Season 1 (Series 14); Episode 2 --- "The Devil's Chord" by Russell T. Davies

Ok, Space Babies was an embarrassment, sure, but it can't get any worse... right? Actually, it can't, Space Babies is (I hope) as bad as it gets this season and The Devil's Chord is actually pretty alright, though I'm not on the bandwagon declaring it one of the greatest episodes of all time or anything. It's the token historical and we're heading to the swinging 60s to sort of but not really meet the Beatles as a contemporary and relative of the Celestial Toymaker runs amok in Abbey Road.

When Ruby suggests going to see the recording of the Beatles' first album, the pair are shocked to find a severe lack of decent music in London. Soon, they discover something's very wrong - a omnipotent being has been playing with time, and the world is coming to an end.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I might come back to this episode and hate it, Space Babies might've just clouded my vision, but The Devil's Chord was some, dare I say it, decent TV. It took itself seriously! It wasn't catering to literal toddlers! The characters were complex and had emotions, they felt like real people! It goes to show the difference a tight script can make to a story. I had good fun watching this episode, mostly because Jinkx Monsoon killed it as the ridiculously camp Maestro, who just had this infectious in every scene they were in. The directing was especially good here, even if there were a few too many Dutch tilts and it was littered with amazing moments: Ruby walking into a ruined London in a brilliant echo of The Pyramids of Mars, the score turning out to be diegetic as Ruby is kidnapped, the Christmas music playing from a captured Ruby, the episode was fun and it was pretty well written. Another quick note is that the Doctor acts like the Doctor here; he feels like an ages old creature enjoying the small things in life, silently looking out onto London, itching to see the Beatles, encouraging people to follow their dreams, it felt like the Doctor.

However, here or there I found a few issues. For one, the Beatles themselves really aren't anything to do with this episode. You could cut them out and the episode would mostly be the same, George and Ringo don't even have lines. Plus, the casting is really bad, even outside the poster. Whilst I do really enjoy the Maestro, there were a few too many scenes where they just stood around monologuing their plan and, for all they're built up to be, they really don't do much in the episode as it's all pretty small scale. The world is ending but we're running around an empty music studio without anybody in danger; since the Maestro can only attack the Doctor and Ruby, who we know won't die, there really isn't much tension built up around them. Also, the episode once again ended in a dance number, which is becoming a recurring theme and, like before, there is no rhyme or reason for this happening, which just annoys me.

The Devil's Chord was just about the biggest step up in quality I could've imagined, even if it wasn't perfect. It was fun, it was the right level of camp and it was built on a tight script though it struggled in areas with the usual suspects for RTD and ended on another annoyingly logicless musical number.

6/10

Pros:

+ The Maestro is an infectiously fun villain played to perfection by Jinkx Monsoon

+ The Doctor feels so much more in character this episode

+ Full of effortlessly fun moments with really great ideas behind them

+ Has actual character development and emotional moments behind it

+ I really like what the season arc's shaping up to be, it feels much more fleshed out than RTD's old tactic of just name dropping something every episode

+ Fantastic and beautiful direction from Ben Chessell

Cons:

- The Maestro didn't feel as big a threat as they were made out to be, mostly due to the lack of urgency or things shown to be at stake

- The Beatles are entirely sidelined for the whole episode and their inclusion feels pointless

- One too many scenes of people just spouting exposition to thin air

- Surprisingly small scale, only really walking around a single building

- The final dance number was not quite egregious as the one in The Church on Ruby Road but it was still pretty bad