When Clara gets a worried phone call from Rigsy about a tattoo he has got she is initially a little irritated; that isn't what she gave him her number for
this is no ordinary tattoo though; it is a number and with each passing minute it reduces by one! When The Doctor sees it he is immediately interested
it is a 'Quantum Shade' and when it reaches zero he will die. The only chance to remove it is to find the person who put it there and that means finding a street that apparently isn't there. Inevitably they manage to find the street, which is inhabited by aliens disguised as humans. The people there start calling Rigsy a murderer
this is why he has been sentenced to death by none other than Ashildr. As they struggle to find evidence that Rigsy is innocent Clara learns that there is a way to save him; she can voluntarily take the Quantum Shade from him and surely Ashildr will remove it from her
except she can't! If that weren't enough as the episode ends the Doctor is teleported to goodness knows where.
This episode may not have been full of action but it was tense; when it was Rigsy with the tattoo there was a feeling that it would all work out but once Clara had taken it there was a sense that she had made a serious mistake; helped by the knowledge that this was her last series of course. The Quantum Shade itself was interesting; the way that the counter inexorably approached zero made it feel more threatening that most things The Doctor and his companions face even though it was just a number. If that weren't enough we see how it works when another person falls victim to it.
It was nice to see the excellent Maisie Williams return; Ashildr is an interesting adversary as she isn't obviously bad; her motives aren't all that different from those of The Doctor she sees him as the villain that needs defeating for the good of others. As expected Peter Capaldi impresses as The Doctor; especially when he is angry and threatens revenge for what is about to happen to Clara. Some companions get better send offs than most and Jenna Coleman's Clara gets one of the best, and certainly the most tragic of those in the new run of Doctor Who; she has done a fine job in the role and I'm sure she will be missed. The ending set things up nicely for the next episode which hopefully will answer some of the questions about who wanted Ashildr to trap The Doctor and why he has enough enemies to choose from.
This episode may not have been full of action but it was tense; when it was Rigsy with the tattoo there was a feeling that it would all work out but once Clara had taken it there was a sense that she had made a serious mistake; helped by the knowledge that this was her last series of course. The Quantum Shade itself was interesting; the way that the counter inexorably approached zero made it feel more threatening that most things The Doctor and his companions face even though it was just a number. If that weren't enough we see how it works when another person falls victim to it.
It was nice to see the excellent Maisie Williams return; Ashildr is an interesting adversary as she isn't obviously bad; her motives aren't all that different from those of The Doctor she sees him as the villain that needs defeating for the good of others. As expected Peter Capaldi impresses as The Doctor; especially when he is angry and threatens revenge for what is about to happen to Clara. Some companions get better send offs than most and Jenna Coleman's Clara gets one of the best, and certainly the most tragic of those in the new run of Doctor Who; she has done a fine job in the role and I'm sure she will be missed. The ending set things up nicely for the next episode which hopefully will answer some of the questions about who wanted Ashildr to trap The Doctor and why he has enough enemies to choose from.