This article contains spoilers for “Spyfall, Part 1,” episode one of Doctor Who season 12.
After a year away, Team TARDIS is back and ready for adventure.
Showrunner Chris Chibnall pulls no punches in the first of the series opener’s two-part “Spyfall”—a James Bond-esque romp through space and time.
A license to kill (and a culotte tuxedo) looks good on the Doctor, recruited by MI6 head “C” (the ever-charming Stephen Fry) to investigate a spate of unexplained attacks of intelligence officers worldwide—himself included.
(Are you telling me Fry waited five decades for a role on Doctor Who just to be killed off in the first 15 minutes?)
The team, equipped with a cache of toys gadgets, split up: Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Ryan (Tosin Cole) go undercover to probe Daniel Barton, founder of global search giant VOR (an obvious send-up of Google), while the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) meet disgraced MI6 agent “O” in the Australian outback.
Even more flagrant than Chibnall’s Ian Fleming fanboying is the writer’s distaste for big tech.
Flawlessly portrayed by Sir Lenny Henry, Barton teeters between good and evil—the perfect rags-to-riches story, told by someone (or something) not entirely human and in league with a race of malevolent aliens bent on rewriting human DNA. (No relation to Chinese scientist He Jiankui.)
In true Bond form, the episode features formalwear, mansions, gambling, car chases, gunfire, and a possible copyright-infringing score.
It also sets up a masterful season, featuring one-time Thirteenth Doctor contender Sacha Dhawan as the Master.
Ohhhhhhhh.
The unexpected twist (I knew “O” was up to no good, but did not anticipate that), rushed the episode to a close, leaving viewers stranded on a plummeting plane with Yaz, Ryan, and Graham—and worse, in the great unknown of the aliens’ tendrilly pocket dimension with a very woeful Doctor.
No doubt everyone will live to die another day. But exactly how they get themselves out of this sticky situation remains to be seen (until Sunday at 8 p.m. ET).
(Here’s to hoping the Doctor & Co. employ that tongue-immobilizer chewing gum in part deux.)
The first rule of espionage: trust nobody
While my heart forever and always belongs to Michelle Gomez as the calculating, maniacal, bewitching Missy, I think there may be some room for Dhawan’s reincarnation.
American viewers may recognize the Northerner from M. Night Shyamalan’s forgotten After Earth, Jack Bauer reboot 24: Live Another Day, Jeremy Piven vehicle Mr. Selfridge, defunct Netflix Marvel TV series Iron Fist, or as Ajay in the final season of Sherlock.
(He also appeared in Sunday night’s new Dracula series from Doctor Who royalty Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss.)
Dhawan is already part of the Whoniverse: In 2013’s An Adventure in Space and Time (penned by Gatiss), he played Waris Hussein, the British-Indian director known for his work on the first Doctor Who serial, “An Unearthly Child,” in 1963.
Everything you think you know is a lie
Not since the Ponds have I cared about the personal lives of any of the Doctor’s companions.
Still, it was nice to see that Ryan’s confidence has grown, Graham’s health is on the up-and-up, and Yaz’s dad also has trouble communicating with Alexa (a bold name drop, considering Chris Chibnall’s takedown of Amazon in 2018’s “Kerblam!”).
Even nicer: A proper role for my girl Yaz, who too often got left behind during the gang’s early development.
Refresh your memory of Team TARDIS’s latest exploits in our recap of 2019 New Year’s special “Resolution.”
Doctor Who glossary (for all your British-to-American English needs):
- Have a go: To criticize, often without good reason
- Secondment: The temporary transfer of a worker to another position or employment
- Sat nav (satellite navigation): GPS
- GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters): UK’s version of the NSA
- Diary: Datebook
- Cuppa: Cup of tea
- Nose around: Look around to find something
- Gaff: Home/flat
- Council estate: Public housing built by local authorities
- Comprehensive [school]: Secondary school that does not select students based on academic achievement or aptitude (in contrast to selective school)
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