Boom!

[daibhidc]

Well that was a nailbiter!

 

As Moffatt says, Doctor Who does scary, but it doesn't often do tense, al least not for prolonged periods. And after four episodes of Ncuti being one of the more exhuberant Doctors, he plays the tension very well.

The return of the Anglican Marines and Villengard weapons? Fish fingers and custard? The writer credit at the startt was pretty much supefluous, wasn't it? Not that that's a bad thing; if this is the Moff's last Doctor Who (yeah, sure), it might as well be as Moffatty as possible.

The points being made were not subtle (the Ambulance saying "Thoughts and prayers" as it killed people for being unnecessary was a nice touch) but no reason why they should have been. And a bit of nuance to the Doctor's views on faith, when he basically says he understands why it's necessary, even if he doesn't like it.

The guest cast were all excellent, especially Splice, and a nice amping up of the stakes with the reveal that the  mine converting the Doctor into an explosive would be much more destructive than it is for a human, even if I didn't quite follow how.

Speaking of things I didn't quite follow, Vater travelling from the hologram, through the Doctor, to the Ambulance was one of those classic Moffatt ideas, in that I don't believe it makes a blind bit of sense, but they pushed the awesomeness of it so hard that it seems churlish to point that out.

Still not sure what I make of Ruby's magic snow - also, is this going to happen every week now?

And, talking of things that happen every week, my face-blindess means I've only been aware of the Susan Twist thing because I've read about it, but the Ambulance is definitely her most prominent role so far. I kind of thought this might be coming to a head next week, since Ruby says there's a mysterious woman following her around, but apparently there's also a character called The Woman, played by someone else, so, probably not.

(My theory: Mrs Merridew was scattered through time by the change to history, and the only way for the Doctor to help her is to go back to 1666 and darn well fix the flipping "mavity" thing.)