The doctor cries a lot throughout the episode but tears aren't just an emotional response. Tears act as a way for the body to regulate chemicals by literally crying them out. The doctor cried every time his adrenaline got up.

He wasn't just afraid. He was also physically regulating himself to stop the explosion

He stands on a landmine. Yes, it's brilliant. But it's no UNIT story, and it's not as good as the masterpiece that is Blink. That was unreal (like... us?) Steven Moffat, we know you have it in you!!!

Conclusion: That Mundy Flynn character was great, I hope we meet her again. ❤️❤️

- Hassan xxxxxxxx

Next up: Lux

I've watched this episode a few times to try and get into it, given how it is a bit of a fan favourite, but I just can't really resonate with this one very much.

The concept is clever - it's always an interesting school of creative thought to set boundaries for what is not allowed (in this case, the doctor moving) and seeing what flows from that. Unfortunately, I feel that this episode suffers dearly from its placement in the series order. As the third episode, it is also filling the role of Ruby's first alien planet which means that they have not been travelling together for a very long time. Ruby and the Doctor have this instant besties dynamic where she immediately just trusts him and we never really see any conflict between the two of them. As such, the relationship between the two of them never feels real - it just seems so superficial at every point. This is also never addressed later in the series - as the audience we are just expected to believe that off-screen they have gotten to know each other and trust each other. And that just doesn't work for an episode where the emotional tension is so predicated off of Ruby trusting the Doctor. Remove that impact of that tension and the episode just feels empty and hollow, which is how I've felt every time I've watched it so far.

The ending of this episode does not improve my view on it either. I am so sick of episodes where the resolution is just that the Power of Love™ defeats evil. It's just so lazy, and it reeks of the writer phoning it in at the end. It didn't work for the Monk trilogy from Capaldi's run and it still doesn't work here.

I hate being rude to the child actors on this show as they're young and often still learning, but their performance here was not great. They seem so happy-go-lucky about the passing of their dad, which is just a bit bizarre and off-putting.

I know Steven Moffatt loves his Anglican church army, but I didn't feel like they added much to this story - it did not feel to me as if it was treading over any new ground that wasn't in any of their previous appearances. I would like to see him not including some of his old creations in there to try and cook up something a bit more interesting.

Overall, this episode just isn't for me. I just can't get past the lack of character development from the start of this series ruining the character driven narrative of this story. If the dynamic of Ruby and 15 was more fleshed out (doesn't exactly need conflict between the two, but certainly show more of Ruby cautiously learning to trust the Doctor) and this episode was later on in the series, I think I would appreciate it far more. Unfortunately, I just found it a rather hollow watch.

The perpetuation of war, violence and death, to fund a capitalist corporation - oh, this is the brilliance of a Moffat script. The value of weapons, and how they are sold to continue to generate this profit provides much to think about and always politically relevant. In most stories, this will be the extent of the brilliance and genius, but Moffat had to add many more layers to this.

The concept of faith, believing without knowing, and how valuable this is, is a meaningful dimension to digest throughout - faith in the Church and their religion, and faith in the war - brilliant to consider, and another deep layer throughout this story.

The slower pace due the Doctor on the land mine allows for these ideas to be explored with value and merit, without rushing through superfluously. But to manage to maintain a tension and threat, which keeps you drawn in throughout a full story, with the Doctor immobilised the whole time, it needed the pen of Moffat to write.

Rewatched 2025-04-04 (⭐⭐⭐⭐½)