This pseudo historical adventure has the TARDIS travelling to India during the real and tragic mid 20th Century events of partition when India and Pakistan were split and huge numbers of people were displaced and killed. In a microcosm of those dreadful events the Doctor and her companions are caught up in an inter-religion family wedding where the groom's brother is supporting the violence and division. Meanwhile mysterious and scary aliens are appearing and a holy man is killed.
First and foremost I think this is a thought provoking, entertaining and involving episode with a superbly designed new alien race being introduced. It is very well acted and has very few instances of the heavy handed dialogue problems which had increasingly crept into the previous 3 or 4 episodes. The story about people experiencing partition and family strife is excellent and dialogue is mostly good with plenty of convincing verbal exchanges.
Jodie Whittaker is back on form after what I thought was a diminished performance in the previous episode and Bradley Walsh is brilliant as he has been all series. Yasmin is put at the centre of this story and her acting and character development is very good. Ryan continues to be a solid and endearing character too. Guest characters are three dimensional with very strong and involving characterisations. The part of Prem especially is beautifully acted.
There is a very moving aspect to this which very much suited its original UK broadcast on Remembrance Day. The effects of war, loss and the importance of remembering the dead are thoughtfully presented.
In keeping with the rest of series 11 this episode looks fantastic with superb location filming and cinematography as well as great alien design and other effects. The music also continues to impress with excellent, atmospheric Indian style music and even an Indian style rendition of the Doctor Who theme music over the end credits which I liked. Good work by Segun Akinola.
There are downsides to this story for me though:
There are a couple of bits of jokey throwaway dialogue and moments that I feel are forced. The Doctor administering the wedding and things she says in that scene was a bit cheesy for my taste. The supposed identification of Sheffield on a world map is unlikely (it looks like a map which would have capital cities marked but not every city) and a couple of lines/jokes such as the Doctor talking to herself about awarding points are a bit lame in my opinion.
Also the whole idea of the Doctor taking Yasmin to her grandmother's past to find out what went on and happening to find out alien presence during those events is not illogical but comes across to me as an overly unlikely coincidence as well as being a risk for the Doctor in terms of possibly altering known family history. The Doctor even continues to intervene and try to talk sense into people after she knows how the events are supposed to go. I would have preferred if the TARDIS took them to those events in an unplanned journey, perhaps telepathically sensing the link to Yasmin. They could have realised the girl was Yasmin's grandmother at some stage and the damaged watch could have been shown in a flashback of Yasmin's grandmother giving her the watch years earlier, perhaps before passing away. This would have been a smoother way of presenting the events I think. And the Doctor should have backed off once she knew what had to happen. It is not illogical, only coincidental and less careful than it should have been so I do not see it as a major problem that overshadows the good aspects but there are just elements which could have been better.
The 'demons' (Thijarians) are a superbly realised alien race. They would make superb villains in future stories perhaps. They look great, they are suitably sinister and scary and are given some depth. There is a twist which shows these Thijarians are not evil assassins which is a good twist and serves the story well although it swerves a potential exciting danger. Other factions of this race could still exist who continue their evil assassin ways of the past or indeed Thijarians from their own past could still appear as villains in stories set further back in their timeline.
Overall a very good episode.
My rating: 8/10.
Series 11 Episode Ranking: 2nd out of 11.
First and foremost I think this is a thought provoking, entertaining and involving episode with a superbly designed new alien race being introduced. It is very well acted and has very few instances of the heavy handed dialogue problems which had increasingly crept into the previous 3 or 4 episodes. The story about people experiencing partition and family strife is excellent and dialogue is mostly good with plenty of convincing verbal exchanges.
Jodie Whittaker is back on form after what I thought was a diminished performance in the previous episode and Bradley Walsh is brilliant as he has been all series. Yasmin is put at the centre of this story and her acting and character development is very good. Ryan continues to be a solid and endearing character too. Guest characters are three dimensional with very strong and involving characterisations. The part of Prem especially is beautifully acted.
There is a very moving aspect to this which very much suited its original UK broadcast on Remembrance Day. The effects of war, loss and the importance of remembering the dead are thoughtfully presented.
In keeping with the rest of series 11 this episode looks fantastic with superb location filming and cinematography as well as great alien design and other effects. The music also continues to impress with excellent, atmospheric Indian style music and even an Indian style rendition of the Doctor Who theme music over the end credits which I liked. Good work by Segun Akinola.
There are downsides to this story for me though:
There are a couple of bits of jokey throwaway dialogue and moments that I feel are forced. The Doctor administering the wedding and things she says in that scene was a bit cheesy for my taste. The supposed identification of Sheffield on a world map is unlikely (it looks like a map which would have capital cities marked but not every city) and a couple of lines/jokes such as the Doctor talking to herself about awarding points are a bit lame in my opinion.
Also the whole idea of the Doctor taking Yasmin to her grandmother's past to find out what went on and happening to find out alien presence during those events is not illogical but comes across to me as an overly unlikely coincidence as well as being a risk for the Doctor in terms of possibly altering known family history. The Doctor even continues to intervene and try to talk sense into people after she knows how the events are supposed to go. I would have preferred if the TARDIS took them to those events in an unplanned journey, perhaps telepathically sensing the link to Yasmin. They could have realised the girl was Yasmin's grandmother at some stage and the damaged watch could have been shown in a flashback of Yasmin's grandmother giving her the watch years earlier, perhaps before passing away. This would have been a smoother way of presenting the events I think. And the Doctor should have backed off once she knew what had to happen. It is not illogical, only coincidental and less careful than it should have been so I do not see it as a major problem that overshadows the good aspects but there are just elements which could have been better.
The 'demons' (Thijarians) are a superbly realised alien race. They would make superb villains in future stories perhaps. They look great, they are suitably sinister and scary and are given some depth. There is a twist which shows these Thijarians are not evil assassins which is a good twist and serves the story well although it swerves a potential exciting danger. Other factions of this race could still exist who continue their evil assassin ways of the past or indeed Thijarians from their own past could still appear as villains in stories set further back in their timeline.
Overall a very good episode.
My rating: 8/10.
Series 11 Episode Ranking: 2nd out of 11.
