Doctor Who: Mummy on the Orient Express (8x08)

Ugh I hate it when an episode is almost totally awesome, and you almost have no complaints about it, but then there's just one or two tiny moments that don't work, and it pulls you entirely out of the moment. That's what this episode did. The parts that were good were too good, because they make the flaws stick out like sore thumbs.

Clara and the Doctor are going on one last trip together, since Clara has decided that while she could never really hate the Doctor, she can't keep traveling like he does. They arrive on the Orient Express, or, rather, a train named after it, traveling through space. The entire train is historically accurate. While on the train, Clara and the Doctor realize there might be a mystery afoot.

The Doctor investigates without telling Clara, learning quickly that there is a mummy aboard, that can only be seen by the people it is about to kill. Clara finds a woman named Maisie, whose grandmother was the first victim of the Foretold (that's the mummy). The Doctor finds out that everyone on the train is in some way specialized with knowledge that should be able to help them find out what the Foretold is doing - they were brought here for a reason. Gus, the computerized system on the train, informs them all that they are here to learn what the Foretold is supposed to be, and that they have all basically been kidnapped for this purpose.

The Doctor and Perkins, an engineer, work out that the Foretold is going for people with weaknesses - physical and mental illnesses. After it takes out a number of the passengers, the Doctor realizes that Maisie will be next, because of the trauma of her grandmother dying, and because Maisie feels guilty for never getting along with her grandmother. The Doctor tells Clara to bring Maisie to him, so that she can describe the mummy before dying. Clara is angry that he doesn't have a plan to save her, and even angrier that the Doctor tells her to lie to Maisie, and say that the Doctor can save her. But, for the good of the many, Clara does just that.

The Doctor is able to transfer Maisie's trauma into a device and into himself, so that the mummy will attack him, instead of Maisie. He has 66 seconds from the time he can see the mummy, to figure out the puzzle. And he does - the mummy was an old soldier that just wants the war to be over. By saying "we surrender," the Doctor gets the mummy to stop, and it collapses into dust. Gus, the computer, congratulates them for solving the mystery, and then proceeds to suck the air out of the train, since survivors are not necessary for the mission.

The Doctor uses the Foretold's transportation device to get them all out and into the TARDIS, saving the rest of the train's passengers. Clara talks to Danny on the phone, and realizes that she's not done traveling with the Doctor just yet. She tells the Doctor that it was Danny's idea that they stop traveling, and that he's changed his mind, so it's fine now. The Doctor and Clara joyfully start their next adventure, happy not to be separated after all.

As I stated at the start, this episode could have been seriously amazing, but there were just a few details that tripped me up.

One was a plot point - what the heck did the Doctor do to Maisie to transfer all her trauma into him? Are you telling me the Doctor can actually just point at someone, and absorb their pain into himself? That's a rather convenient and nifty trick! What a weird, contrived plot point. I was not a fan.

The other thing is, surprise surprise, the way women are written in this episode. Again - almost great. I liked that Clara and Maisie got to have scenes just the two of them. That's a good start. But then, after a promising conversation about Maisie's relationship with her grandmother, they spend the rest of their time together only talking about the Doctor, and whether or not Clara is still going to travel with him. Not to mention the fact that while the Doctor is playing the genius, and helping solve the mystery, Clara remains sitting on the sidelines, to show up just in time to watch the Doctor save the day. I wish Clara were more proactive! The Doctor was awesome, and Clara was practically pointless.

But I'd be lying if I said that these things ruined the whole episode for me. They didn't. First of all, the visual design was stunning. Clara looked awesome in that dress, with that hair... damn. I love the idea of a train frozen in a different time, and yet there are futuristic hints here and there, like the computerized Gus, and the fact, of course, that the train is hurtling through space.

Gus was a great villain. There was something menacing about him from the beginning, but it's not until late in the game that you really realize the extent of what's going on. Apparently, he's been trying to get the Doctor on one of his trains for quite some time, which makes sense... if you need a weird monster taken care of, the Doctor is the guy to call.

I liked a lot of these side characters, although of course I must mention that the only female side character here didn't get to solve the mystery, or use any sort of intellectual skills whatsoever. Despite that, Maisie was a fun character, a bit manic, understandably, but also a kind and good friend to Clara. Then there's Perkins, who was a great one-time companion, asking good questions and chiming in with witty banter. The captain, with his PTSD and his begrudging eventual respect of the Doctor, and Professor Moorehouse, with his intellectual curiosity mixed with his understandable self-preservation instincts. These characters were all fairly well developed, given the short amount of time available in the episode.

The timer thing was really cool - the minute that clock started counting down from 66, you felt the tension. It was a cool idea to do it real-time, so that even if we spent time away from the mummy, we still knew that when that clock hit zero, someone was going to be dead.

A couple of funny lines of dialogue - I liked it when Clara asks the Doctor a rhetorical question, and the Doctor replies "frankly that would be an absolutely astonishing guess if I did know." Later, when the Captain looks at the psychic paper, he believes the Doctor to be a mystery shopper. The Doctor is flummoxed - "mystery shopper? Really, that's your worst - okay, I'm a mystery shopper." Very funny.

I'll finish off with a discussion of Clara and the Doctor's relationship in this episode. Even if I continue to wish that Clara could be more developed as an individual, I still think Jenna Coleman is an excellent actress, and I still enjoy the chemistry between Clara and the Doctor. Clara's sad smiles, the Doctor firmly trying to pretend everything is normal... and then at the end, when Clara gives in to the addiction of being with the Doctor and tells him she's not leaving - the Doctor gets this huge smile on his face, and it's too precious. They did a nice job with weaving in this relationship drama with the plot, so we weren't overwhelmed with angst, but we were seeing enough of their woes to get invested and want things to work themselves out.

I will say, though... after last week's impressively angry speech from Clara, I'm a tiny bit miffed by how quickly things got back to normal. Hopefully we don't drop this story like a hot potato. I want the Doctor to have learned from his mistakes, and I want to see how Clara continues to help him.

7/10