It’s always great whenever Doctor Who decides to introduce a new monster into the show.
A couple of set photos had leaked many weeks ago of this monster and a lot of Whovians named The Teller (which was unnamed at that point), “Doctor Who’s strangest creature ever” and I couldn’t have agreed more with those people.
But I wasn’t ready to feel so much for The Teller as much as I did in “Time Heist”. It had to do with the fact that it was the last of its kind and I always have a soft spot for alien species in Doctor Who when they are alone.
The only aspect I didn’t enjoy with the whole thing with them turning people, who had guilt inside of them, to “soup” which was Doctor Who’s discreet way of saying “vegetable”. It’s always something that is quite disturbing for me whether it’s in a film or a TV show.
Kelly Hawes who played Ms. Delphox as well as Madame Karabraxos (try saying those two last names, three times in a row), was someone I felt very mixed about. There were times when Hawes as Delphox came off as very over the top, it happened a few times when she was interacting with The Teller. But when she was playing Karabraxos, she did a better job and we get to learn how the Doctor and the gang actually got assigned to breaking into the bank.
Earlier in the episode, we learned that someone named “The Architect” had recruited them to rob the bank before suffering of memory loss. When The Doctor gets his brain scanned by the Teller, we find out that the person who phoned the Doctor’s TARDIS was an older Karabraxos.
She then got the Doctor, who is revealed to be The Architect, to put the plan together so they could get the Teller in the Private Vault. This is classic genius Doctor Who drama that made me fan to begin with almost two years ago. When it all starts out as this big and unexplained mystery and then when we do find out what or who is the cause of the situation, it’s always the person we least expect.
“Time Heist” introduced two guest characters, Psi and Saibra that I, for some reason, thought would stick around a lot longer. I enjoyed them individually and these are characters that I wouldn’t mind seeing again, later this season. Another of my favorite parts of this episode was when the Doctor was being scanned by the Teller and when he mentioned several of his previous incarnations. I don’t know why, but I get giddy every time a current version of the Doctor refers to his previous incarnations.
Overall, “Time Heist” was a solid episode and much better than last week’s episode “Listen” where that mystery wasn’t as compelling as the one we got this week. Capaldi is continuing to impress me as the 12th Doctor and while I still need more time to get adjusted to him, I’m enjoying where this is going.
Doctor Who airs Saturday nights, 9/8c on BBC America.
[Photo via BBC]
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