mantel because his opponents force it on him due to their unwillingness to co-exist that gives a hint of who this Doctor is and how he isn’t that far off from previous incarnations who also would attempt to exhaust every other possible avenue before having to take an action that may lead to great pain or death. It is this exploring of every other avenue helps keep the Doctor from being a villain in many of his tales despite the numbers who may be killed due to his hesitation or his mistakes while his allowance of a (sometimes quite high) body count also keep him from being a traditional hero either (though given the number of heroes in modern myth that let their opponents live despite knowing that a higher body count is inevitable perhaps is an overall sign of modern tastes on heroes) and makes him a hard character to really peg into a simple role.
An interesting thing that I missed the first time around in the dialogue was a moment at the end when the Doctor makes a comment to Clara about how one of the very few survivors of this alien incursion may be one of the wrong people to survived after that survivor makes a cold comment on the dead echoes back to the Tenth Doctor’s Christmas Special The Voyage of the Damned where another character postulated something similar and then stated that if the Doctor could choose it would make him a monster which given that this Doctor is still trying to figure out who he is feels like a statement that holds a fair amount of weight in perhaps asking just where this Doctor might fall. I think his statement to Clara on how she made an “exceptional Doctor” but that “goodness had nothing to do with it” may have been an opportunity for him to do some self-reflection on just what it means for him and his actions, and how that might reflect on his questioning if he is a good man or not. It also felt like it played in a bit as to the role the Doctor has been having with Clara and her life outside the TARDIS, as her lies to Danny and the ease with which she took on the role of the Doctor and all that came with it kind of speaks a bit to a negative influence that the Doctor has on his companions as well.
If the episode has a weakness it may be in the fact that once the new threat takes on a three-dimensional form the episode starts to feel like a traditional zombie story, albeit zombies with some spectacular powers. Given the proximity to the previous story and its monster that had mobility issues, the lurching nature of these foes feels a bit less special than it should, even with the effects trying to give off the feel of creatures that have yet to fully figure out the third dimension as a reason for it rather than the decaying bodies zombies normally deal with. That the story eventually does become a zombie-like story kind of took me out of the events once I realized what was going on and I can’t help but wonder how well this element will hold up in the coming years as the whole zombie fad eventually plays itself off and whether that eventual exhaustion will take a toll on this episode as well when revisiting it.
Still the episode has some rather fantastic new ideas and it gives a chance to look at some of the show’s characters in a new light which in addition to some rather sharp writing and a couple really good supporting actors should help the story still feel good, even if it probably isn’t going to make it to the top couple of spots in many fans ranking of ‘best episode’- or at least it doesn’t in mine despite looking like it could be a contender in the early going.
In Summary:
The arrival of some brand new aliens with some unique dimensional characteristics allow for a chance for the series lead characters and its most iconic set/ship/house to take on some different dimensions of their own in this episode. While it has a strong start and some spectacular performances –especially in the new character of Rigsby- the climax turns rather flat as it becomes a bit too standard while still showing the occasional flourishes that gave it such a spark at the beginning. This may be an episode that suffers more from its missed potential as it starts so high than it would have if it had a more pedestrian first half, but the final product is still really good, even if greatness seeps away from it at the end like the TARDIS’ size in the episode.
Grade: A-
