As much as I'm enjoying the new direction Doctor Who's going in, I can't help but miss some of the more bonkers elements of the Moffat era. I know that when Peter Capaldi was the Doctor many viewers reached the end of their tether with Moffat's elaborate plots and story arcs. Chibnall clearly recognised this and responded accordingly, streamlining the plots and ditching the overarching narratives. There's nothing wrong with this and it's certainly made space for a more character driven series. However, I still quite like it when Doctor Who's weird because Doctor Who is inherently weird. So far, this series has kept its ideas relatively down to earth and has consequently been weakest when trying to be sci-fi. When episodes are grounded in emotionally powerful historical moments the series has flourished, but when working with more futuristic ideas it's lacked a certain inventiveness. The Witchfinders is really the only episode so far featuring an alien species with an especially compelling concept behind them.
It Takes You Away changes all of that. Right from the spectacularly ambiguous teaser trailer, I was excited about this episode. Previous episodes have had relatively straightforward premises. They've all had a level of mystery to ensure they're not horrendously predictable, but we always knew roughly where we were from the beginning. By contrast, It Takes You Away throws us straight in at the deep end, leaving us only with the knowledge that we're in Norway. It's extremely refreshing to be so in the dark at the start of an episode, at least in comparison to the rest of this series. Of course, the frequency of this approach during Moffat's era is arguably what put off a lot of viewers. However, this series has restrained itself and has consequently given this style of episode a renewed impact. In other words, no other episode this series has gripped me so immediately.
The main attraction of It Takes You Away is the irreverent unpredictability of Ed Hime's script. For some people, this may also be the main drawback. I get that, but I don't personally think the episode suffers much as a result. Hime's script is still largely coherent, it's just not particularly obvious. He likes to occasionally pull the rug out from underneath viewers with a good twist, but never in a way that's illogical. There's only one genuine “what, what?!” moment (which I'll get to later) but as a whole Hime is able to surprise the viewer without confounding them. Importantly, the majority of the surprises are good ones. Occasionally during Moffat's era, there was a tendency to over-hype a reveal, building up to some earth-shattering twist that was never able to fully live up to the anticipation. Fortunately, Hime doesn't fall into that trap and introduces the series’ most compelling ideas in the process. Hime utilises big sci-fi concepts with a level of ambition that's been rare this series and he does so without over-indulgence.
The main reason Hime is able to get away with this is that he embeds the characters into the ideas. Moffat's best episodes were able to do this, combining the elaborate intellectual concepts with strong emotions to keep things grounded. In this episode, Hime uses the central idea of a mirror universe to powerfully explore grief. In particular, Graham and one-off character Erik are challenged to let go of their dead partners for the benefit of themselves and their surviving family. The episode's climax reaches simultaneous levels of physical and emotional intensity as Graham and Erik have to reject apparitions of their partners or risk being destroyed by a collapsing universe. The strain grief has on their relationships with surviving family is explored alongside this. Erik is shown struggling to deal with his emotions without neglecting the needs of his daughter, whilst Graham's efforts to connect with Ryan are rewarded when he's finally called grandad. It was a smart move to save this momentous occasion until the penultimate episode; it felt like their relationship had earned it.
It Takes You Away is further elevated by its wonderful atmosphere. This is particularly apparent in the anti-zone, a deliciously disturbing corridor between the real universe and the mirror universe. It's a spectacularly eerie place populated with unusual creatures whose erratic behaviour creates a constant sense of threat. The chillingly designed anti-zone and its inhabitants are lit only by a single, sinister red lamp, ominously enhancing its menacingly macabre nature. The tone reminds me somewhat of Neil Gaiman's series six episode The Doctor's Wife in its unashamed weirdness and delightful creepiness. The episode's unsettling atmosphere is carried over into the mirror universe but in a more insidious fashion. It's all far too idyllic for everything to be okay, as Segun Akinola's ethereal score manipulates the viewer in the same way the universe tries to manipulate Graham and Erik into staying. This façade is only broken at the end when the mirror universe falls apart and reveals its true identity.
This is the “wait, what?!” moment I was referring to earlier. Up until this point, I was 100% behind the episode. Then, with only the Doctor left in the mirror universe, it drops this appearance and confesses to being the Solitract, a consciousness banished from the real universe when it was first forming. This concept I have no issue with. It's the kind of bonkers, ambitious thing I've been missing all series. The problem arrives when the form the Solitract manifests itself in is revealed. That form being… a frog. To be fair, 'problem’ isn't the right word. A universe represented by a frog is not at all out of place in a series as mad as Doctor Who and it's certainly not out of place in an episode this unpredictable. My only reservation comes from the fact that a big part of me really wished it would be someone from the Doctor's past. In the same way the Solitract manifested itself as beloved lost ones to Graham and Erik, wouldn't it have been amazing if it had manifested itself to the Doctor as Rose or Amy or River or even Missy? That said, I'm aware this series is actively trying to attract new viewers by not getting too self-referential, so I understand why they did this and I have no issue with it by itself. Really, it's just my inner fanboy being a bit ungrateful.
Capaldi's three series established this tradition of the enigmatic penultimate episode. Dark Water, Heaven Sent and World Enough and Time respectively preceded their series’ finales with intriguing, mind-bending plots and ideas. I did not expect this series to follow that tradition but it's certainly a pleasant surprise that it did. Despite one minor disappointment, It Takes You Away is exhilaratingly strange in a way that's ambitious and fascinating without sacrificing coherence and emotion. It's also by far the most successful sci-fi episode this series, introducing genuinely compelling concepts and constructing a uniquely freaky atmosphere. Tragically, however, it also indicates there's only one more episode left...
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