Previously on Doctor Who: While the Doctor was in the middle of trying to find the mysterious killer robot known as the Skovox Blitzer, he finds himself wrapped up in the world of Clara and her new boyfriend, Danny Pink, and also meets a new young friend by the name of Coutrney, a student at Coal Hill School. And Now…
“KILL THE MOON”
Written By: Peter Harness
Directed By: Paul Wilmshurts
The Episode begins with the Doctor deciding to take both Clara and Courtney on a trip in the Tardis, which inexplicably ends up on a shuttle that’s on its way to the moon in 2049. Oh yeah, and its apparently filled with nuclear explosives. Always fun. The trio are introduced to the person in charge on the shuttle, Captain Lundvik, and two other astronauts who are on board. I always love it when they tell stories that are set either on a different planet or some sort of ship in space. Stories like “The Ark In Space” and “The Beast Below”, just to name a few, always have the added factor of the space setting that just sets the tone for where the episode will go. The astronauts inform everyone of their mission, how many years prior, a massive high tide completely wiped out a fraction of humanity AND destroyed many of Earth’s artificial satellites, and how a Mexican colony on the moon had reported sudden changes in the moon itself before losing contact. The astronauts were sent to try and save the Earth by destroying the moon! Remember when I said that Doctor Who always seems to work best when the writers think outside the box? I think that is in full effect here!
Clara speaks to the Doctor privately, and brings up a good point. She remembers her trips in the Tardis to future dates, and the moon is still there. The Doctor’s only answer is that maybe what they thought was the moon Wasn’t actually the moon at all, but perhaps some sort of holographic image being projected, but what they are currently embroiled in is known as a “fluxed moment” in time. Basically, this is a moment in time when actions have yet to be decided, when the future is decided. And because of that, the Doctor cannot get involved without risking time-altering disaster. Don’t you love it when everything gets all “timey wimey“? Everyone finally arrives on the moon, and the location of the colony. Well look at that! its the orange spacesuits again! You all know how much I love the orange spacesuits!
The colony appears to be covered in spider webs, which is weird because last time I checked, spiders couldn’t survive on the moon. One of the astronauts is killed by as spider-like creature when he ventures off to prime the explosives. The Doctor figures out that there has been a tremendous amount of seismic activity, and the cause of the tidal wave years ago was due to the moon expanding its mass by over 1 billion tons! Another spider creature attacks the group, almost killing young Courtney before she uses some cleaning solution she brought on the Tardis to kill it. The Doctor begins to realize that the creatures are a lot like germs, and soon finds thousands more of them inside a crack on the surface, and amniotic fluid close by. I love the design of these creatures. Spiders have been in Doctor Who before, be it in the final story of the John Pertwee era “Planet Of The Spiders”, or the David Tennant episode “The Runaway Bride” when the Doctor had to deal with the Empress of the Racnoss.
The Doctor dives into the crack, while Clara, Lundvik and Courtney return to the colony to wait. When the Doctor does return, he explains that the moon is actually a 100-million-yeal-old egg, and the creature inside is ready to make his debut. The spiders are only around so that they can protect the egg. The Captain prepares to set the timer for the explosives, believing that blowing up the moon and destroying the creature is the only way to make sure mankind survives. Clara refuses to accept the killing of an unknown species, or that blowing it up is the only way to save the Earth, and turns to the Doctor for an answer. Ah, now here’s where things get interesting. The Doctor refuses to help them, harshly reminding them that he is not allowed to intervene, and puts the decision in the hands of Captain Lundvik, Clara and Courtney. With a look of bewilderment on Clara’s face, the Doctor gets in the Tardis and leaves. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED THIS! Its a way to showcase how a lot of the times, the companions become complacent in knowing that the Doctor will always be there to save the day. But what happens if he’s not? Can they be ready to step into the role of savior and make the difficult decision WITHOUT the safety of the Doctor? The line Capaldi uses about being time to take the humans’ training wheels of their bikes was brilliant!
Knowing that time is running out, Captain Lundvik asserts her belief that the moon should be destroyed, with Clara arguing that no one knows what will happen once the egg hatches. Contact from Earth is restored, and Clara appeals to all of humankind to leave the decision up to them. If they wanted to destroy the egg and the creature, turn their lights off. If they wanted to take the chance and allow the creature to live, leave the lights on. Mankind’s decision is made when everyone’s lights are turned…off. But Clara chooses not to accept this, and stops the timer on the explosives just before it ran out. The Doctor immediately returns, and they all take the Tardis to a beach on Earth where they watch as the egg hatches, the creature flies away, and in its wake leaves a brand new egg that shall act as the brand new moon. Jenna Coleman really brought out the skills for this sequence of scenes. She has really cemented herself amongst the list actresses who have been companions over the last 50+ years, and it takes a lot to differentiate yourself from those other performances.
After taking Lundvik and Courtney home, things explode between the Doctor and Clara. She is incredibly angry over the way the Doctor just left her to basically fend for herself, and if he wants to continue to call himself a “friend of the Earth”, then he better be ready to make the decisions that decide the Earth’s fate just like a human has to. Her biggest argument is over how he is supposed to be her friend, but he keeps taking shots at her and scaring her, and that’s something a friend doesn’t do to another friend. She tells him that she just can’t do this with him anymore, and orders him to just go away.
This episode was completely different than what we got in “The Caretaker”. It almost seemed like you were building to something big throughout, and while normally that would mean building to how the “monster of the week” is defeated, this time it was Clara’s emotional eruption! Everything I said about Jenna Coleman a paragraph ago is doubly reaffirmed here! Its been a long time since we’re seen the Doctor reduced to being speechless isn’t something that we normally get. Honestly, the Clara that we have been given this season is incredibly different than the one we were first introduced to last season. The addition of Courtney this time around was a welcome addition. Being a kid that not only just discovered someone who can take her into the future but also being thrust into a situation where she has to help decide the fate of mankind can be a lot on a person, but she handled it incredibly well. We didn’t get much in the way of Missy this time, or any answer of what exactly the Nethersphere is, but that’s okay. This story really didn’t need it. All in all, this episode was quite good, and I can’t wait to see what comes next! Until next time…
