It’s a hugely effective structure, well supported by Julie Anne Robinson’s direction, which keeps the energy up while never being flashy – it might be the best pairing of writer and director since Moffat and Rachel Talalay (“The Doctor Falls”, “Heaven Sent”, among others). The repeated close-ups of Ncuti Gatwa’s face, his shaking hand and the glowing lights of the landmine keep the danger constantly in our minds, and needless to say the episode looks fantastic once again (considering that single-location stories often function as cost-cutting measures, this is probably the most expensive-looking bottle episode ever made).
The episode’s structure also allows for lots of excellent character work. Gatwa continues to impress, his performance full of precise peaks and troughs as the Doctor continually tries to manage his fear – and by extension Ruby’s – and keep control of the situation, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. He also gets some vintage Doctor rage to play, his contempt for the marines, their faith, their war and its corporate sponsor palpable as he sneers at Mundy. There are too many electrifying moments to list, but Gatwa’s vicious delivery of “Seriously? Now you need proof, faith gyal?” is a highlight, as is his wordless, guttural cry of anguish when Canto shoots Ruby. Oh, and “I’m a lot more explosive than I look – and honey? I know how I look”. This is threatening to become a list, so let’s move on.
Having had less to play with in “The Devil’s Chord”, Millie Gibson gets a lot to do here, and once again she knocks it out of the park. To restrict myself to just one highlight, the scene where she refuses to throw Vater’s remains to the Doctor, insisting on getting close enough to hand it over – dismissing the Doctor’s “I forbid this” with a wonderfully casual “Yeah good luck with that” – feels like a key development, both for her character and their dynamic. It’s beautifully played by both, Ruby quietly resolute, the Doctor barely keeping a lid on his emotions. Even though they’ve not been travelling together that long, the emotions feel genuine and completely earned.
Amazingly, amongst all this, the episode not only finds space to introduce Varada Sethu as future companion Mundy Flynn (assuming she keeps that name), but gives her enough definition that she feels well-rounded and important. A lot of this comes down to Sethu herself, who gives a great performance. She’s warm and caring with Splice, more forceful with the two weird strangers who have landed in the middle of her warzone, conflicted as the true nature of that warzone becomes more apparent – and the way she pushes defiantly back against the Doctor hints at a compellingly tempestuous future dynamic. Her appearance here hasn’t been trailed at all, as far as I know – much like Jenna Coleman’s surprise debut way back in “Asylum of the Daleks” – but it’s brilliantly done, and I’m excited to see how the show handles her eventual return.
Admittedly there are some aspects that don’t fully come off. The thwarted romance between Mundy and Canto, while played well by both actors, feels perfunctory, and without wanting to sound cruel, putting so much emotional heavy lifting on the shoulders of a child actor might not have been the best decision. The ending also feels a little too happy considering what’s gone on – we didn’t necessarily need everybody lying around sobbing, but the triumphant ‘love conquers all’ climax is a tad over-egged.
These can be forgiven, though – partly because the episode is otherwise so effective, but also because of how badly a man in his sixties writing about the dangers of ‘the algorithm’ could have gone. Steven Moffat has previously suggested that he might write something about ‘cancel culture’, and even as a fan of his work, my only response to that is please don’t – but the themes of algorithms and automation are cleverly deployed here in the context of futuristic warfare. It’s brutal and sadly very topical, and definitely appropriate fodder for Doctor Who, and it allows Moffat to get angry, which is a compelling register for him. The episode’s points about devaluing human life and the overreach of the military industrial complex may not be subtle, but they’re certainly effective, and as with “Space Babies”, it’s good to see the show unequivocally condemning inhumane systems.