If anything is well-defined even this early intoChris Chibnall ’s eraof MD Who , it ’s that this is a version of the show deeply enamour by its preceding dedication tosocial and political commentary — from the get - go , Doctor Who has used alien encroachment and experiment gone wrong to comment on theworld around us . This workweek was no exception , even if it wreak with it some unfortunate baggage in the process .
“ Praxeus ” is an odd installment . And not just because it feels like we only just had “ Orphan 55 ” birth abrutally consummate warningabout humanity ’s laissez - faire attitude toward the ever - impending climate disaster that having another ecologically - theme threat feels like a peculiar do - over . It ’s made odder by its immediate relation to last hebdomad ’s scandalous , board - flipping continuityantics in “ Fugitive of the Judoon , ” which gave us some wild revelations about the chronicle ( or futurity , it ’s always toilsome to tell with Time Lords ) of the Doctor as we know it .
“ Praxeus ” is an otherwise comparatively escape - of - the - James Mill episode of Doctor Who , and that it ’s burden with the baggage of coming in the backwash of an instalment that did n’t just delight us withbig surprisesbut left us reeling with a million questions that this episode could n’t ( and arguably should n’t have to ) reply , is perhaps unfair . But after such huge , character - interchange Book of Revelation for the Doctor , it ’s punishing not to feel that phantasm hanging over this episode .
There’s something up with the birds of planet Earth…Image: BBC
https://gizmodo.com/chris-chibnall-cast-a-black-woman-as-the-doctor-but-it-1841309265
Slot this episode anywhere else in the time of year and it would still have expose a few lingering problems this epoch has quite yet to grow out of , but those cracks might not have seemed as frustratingly arrant . Even as it maintain a commitment to social commentary that has get to fix this iteration of Doctor Who — which , try as some fans might to plug their pinna and forget everything from “ The Green Death ” to “ The Seeds of Doom ” are stories that exist , is in line with the show ’s long and persistent history on this front—“Praxeus ” bump its messaging about microplastics and environmentalism embroil down by a messy construction and an as stark realization : Dr. Who still does n’t really quite recognise what it wants to do in having three companions along for the drive .
Set amid an outside confederacy involving mysterious bird deaths , a missing U.S. Navy pigboat and British cosmonaut , unearthly sledding - on in Hong Kong , and two gruesomely explosive deaths in Peru and on the Madagascan coastline , the story weaves a web of intrigue that , at first , seems like it ’s perfectly suitable for Doctor Who ’s current set up of four main characters ( not to refer the fact that say characters can travel rapidly across the world in a clip - traveling phone box ) . It does this by splitting up the Doctor , Ryan , and then Yaz and Graham , as they spread out across the Earth to try and figure out how all these disparate events are connected makes sense . Not only do we get to see the layer of trust the Doctor has in her Quaker that they can go on these missions without her , it bring Doctor Who a fresh common sense of expanded scope . In more budget - constrained multiplication , you might imagine all of this accept place in some obscure village in the UK countryside next to a Conveniently Sinister Secret Research Facility , or something . Even if it in the main plays out via the medium of emplacement - designating claim cards fell across the projection screen every once in a while , it ’s nice to see Doctor Who diffuse its flank beyond its typically British lens .
The Doctor and unfortunate marine are about to discover the deadly effects of Praxeus.Image: BBC
But in practice , it also mean the episode just drop agency , right smart too long dragging out the mystery of what is really going on . And without the Doctor and her friend get each other to bounce off of ( instead interact with an awkwardly big routine of supporting characters , who feel less like characters , and more like walk excuses for someone to say “ please tell me and the hearing what is go on ” ) , its initial set up drop a bunch of storylines at us at once just feels frustratingly unclear .
Ryan , Yaz , and Graham find especially underserved in this cognitive operation — peculiarly Yaz , who has alreadybeen consistently underservedby last season ’s focus on the emotional spark between Ryan and Graham over the death of Grace . Here , she promptly vanishes for a third of the instalment as she desperately assay to try out herself to the Doctor even more , stay behind in Hong Kong with one of the episodes ’ temp - companion , vlogger Gabriela ( Joana Borja ) , in what fundamentally total to another gravid reminder that Doctor Who is about to either kill her off for recklessly trying to attempt to be more like the Doctor á la Clara , or compose her out because Yaz , like the audience , is growing more thwarted that her place in the TARDIS fam feels more and more ancillary .
