Written by Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat

Directed by Paul Murphy

Sometimes, Doctor Who just seems to be wasting time. This episode is a good example. Clara’s relationship with Pink is “getting serious” (I hate that nonsensical phrase. It suggests an incredible amount of disprespect in relationships to say that they “get serious.”), so now we have to see whether the Doctor will approve of him. This has been a repeated plot device with this series–the Ninth Doctor was dismissive of Mickey, and then the Tenth Doctor slowly came to give him a modicum (though that is all) of respect. The Eleventh Doctor was pretty quick to be respectful of Rory, but still started out dismissive and then came to accept Mr. Pond as a member of the team, even if he was clearly second banana to Amy. The Twelfth Doctor has not been as enamored of his companion as the past Doctors have been of theirs, which could have led to a different reaction. Instead of saying, “This guy isn’t good enough for you,” he could have said, “Hey, I like this guy. I might like him better than you.” But no, Moffat has to return to the same pattern.

This episode really plays as filler–the monster is ill-defined and dull, the characterizations are flat and lifeless, the interaction is so by-the-numbers as to be dull, even the humor just falls flat (with a few exceptions–“No, I read the book. There’s a biography in the back” was awesome). Nothing that this series usually does well is done well here, and that makes its flaws difficult to swallow. It’s hardly even worth watching. An episode that gives us so many minor characters who are not likely to show up often should leave us wanting to see more of those characters, but I was already tired of Clara’s colleagues before this one ended, which is a very bad sign.

The acting is a mixed bag. With less to do in this episode, Jenna Coleman is fine. Samuel Anderson, meanwhile, continues to be really difficult to take. Danny Pink is an ill-defined character, but he’s especially difficult to understand because of his bizarre smiling and oddly changing affect. I don’t know who Danny Pink is. The writers haven’t helped, but that’s largely because of Anderson’s performance. However, Peter Capaldi continues to be brilliant. The scene of him and Danny on the TARDIS is one that I could not imagine either Matt Smith or David Tennant playing believably, but Capaldi does. While this season has been uneven Capaldi is definitely a great find.

A series like Doctor Who, one that gets to take its time with every season and hire essentially any writer it wants, should not have filler episodes. I understand it with an American 22-episode network series–sometimes you just don’t have it and you don’t have time to wait for it–but it’s really a problem for a series like this. And yet, here we are, with a completely empty episode that none of us is going to remember in a month, let alone a year.

Notes

• Yes, it’s repetitive, but I actually like the structure Moffat has found with setting up his overall stories over the course of a season. I spent this entire episode thinking, “Well, we will probably at least get a Missy scene to think about at the end,” which made it easier to sit through an exceedingly dull episode.
• I only knew what the word “squaddie” meant from Amy using it back in season five.
• While the robot monster thing still looked a bit silly, it was a good example of how much better the effects are now than they were a few years ago.
• “What good is a policeman without a death ray?” in a country where the police don’t generally carry guns. (At least as I understand it.)