The next consists of spoilers for “The Satan’s Chord.”
For a present about time (and house) journey interwoven with British popular culture since its begin in 1963, a visit to go to the Beatles is an apparent premise. So apparent that that is the second time we’ve had a “what if” episode hinging on the Fab 4’s cultural impression. In any case, each the Beatles and Physician Who grew to become world cultural exports as Britain flexed its post-imperial mushy energy. However whereas there’s loads of materials to mine in that premise, this isn’t an episode that’s fascinated with doing that, relegating the Beatles to little greater than window dressing.
This has all the time been a trick in Physician Who’s toolbox, particularly when Russell T. Davies is in cost. He loves dangling an concept, or eye-catching visible, to lure in an viewers earlier than transferring the main focus to one thing else. I’m reminded of the kung-fu monks from “Tooth and Claw” which regarded nice within the trailers however had no actual impression on the story. It’s “Tooth and Claw” that “The Satan’s Chord” feels just like — an early season one episode that doesn’t fairly work in and of itself, however does spend numerous its time gesturing to this yr’s recurring themes. (FilmStories reported from a latest Q&A, the place Davies mentioned that this episode lacked a central plot and was, as a substitute, “Just a few subplots.”)
However to know that, and my stance, we’re going to should take slightly take a look at The Context earlier than we get to analyzing the meat. You see, throughout its historical past, Physician Who has bent itself to suit the imaginative and prescient of its major artistic determine and Davies is a voracious watcher of TV. He’s obsessive about the shape and format of TV as a lot as its content material, and that is mirrored in his work. His episodes typically develop with information stories, CCTV clips and deeper types of exposition revealed by screens. “Bad Wolf” is a superb instance, the place the present lands at a TV studio that’s making sci-fi variations of the then-current pantheon of British actuality TV.
Davies additionally trusts his viewers to instinctively know the unstated guidelines of TV even when they will’t title them. Which is why I feel it’s value taking a look at “The Satan’s Chord” as an episode that’s, for need of a greater phrase, collapsing in on itself. When Mrs. Flood talks to the digital camera on the finish of “Church on Ruby Street,” it felt Intentionally Fallacious, particularly after she was seemingly unaware of the TARDIS earlier within the episode. Right here, the quite a few fourth wall breaks and lapses in storytelling are equally an intentional signal of How Fallacious Issues Are. What begins out as a by-the-numbers superstar historic shortly collapses right into a fever dream like Sam Lowry’s descent into insanity on the finish of Brazil.
We open in a live performance corridor in 1925 as a trainer outlines the fundamentals of music idea for a younger little one. He exhibits off that he has “found” The Satan’s Chord and, by enjoying it, unleashes Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon), the embodiment of music. Maestro is a godlike elemental power and a toddler of the Toymaker – featured villain of the sixtieth Anniversary particular episode “The Giggle.” After praising the musician for his or her genius, Maestro then sucks the music out of their coronary heart and eats it like cotton sweet earlier than staring into the digital camera and enjoying the present’s theme tune on the piano.
When the titles finish (discover the theme is enjoying out of the jukebox) it’s clear Ruby has been on the TARDIS for a while. She asks the Physician if it could be doable to go to the recording of the Beatles’ first album on the EMI’s studios on Abbey Street. Earlier than they open the doorways, she asks if it could be value them turning into much less conspicuously trendy garments they usually spring off to pattern the delights of the TARDIS wardrobe, full with a wig for the Physician.
The pair sneak into George Martin’s producer’s sales space however shortly spot one thing is unsuitable with the scene in entrance of them. Slightly than enjoying any of Please Please Me’s large and recognizable hits, they’re turning out mop-top music about animals. The Physician doesn’t realize it but however Maestro has spent the previous few many years swallowing all the music out of individuals’s hearts. It’s a genius approach to get round the truth that, even with all of the money thrown at Get Again and Disney’s huge financial institution stability, Doctor Who still can’t readily afford to license Beatles songs.
