shawThings.net : a collection of shaw things ...

This is the first "normal" episode of the new series, ie. not a regeneration episode or a special. And I think we are starting to see the more thoughtful approach of Steven Moffat. As with The Eleventh Hour it's something hiding in the shadows (in this case the beast below) and the Doctor's ability to notice things and understand what's going on while Amy sees nothing. What follows is a gripping episode with lots of suspense, just a few snippets of humour and a difficult decision for the Doctor.

The episode, dark as it is, begins fancifully with the Doctor holding Amy's foot as she hangs outside the TARDIS in open space. The Starship UK then drifts into view. It's England on a spaceship, on the run from a dangerous sun engulfing the Earth in solar flares. When they arrive, the Doctor sees a little girl, Mandy, crying silently and no-one stops to help her. From this he deduces a police state and that everyone is afraid of something. The mechanical Smilers, reminiscent of the clockwork robots in The Girl in the Fireplace, another Moffat story, seem to watch everything that goes on.

A few mysteries become apparent: how does the ship run when it appears to have no engines; who is Liz 10 and how does she know the Doctor; what are the scary Smilers and Winders up to; and what is the beast below. And then there are the voting booths. Amy sees the truth and is given the choice to protest or forget and chooses to forget (although it feels forced by the horror of what she saw).

The Doctor arrives and chooses to protest and he and Amy fall deep into the ship. They land and the Doctor discovers the floor is a tongue (which reminds me of The Empire Strikes Back). They escape, rather hilariously, by causing the beast to vomit.

It turns out Liz 10 is Queen Elizabeth X and she "knows" the Doctor by recognising his actions as similar to her antecedants' encounters with the Doctor. The Smilers and Winders are agents of her government. The ship is powered by a trapped Star Whale that is tortured to control it. And her vote requires her to forget or abdicate. She has chosen to forget many times and is back at the same decision.

The Doctor can break the cycle. It's a tough choice: kill the Star Whale or destroy the ship. He tries to find a third way, by, as humanely (?) as possible, turning the Star Whale into a vegetable, so that it can continue to power the ship without needing to be tortured. Amy, who the Doctor has told he is taking her home for withholding information from him, eventually figures out the solution. She puts together all the things she noticed and deduces the beast below, is not a beast at all, but a friend. She gets the Queen to abdicate and after a few rough shakes, the ship is powering along even better. The whale came to help. It didn't need to be tortured. The Doctor is grateful and forgives Amy.

In all of this, nobody dies, or is even harmed (apart from some machines). This is a little unusual, but not unwelcome. Perhaps another Moffat trait.

As the episode wraps up, we see the Starship UK from the outside and it has a crack in its hull. The crack has the same basic shape as the crack in Amy's wall from last time.

And then there's the phone call. This time it's not a friend's tricked-up mobile phone, but an actual phone in the TARDIS console. It's Winston Churchill and he's got a bit of bother and needs the Doctor's help. In the background is the unmistakable shadow of a dalek.