Doctor Who: Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror (12x04)

This episode reminded me, in a good way, of that Van Gogh episode from the Matt Smith days. Let's dive in!

Cons:

I should say that while I did find this portrayal of Tesla to be endearing, I was a little disappointed about some of the stuff we didn't get to see. First of all, I'm not trying to insult the actor who played Tesla, because he did a fantastic job... but the actual Tesla was a babe, and they didn't really play up his natural attractiveness here. Also... I'm not an expert, but I do know that Tesla fell in love with his pet bird at one point in his life. The dude was eccentric to say the least, and I feel like this episode limited the more bonkers elements to the aliens, instead of turning a closer look on Tesla himself. Maybe it worked out better this way... I was just a little wistful for what we might have gotten.

I talked before about how not every companion is going to have something to do in every episode... that only makes sense, when working with a slightly larger cast. But Graham really hasn't had a lot of material to sink his teeth into recently, has he? I was definitely noticing that this week.

I also hope that this season contains some episodes that are not so... Earth-bound. The two-part opener and then this episode featured stories that took place through time, but remained on Planet Earth, with real historical figures. And then last week's episode took place on Earth as well, albeit with a significant twist. I recall last season feeling a little more limited in scope as well. Maybe there's an interesting reason why the Doctor is feeling less inclined to wander far and wide. If that's the case, I'm intrigued - I just want some wacky adventures on made up planets with silly aliens soon, please.

Pros:

So despite wishing that more had been done with Tesla, I did really, really enjoy this actor's performance, and the amount of pathos that was given to the character. He was a good man with a genuine passion for science and progress, who wanted to give the world gifts that would change humanity forever. I loved the way the Doctor talked about modern technologies and how Tesla had come up with proto-versions for a lot of things. That was genuinely educational, and in a way that I bet kids would enjoy and find informative. I, of course, know who Nikola Tesla is. But the fact that Yaz didn't, and that Graham had heard the name but couldn't name any specifics, felt realistic to me, as I'm sure many others only have a passing knowledge of this man.

I also liked the inclusion of Dorothy, Tesla's assistant. This was a part that seemed superfluous in some ways, but actually added a lot of texture to the story. She is Tesla's "companion," in the same way that Ryan, Yaz, and Graham are the Doctor's companions. She had a lust for knowledge, and Tesla was able to give that to her, even though it came with risks, and a lack of stability for her life.

The bad guys of this episode are twofold - you've got Thomas Edison, who is contrasted to Tesla because Edison steals other people's ideas and is driven by capitalism, while Tesla toils under noble poverty and contains true genius. And then there's the alien hive-mind, who basically have the same mortal sin as Edison - they are borrowing (read: stealing) from other cultures in order to gain power, and don't bother trying anything for themselves. This was a surprisingly harsh take on Edison, which I did not at all mind - if Tesla's portrayal was watered down, I still appreciated the attempt to rehabilitate his reputation by... giving him a reputation. Everyone's heard of Edison. That bastard doesn't need any help.

Yaz was my favorite companion of the week, and there was plenty of good morsels for the Doctor/Yaz crowd out there, from the Doctor relying on Yaz to help save the day, to her worrying about her safety when they got separated. I think it's awesome that Yaz was able to be so helpful, and had a good report going with Tesla.

What else is there to say? I appreciated the bizarre aliens, the fun action, the way the Doctor got to be a few steps ahead of everyone else like the bad-ass that she truly is... I loved the bizarre mix of real historical figures with insane alien incursions. It was all very Doctor Who-ish, and I had a lot of fun the whole way through.

9/10