Oh I’m
tired.
So
this was okay, but not series finale material.
This
episode is at odds with the stand-alone format for the series, as it’s a sequel
to The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
Ordinarily
there’d be nothing wrong with that, but it’s a bit strange that Chibnall made
such an effort to abolish the series arc structure, but decided to go back to
it when it suited him. As he appears to written fewer scripts than either of
the previous show runners, it seems more like he just didn’t have any ideas rather
than an effort to change up the structure of the show.
Anyway,
the plot:
The
Doctor, Graham and surplus-to-requirements respond to several distress calls
coming from a planet. Oh but this had been set up before in a pre-credits scene
that wasn’t a pre-credits scene (because Chibnall didn’t want to do those
anymore), which led to a clunky “x amount of time later” transition.
Anyway,
lots of people have come to this planet and died, the planet drives you mad
(which is irrelevant because we don’t get to see this affect the main cast,
beyond giving two of them a headache) and there’s a generic soldier guy there.
Oh
yeah and the villain from the first episode is there posing as a god.
Whilst
he was an effective villain before, in this episode, he is overpowered far too
easily. Graham’s arc of wanted to kill him is pretty good, but does upstage the
Doctor completely. Then again, upstaging the Doctor and making her a side
character in her own show seems to have been a running theme throughout this
series.
Everything
else in the episode is pretty normal, story-wise; not bad, but absent any
build-up.
As with
the Woman Who Fell to Earth, the music fails to properly reflect the story
beats. It just trums on in the background, whilst the action is taking place.
There doesn’t seem to be any understanding about the importance of sound in a
television production.
Overall,
a very average episode to finish the series on, but I’m pretty tired of average
being the best that Chibnall can produce.
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