Doctor Who: Time Heist

A version of the future where the universe is run by the banks…wherever did they get this idea?

Yet another good episode, with stellar performances all round and Stephen Thompson (with the assistance of Steven Moffat) delivering a nice little parody of our financial culture.

The episode opens with the remnants of last week, as Clara attempts to go on a second date with Danny Pink. That’s quickly put on hold when the TARDIS phone rings and she and the Doctor find themselves in the bowels of the Bank of Karabraxos, with no memory and two new friends.

The best thing about this episode is that it has major strengths and minor strengths. The major strengths flow from the A plot, with the heist mystery remaining entertaining throughout. The minor strengths come from the smaller bits of dialogue, such as the Doctor pointing out that if he had the TARDIS with him he could just land it in the vault. In the past there would have been some nonsensical reason for it not being there (revolving around “fixed events” or something). Having the small question and explanation put together really elevates the episode.

 On the point of time travel, Steven Moffat is credited as a second writer on this episode and I think he may be responsible for this week’s time loop. Last week relied on an event in the Doctor’s past that would cause him to go on a madcap investigation into perfect “hiders.” This ended with him (and Clara) accidentally entering his own past and causing the original event. So the Doctor’s investigation caused the event in his past that would make him start the investigation in his future.

This episode relies on the same sort of thing, with the reveal of Madame Karabraxos on her deathbed phoning the Doctor (using a number he gave her when he broke into her bank) to ask him to break into her bank and give her his number and to correct her greatest regret. I could criticise the way that it’s basically the same thing, but I have to say that I like the way that a program about time travel is actually using time travel to set up the plot, rather than as a way of getting somewhere cool.

As I said before, the performances are all very good. The stand out for me is Keeley Hawes. As Madame Karabraxos she gets the standard detached rich person role, but  as the brutal (yet bureaucratic) clone Ms Delphox, she really gets to shine. My personal highlight is her telling a man that he’s going to have his brain sucked out in the same you’d imagine her using to tell someone they’d been denied a loan. She’s pretty instrumental as to making this a good parody of a banking culture.

I also sense the hand of Moffat in the idea that the episode effectively starts with everyone losing their memoires. This has been a theme for this series; The Doctor can’t remember where he’s seen his own face before etc. Is this a hint? So far the theories are that Missy and the Promised land are things from the Doctor’s future or far flung past. Could they actually be things from the present that he’s forgetting? Are we seeing events from the Doctor’s perspective? Is Missy actually with him the entire time and just being erased from his memory? Is she the perfect hider?