The Weight of History

Doctor Who – The Twelfth Doctor Chronicles: Timejacked!

#2.03. The Weight of History ~ 7/10

◆ An Introduction

The temporal splits have been closed, and the timelines should be back on track now. Though a return trip to Calandra is about to show the Doctor and Keira that something is still very much amiss with this world’s history. If that wasn’t enough to worry about… Keira appears to have a doppelgänger!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The Founder built their planet and their people from nothing. Their lives, and their very world, are dependent on the whims of the Founder. All praise the Founder. 

◆ The Twelfth Doctor

Jacob Dudman rounds off ‘Timejacked!’ with yet another brilliant performance.

The Doctor knows where one version of his companion came from, which is why she gets to be Keira One. He claims that you can always tell the cities that someone has thought up, like Great Sarlakia on Melmos, and Milton Keynes. He likes to be surprised, but it doesn’t happen very often. Guns don’t work on him; don’t frighten him. He loves service corridors because you can go anywhere in them. The Doctor clearly doesn’t have a high opinion of the Time Agency, describing them as kids messing around with their messy toys and vortex manipulators. He might check in again on Keira sometime (oh, please do)!

◆ Keira Sanstrom

Over the course of only three episodes, Bhav Parmar has proven herself to be an absolutely magnificent actress… which is why I’m so sad that this is her last appearance as our favourite trainee Time Agent. A brilliant performance to round off the box set though.

Keira Two claims that she’s come back in time to stop a mistake that’s about to happen on Calandra. When proving to her earlier self that they are in fact the same person, she mentions an embarrassing incident from their Time Agent training… involving a fellow agent and zero-gravity swimming (I really don’t wanna know). She is desperate to capture Havilland, because it would do great things for her career (a remark which clearly disgusts the Doctor).

◆ Story Recap

The Doctor and Keira believe they’ve closed all the temporal splits and stabilised the time vortex, but a return trip to Calandra shows that the time fracture is still active.

Cities shift and grow, but the one they come across has clearly been designed; filled with immaculate empty roads that all converge on a strange black cube in the centre of town. Someone has been taking advantage of the chaos caused by the fracture to appear god-like to the people of Calandra, and she just so happens to be the Time Agency’s most wanted!

◆ Public Enemy No.1

‘The Weight of History’ really lives up to its title, by sticking us with a glorious cackling villainess who has the power to rearrange reality on a whim!

Havilland was once part of the Time Agency, but rumours soon began circulating that she was using her time jumps to make a few extra credits on the side. Her corruption was exposed and she went on the run, soon stumbling across Keira’s time fracture. The energy seeping out from this rip in space-time is immensely powerful, and it’s the whole reason Havilland has been able to live out her fantasy as a power mad lunatic!

She is honestly my favourite part of this whole finale, and Holly Jackson Walters does a brilliant job at bringing her to life: her eccentric mannerisms honestly remind me of Gemma Whelan’s portrayal of the Nun.

◆ Sound Design

The soundscape for this episode was quite bare. It feels really low-effort, especially when compared to Lee Adams’ previous work on this set.

The Calandran city shakes and rumbles due to the presence of the time fracture. An energy weapon is charged, and aimed right at the Doctor. Havilland’s throne room collapses into the fracture.

◆ Conclusion

“A palace built around destruction, around damage and corruption.”

The Founder created everything on Calandra; an immortal being who has always been there. But it’s all a lie, created by someone who has taken full advantage of the chaos caused by the time fracture.

‘The Weight of History’ is a great way to conclude what has been a really fun box set. The stakes are really high, with Havilland basically pulling time through itself; the past being used to displace the present. Dudman and Parmar once more prove how well they work with each other, and I’m still holding out hope for a Keira Sanstrom spin-off.