Subsequent door, (well-known British singer / TV presenter / infamous diva) Cilla Black is equally stricken with a case of the muzaks whereas a live performance orchestra is nearly mustering a model of Three Blind Mice. The Physician and Ruby head to the canteen to nook John and Paul to try to discover out what went unsuitable with historical past. They then head to the roof with a piano, the place Ruby performs a tune she wrote to assist a buddy recover from a breakup. However as soon as the Physician hears Maestro’s giggle, he sprints away, hiding in a close-by basement.
The Physician explains that any villain who laughs is tied to the Toymaker and is an indication of the fractured universe. Combating the Toymaker in “The Giggle” was sufficiently draining and troublesome, particularly given how highly effective these elemental forces are, that he doesn’t need to do it once more. Maestro is looking for them, however the Physician makes use of his sonic screwdriver to kill all the sound within the space. (The Physician is aware of simply sufficient about how the shape and format of TV works to show the tables on their opponent.) Maestro works out how one can undo the blocking – with some magnificent sound modifying — however is then distracted from their pursuit of the Physician by an older lady Ruby had impressed to play the piano.
The eagle-eyed amongst you’ll discover that that is the second time in two episodes that Ruby has impressed one other individual to be daring to their detriment. Her phrases had been sufficient to encourage Eric to try to tackle the bogeyman single-handed in “Area Infants,” practically imperiling him. The older lady isn’t so fortunate and will get consumed by Maestro
Due to how lengthy Physician Who has run, it is typically its personal supply materials. Ruby, as soon as they’ve escaped, assumes that the whole lot is okay as a result of she recollects listening to music as a toddler and so due to this fact Maestro can’t have received. So, in a scene pulled from “Pyramids of Mars,” the Physician takes her to 2024 within the TARDIS to point out the wreckage of the alternate future. As a result of whereas she’s protected against the ravages of continuity by the actual fact she’s touring by time, the remainder of the universe isn’t so fortunate.
However this flash-forward, in an echo of the assembly with the Toymaker, flips from a visage of a bombed-out London to a stagey set. Maestro arrives behind a white piano to stipulate their plan to rid the universe of music, leaving simply the aeolian tones of the wind brushing in opposition to objects. However the Physician says {that a} universe with out music, unable to specific pleasure or anger by artwork, turns bitter and destroys itself. It is a feeling I can relate to — like when love turns into so painful in its absence that you simply’d moderately disappear into the void than preserve happening. Davies can be a nihilist so a lot of his episodes have revolved across the darkish face of humanity that reveals itself when denied Earthly pleasures.
Escaping again to the ‘60s, the Physician and Ruby meet Maestro and discover the partitions of actuality are collapsing. Murray Gold’s swirling soundtrack isn’t simply the background music, it’s bled into the material of the present itself. The Physician and Ruby begin looking for a chord that may bind Maestro with the Mrs. Mills piano, a (actual) fixture of Abbey Street’s studio. As they play, the notes are rendered floating over the piano, however the pair fail to determine the ultimate word earlier than Maestro turns up.
Maestro begins attacking, throwing round musical scores as weapons and hurling the piano into the corridor. It’s right here that the episode’s coherence begins to sag, the scenes get longer and odder, a wonky model of a regular monster-of-the-week TV present conclusion. The strain builds, and all seems to be misplaced, till John and Paul come across the piano within the hallway. They’re capable of see the notes hanging within the air over the piano and with their, uh, innate musical nous, and full the chord to bind the villain. However earlier than they’re whisked away, Maestro has time to disclose they aren’t the one one of many Toymaker’s minions coming, and “the one who waits” is lurking within the background.
Out of nowhere, the episode ends with an enormous musical quantity that options the solid dancing by the Abbey Street units, delighted on the return of music. Even the steps of the highway crossing gentle up because the Physician and Ruby lower a rug throughout them. I can’t work out if it’s merely an indulgent sequence, or one other large signal that the present’s construction is breaking down. That the Physician and Ruby are blind to the obvious Wrongness of all of it hints on the latter, particularly given the deeper context of the music’s title — see beneath.
