Moffat’s return to Doctor Who is a literal minefield with plenty of “Kiss Kiss” but will there be a “Bang Bang” in Boom?
With Davies’ return, DOCTOR WHO once again embraced more character-driven, emotional storytelling as a welcome antidote to the thematically rich but dramatically inept era which preceded it. With BOOM, though, Steven Moffat returns to do what he often did best – present the Doctor with a high-concept “what if?” premise and see how the character adapts and overcomes the perilous situation. The premise this time: what if the Doctor was absolutely immobilised but still had to save his companion and stop an interplanetary war to boot?
Arriving on the war-ravaged planet Kastarion 3, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) waste little time in getting stuck in after hearing a cry for help the moment they open the TARDIS doors. In his exuberant haste, though, the Doctor steps on a high-tech landmine,
BOOM transports the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) to the war-ravaged planet Kastarion 3. The Doctor inadvertently steps on a smart landmine, manufactured by the Villengard corporation (one of a number of Moffat Whovian deep cuts), an intelligent explosive device which adjusts its payload to the DNA of its victim. The Doctor manages to counterbalance himself just before the mine reaches its detonation point: good job too as his complicated space/ time nature would turn him into an explosive force which would destroy half the planet. BOOM indeed. And as if that wasn’t enough to deal with, there’s an ordained Anglican Marine (Moffat loves to pair religion and military force in a nod to, well, all of human history) responding to the cry for help too, Mundy Flynn (Varada Sethu) and she thinks the Doctor and Ruby were involved in what happened to her comrade, John Francis Vater (Joe Anderson). Rounding out the cast of Moffat’s fiendishly staged scenario is Splice Vater (Caoilinn Springall), daughter of the deceased and Susan Twist (yes, really) as the interface of the AI Ambulance, yet another of Moffat’s effortlessly iconic DOCTOR WHO monsters.
There’s a sign here of the late production changes which saw THE DEVIL’S CHORD pulled forward in the running order as mention is made here of Kastarion 3 being Ruby’s first alien planet despite having travelled with the Doctor for over six months (Earth relative time). Seems sus, but beyond raising an eyebrow, doesn’t really impact proceedings. And again, while there’s an undeniable polish to the production values, it has to be said that the scenery is all a bit…well, brown. Situationally appropriate, perhaps, but not particularly visually appealing.
Moffat’s carefully layered script features his trademark playful dialogue, moments of genuine pathos and a clever progression of threat and peril that sees an initial ticking clock threat replaced by a gun-toting stand-off and culminating in a crisis of faith that imperils everyone. It’s tightly packed with emotion and imagination, creating a war-torn world with breadth and depth with an admirable economy, weaving in the required exposition and allowing it to emerge organically as the episode unfolds.
It’s the first episode of the new series to really give its title star a showcase for his talents and Gatwa rises to the challenge with grace and gravitas. We get a real sense of who this incarnation of The Doctor is. More emotional than any of his predecessors, certainly more willing to wear those emotions on their sleeve. It’s also the first episode where the fifteenth Doctor gets to be serious most of the time. There’s a steel core to the silliness we’ve seen and while playfulness has become his stock-in-trade, I pity the foe who earns this Doctor’s ire. The fifteenth Doctor’s fury will be something to witness.
If BOOM stopped there, it would be a great episode. But Moffat’s not done yet. He’s got a thematic payload and unlike the smart landmine, nothing’s going to stop him going off with a trinity of American-aimed subversion. The AI Ambulance is a delicious concoction of algorithmic callousness, driven by its subscription model (“patient is unordained, treatment withheld”) and profit-driven triage decisions, it’s a combination that’s going to be far more familiar to DOCTOR WHO’s American viewers (and Disney coproducers), lampooning as it does their for-profit healthcare system. The second part of the trinity is the revelation the ambulances are in the employ of the Villengard military-industrial complex which is running a phony-war for profit, supplying the Anglican forces with weaponry to fight an imaginary opponent. The third and final dig is the proffering of “thoughts and prayers” in place of any practical assistance. It has to be said, in her most prominent role so far, the mysterious Susan Twist is absolutely chilling.
Of course, keeping the satirical Stateside theme, the only way to take down a bad guy with an AI is a good guy with an AI and there’s a pugnacious genius to Moffat placing an AI version of an Anglican solider into the evil corporate mainframe to save the day, a literal deus ex machina. DOCTOR WHO is always at its best when the sci-fi drama is underpinned by a strong thematic through-line and on that basis, BOOM is a standalone triumph, even it does at times feel a little like Moffat taking a victory lap and revisiting his all-time favourite tropes; more than once character is killed off, only to be resurrected, the witty lines and signature catchphrases “sharp scratch”, “kiss kiss”, soldier’s sacrifice to name but a few. But maybe the most Moffat-esque trope is the appearance of Varada Sethu in an apparent one-off role prior to joining the main cast of the series (as announced for series 15 (or series 2 if you’re Russell T Davies and only if you’re Russell T Davies)).
Taking a step back off the immediate narrative landmine, though, BOOM still has plenty of breadcrumbs to drop in terms of the season’s overall mystery. There’s a musical moment when the Doctor sings – again and when Ruby’s life is in danger, snow starts to fall only this time we get definite confirmation that it’s not just experienced by The Doctor and Ruby but everyone who’s there at the time. And the question of her next of kin nearly causes the AI Ambulance to throw up its own blue screen of death.
Powerful, purposeful and even profound, BOOM is the strongest episode since Jodie Whittaker and a reminder of how good DOCTOR WHO can be when everything is…on song.