‘Doctor Who’ Season 12, Episode 2: Team TARDIS Loses The Plot, But Not the War ~ Digital Library

This article contains spoilers for “Spyfall, Part 2,” episode two of Doctor Who season 12.

Well, that was a bit of a letdown.

Following Wednesday’s secret-agent caper—not Doctor Who‘s finest moment, but a fun season opener—Team TARDIS took a turn for the worse.

We didn’t have to wait long for the conclusion to two-parter “Spyfall,” which premiered on New Year’s Day after a year-long hiatus. But the risk was not quite worth the reward.

Sunday’s episode replaced James Bond-esque antics, scene-stealer Lenny Henry, and any semblance of a plot with a ~~history~~ herstory lesson and Whovian hangovers.

DON’T PANIC

Ada Lovelace (Sylvia Briggs) saves the day (via BBC)

I am the first to champion fierce females, and was pleased to see Ada Lovelace (Sylvia Briggs)—particularly at the helm of that steam gun—and meet British war heroin Noor Inayat Khan (Aurora Marion).

But I’m not entirely sure what role the badass women play in this manic story of frenemies, a plan to destroy humanity, and a not-so-veiled grudge against big tech.

The temporary disbanding of Team TARDIS seems like a recurring theme in showrunner Chris Chibnall’s series (the perk of having three companions). So too, perhaps, is the intersection of famous faces: As long as everyone has a buddy—historic or contemporary—everything is fine.

Call Me By My Name (Timonthée Chalamet)

The Master’s (Sacha Dhewan) original weapon of choice: the tissue compression eliminator (via BBC)

When the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and Master’s (Sacha Dhewan) game of cat-and-mouse finally ends atop the Eiffel Tower in war-torn Paris, the female Time Lord remarks on the freezing temperature.

“It’s worse than Jodrell Bank,” she says.

“Did I ever apologize for that?” her evil counterpart asks?

(Of course not.)

The exchange—one of this episode’s many throwbacks to the classic BBC series—seemingly alludes to 1981’s “Logopolis,” in which the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) falls from the top of a radio telescope after a battle with the Master (Anthony Ainley), triggering his regeneration into the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison).

Except, the scene was set in the fictional “Pharos Project”—planned to be represented by the IRL Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, but instead substituted by a scale model of its Lovell Telescope.

So technically, the overly complicated Doctor Who oeuvre does not include Jodrell Bank. And Chibnall calls himself a life-long fan…

The writer does, however, reintroduce a piece of canon tech: The Master’s original weapon of choice was the tissue compression eliminator, which kills and shrinks its targets to doll-like proportions—small enough to store in a coat pocket.

Level Out

The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) has a lot on her mind (via BBC)

In an otherwise austere (and frankly bewildering) installment, Grandpa Graham offered up some comic relief—from launching down the aisle of a plummeting airplane to soft-shoeing his way out of trouble. I was even tempted to laugh out loud once or twice.

My biggest gripes—aside from a perplexing plot—revolve around the double-episode’s much-hyped guest stars: the criminal underuse of Sir Henry as the Big Bad (demoted upon the Master’s identity reveal) and the still-dead “C” (I was convinced Stephen Fry would surprise us in part two).

Not to mention the blatant neglect of tongue-immobilizer chewing gum.

Missed the Doctor Who season 12 premiere? Check out our recap of “Spyfall, Part 1.”

Doctor Who glossary (for all your British-to-American English needs):

Manor: The area in which you live
Having a laugh: Used to show that you think what someone said is not reasonable or fair

Doctor Who airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on BBC America.

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