✅77% = Good! = Highly recommended!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

THE ONE WHERE THE BEATLES SING ABOUT THEIR DOG!

This cold open masterfully draws you in and establishes the eerie premise of the episode. Jinkx Monsoon, the new instant-classic villain Maestro, immediately steals the show, and Murray Gold delivers one of the most intense and memorable soundtracks of any Doctor Who episode, effectively using music and sound as a narrative tool. I appreciate how well the opening establishes Maestro as a true force of evil, as well as how they take us to the title sequence by playing the theme tune on the piano.

Once again, Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson exude infectious buddy energy, and Gatwa feels a lot like David Tennant in his energetic outings with Catherine Tate. Jinkx Monsoon steals the show with her playfully scary take on Maestro, a god of music and a powerful force invading the Earth in the wake of the Toymaker. At one point, they sound and feel like Ursula from The Little Mermaid!

The four Beatles actors don’t look a lot like their real-life counterparts and don't feel very real either, but I guess that’s the point. The episode barely features the Beatles, and there's no compelling reason to set it in 1963 or feature them at all, given how it's hardly even a historical episode. The episode has a narrow scope, primarily concentrating on the Doctor, Ruby, and Maestro.

The BBC has always been great with historical episodes, and The Devil’s Chord is no exception. The 1963 setting comes alive through great production design and music. The costumes are also great, and I love how the Doctor and Ruby make an effort to blend in.

I appreciate the script's exploration of the complex relationship between music and emotions, a topic never previously explored on the show, and its connection to the piece's villain. And what better way to explore these things than through the music of the Beatles (or the absence thereof)? As such, this is less silly and lighthearted than Space Babies, even if it grows pretty bonkers towards the end.

This episode continues to explore the Doctor and Ruby's personalities. The Doctor’s granddaughter Susan is referenced, and the Doctor admits he doesn’t know where she is since the Time Lords were wiped out by the Master.

It takes longer for this episode to get going than it did for Space Babies, as there is a greater focus on the characters and the emotional beats (such as during the exceedingly lengthy scene with Ruby playing the piano), leaving the main plot and Maestro brewing in the background. The middle part feels like a lengthy build-up, leaning on Maestro's strengths and building on what happened in The Giggle, but not moving the plot forward all that much.

Finally, the episode delivers a great battle between the Doctor and Maestro, fought through music. The Devil's Chord isn't a musical episode per se, but music plays a pivotal role, which makes it stand out effectively.

I must concede that the "twist at the end" was a reasonably amusing comedic device, despite the peculiar manner in which it concluded this episode with an elaborate dance routine. They then go overboard with this with that Big-inspired piano crossroads moment at the very end.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

I always love a reference to Finland in Doctor Who!

It’s creepy to hear the Maestro laugh with the same pattern we heard in The Giggle!

Composer Murray Gold makes his first uncredited cameo appearance as the pianist during the end song.

We meet the Arbringer here, a character looking like a child, killed by Maestro, and then suddenly popping up again at the end.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

With a striking villain performance and some of the best use of music in any Doctor Who episode, The Devil's Chord proves to be a whimsical adventure with a twist at the end!