It ’s only when it ’s give away that the scourge of the hebdomad and the actual connection between these disparate effect is the nominal exotic virus — which feeds off of themicroplasticstaken in by Earth ’s populations , animal or otherwise , so proliferate in the twenty-first hundred that they’rein our food , our piddle , and even theair we suspire — brought to Earth by exotic scientist in an attempt to try out on its effects to save their own perish race , that “ Praxeus ” really feels like it ’s running on all cylinder . Which would be less of a problem if this reveal was n’t about two third into the instalment — so by the time the Doctor is racing to save the day , fix up a therapeutic for Praxeus and get it sprinkle into the atmosphere with a little help from her new friend , former cop and astronaut husband Jake ( Warren Brown ) , everything has to get along to an prompt halt .
The Doctor and unfortunate marine are about to discover the deadly effects of Praxeus.Image: BBC
The cure that was taking so long to image out ? Pumped out by the TARDIS off - screen in a matter of moments . Jake ’s seeming larger-than-life sacrifice to take the alien ship into the Earth ’s atmosphere after the autopilot malfunctions ? bring up and trade with in the distance of about a minute . And then it ’s all over ; the Doctor and her booster do n’t really have anything to say about Earth ’s befoulment crisis other than “ well , that ’s spoilt ” before they get back into the TARDIS , finger crossed that the three people they said that to can somehow bear on global change by the next time they ’re landing on Earth .
https://gizmodo.com/that-was-doctor-whos-starkest-lesson-in-years-1840960655
It ’s a shame because without the muddled plot line the episode habituate to consist out its needlessly complicated premise , this is the sort of message Doctor Who can and does excel at , and even mostly did so here in spite of itself . The problem of microplastics is n’t just very real , but bring on splendid Doctor Who tropes when it comes to cryptical threat — it ’s something we are all conversant with , it ’s a waken - up call about our own wallop on the world in which we survive , and it ’s also a menace that is ever present , just out of the corner of our centre ( it ’s in the air ! it ’s in the water ! it ’s in your microwave meal ! ) .
Yaz, Graham, and new friend Jake go hunting for clues.Image: BBC
In equivalence to the utterness of the messaging in “ Orphan 55”—which was , at least , gross for character - driven reasons , collapse the MD herself was going throughsome personal agitation , a great example of a anterior episode impacting on an otherwise - unrelated story that felt clearly lacking here — this realistic approach to moral messaging is the form of thing Doctor Who shines at . It ’s a disgrace that while the episode ’s ultimate substance was clear , not much else about it actually was .
Assorted Musings
Oh hey , look ! An installment with a amorous subplot that just so happened to orbit around two braw men — our missing ESA Astronaut , Adam ( Matthew McNulty ) , and his commitment - phobic husband , the aforementioned Jake — and like , the Earth did n’t go off or anything ! How refreshing to get a subplot where the queerness of these character was both actually explicit and yet also not the sole delimitate panorama of their characters ! They were just … there ! In the game ! Existing ! And have relationship job ! And snogging each other when appropriate ! How lovely . And deject that in 2020 this is still something that feel soutterly , distressinglyrare . Thanks , Doctor Who .
So between this and her near - fatal encounter with the Kasaavinin the premiere — with the Doctor literally specifically calling out a gratulatory nod that Yaz did something incredibly reckless , teleporting off in pursual of an foreign scourge alone and unsupported but somehow did not get herself killed!—it really , really does finger like this time of year is congeal up Yaz for a really bad exit . On the plus side : Oh yay , Yaz finally catch something to do ! On the downside : Oh no , Yaz is building towards an going out of the show , whether it ’s via death or peacing out because the peril of death are too veridical !
Given the amount of downtime while the Doctor was look into Praxeus or seek to figure out a therapeutic for the computer virus , it does feel really weird that Yaz , Ryan , or Graham were never just like “ So , what about this whole alternative Doctor you never knew existed until last week , what ’s that spate about ? ” “ Fugitive of the Judoon ” end with a “ Praxeus ” cliffhanger that made its threat sense much more contiguous than this instalment actually was , so it feel very odd that we did n’t get any nod to last calendar week ’s bonkersness here .
The Doctor, probably very glad that no one asked her about her ongoing existential crisis this week.Image: BBC
give this season ’s sudden dive into ego - reference , this sequence ’s random shoutout to the Autons was very cunning , but at this point , given everything going on with the Master , Judoon , Jack , and the Cybermen , I very much appreciated that it was just a callout . But hey , also another reminder that this is far from the first sentence Dr. Who has call out modern bon ton ’s over - trust on plastic pollution ! Geez , it almost is like this show ’s got a history of socio - political comment , is n’t it ?
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