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The new era of Doctor Who gave classic companion Mel, played by Bonnie Langford, more to do in two episodes than in her entire original run.
Posted in: BBC, Disney+, Doctor Who, Review, TV | Tagged: bbc, British folk horror, disney, doctor who, inside no 9, Millie Gibson, Ncuti Gatwa, russell t davies, The Wicker Man
Doctor Who Continues Unpredictable Streak with "73 Yards" (REVIEW)
"73 Yards" is one of the weirdest episodes of Doctor Who in all the best ways possible - and it travels that weird route in a unique way.
It's getting hard not to keep saying this season of Doctor Who is one of the most unpredictable seasons of television for a long time, and that's refreshing. Also, this is one of the weirdest and craziest seasons of television out there, but in its way, "73 Yards" fits that bill. Again, let's just say this one is weird in a completely different way. It's like Doctor Who has been crossed with the surreal genre-crossing dark comedy anthology series Inside No. 9.
The best part of Doctor Who is that it gets to tell a story in any way the writers see fit. Every new story has to be invented from scratch, the only constants being the Doctor and the companion. We've had a wacky space adventure in "Space Babies," a musical fantasia in "The Devil's Chord," a war story and suspense thriller in "Boom," and now Russell T. Davies gets to write a gothic horror with "73 Yards." Or is he?
The Weirdest Episode of Doctor Who – Again!
Without giving any spoilers away, "73 Yards" at first appears to be one of those Doctor Who stories in the gothic horror vein like the classic 70s story "The Horror of Fang Rock" or films The Wicker Man. Has Doctor Who stepped into the realm of supernatural British folk horror? Well, it starts off on a spooky Welsh mountaintop where Ruby (Millie Gibson) almost immediately loses The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa). She's followed by a white-haired woman who never lets her get close enough to talk to her. She finds her way to the nearest town and a pub with the landlady and regulars who aren't exactly friendly to outsiders, and the white-haired woman follows her, staying the same distance outside.
Just as you start to think it's going to settle into an outright horror story, things take a turn, and from there, it becomes delightfully unpredictable. And sad. This is the part of the season where things slow down to focus on a character and take stock of what the show is really about if The Doctor is gone. At heart is a story about abandonment and loneliness where Ruby is forced to be completely on her own. Without revealing too much now, it's a parable about her worst fears as a foundling, to be abandoned, alone, and unloved, and how to live with that and live on. It's the most sombre episode of the season so far, but it's not just a horror story, it become something else just when you think it's going to settle into one place. Davies takes the story in a completely unexpected and political direction. You really don't know what's going to happen next.
The Return of the "Doctor-Lite" Episode
"73 Yards" was one of the earliest episodes of the new season to be filmed. It brings back the "Doctor-lite" story that Davies' original early 2000s run on the series had per series where the Doctor barely appears in the episode to let the actor have time off from the demanding schedule back when the series had thirteen episodes per season. Ncuti Gatwa had to film the final season of Sex Education for Netflix before he could take over Doctor Who, leaving Millie Gibson to carry this episode on her own, and she pulls it off, holding the screen with her charisma as Ruby's life and sense of control fall away from her, leaving her alienated from normal life.
The mystery at the centre of the story may or may not be completely resolved by the end, but Gibson holds it together and becomes the reason to watch, which is how Davies wants her to become as much a focus of the series as The Doctor is. It's been a while since any episode of a TV show feels almost totally unpredictable with where it's going to go next until the climax, where things come together in the oddest way possible that we'll discuss later when we talk about spoilers. Its sheer oddness makes it as much of a must-see as the other episodes, especially since every episode of this season has been totally unlike the last. It's refreshing to get a TV series where you truly don't know what kind of show you're going to get from week to week.
Doctor Who is now streaming globally on Disney+.
Doctor Who Episode 4: "73 Yards"
8/10
Once again, this is one of the weirdest episodes of Doctor Who, but you could say that for every episode of this new season, but it's weird is a different way. It seems to be dipping its toe into British folk horror, but takes one turn after another where it starts to feel unpredictable, and to watch a show where you really don't know what's going to happen next is fresh and exhilarating these days. Not as good or flashy as the previous episodes, but "73 Yards" continues the series' new experimental path.
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