[initial reactions] Doctor Who 11x06 - The Demons of Punjab

[grimorie]

I think for this season, historicals are where this season shine! And this is where Chibnall excels at-- hiring the right people for the right story. 

I am only really vaguely aware of the Partition, really vaguely. What I know are because of things I picked up over the years, school didn’t even touch on it. But the way Vinay Patel tackled it-- how it’s a mess and how, in the end, it’s ordinary people being cruel about things that were literally made up seconds ago divided people. 

I’m really really curious how The Normies will react to this episode. 

I really love the Doctor here, we got to see her commanding and impish and just that ‘You just watch me!’ and the accompanying smile, as if she relished the challenge. 

We also see the return of engineer Doctor! 

Plus, I love the Doctor’s awkward: “That’s right, my references to body and gender regeneration are all in jest. Such a comedian.” (Oh, and the Doctor’s look to Yaz when Umbreen told them women should follow her and men were to go to Preem. ‘Do I? Oh I go, okay.’ 

It also seems like Thirteen is more psychically sensitive than her previous incarnations. 

Then discovering what she thought were alien species were actually Last of their Kind, and how quickly the Doctor took to them after. The Doctor knows when someone lies about being the ‘last of their kind’. 

(Alaya: I'm the last of my species. 
Eleventh Doctor: No. You're really not. Because I'm the last of my species and I know how it sits in a heart. So don't insult me. - Hungry Earth) 

The former assassins also remind the Doctor the price of being a Time Lord or just a time traveler-- that they are not gods and events should play out as they should. Again, this is one of the thing IMO that truly separate Doctor Who from other time travel shows because when something is a fixed point, it should go on untouched no matter how terrible it is. 

This was also crucial to Yaz in understanding her Nani Umbreen, who is amazing and brave, and we can see the straight line of all these strong women straight to who Yaz is. 

She’s also, on occasion, willing to bend the Doctor’s rules. This reminds me a bit of Age of Steel and not Father’s Day because Yaz doesn’t interfere so much as interacts with her relatives against the Doctor’s wishes. Her grandmother’s story was different from what she thought it was and it was good of Graham to tell Yaz essentially life is long. 

Umbreen suffered a tremendous loss of the man she loved and the home she had, but those loses don’t define her. Same as the Doctor’s losses don’t define them, and Graham and Ryan are attempting to do. 

Prem was an amazing and steadfast man, caught between the country he loves and the division caused by the British. He was a soldier returning home and all he wanted was to live and peace with the woman he loved but he gets neither. He gets remembered and honored, and his death witnessed and commemorated among the stars forever. 

Manish is the real villain, misguided youth that allows himself be carried so far away he’s willing to kill and have his brother killed. 

I did notice this and last time that the Doctor actually doesn’t have a problem with weapons in the right hands. If the people who hold them are responsible and are trained to use them. 

Ryan, who has no training at all and no impulse control, the Doctor has an issue with. Also, with dollar store Jack Donaghy. So that’s actually quite an interesting distinction for the Doctor to have. 

(BTW interesting thing the Doctor officiated the wedding, and there was a tying of hands, which tying hands in Gallifreyan tradition also seems to formalize a marriage too -- as the case when Eleven married River.) 

One thing though: Jaime Childs directed it, I loved the episode but there were some close-ups here that really annoyed me, like when Thirteen was in the TARDIS soldering something. I wanted a wide shot! 

There were other moments too-- not as often as Mark Tonderai’s but enough that frustrate me because I wanted to see the reaction of other people. Also, a bit of a pacing too. 

I hope in series 12 we get Rachel Talalay and Chibnall hires Sallie Apprahanian again. So far Apprahanian’s directorial style I prefer the most. She makes the material breeze through and slow down as necessary.  

Comments

[jesuswasbatman]

It'll be interesting to see how the #NotMyDoctor element react to this, as it'll show how closely they're linked to the wider far-right-wing crowd - there was a lot in this episode to seriously infuriate the Islamophobes (Muslim women being depicted as not being downtrodden victims of their tyrannical abusive men, Hindu/Indian characters being the villainous bigots as far as the on-screen narrative went).

[grimorie]

Oh geez. I didn't even think of that, happily in my bubble but yes, there would be those people.

[jesuswasbatman]

I looked and the "#notmydoctor" element now consists of about two guys constantly spamming alt-right memes, one of whom seems to think that the Fourth Doctor spent all his time "fighting Daleks and Cybermen" (two Dalek and one Cybermen stories in seven years, in what had the fewest recurring villains of any Doctor Who period).

[grimorie]

At this point, I'm really not surprised, also these people seem to have a filter that lets them just see the surface level of episodes without really seeing what the Classic show is actually saying!

[dhampyresa]

I loved this episode.

[grimorie]

I do too! I'm really glad the show is stepping out of its comfort zone and exploring other historical events!