The Doctor and her friends arrive in the Punjab, as the country is being torn apart. While Yaz attempts to discover her grandmother’s hidden history, the Doctor discovers demons haunting the land. Who are they and what do they want?
“What’s the point of having a mate with a time machine, if you can’t nip back and see your gran when she was younger?”
India, 1947. The Doctor and her friends arrive in the Punjab, as the country is being torn apart. While Yaz attempts to discover her grandmother’s hidden history, the Doctor discovers demons haunting the land. Who are they and what do they want?
What happened during the partition of India?
Series 11 episode six is set during the catastrophic partition of India, as the end of British rule and the birth of Pakistan became marred by tragedy
The latest episode in Doctor Who series 11, titled Demons of the Punjab, is set in 1947 India during the country’s partition after it gained independence from British rule.
The subcontinent was split into India, East Pakistan and West Pakistan in a hurried six weeks, resulting in mass displacement and the deaths of up to a million people.
The episode, written by Bafta Rising Star Vinay Patel, takes a more domestic look at partition, focusing on the effect it had on Yaz’s grandmother on the day borders were confirmed by the British government.
Another educational episode! I learned quite a bit from “Rosa.” These shows are very well researched, I must say. This is what the original creators wanted - an educational show.
That said, Classic Who did some very good historicals without aliens. Thankfully the aliens in this one didn’t alter history (it would have been dreadful if they did) but they didn’t add anything to the story. It would have been better without them.
Thankfully the aliens in this one didn’t alter history (it would have been dreadful if they did) but they didn’t add anything to the story. It would have been better without them.
Strangely, I agree and disagree at the same time. You could have taken them out and had a very fine episode. I liked the misdirection of the gang thinking they were there on a malevolent mission, only to discover their true intentions. The moment
when then reveal that Prem is going to die, I thought it added some weight. We understood why Yaz's nan was being so mysterious about her past. I also appreciated that their realization that he was going to die and yet having to go through the events as though nothing was amiss felt like a nod to The City on the Edge of Forever. Maybe not intentionally, but it made for some good drama.
Overall, I liked it. And as you pointed out, dear Seeker, the educational episodes are always very cool.
I was watching a review on YouTube of Rosa, and there were people whining about how they hated the "educational" episodes, because "that's not what Doctor Who is, it's about aliens". Strangely, they didn't take it very well when people educated them on the actual history of the show. There really is no cure for idiocy.
I thought that, on a dramatic and storytelling level, this was the best episode of the season so far.
(Chibnall nowhere near it. Coincidence?)
The poignant backstory of the aliens fitted nicely into proceedings and the ending of
them all walking away, as Barbara Wright should have done, way back in THE AZTECS
worked, dramatically. Bradley Walsh played the reaction to the quandary they were in well, knowing he is talking to a doomed person. All very CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER.
This was - at last - amidst all the sound and fury signifying nothing of previous stories, proper drama.
Even a worthy turn such as ROSA had a lookalike of Billy from DELTA AND THE BANNERMEN as the threat that you could throw quips at, which always undermines the drama. How can you hide behind the sofa from something that has just been ridiculed before they can do anything menacing.
The regulars couldn't throw a quip at this threat and make it look silly. This threat was invisible. This threat ignored quips.
This threat was offering a stark choice. Either Yazz or a good fine man from the past would cease to exist. Take your pick folks. No ifs, no buts - and no quips.
It also gave Jodie her finest moments so far. This is a Doctor who stays behind to attend funerals and pay respects. Not one who says "Come along everyone, they're all distracted celebrating. Let's get to the Tardis.", leaving behind the wreckage and deaths of an adventure. This Doctor will join in with prayers at a funeral and already know the words.
I still feel that the role has been given to someone who can only do a half competent version of a performance, but - as a half-competent actress, she plays the quieter, more serious scenes well, while seeming to struggling and feel somewhat forced during the zany bits. Much like Eccleston, who I also think was miscast. But she does play a serious version of the Doctor well, now that she has been given a chance to. This was, imo, far and away her best performance and her best script.
Just keep her away from zany bits.
The version of the theme at the end was genuinely sensitive.
I continue to find a lot of the acting (bar Mister Walsh, who seems not to be self-conscious at all in his playing, just turning up, saying his lines and not bumping into the poignant monsters) uneven, which works against the impact of this well-crafted tale a little. But the story itself will, I think - regardless of how the current format and casting of the season around it is being received - be regarded as a minor classic in years to come, on a purely dramatic level.
I don't think this story will be topped in the remaining four episodes. But episode 9 sounds somewhat promising. We shall see.....
There has been much talk about how she simply channels Tennant and Smith when doing the manic bits, which I've never really given much thought to, but she certainly did give that impression in the "awarding points" exchange in this episode. I still loved that scene, but yeah, she definitely pulls a face that was pure Tennant. Still, I have hope that she will become her own Doc, and keep thinking there may be notes from above that insist that she go back to that sort of energy, since Capaldi tried to steer clear of that.
I think these can sometimes help - or sometimes ruin proceedings. (Ainley's Master was unimaginatively told to emphasize the 2d panto villainy of his character, while Tom was rightly trodden on by JNT.)
I think Jodie has been given her head in the role so far and has come at it from all directions, floundering in places (comedy) and hitting the spot in others (poignant/serious). Davison did all that in one story, FOUR TO DOOMSDAY, where he can be seen trying on different hats and then discarding them. But Jodie's first season is ticking away and she still seems to be doing that.
It now falls, I think, to a level headed, perceptive and talented showrunner to identify her strengths, even if she can't see them, and push her in the right direction.
That is if she is willing to take on board, listen to and act on character direction. I hope she is.
One of the suits at the BBC saying "We had to let her do it her way!" is all very well - and fine and noble up to a point. But then, eventually, some direction may be needed.
Sadly, having said that, the accent still is, i think, a major mistake in working against the reality of her character being Gallifreyan. "Lose the accent!" would be a major note to give and I know it will never happen, now. Nor might she be capable of doing that. Not all actors can.
Within these limitations of course, there is a glimmer of hope that a major, decisive tonal shift in performance, on the scale of Sylvester in season 25 and Tom in season 18, may yet wrongfoot naysayers (including myself) and lead to even her harshest critics looking back, unable to deny that she was a worthy Doctor, which I know her supporters already consider her.
Yeah it took a while to get a handle on Capaldi’s Doctor, but that was because they didn’t know what to do with him. He WAS the Doctor from the moment he took the role, whether Moffat and company figured it out or not. I can’t quite get a handle on Jodie yet. On the plus side, they don’t have her using sonic sunglasses or playing the guitar.
Bradley Walsh is hands down the best actor in the bunch.
Join Yinka Bokinni for a round-up of all the best backstage action of the week. We find out the biggest biscuit fans on set, get to know Mandip Gill a little better and visit the foothills of the Himalayas.
