Arriving in medieval Scandinavia, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) are captured by a raiding group of Vikings. Returning to their village, the Vikings are confronted by a being claiming to be Odin. But tragedy is imminent, and the Doctor must work out a way to save the villagers.

During TARDISblend 90, we are joined by special guest Andrew Sorcini of The Drill Down. We discuss the first appearance of the wonderful Maisie Williams as Ashildr in this season of Doctor Who, and the references and call-backs to previous episodes and seasons of the show. We have a look at the comedic elements of the story, and how the overall plot of this episode (9.5 “The Girl Who Died”) pays homage to Akira Kurosawa‘s Seven Samurai.

All this and more on the latest TARDISblend podcast!

Doctor Who
Season 9, Episode 5 “The Girl Who Died”
Directed by Ed Bazalgette
Written by Jamie Mathieson & Steven Moffat
Starring Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Maisie Williams, David Schofield, Simon Lipkin
BBC America
Air date: Saturday, October 17, 2015

I’ll say this up front: watch this episode.

I guess I could stop there, but it wouldn’t be much fun to do that, now would it? Doctor Who Episode 9.5 “The Girl Who Died” is a pocket symphony running at tempo molto vivace. It deconstructs and reconstructs the themes behind modern Doctor Who at the same time. It takes what could have been a significant guest star part and turns in the best episode of the season so far. It reveals something of the Doctor’s past and finally brings this current incarnation of the Time Lord into sharper focus. It is, in short, the best that I think Steven Moffat-era Doctor Who can offer.

I’ve been a bit of a hard case on Doctor Who so far this season. Where I know other reviewers on the Internet have spoken about the first, third, and fourth episodes of this season in strong terms, I deliberately played up the negatives. Episode 1 was shock and awe, but it gave little solid ground for viewers to stand on. Episodes 3 and 4 were praised for their strong performances and paced, economic storytelling, but I thought they veered a little too close to formula. I thought that only episode 2, with its carefully constructed constraints, represented a strong offering for this season.

Separated from his companion, Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), at the underwater mining base, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) travels back in time on the same spot to 1980, in an effort to learn what caused the events in 2119. But the situation becomes perilous, and the Doctor will come face-to-face with The Fisher King.

During TARDISblend 89, we discuss the breaking of the 4th wall in Episode 9.4 “Before The Flood” of Doctor Who, leading to the underlying theme of this story: the Bootstrap Paradox. We also look into the thematic elements that may play into the story arc for Series 9, and talk about Corey Taylor from Slipknot making his debut as the “roar of the Fisher King” in this episode.

All this and more on the latest TARDISblend podcast!

Doctor Who
Season 9, Episode 4 “Before The Flood”
Directed by Daniel O’Hara
Written by Toby Whithouse
Starring Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Sophie Stone, Arsher Ali, Morven Christie
BBC America
Air date: Saturday, October 10, 2015

Can the future re-write the past? That seems to be the question before us on Doctor Who this week in Episode 9.4 “Before The Flood.” One way to put it is this: Suppose you could travel back in time and meet your own grandfather before he met your grandmother. During that meeting, you cause his premature death. Could that death really happen? Would you still exist if it did, and how could the death occur? It’s a classic paradox… at least in the minds if philosopher and fiction writers. It is the conundrum that writer Toby Whithouse tries to mine for dramatic gold. What he finds, well, that feels a little unsettling.

I’ll give it this: the episode started very well. When we left our heroes at the end of last week’s episode, “Under The Lake,” the Doctor and two others, Bennett and O’Donnell, had traveled back in time to observe the origin of events. They returned to 1980, to a town made up to look like somewhere in the Soviet Union. The break was so clean that a whole bunch of possibilities seemed to emerge. Here, in O’Donnell, we have a companion who knows something of what the Doctor is before they meet. She relishes what he is, or at least she thinks she does. She knowingly savors the experience of finding the ship from the bottom of the lake freshly landed and meeting the occupant. That is a marvelous beginning that in another time and other place could lead to longer term possibilities.

Doctor Who
Season 9, Episode 3 “Under The Lake”
Directed by Daniel O’Hara
Written by Toby Whithouse
Starring Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman
BBC America
Air date: Saturday, October 3, 2015

Think of a night at the opera. The crowd enters the hall, the lights go down, the orchestra plays the overture, the curtain rises, the tenor and the chorus sing the opening aria. That’s where we are at the start of “Under The Lake,” the third episode of Season 9 of the revived Doctor Who. While the last two episodes gave us first shock and awe, and then some genuine thrills, now things must start to calm down and we, the viewing audience, begin to see what we have on our hands for this season. I think the initial conclusion must be that this will be a return to certain historical series norms that were missing for the last couple seasons, and a departure from others. Ultimately, however, this episode was far too workmanlike to represent the series’ best work.

So who will the Doctor and Clara be this season? After previous appearances in a regular season episode and a Christmas special, we’ve had a season of the Matt Smith as the young, brash Doctor trying to solve the riddle of Clara Oswald, the Impossible Girl. We’ve also had a season of Peter Capaldi as a much older, less social Doctor composing one half of a very double life of Clara Oswald, teacher at Coal Hill School. While both at least tried to give more narrative weight to the Doctor’s companion by giving the companion a normal life in addition to life in the TARDIS, both of these developments messed with some long-established series norms.