** This review is for last week’s episode, delayed due to Fantastic Fest coverage. **
After a few weightier episodes Doctor Who unleashes this week with an immensely fun outing, yes, Time Heist is our favorite Time Lord leading a bank heist into the most secure bank in the Universe. Awaking in a room with no memory of how they got there, the Doctor and Clara find themselves alongside Psi, a computer hacker and Saibra, a shapeshifter. They are given instructions on how to proceed and left to work together or face capture by the Banks Governor Ms Delphox and subsequent punishment by “The Teller”.
So we have a Doctor Who take on Oceans 11 playing with a timey-wimey concept. It’s a clever idea for an episode and one that unfolds nicely and has a lot of fun in doing so. Peter Capaldi is more assured in the role, in his element frankly, taking charges and being posed with a conundrum to solve. Jenna Coleman continues to win over the naysayers with her work as Clara, improved writing being the key. She’s always been a great actress but the material has been lacking. Jonathan Bailey and Pippa Bennett-Warner make great additions to the main cast for the jaunt, together the gang are a great team even though they were thrown together with no knowledge of each other. To top it all off is guest Keeley Hawes as the frosty Ms Delphox. Authoritative, controlling and a frightening force for the Doctor to contend with.
Time Heist brings a great sense of scale to the show that has been lacking for some time. An impressively realized setting, some great CGI and live effects and interesting sets for the crew to make their way through to reach the vaults of this institution. The stakes are high, the result of capture being an interrogation by The Teller, an alien who scans for guilt and ultimately punishes the wrong doers. This being a unsettling mind wipe, an act shown in all its disturbing glory. While it does have a bit of a darker angle and the underlying message about the moral stance about the evils of banking being a little on the nose the episode does finish on something of a redemptive note. Again making clever use of the time travel concept to throw a bit of a curve ball at the audience.
After pondering what kind of man he is for the past few episodes on his post-regeneration funk it is assuring to see the show cut loose with a fun outing. A confident and assured Doctor taking charge. Ambitious scale, a entertaining and clever plot and some great work by the cast make for a damn fun slice of TV.
Next Week: The Caretaker — “The terrifying Skovox Blitzer is ready to destroy all humanity — but worse, and any second now, Danny Pink and the Doctor are going to meet. When terrifying events threaten Coal Hill school, the Doctor decides to go undercover.”