"Lux" - Doctor Who s15e02 Review
I'm Mister Ring-a-Ding!
Tl;dr - This is extremely my shit.
One of the hallmarks of what RTD brought to Doctor Who when he brought the series back in 2015 was creating a formulaic seasonal structure, one that more or less applies to the first five seasons of New Who. Episodes would shift around, but they usually went something like this…
Episode 1 - Introduce new lead characters in present-day Earth (companion, Doctor, or both!).
Episode 2/3 - An episode dyad of an episode set in the far future and an episode set in Earth’s history, usually emphasizing the new Companion saving the day.
Episode 4/5 - Return to Earth’s present for a big and bold story featuring an iconic monster (either returning or new). A lot of popcorn and crowd-pleasing, usually
Episode 6/7 - Another dyad, usually balancing another jaunt to the future and one set in either the past or present
Episode 8/9 - Another two-parter, this time more strange and experimental and fresh.
Episode 10/11 - Experimental, slightly more emotional stuff, typically Doctor/Companion-lite, with the second being big calm-before-the-storm or precursor-to-finale energy
Episode 12/13 - Big sexy two-part finale where classic villains return and threaten the very existence of the show.
It might seem rote, but even within these loose parameters, there was a lot of room for stellar episodes in just about every category.
Now we live in an eight-episode season, and already we have Davies doing something similar. In this case, this week’s “Lux” is consciously tied to “The Devil’s Chord”: a period adventure with a queer icon playing some new/iconic villain with ties back to unresolved Harbinger threads from “The Giggle”. While I quite liked last season’s installment, it was a lot of the typical bombast that comes from the beginnings of an RTD season. A lot more style than substance. Be they civilian or Whovian, he’s trying to grab the audience’s attention and ensure they’ll turn up next week.
Like “The Devil’s Chord”, “Lux” is hardly a perfect episode. It struggles in the way these early episodes usually do, suffering from the RTD weakness of not working with an outline. The end is somewhat abrupt even though the solution is baked into the premise. That said, this is certainly something Doctor Who hasn’t done before and is so delightfully meta that it’s hard to be mad at it at all.
Breaking through the screen
The core premise here, where an animated character comes to life and terrorizes The Doctor like some demonic Roger Rabbit is so blindingly obvious that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done before. The primary reason is most likely financial. Animation like this isn’t exactly cheap or easy to introduce produce under a normal production schedule. For all that I’ve been less-than-pleased with the quantity of the series’ output post Disney+ partnership, if it allows for us to have episodes like this, I won’t complain. Or, at least, I won’t complain in this case, at least.
Davies, though, uses the opportunity to expand the premise beyond just “cartoon comes to life”, making meta-jokes about two-dimensional cartoon characters growing more definition as they gain emotional depth. While it’s a silly concept, it’s the sort of thing that puts to bed any sort of argument that Doctor Who is science fiction.
And, of course, we have The Doctor and Belinda meeting literal Doctor Who fans as they watch the episode we’re watching. It’s a great moment, and wonderful that RTD takes the piss out of everyone who says “Blink” is their favorite episode. If there is a problem, though, it’s that it’s clear Davies came up with the idea as a moment of genius that wouldn’t break the show (nor does it for even an instant), but he didn’t have any idea how to integrate this meta-development into the episode itself. Once they show up, there’s no way out, as they turn out to be themselves part of a Doctor Who narrative and, thusly, a complete dead end.
And like… I don’t envy him the problem. How many other shows can literally bump up against the boundaries of their narrative confines. Like Mr. Ring-a-Ding stepping out of the movie screen as some massive eldritch demon, Davies pushing the show this hard is far preferable to the alternative. Compare this to the Chibnall era and it’s not even a contest as to which I’d rather have. Ambition and messiness will always win out over cautious and competent, especially in a series with this vast a canvas.
Oh look, The Doctor has two hearts. Again.
Here’s a bit sticking in my head, though. I’m always looking for the note behind the note. If I notice something that’s weird, I try to figure out what root cause that symptom might indicate.
So why does it bother me that, again, Davies is emphasizing The Doctor having two hearts? Primarily, I am weary of over-reliance on Doctor Who mythology to develop story. Anytime regeneration as an idea comes up outside of an actual regeneration, it feels like it cheapens one of the series’ greatest tools. Like when The Doctor heals River’s hand in “The Angels Take Manhattan” or when he tries to give Davros a little juice in “The Witch’s Familiar” or when The Master using The Doctor’s regenerations in “The Power of the Doctor” to become The Doctor-Master. This sort of dig into the well feels cheap, writers finding a shortcut to add some complication.
In this case, Mr Ring-a-Ding using regeneration energy as a form of powering himself to be a grotesque 3D creature (which, admittedly, is pretty great; dude looks utterly gnarly in 3D) feels like Davies without a better idea of getting him there. Seeing regeneration utilized like this, I’m perhaps too hyperaware we’re dipping into familiar wells. As we do that more and more, it adds to the show feeling stale. None of us want that.
But also… this is two episodes in a row where we get an X-ray vision of The Doctor’s chest and his two hearts beating within. It’s an odd thing to have back-to-back, especially considering how conscious Davies is of not repeating aspects of the show lest it start to feel stale. To be a speculative fan for a minute, is Davies doing this because he’s going to do something twin-heartsy in the future? With rumors that he’s bringing back another Time Lord, it would certainly be an interesting setup for future payoff.
Finally! Rankings!
Taking all this together, it was utterly delightful top to bottom. It’s best of the season so far, but given the mid-episode last week, that wouldn’t have been difficult. I mean… the ending here made me cackle even more than a cute robot vacuuming up an incel’s cumstain. Mr. Ring-a-Ding absorbing so much sunlight he becomes infinite is a terrific ending, a great shrugface solution to a far-too-big problem. I’m sure its elliptical nature bothers people, but given Davies’ swinging for the fences this hard and the solution being baked into the premise itself, it’s hard to get mad.
And… god it’s great to be back and excited for Doctor Who again. Given the big rumors about the secret premise for next week’s episode, I’m fascinated to see what they’re going to do with it. Regardless, it looks spooky and sexy and I, once again, find myself stoked for another Saturday.
Season 15 Rankings
Lux
The Robot Revolution