This article contains spoilers for “Orphan 55,” episode three of Doctor Who season 12.
Just when I thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel, I’m dragged back into darkness.
A luxury holiday on an alien planet goes awry in this episode penned by Ed Hime, who wrote one of Doctor Who‘s best season 11 installments.
The idyllic Tranquility Spa turns out to be anything but: O’Brien, Party of Four, have barely settled into their all-inclusive holiday when disaster strikes.
Between ringing alarms, laser-gun fire, confused screaming, and cagey hotel staff, the Doctor learns that toothy natives called Dregs are on the loose—and hungry for blood.
Are the Dregs a glimpse into our future? (via BBC)
The Doc, Kane (Laura Fraser), and “customer host” Hyph3n (Amy Booth-Steel) watch the screens as, one by one, lodgers are murdered (mostly off-screen, thankfully), their green icons turning a deadly red.
Ryan, meanwhile, is running around with potential love interest Bella (Gia Ré), Yaz helps steer pensioners Vilma (Julia Foster) and Benni (Col Farrell) to safety, and Graham meets mechanic Nevi (The Inbetweeners star James Buckley) and Sylas (Lewin Lloyd from His Dark Materials).
I’m loving Team TARDIS’ new divide-and-conquer attitude, and don’t even mind the myriad subplots. But new characters and an overstuffed script shouldn’t take away from the minutiae.
You know, those meager details like when the Doctor users her sonic screwdriver to lock or unlock a door (or close the underground tunnel hatch behind her to keep Dregs from following them).
The Doctor investigates (via BBC)
A promising start quickly crumbles into utter chaos—an unfortunate recurring theme this series.
The rescue team, on the hunt for missing Benni (who we know is all but a corpse by this point), abandons their “completely knackered vehicle” to venture out on foot. Until the Dregs start closing in, at which point they return to the truck to shelter, but then decide they need to reach a service tunnel, so they hoof it again.
Along the way, Hyph3n, her “nice tail,” and Vorm (Will Austin) fall victim to the Xenomorph-like Dregs; Kane puts Benni out of his misery; and Vilma sacrifices herself for new friends and an old love.
When I say ‘run,’ run! (via BBC)
The Doctor & Co. also learn more about their fake-cation on hostile planet Orphan 55, revealed as Earth rendered uninhabitable by radiation—save for the Dregs: humans who have evolved to survive the toxic atmosphere.
And here I was, hoping they were actually trees.
A popular weekly television show is the perfect platform for social tub-thumping. And Chris Chibnall is taking full advantage.
Following a season of not-so-subliminal messages of social justice (and a less-than-veiled takedown of Amazon), the showrunner remounted his high horse this year to confront big tech and climate change.
Lewin Lloyd as Sylas (via BBC)
“You had warnings from every scientist alive,” Thirteen tells her “fam,” explaining that in this possible future—this “one timeline”—the food chain collapses, leading to mass migration and war.
“In your time, humanity is busy arguing over the washing-up while the house burns down,” she cautions, channeling Greta Thunberg. “Unless people face facts and change, catastrophe is coming.
“But it’s not decided,” the Doctor declares. “The future is not fixed. It depends on billions of decisions and actions and people stepping up. Humans. I think you forget how powerful you are. Lives change worlds. People can save planets, or wreck them. That’s the choice.”
</sermon>
Yaz helps Kane (Laura Fraser) when she can’t help herself (via BBC)
The mysterious “Timeless Child” isn’t the only story arc missing from this episode: Did literally everyone involved in the show forget that the time-and-space-traveling TARDIS could have easily popped back to Orphan 55, grabbed Kane and Bella from the clutches of the Dregs, and dropped them somewhere safe to work out their family dysfunction in therapy?
Missed the two-part Doctor Who season opener? Check out our recaps of “Spyfall” Part 1 and Part 2.
Doctor Who Glossary (for all your British-to-American English needs):
- Mardy: Sulky or grumpy
- Told [off]: Criticized angrily for doing something wrong
- Get in: Expression of victory or happiness
- Blimey: Used to express surprise, excitement, or (in Graham’s case) alarm
- Bonce: Head
- Knackered: Extremely tired
Doctor Who airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on BBC America.
More on Geek.com:
- Classic ‘Doctor Who’ Arrives in the UK Via BritBox
- ‘Doctor Who’ Immersive Adventure Lands in London in 2020
- Watch: What To Expect From ‘Doctor Who’ Season 12
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