Last week the Doctor and her friends were fighting for survival in a futuristic Amazon like company based on a moon. This week however we join them in the mist of a witch trial during 17th century Lancashire.
As always, Spoilers ahead.
1. Enter the Witch finders.
We enter this episode with the Doctor, Ryan, Yaz and Graham, walking around a 17th century village, exploring their surroundings, they were expecting to be at Elizabeth 1st coronation, but they aren’t, yet again the TARDIS has taken them where they need to go. Everything isn’t as it seems however, with a dark vibe hanging over the village, the Doctor try’s to lift our teams spirits by jumping straight into a barrel of apples stating she loves apple bobbing, trying to have some fun, but suddenly, the villagers are then called to another place, so our time team decide to follow, with the Doctor giving strict instructions to to get involved, there is a mysterious stranger, watching from the shadows.
The crowd begin to gather around a large pond, as the team push there way through the crowd, we see a woman has been tied to a tree branch, being trailed as a witch. they realize they are in Lancashire, the woman being accused of being a witch is Mother Twiston (Tricia Kelly), her granddaughter, Willa Twiston (Tilly Steele), is tearfully looking on. She is then told that if she does survive the drowning she will be hanged, this is all carried out by what looks like the governess of the village, Mistress Becka Savage (Siobhan Finneran), who is a land owner, after her husband passed away. The branch is the lowered quickly into the water, the Doctor throws her coat off and jumps into the pond, trying to save Mother Twiston, Savage starts to shout Satan is interfering with the trail, only to be ignored. Mother Twiston, does not survive, even after the Doctor pulls her body out of the river.
The Doctor then shows her the psychic paper to Mistress Savage and her guards, it stats that she is a witch finder general, to which Savage backs down and tells the crowd to go home, she then invites the time team to come to her house to talk things over, all watched by the mysterious stranger again. The team then splits up, The Doctor, Graham and Ryan go to the Savage residence and Yaz goes to see if Willa is okay.
I really like this episodes opening scenes, there was humor and a foreboding atmosphere, we were introduced to things pretty quickly and the action started right from the off, I also loved seeing Jodie’s Doctor again taking implosive action on the situation and doing things on instinct, even when she has told her friends not to intervene. Plus I also have to commend Jodie on diving into that lake and being that wet in one of the coldest March’s in the UK.
2. King James.
As the Doctor heats up at a fireplace in the Savage household, the conversation starts to revolve around Satan and his evil works. The Doctor starts quizzing Savage on why she thinks the way she does, to which she states they are the will of King James, the Doctor then says what would she know what he would like, suddenly the door swings open and the mysterious stranger is revealed as King James (Alan Cummings) himself with his bodyguard Alfonso (Stavros Demetrak), much to the Doctors displeasure.
The Doctor then shows King James the psychic paper, to which, because of the small minded attitudes at the time the paper states the Doctor is the witch finder’s assistant, King James immediately assumes Graham then is in charge, as he is the oldest man in the room, and the Doctor is only part of the team because, it takes a woman to understand how to catch one. He then questions Ryan, who he takes a fanciful liking to, he then reaffirms his stance on witch hunting and stated he wants to kill every last witch in the village.
This is the first time we are actively forced to knowledge that the Doctor has changed gender, in this backward thinking society, a woman’s place is for gossip and cleaning, so in trying to take control, she is always turned down and belittled, this is a running theme throughout, which is true for the attitudes of the time.
Continued below3. Mud and sneaking around.
Yaz then finds Willa burying her grandmother, suddenly a mud tentacle goes to attack her, Yaz is quick to intervene and attacks it with a shovel. Willa then runs off stating Yaz can’t help. The Doctor and the rest of the team are then found sneaking around the Savage household, trying to find clues on what’s going on. Yaz finds them at the household, she tells the Doctor about the mud attack, the Doctor then decides to split up again, her and Yaz will go to the village, Graham and Ryan will keep an eye on the King.
Ryan and Graham try their best to keep the King and Savage from going into the Village, more flirting from King James, however they aren’t stalled for long. The Doctor and Yaz meet Willa who after some lite conversation, we find out that Willa and Savage are related. Yaz also connects with Willa when she finds out Willa has depression, which Yaz states how she got through it, the Doctor also lifts her spirits by stating they should all join together to stop what’s going on in the village.
We have a humorous interaction between King James and Ryan, talking about the King’s unfortunate family beginnings and Ryan trying to emphasizes with him talking about losses with his family, only for James to bring up more misfortune events, to which Ryan is stumped.
I really liked Alan Cummings in this, he certainly added flare to the role and gave King James a certain camp yet tortured feel, and the interactions between him and Ryan where humorous.
4. Mud Zombies.
We are now in the forest again, investigating the mud, suddenly they are confronted by Mother Twiston and other humans, processed by a mud aliens. With the arrival of the King, Savage, and the others they are immediately alerted at the sighting of these frightening mud zombies, the King orders Alfonso to tack them, which he does by shooting at them, they respond by making air come out of their hands, Alfonso lay dead on the ground as they all run away. The group then reunites, and strategies to again split up again, again, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan go and follow the Mud zombies and the Doctor is joined by the rest of the people. They slowly start to suspect the Doctor of being a witch because this only started to happen when she arrived. The Doctor then states if she where a man still she wouldn’t need to prove herself. She is then taken away to the village for trail.
The Doctor is then tied and quizzed by King James, this is a very impressive scene, the acting between Whittaker and Cummings is amazing, and there is another side to Jodie’s Doctor, stern compassion, try to reach Jame’s inner goodness, of their is any. The Doctor’s compassion however falls on deaf ears and the trail goes ahead. The others however find the Mud Zombies at the Savage household, taking her axe, which is hidden under thebed. The Doctor, set to be drowned finds out Savage has something to hide, she is taking medication, and the drowning tree is the key to everything.
5. Ancient technology and a tree is key.
After the Doctor rescues herself, thanks to a long weekend with Houdini, we find out that Savage has been the real problem all along, she starts to show symptoms of procession, crying mud and coughing. She is then surrounded by the mud zombies who we find out are called the Morax, they are ancient mud aliens who were sentenced to imprisonment in the large Lancashire hill. The King is kip-napped by the mud zombies, the Doctor then comes up with a plan that uses the drowning tree, which is the key to the prison to lock them back in. With the final confrontation on top of the hill, the King of the Morax is set free and are set to possess the King, The Doctor and her friends show up with the burning wood from the key tree and send them back to where they came, King James setting the possessed Savage up in flames, keeping his ideology of dealing with Satanic beings.
Continued belowThe end of the episode, we bid farewell to King James and Willa, King James even asks Ryan to come back to London to be his protector, to which Ryan graciously denies the request. The Doctor states that advanced technology can be seen as magic to the primitive beings, the Doctor and her friends then leave in the TARDIS to the two’s amazement.
In conclusion, this story was one of my favorites this season, who ever thought to cast Alan Cummings as King James was a stroke of genius, his portrayal is slightly camp yet dashing and he steals every scene he is in, plus the Doctor’s gender hasn’t been a problem to the story as I has been this week, and she has come up against strong opposition and belittling, but she pushes through and regains control at the end conflict, with her Doctor truly shining through, pushing through the prejudice, her acting with Cummings was amazing and it really shows with great writing Jodie’s Doctor really shines. The only downside, was I thought the end was a tad rushed but other than that, a strong script.
Next week we visit a cottage in Norway in the present day, where a monster storks the woods and a young girl needs our time team’s help, in “It Takes You Away.”
