Given last season, I'm starting to suspect a new RTD pattern: the first two eps are primarily whimsical and on the silly side of DW - which absolutely is a DW thing - and then the third episode serves up horror tropes (also a DW thing).



Last episode let me secretly fear that DW was pulling a Voyager in that the interesting dynamic set up in the first episode - in this case, a Companion who said no to the travel offer, really does want to go home first thing and is only on board the TARDIS due to higher circumstances - would be instantly overcome by too fast bonding, because Belinda had told the Doctor she gets it now (why he does what he does). However, episode 3 shows she still wants to go home, and her and the Doctor becoming more friendly on her side (as the Doctor liked her instantly) is compatible with that, so I'm soothed on that front. I thought the scene where she says "I swear, lilfe with you...." after an involuntary free fall space landing and he replies "yes, but....", pointing at the glorious sight of the night sky and the starry constellation unfiltered by atmosphere struck a good balance for Belinda on the one hand still (reasonably) aware of the danger and wanting to return but otoh not blind to the awesome side of it. I also appreciated the episode showcased her instinct as a nurse, with her checking the bodies immediately and then wanting to help Alyss, even though of course she's not familiar with 5000 0000 years into the future medicine.

Speaking of Alyss: maybe I'm forgetting something - entirely possible with decades of DW lore, some of which does not exist anymore, and I certainly haven't watched all that does -, but is this our first deaf character? I liked so many aspects of the world building here - that there is tech now to help with the communication (although, as Belinda ruefully observes, learning to sign ought to be obligatory, tech can always fail), that the Doctor can sign, that Alyss is neither a super special hero nor a monster, just an ordinary scared person in horrible circumstances who (successfully) tries to stay alive, and that her disability (i.e. that she can't hear the spoken word) is in fact a first hint about who we're dealing with.

About that. On the one hand, I felt a bit smug because I figured it out a minute before the reveal, as soon as Shaya said the planet used to be covered with diamonds, that was what they used to mine for, otoh, I also instinctively thought, damn, I was hoping Midnight would remain a one off, self contained episode. It's certainly one of my choices for scariest DW episode, all the acting was fantastic, and I thought the Weeping Angels lost a lot the moment Moffat brought them back and made them a recurring foe instead of a not actually malevolent force of nature, so I was hoping RTD would resist temptation with the creature from Midnight, because Midnight was to him what Blink was to Moffat, one of the best DW episodes they respectively wrote, and he didn't.

I still don't know how I feel about this. I mean, I am glad this wasn't siimply a lesser repeat of Midnight in that the creature did not use the same ploy again (if it even was the same, I mean, the Doctor assumes, but for all we know that planet has lots of them), so no repeat talking getting faster and taking over. Also, while the creature in Midnight was scary, the true monster of the episode was good old human nature and the fast way it was willing to scapegoat when feeling threatened, and throwing said scapegoats literally to the dogs. (Also the fact the passengers illustrating said human nature were deliberately introduced as "normal" as possible, not as Space Nazis.) Not so here, where Cassio does the wrong thing against Shaya but does it seriously convinced he's saving the group, not just himself, and also he doesn't try to kill her; it is Shaya who makes the ruthless (but necessary) choice to use the ceature's m.o. against Cassio in order to save the rest of the group after Cassio's attempt gets more and more killed. All in all, the troopers the Doctor and Belinda have ended up with are portrayed as good people trying their best even under pressure. I guess RTD thought we're getting daily real life illustrations of humanity giving into its worst instincts now on a global level and don't need the point illustrated in fiction so much.

Anyway, the story would work without the connection to Midnight - save for giving the Doctor a bad moment remembering one of his worst experiences and the audience some "aha" moments -, but due to the ending, there might be more pay off for not making this simply a different creature. I just don't know yet.

What I do know: by itself, the episode is suitably creepy, taping into the universal "behind you" fear and wisely not "showing" the monster in a physical shape to us the audience, but through the reactions of the humans (which is like it worked in Midnight). And long term wise, this is where both the Doctor and Belinda find out that 500 000 years into the future, no one has heard of Earth or human beings, bringing them up to speed with the audience knowing that whatever happened in 2025 isn't just blocking them from returning to the day Belinda left but has caused some cataclysmic event. My current guess is debris from some war between the Godlike creatures that are a theme in this second RTD run, that that Mrs. Flood is one.

All in all, I was captivated and entertained and liked the episode, though I don't think it's either on a Midnight or Dot and Bubble level, to name a more recent example.