2nd Opinion, Take 2 “War of the Sontarans” – Dumb Fluxing Potatoheads
JC’s take on the second episode of Series 13.
After the overstuffed mess
First, let’s talk about the Sontarans. Now, reader, I have a confession: I’m not a fan, sorry. I’ve just never found them to be a great Doctor Who foe, well in the revival. I haven’t really enjoyed any of their stories, even during the (first) RTD era. Then Steven Moffat turned them into an absolute one-note monster throughout his time, with Strax representing the race as nothing more than comic relief (the pinnacle of which was having him dressed as a butler and serving tea). I prefer my Doctor Who monsters to be of the creepier, more serious variety. So already I knew their involvement here was going to be a hard sell.
“War of the Sontarans” didn’t do enough to change my opinion on them. Okay, so they weren’t quite as bad here, but I still had issues. Whilst I’m sure many long-term fans love that they have returned to their more classic appearance, I think they look sillier than they did in the Moffat and RTD era. Due to this, and their general stupidity factor still being present, I struggle to take these potatoheads as seriously as you are meant to. Their biggest crime though: they have worse aim than Star Wars’ Stormtroopers! Dan is running away, down a narrow street in close range, and a squad still can’t hit their target! And for further embarrassment, then they get ambushed by Dan’s parents, an elderly couple. Are the Sontarans not meant to be a race bred for war? On top of that, their ship security is awful and, in the end, they’re far too easily defeated.
Unlike the Sontarans, I’m loving Swarm and Azure. It’s great to have a big bad that isn’t easily vanquished in one episode. While they were visually less creepy than in their debut, they’re just on the right side of camp. I enjoyed how they were toying with our heroes when demonstrating their power. I think they missed an opportunity to kill Yaz though. Thanks to the idiotic trailer in the credits, we know she and Vinder are 100% safe. Killing a companion would make them even more of a threat and let the audience would know they’re not to be trifled with. We still haven’t had a major companion death in new Who. And I mean one that isn’t undone an episode or two later with timey-wimey shenanigans, “wiggle room”, or some other way out.
Speaking of Yaz, my opinions on her haven’t changed from last week. I found the whole “WWTDD” moment very cheesy and unbefitting of someone who has supposedly been travelling with Doctor for years now. Not to mention a 30-something former police officer (but she still uses the title). Why is she now portrayed as being greener than Dan (who was stopping an entire invasion)? Although Vinder got more scenes this week, I’m still finding his character to be lacking. Aside from learning from Swarm he was “shamed, disgraced and rejected”, there’s still very little meat to him, leaving him thinly-sketched.
Thankfully, this was a better episode for Dan, who actually got to be a more of an action hero. Perhaps a bit prematurely given he’s still new to all this, but I’d say he still stole the show on the hero side of things. Seeing him taking out Sontarans with a giant wok was always going to be a lot of fun (even if it comes at the expense of the Sontarans as a serious threat). It was nice to meet his parents (played by Sue Jenkins and Paul Broughton), but they were sadly little more than exposition dumpers. I’m warming a bit more to Karvanista, and I enjoyed Dan and his back and forths.
Of the two other main guest stars, Sara Powell’s Mary Seacole was best-served. The same, sadly, can’t be said for General Logan. Gerald Kyd gave the role his best with what he had to work with, but the problem was he was portrayed as the usual generic human “baddie” that Chibnall often defaults to when challenged with writing more morally grey characters. Logan is scolded by the Doctor for blowing up the Sontarans, while Dan basically doing the same thing is completely fine. Got to love the 13th Doctor’s inconsistencies…
Asides:
- The opening black and white scene was a cool visual. What is going on with this spooky flying house?
- The resolution of the cliffhanger from last week was a massive cop-out. Almost as bad as “…and then they woke up, and it was all a dream”.
- Presumably the Flux is still eating away at the universe? Wouldn’t that be the primary concern for the Doctor? Yet she doesn’t appear bothered.
- Where is the malfunctioning TARDIS leading? It is our one constant in the show and to see it potentially dying is concerning. It was nice to see Jodie acting concerned too. We don’t get enough moments like that.
- The CGI was very good again, with one exception: the moment of Dan and Karvanista falling into the water.
- The battle scenes were quite impressive for a show on a more limited budget.
- We are introduced to the Mouri, who we learn are gatekeepers of Planet Time. Isn’t this the job for the Time Lords?
