Last week was set in the past, this week in the present and since it’s Halloween, there’s monsters. We will be dealing with big spiders, so if you’re an arachnophobe then please hide behind the sofa…. or on second thoughts, maybe not.
As always, please be aware that spoilers ahead.
1, It’s a matter of time and family.
As we saw last week, the Doctor has tried to get Yaz, Ryan and Graham home since she accidentally transported them into an intergalactic race for what turned out to be the TARDIS. Arriving back in Sheffield, thirty minutes since they left, our team are back home and of course the Doctor is ready to say goodbye, but she is then invited for tea around Yaz’s. While the Doctor, Yaz and Ryan head to her flat, Graham heads back home, we’ll get to that in part 2.
So arriving back at Yasmin’s flat we meet her father, Hakim Khan (Ravin J Ganatra) and her sister, Sonya Khan (Bhavnisha Parmar), who are quite friendly and greet Yaz and her friends with a warm welcome. The new Doctor shows her ‘human’ skills with trying to form interacts with everyone, but as Ryan and Yaz spell out, she isn’t good at small talk, we find out the Yaz’s dad has been collecting junk in the house to which the Doctor asks if it’s like collecting stamps, the collection of junk will come up later. I really like this as just thirty minutes have pasted on earth since our team left, so there’s no worrying about Yaz or anyone and it’s a nice welcoming family who treat newcomers with politeness. We also see Yaz’s mom who is played by Shobna Gulati and cames across as a strong support character, feeling like she generally cares about Yaz and who she’s seeing, asking on two occasions if Yaz is seeing either the Doctor or Ryan. She is also the general manager at the hotel where our creatures are based, being introduced to her while she is being fired by her boss for turning up early for work, which I finds gives the audience an emotional attachment from the off.
2. Ghosts of the past
As we are treated to the Khan family dynamic, we are also treated to some very touching moments in the episode and I think that Bradley Walsh’s Graham is an amazing character and since his wife’s death in episode one, he has carried this sense of grief with him and it shows in the episode how much her death has effected him. As he is standing back at home we she the ‘ghost’ of Grace, telling him to remember some things, like when to the recycling is due and when to put the bins out. I find this very touching and heart felt, we haven’t seen the affect of grace’s death on Graham until now and Walsh’s acting in this scene makes it even more emotional.
3, Spiders, spiders everywhere…
As the title suggests, this episode feature spiders and I mean a LOT of spiders, ranging from the size of a cat to the size of a large van. Arachnophobes beware, this episode might not be for you, I am someone who hates spiders but this episode made me see them in a different light (if only for 50 minutes). Yes, they are scary and have lots of legs, but they are also living creatures and it is put across as they are scared themselves and are acting the way they shouldn’t be.
There are two occasions where I think this episodes ‘monsters’ shined. The first was when we find out what the monsters are. When visiting Yaz’s family we find out they have waited to get a parcel from their neighbor, so trying to be helpful and proactive, the Doctor says she can go get it for them, in doing so she encounters an employee of the hotel that Yaz’s mom has been fired from, knocking on the door of their neighbor. The Doctor being the Doctor, goes and opens the door with her sonic screwdriver, to which they enter the flat to find it covered in webs, this was extremely horrible to watch, as we enter the bedroom of the neighbor, we find her wrapped completely in spider webs, this for me was an amazing, yet terrifying scene because it is full of suspense and when the spider comes from under the bed it really shows of a horror vibe, which I love.
Continued belowThe next occasion is when the ‘mother’ spider which is the size of a large van is dying because it can’t take enough oxygen in to keep living. This made me feel sorry for the creature, as it wasn’t their fault they grew that large and seeing it scared and trying to escape made me feel very sad for it, which isn’t normal for me as, depending on size, try and find the nearest cup or slipper available. The spider is then shoot by Robertson (part 4.) and dies to the announce of the Doctor.
The villains (Spiders) in this episode did remind me of “The Green Death” which featured the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) come up against giant maggots which were infused with toxic waste. Seen as Chibnall is a fan of the third Doctor, this might well of been his inspiration.
4. Don’t you know who I am?
The only thing that didn’t feel like they needed to be there, only to have a person who would out rightly kill all the spiders, is a character called Robertson played by Chris Noth. His character, is based on the Wealthy top dog business person stereotype. He would very much like to stay away from the spiders and if he could, kill all of them by shooting them and stay well away in his specially designed panic room. I don’t know what kind of approach Chris Chibnall was trying to make other than comment on the US’s gun control, seen as the character is American and is running for president in 2020 and states “this is what America needs right now” and “what will get me in the White House.” The reason the spiders have become so large is because underneath the hotel Robertson owns, there an old mine full of toxic waste and land fill which should have been taken care of by another one of Robertson’s company’s and has caused the spiders to become mutated, plus spiders can keep growing for as long as they are alive.
I personally thought the character of Robertson wasn’t needed, but he did serve a purpose in showing people that you have to take responsibility for your actions, even if you are the top dog, you have to make sure your know what’s going on around you and not leave things to people who would do a job half cooked.
5. Off to time and space!
At the end of the episode, after our Time Team has contained all the spiders in the panic room in the hotel and the mother spider has died, we follow our team as they slowly make up their minds to stay with the Doctor. Yaz wants more out of life, as does Ryan, and Graham can’t stand staying in his house without Grace. All three decide to stay aboard the TARDIS, with a stern warning from the Doctor that they might not come back the same, only to get the ‘we’re ready for all of space and time’ look, they all ready hold the lever to activate the time ship together, ready for what will come next.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this episode. Jodie Whittaker is slowly realizing what she wants her Doctor to be and the character development has begun at a very steady pace. I do feel like these last four episodes have been a very long introduction to the new Time Team and now from here on in we will get a real sense of what it means to travel all of time and space with the Thirteenth Doctor.
