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Posted in: BBC, Disney+, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: bbc, disney, doctor who, Millie Gibson, Ncuti Gatwa, russell t davies, steven moffat
Doctor Who "BOOM" Review: War is Death by Capitalism and Algorithms
Steven Moffat delivers classic Doctor Who with "BOOM," a gritty suspense thriller where Capitalism is the biggest monster in the universe.
"Boom" is the episode that ups the stakes for this new season of Doctor Who. It's an exercise in deadly suspense not seen for decades in the series, let alone this one. The first two episodes of this season were cute, goofy, and sentimental, with "The Devil's Chord" the show at its most gleefully demented, but "Boom" is properly dark and even merciless, a parable about war and the callous greed of Capitalism.
Doctor Who: Steven Moffat's Masterclass in Screenwriting
"Boom" is a story that writing students should study. It's not just good Doctor Who but a masterclass in classic suspense storytelling. The mean tenet of thriller screenwriting is to introduce a problem to the main character and progressively make it more complicated and worse, backing them into a corner and seeing how they're going to figure out how to get out of it in one piece. Steven Moffat is one of the masters of this type of thought experiment. Here, he's inspired by the beginning of the classic story "Genesis of the Daleks," where the Doctor (Tom Baker) steps on a landmine as his first peril. Well, what if this was the entire episode? Moffat takes away the one thing the Doctor could always do: run. The result is the darkest, grittiest episode of Doctor Who this season.
It's nothing like "Space Babies" and "The Devil's Chord," which were fun affairs. This is a far cry from those, an angry anti-war and anti-capitalist tale full of death, and people die. Horribly. It's a family show, and there are still two horrible ways to die here, in a science-fiction way. Things keep getting worse for The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa). He becomes the bomb. The quantum energy contained in his body means he won't just explode – he'll take the planet with him! He even loses Ruby (Millie Gibson) when she's shot. He has no control. For the first time, this Doctor gets angry at the foolishness of humans, and his contempt and his sarcasm come out, and Ncuti Gatwa plays his version of that. The Doctor quotes "An Arundel Tomb," a poem by Philip Larkin that's part of GCSE English (that's the British high school graduation exam).
The Skye Boat Song
The Doctor sings "The Skye Boat Song" to stay calm. This 19th-century Scottish lullaby is about Bonnie Prince Charlie escaping the Jacobins by disguising himself as a woman. Ncuti Gatwa and Steven Moffat are Scottish, so this is a callout to Scotland. The song has been on the show many times before, all the way back to the 1960s. "The Skye Boat Song" was also featured on Outlander because, of course, it would be.
Susan Twist is An Evil Ambulance
This episode has more Susan Twist than the last ones. Susan Twist (real name) has been showing up as a mysterious character in every episode of Doctor Who this season in every period, usually with one line of dialogue. In "Boom," she's the avatar of the ambulance, the medical AI that kills soldiers deemed too injured to be worth spending the money and time treating since time is money. "Sharp scratch" is the kind of thing a nurse might say before she gives you an injection, except in this case, she might smelt you or squish you into the compressed cylinder. Death by getting squished. It's gross, but it still manages to stay PG for a family show.
Screw You, "Thoughts and Prayers"!
Moffat is nothing if not transparent in how he feels about things and has publicly denounced "talks and prayers" as a meaningless and hypocritical phrase that does and changes nothing. The insincerity and callousness of the Ambulance, as it declares this as a catchphrase every time it murders someone and squishes them into a tube, is almost a call to arms. The Doctor's contemptuous and sarcastic use of "thoughts and prayers" is the pay-off of everything that phrase and anyone who uses it deserves. "My hope was if we can get "thoughts and prayers" going as a villainous catchphrase, like "Exterminate!", people might stop saying it," Moffat told The Hollywood Reporter.
Capitalism is the Biggest Monster in Doctor Who
As in "Space Babies" and "The Devil's Chord", Capitalism, rampant, indifferent, murderous Capitalism is the biggest monster in Doctor Who. Here, Capitalism depends on an algorithm to make bank. The Kastarions are long extinct, but war is good business, so war goes on, with oblivious followers fighting a war against an enemy that doesn't even exist. Doctor Who has always been political, and being on Disney+ hasn't blunted that. If anything, the series is doubling down. Capitalism is no longer even run by humans but by an algorithm that has no empathy, only efficiency and indifference with a dull programmed politeness.
Religion as The Evil Henchman of Capitalism
The Anglican Church is also a villain here. Moffat introduced a 51st militarized clergy during his first season as showrunner on Doctor Who in the two-parter "The Time of the Angels" and "Flesh and Stone." Here, they show up again as unquestioning soldiers in a war they don't even understand, fighting an enemy they never ever see. This is religion sending people to war, not knowing the war is for profit, not faith. Religion is the henchman of Capitalism here. Religious wars are found for profit, but faith is the lie that's used to sell the war. The monstrousness of religious tribalism is at play when the Villengard ambulance AI refuses to treat nonbelievers.
The funny part is that the Church of England is one of the most progressive, tolerant, and laid-back wings of Christianity in the world. Anglican priests and vicars can get married, have sex, and have children. It's perfectly normal. Nobody bats an eyelash. Moffat has said he's not against the church per se, just question it. The Doctor expresses, not for the first time, contempt for blind religious faith as a means of control and manipulation yet allows for a child's faith to comfort her from loss. Yes, that kid is annoying, even if her father is dead. Whitsun Weddings is an Anglican holy day, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which is this Sunday, May 19th, so it's probably not a coincidence this episode was scheduled to premiere this week.
Soldiers Are Jerks
It's a common trope in Doctor Who that soldiers are trigger-happy jerks whose default mode is to shoot first and ask questions later. Even Moffat seems to be saying the moment you give guns to priests and holy people; they become trigger-happy idiots. This is the most trigger-happy soldiers have been in the 21st Century version of the show. It's not a Steven Moffat story without a sad love story in it.
A Wild New Companion Appears
Yes, that's Varada Sethu as Mundy. She was offered the role of a new companion after shooting "Boom." Russell T. Davies dropped hints that the companion she's playing may or may not be linked to Mundy – like Clara (Jenna Coleman) making a surprise appearance in "Asylum of Daleks" before she showed up as a regular companion.
Dad Saves the Day
The Doctor sends the dead Vater's AI into the ambulance's system to connect to Villengard's system to infect and shut down the ambulance AI. Vater's AI still has enough of his personality and love for his daughter to protect her. It's about fathers keeping promises. But yeah, kid, your dad's still dead. For no good reason. In a war that's all about profit. And it leaves another orphan behind, continuing the series' motif of orphans along with Ruby and The Doctor.
Classic Doctor Who
"Boom" is a callback to the Virgin novels of the 1990s, where The Doctor ends whole wars and brings down entire corrupt systems just by saying a few things. The politics of the series was never ambiguous. Everything old is new again.
Doctor Who Episode 3: "BOOM"
9/10
Steven Moffat's “Boom” is the episode that ups the stakes for this new season of Doctor Who. It’s an exercise in deadly suspense not seen for decades in the series, let alone this one. The first two episodes of this season were cute, goofy, and sentimental, with “The Devil’s Chord” the show at its most gleefully demented, but “Boom” is properly dark and even merciless - a parable about war and the callous greed of Capitalism.
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