By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photo copyright BBC
There is a lot riding on this episode given the calibre of the writer.
Former showrunner Steven Moffat (I’m taller tha him you know and a lovely man to chat with) is back to write for the show now run by his old mate Russell T Davies. But does Boom follow the pattern of previous episodes and disappoint?
Damn you can see that Davies and Disney are distant memories in Boom. If this episode had been the season opener the ratings would have been a lot better than they were. Indeed on the back of this maybe Moffat should have been the man to bring back the show for the new era.
We open with two soldiers stumbling across a devastated landscape. They are members of the Anglican Marines whom we first met when they had River Song in custody on a mission against the Weeping Angels. One steps on a landmine and is vaporised while the other, John Vater, who has been blinded in an explosion is treated by a mobile robotic ambulance. It decides four weeks is too long for his injuries to heal to be of value to the war effort. He is given the chance to send one last message to his young daughter before being compressed into a torch like object. It contains an interactive AI of the deceased that will prove critical later. I’ll call it an infostamp as seen in the tenth Doctor story the Next Doctor.
We also meet Vater’s daughter, Splice and soldiers Canto and Mundy Flynn. Kanto and Mundy have a thing for each other while Splice is waiting for her dad to come back. Now here’s the thing; Mundy (Varada Sethu) as we know is to join as a companion in season two and here her introduction to the Doctor and Ruby is fraught to say the least. This is similar to the surprise Clara introduction in Asylum of the Daleks. But that’s the whole tone of this episode. Take nothing for granted.
It is about the horrors and economics of war but as seen through the eyes of the Doctor and Ruby.
When Vater is killed the Tardis materialises and the Doctor runs out to help but he ends up standing on a landmine which we have already seen is lethal. His Time Lord heritage delays the explosion but the tension is palpable. If ever anyone ever had doubts about Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor Steven Moffat has lain those to rest.
Our fun loving Doctor is suddenly faced with the real possibility of death. He has no gadgets, no special tricks, nothing. He is a man facing his own mortality with only Ruby to help. Ncuti gives a tour de force performance here as the Doctor literally one step from death. The usual fun loving Time Lord is reduced to a terrified, babbling man whose demise will destroy half the planet.
This sudden revelation of the Doctor’s death in this manner will cause such devastation actually ties in with his regeneration energy which we have seen level Trenzalore and destroy the Tardis. That may have confused some viewers and it initially did for me but thankfully I’m a lifelong fan. That’s why all the Easter eggs were a delight even poor Vater telling the ambulance that his vision is impaired, the cry of a Dalek when its eye stalk is compromised as far back as the McCoy era Remembrance of the Daleks and the Doctor telling Splice that he loves fish fingers and custard.
Indeed Ncuti’s performance here brought back shades of Matt Smith for me. That pure rage and anger while trying to keep spirits up opens up this Doctor like never before. His helplessness and terror scare Ruby to an extent but she refuses to do anything he says. She will save him no matter what.
The three storylines converge nicely, each significant to each other. Splice turns up to find her dad along with her protector Mundy as does Canto. Each arrival puts them all in greater danger as the Doctor struggles to control his bopdy functions that will trigger the landmine. Trust is in small supply until the Doctor figures out how to save the day and what is really going on. The war is a fake run by a company to generate profits and the mysterious enemy which may be mist or mud monsters don’t exist at all.
Mundy and her fellow priests have been fighting a one sided war for profit only. Watching her initial distrustful meeting with the frozen Doctor in which she wants to get Splice back to the base with her father’s remains is a beautiful mini journey. Her mission is to keep Splice safe and bring her dad home to her as the infostamp contains his memories and interactive hologram. When she fires on the Doctor and he almost drops the infostamp you jump. Her arc is well done given Canto’s death, her new found role as mother to Splice and taking a chance on this man, whose death will destroy them all, when he challenges her faith against proof is fraught with tension but very well acted.
That’s the strength of this episode; it is believable. I never found anything hard to swallow. It is almost a stage play but also a chance to expand the Ruby mystery and show that travelling with the Doctor is not always a song and dance show. The song here is haunting and beautiful and integral to the action.
War is hell as Mister Ratcliffe tells the Dalek computer in 1963 London and here the stark reality of war is slammed home. Innocent people die in war under the banner of collateral damage or acceptable losses. The true horror of that is lost in a whitewash but here when Ruby is shot by Canto it is brutal and hardhitting, The horror of her body jerking under multiple shots and plunging down the slope like broken doll is horrifying. Moffat killed both Clara and Bill Potts back in the day (remember Bill getting a hole blown in her the size of a basketball before being turned into a Cyberman with the Master#s help?)
Helpless to rush to her side and save the day, The Doctor cries with a feeling of complete uselessness. I don’t think we have seen him experience just how lethal war is before like this. He is stuck in a moment of time helpless while all he cares about falls around him. Could it be that he is seeing those he lost as he stares at Ruby’s broken body? He made a promise to her mother to keep her safe and as failed. Just as he told Rory’s dad that he would bring Amy and Rory back safely, the Doctor’s life may have just claimed another innocent that he was suposed to care for.
When the ambulance decides Ruby’s injuries are too etensive to treat, ssnow begins to fall just as it did before, manifested somehow by Ruby life force fading. There are always options and the Doctor finds a way to save everyone incuding himself when he persuades Mundy to believe him and uses Vater’s infostamp to invade the ambulance’s network. But what does the snow manifestation mean? When Maestro was draining Ruby of her music last week, something was triggered that scared even the Toymaker’s daughter.
Could Ruby be one of the pantheon gods but one that isn’t evil or a meglamaniac? Only a god can scare a god. Is her near death experiences causing her real self to manifest like a butterfly emerging from a caterpillar? When the Doctor opened the veil between realities in Wild Blue Yonder was Ruby a consequence of that act? It would explain why the Doctor looked so nervous doing secret scans of Ruby in the Tardis. It would also explain why he was tracking her in The Church on Ruby Road in the clubs. Could Ruby be the Dark Phoenix of Doctor Who? All this love and attention and hugs may be the Doctor’s way of bringing her to the good side if she does ever emerge. Or was she taken from the baby farm, implanted with a force that will destroy the gods that are coming and left on Earth for the Doctor to find? Is there another force watching out for the Doctor? After all the universe without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about. Food for thought indeed.
Overall, Boom is pure Doctor Who at its best; a beautiful intimate setting with performances that allow us to really see why Gatwa and Gibon were given this job. I was on the edge of my seat. I had no idea how the Doctor was going to get out of this and despite a slightly happy ever after ending, was a journey of perfect writing. The dialogue is delicious. I would have liked to have seen Ruby and the Doctor impacted as they stood in the Tardis door a bit more like the tenth Doctor was at the end of Midnight. On that occasion the Doctor was as close to death as he is in Boom. I have a feeling that the trauma they both go through is merely a taster for what is to come.
Welome back Steven Moffat; see you again at Christmas.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 