Doctor Who Season Two, Episode Three
“The Well”
Posted by Kim
I feel like I’ve used this analogy in a recap before, but I am a Xennial, and it’s the only apt comparison that comes to mind when I think about watching this week’s episode of Doctor Who. You know that scene in (cinematic masterpiece) Hook where none of the Lost Boys believe that Robin Williams is actually Peter Pan all grown up until sweet little Pockets stands in front of him, gently smoothing out Peter’s frown lines until he can see the smile he knows at his core is still there? Yep, that was me watching “The Well” on Saturday morning.
Oh there you are, Doctor Who.
Look – I was on board with “The Well” even before that reveal (OH THAT REVEAL!!) launched it into “YASSSSSSSSSS” territory for me. I’m always a sucker for creepy goings on in a remote and claustrophobic location, be it the most recent season of True Detective or The X-Files‘ classic episode “Ice” or “The Impossible Planet,” my absolute favorite episode of Doctor Who. “The Well” is so good right from the beginning. The ensemble we meet feels fully realized, even with the obvious red shirts among the crew. All of the actors, but especially Rose Ayling-Ellis (Alyss) and Caoilfhionn Dunne (Shaya) are ACTING their asses off. The story is deliciously scary, using a very real but unseen menace that plays on our own innate sense of paranoia to ratchet up the tension. The stakes feel real and immediate and they grow over the course of the episode. It’s television entertainment at its finest for forty-five minutes.
The fact that it’s a surprise sequel to one of the all time BANGER episodes of the Tennant era? Well, that’s just a bonus.
I avoid spoilers and set leaks pretty religiously, and I am very lucky to have a fandom fam who is respectful of the desire to go into a season of Doctor Who with as blank of a slate as possible. So while a big chunk of the internet may have known that we were getting a sequel to “Midnight,” I had no clue. And isn’t that the BEST?!?! Honestly, I fucking hate spoiler culture because there is absolutely nothing better when a TV show surprises you. The whole first act of the episode I was like thinking that it was “The Impossible Planet” meets “The Waters of Mars” meets “Midnight,” and that’s why I was enjoying it so much. And then it actually WAS a direct sequel to “Midnight,” y’all. I swear, I sat right up and let out a delighted whoop. Fucking “Midnight,” you guys!!
I finally understand how Classic Who fans feel whenever Doctor Who brings back an unexpected villain like Sutekh. It’s truly a rush and it’s a moment where you FEEL like your investment in this world is worth it. And these are the kind of references that this era of Who SHOULD be making, in my humble opinion. The Eccleston and Tennant eras can and should be considered “classic” Doctor Who at this point, you know? Eccleston first graced our TV screens twenty whole years ago. Pals, that amount of time is what is pretty universally considered to be a generation. It may feel like it just happened, but it didn’t. I hate to say it, but we’re fucking old, and NuWho is old too. So yes, give me the callbacks to the Cybermen and the Daleks, but also give me callbacks to the Reapers and the Sycorax and the Ood and the Family of Blood. Let the people who came in with the 2005 reboot have those moments of fandom glee too! It’s important!
Overall, once the glee of the surprise faded away, I really felt “The Well” held up as a worthy sequel to “Midnight.” It doesn’t quite reach the dazzling heights of the original, but sequels so rarely do. The Entity evolved over the course of the original episode, so the evolution of its powers and its modus operandi made sense to me here, since it had 400,000 years worth of time to acclimate to new situations. The clock sequence where Cassio ended up taking the lives of most of his crewmates was genuinely terrifying, which made the moment Shaya chose to finally kill HIM as much of a relief as it was a tragedy. The mercury waterfall was reminiscent of the way the Doctor defeated the Weeping Angels in “Blink,” outsmarting the Entity at its own game. I love a companion in peril moment where the Doctor is put in an impossible situation having to choose between his friend and the safety of the universe, and boy did the final scene in the airlock deliver. And that ending!! Ending on the whisper, showing that the whole battle may have been in vain after all. Positively bone-chilling.
I also thought that, for the most part, “The Well” managed to push the overarching mystery for the season forward without feeling like it was being shoved in. For the MOST part, I said! The cold open picking up right where we left off in “Lux” was super effective without making you feel like it was a recap of the previous episode. The references to the Earth and the human race potentially having never existed were suitably mysterious. By the time there were five minutes left in the episode, I thought we were gonna get away without a Mrs. Flood appearance, but then of course that old bird had to show up basically twirling an imaginary mustache. Blergh.
Friends, what is RTD even doing here? I feel like I would be more forgiving of this storyline had we not JUST done the “mysterious old woman who appears everywhere” arc with Susan Triad JUST last season. Like, you set Mrs. Flood up to be mysterious in “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” when she broke the fourth wall, but why then do the Susan Triad thing? Why do a mystery spanning multiple seasons while still courting new and casual viewers? I know that the way Missy was introduced to the audience is being used as an example of how this story has worked in the past, but it’s not REALLY how Missy was used back in Series Eight. Missy was always MISSY, even if we didn’t know who Missy WAS. She was always in the same outfit and in the same mysterious place vs. Susan Triad and Mrs. Flood showing up as different characters in different locations scattered all over time and space like nefarious versions of the Impossible Girl Clara Oswald. It’s tiresome, and I fear that, once again, RTD is building up to some sort of Classic reveal that caters to the fanboys of his ilk rather than the audience that he himself has raised since March 2005. It just feels a little short-sighted. After all, a great poet once said that the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Timey-Wimey Observations
- Ncuti’s booty in that spacesuit. To quote my friend Rachel, “That’s Gallifrey’s Ass.”
- Okay, far be it for me to side with a man, but was anyone else a little turned off when The Doctor called Cassio “Hon” after he said it wasn’t appropriate to call him “Babes”? I get that this Doctor plays fast and loose with nicknames and familiarity (See also: the Doctor calling Belinda “Bel” like ten minutes after he met her.) but it DOES feel a little disrespectful that The Doctor, who is usually SO respectful of labels and pronouns, immediately dismissed Cassio’s request. I get that Cassio has a stick up his ass, but still. I feel like it was supposed to be a funny moment of The Doctor being sassy, but instead, to me, it came off a little like a bitchy queen stereotype.
- The Adelaide Brook vibes that Shaya gave off though!
- After he went a LITTLE hard on the music cues in “Lux,” I really enjoyed Murray Gold’s score in this one. He sure knows how to do spooky scary.
- I loved how Alyss never let anything slide in regards to the way people interacted with her deafness.
- I also knew what the sign for “I’m sorry” just because of The Bear.
- I appreciate RTD’s dedication to “Toxic” as the most enduring traditional Earth Ballad. (It’s also a song that a millennial like Belinda would appreciate.) However it WAS distressing to see the children on the internet thinking that it was being used as a commentary on the Doctor/Belinda dynamic instead of it being a fandom Easter Egg. WE ARE LOSING THE ANCIENT TEXTS.
Were you thrilled to get a “Midnight” sequel? Let us know in the comments!
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