There are different indicators that Physician Who is collapsing into its personal TV sequence, together with the casting choices. The older lady who performs the piano is June Hudson, the present’s costume designer from 1978 to 1980 — who famously redesigned the fourth Physician’s costume. The musician on the piano throughout the dance quantity is Murray Gold, whereas the figures the Physician and Ruby dance with on the finish are Strictly Come Dancing stars Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe. Possibly the massive nemesis haunting the sequence can be some kind that would threaten its existence as a TV present itself.
It’s value saying that Physician Who has an uneasy relationship with “large” villain performances which can turn hard into hamminess. However Jinkx Monsoon manages to pitch Maestro as simply large and flamboyant sufficient to steal each scene they’re in, however by no means too foolish. It’s additionally the fitting aspect of charming and magnetic, and whereas they don’t have anyplace close to sufficient time to correctly face off in opposition to Ncuti Gatwa’s Physician, it’s nonetheless an important match-up.
The issue of Susan Twist
As a lot as I don’t need to get into the weeds right here, it’s doable these items goes to return up later that I must flag it. Physician Who has been operating for greater than 60 years with a revolving door of artistic figures who paid little-to-no consideration to consistency. A handy approach to justify these is by suggesting time journey, by its very nature, would all the time mess up your private historical past. However, in latter days, the present has typically most well-liked to miss the thornier elements of its backstory, just like the existence of the Physician’s granddaughter, Susan.
When the present began, the Physician was joined on his adventures by Susan and a pair of lecturers who adopted her residence one evening. Lengthy earlier than any point out of Time Lords or Gallifrey, she was simply the child determine who typically wound up needing rescuing. Then, in “The Dalek Invasion of Earth,” the Physician exiles her to twenty second century Earth as a result of she needs to kiss a boy. His goodbye speech has been lengthy since de-contextualized and made to sound noble. However it’s primarily him going “yeah, you’re fascinated with boys now, so that you go make infants (eww infants) and keep right here whereas I am going off operating across the universe.” Sure, it’s a bit yikes.
This ties in with a small physique of writing about this trope in kids’s literature about the way in which feminine characters are handled when reaching maturity. Together with a sexual awakening, that is typically used as justification to dump them out of the narrative. It’s even known as “The Downside of Susan,” albeit named after Neil Gaiman’s rebuttal of what occurs to Susan on the finish of The Chronicles of Narnia. When you’d wish to be taught extra, you’ll be able to learn Elizabeth Sandifer’s essay on “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” which talks about this in some element.
Why is that this related? As a result of when Davies’ returned to Physician Who, he solid the identical actress in two completely different episodes. Susan Twist performed Mrs. Merridew in “Wild Blue Yonder” and was seen once more in “The Church on Ruby Street,” which despatched keen-eyed followers right into a frenzy. She pops up right here as a tea woman and, on the roof of Abbey Street; the Physician even talks in regards to the truth one other of his incarnations resides in Shoreditch in 1963 along with his granddaughter. That the episode ends with a musical quantity known as “There’s all the time a Twist on the finish” with Ncuti Gatwa winking to digital camera is as large a neon signal as you might hope for.
Physician Who followers — by no means ones to not scour the textual content, metatext and paratext of every episode — took Twist’s repeated casting as a signpost. They assumed, not unjustifiably, that this sequence would function a twist about Susan, and that Davies was subtly signaling this to diehard followers. Given Twist’s look right here, and that we get a music saying the quiet half out loud, appears to vindicate these theories. Except, in fact, it’s all a triple bluff, however I’m unsure how anybody might sport that efficiently. The one query that continues to be, in fact, is what Davies’ plan is, and the way precisely it’ll play out within the subsequent six episodes.
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