Who Review: Mummy on the Orient Express
It seems Clara has calmed down since the end of the last episode and has told the Doctor she’s done traveling with him. But she doesn’t want to end their time together on a sour note, so she agrees to “one last hurrah.” For her final TARDIS journey, the Doctor takes Clara for a trip on the Orient Express–not the original, but an exact replica that flies passengers through space. Clara’s hopes for a peaceful ride are dashed when people start dropping dead. There’s talk of an ancient superstition: a mummy who can only be seen by the person he’s about to kill, and once they see him, they only have sixty-six seconds to live. The Doctor’s interest is piqued, and then made mandatory by the train-ship’s computer, Gus. He has assembled the best minds around to work out how to capture this creature, and they need to hurry up before it kills them all…
SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!
Despite some minor quibbles, this was another excellent Who episode. The BBC always does a great job with period drama, so recreating the 1920s vibe was a no-brainer that they pulled off with style. There’s so much in this episode to call out for praise: the performances by all the main characters (Frank Skinner is relatively unknown here the US–okay, I’ve been here over 20 years and I’d never heard of him–but he was a great side-kick to the Doctor), the design of the train-ship, showing the 66-second count-down on screen to amp-up the drama, and the mummy himself, which was another triumph of design and execution. I loved that the Doctor used the period cigarette case to hold jelly babies. And I really hoped someone (preferably the Doctor) would say “are you my mummy?”–and I wasn’t disappointed. That’s the third time the line’s been used (see “The Empty Child” and “The Poison Sky” for the previous two), and it never gets old!
While I’ve liked Capaldi’s tougher-gruffer Doctor, I was beginning to wonder if maybe it was going too far. The First Doctor was a crotchety old man, but he had a heart and he wasn’t above showing how much he really cared for his companions. In this episode, the Doctor seemed to show his compassion in taking a risk that could have cost him his life at the expense of someone else. We need to see that even from this dark Doctor, just to remind us that the other Doctors are all in there too.
The minor quibbles? First, yet again, we have a monster that’s not really a monster–he’s just an ancient soldier trapped into thinking he’s still fighting a war, waiting for the enemy to declare surrender. When the Doctor figures this out, he cries “I surrender” at the last minute, and the mummy salutes and dies. All very nice and heart-warming, but a bit anticlimactic. This “misunderstood bad-guy” theme seems to be popular this season, and it’s all a bit too postmodern for my taste. Even the Dalek in the second story was a “good” Dalek! Maybe it’s a symptom of the culture, but what happened to the classic “good vs. evil” confrontations? I’m reminded of the Second Doctor’s speech in “The Moonbase”: ” There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought.” I think we’re losing sight of that with these stories. Right now, the Twelfth Doctor would say: ” There are some corners of the universe which contain beings that have very different values than us. Beings which appear to act against our preconceptions of what’s right and wrong. They must be understood.” That might go down well in certain parts of modern society, but, frankly, it doesn’t make for consistently good drama.
Other quibbles? Clara’s domestics, and the part-time TARDIS traveling… still happening… say no more…
So what’s up with Danny and Clara now? That call at the end was an interesting development. Danny was checking in to make sure Clara was okay and “that was it.” She gets off the phone and tells the Doctor Danny’s okay with them traveling together, and she doesn’t really want to end her time with him. So, after lying to Danny about the Doctor, she finally told him the truth, and, last week, kept her word by telling Danny when the Doctor pushed her too far. Now, she has lied to Danny about being done with the Doctor, and lied to the Doctor that Danny’s okay with things. Further, since when was her traveling with the Doctor up to Danny? It was Clara who wanted to call it quits, so why does she say it’s okay to carry on because Danny said so? As I’ve said before, I think something’s up with Danny–he’s not all that he appears to be. He’s been passive-aggressively trying to drive a wedge between Clara and the Doctor. Maybe Clara’s becoming wise to that and is choosing sides? And the Doctor seems blissfully ignorant of this whole situation, but is he really?
Your turn! What did you love and/or hate about this episode? Were you heart-warmed or disappointed by the resolution? Do you want more evil baddies or are you happy with the misunderstood foes? And what do you think’s going on with Danny? Let’s discuss in the comments!
This episode was great, The doctor is as grumpy, haughty as usual and in its own way he is still the doctor trying to help people, but now, he is less naive and more cynical and has less compulsion to sacrifice a few to save a lot.
This Doctor does seem more cynical, Ciryon. His expectations of the “pudding head” inhabitants of Earth seem to be fairly low. And yet underneath that hardness, he still cares–though for some reason he wants to deny it. “Is that what you want to believe of me?” he asks Clara (or something like that, anyway). It’s as if he’s still not convinced that he’s a good man, but takes comfort in the fact that Clara wants to believe that he is.
I enjoyed this episode a lot better than last week’s. I’ve noticed, with this doctor, it seems his coldness comes from accepting that he can’t save everyone, so he moves on quickly to the next person he wants to save. He knows he can’t save everyone, but damn it, he will try, and try, and try, and try. Unlike 10 or 11, when someone dies, he doesn’t really pause to mourn either, and I think that’s part of why Capaldi’s doctor seems gruffer. He’s not as emotional.
You’re right, Patricia–there’s a lot more emotional detachment with this Doctor. If he can’t save someone, he’ll try to make their death worthwhile (remember the soldier in “Into the Dalek”?). But he doesn’t mourn them. And yet he will try to save people, and attempt to find the best path when all paths suck.
I’m still curious to know where this is coming from. Prior to the 50th Special we could put it down to the Time War and him losing everything. But now he knows Gallifrey is safe, and he’s not alone, you’d expect less cynicism. Yet there’s still a deep sadness about him–the coldness is not simply a product of his regeneration… at least that’s how it seems to me.
I loved the references to past Doctors. Brought a smile to my face when he said ‘are you my mummy’. While I have issues with Moffats approach to arc storylines I can count on him for those little references to the past and for me, he does them very well.
What keeps happening with these episodes is that they bring in a villain who truly creeps me out. I don’t think I’ve hidden behind cushions as much as I have with this season. But then, like you, I end up disappointed when this so-called villain is easily solved and not actually the bad guy. I do wonder if this is done on purpose to echo the Doctor at the moment. He sounds like he’s being cold hearted and dark at times but then it turns out that he’s not so sinister and there’s still this ‘light’ in him. Still, I would like to see some more bad guys appear, whether they are classic villains or brand new ones.
Or maybe if Danny is bad news, these episodes are warning us that people aren’t what they seem. The bad guys aren’t necessarily the bad guys and the supposed good guys are actually dodgy?
Or maybe I like to think and pretend that Moffat properly plans and thinks about these things.
That’s the great thing about having fan-boys running the show–they can’t resist these little references that we all love to hear. 🙂
Yes, Robin, we’ve had some truly promising, creepy monsters this season that could have been so much more menacing if they were really evil! I hope I’m being premature in my judgment and the finale’s going to show a good reason behind this direction. There’s a place for the misunderstood monster, and I’m okay with that happening once in a while… it’s just getting to become predictable. What’s going to be the deal with next week’s “Flatline”? They’re not really bad, just dimensionally impaired? OK… I’ll give Moff the benefit of the doubt and hope it’s going to be different.
Perhaps you’re onto something, though. Maybe we’re right about Danny, and Moff’s sending a message not to take everyone at face value. I certainly think Moff plans these things far more than RTD did (which is amazing because RTD’s arcs seemed very carefully plotted, and a lot of the time they weren’t–just happy accidents!).