{"id":7353,"date":"2019-07-19T13:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T20:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7353"},"modified":"2019-07-11T12:34:08","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T19:34:08","slug":"mark-watches-doctor-who-s11e09-it-takes-you-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/07\/mark-watches-doctor-who-s11e09-it-takes-you-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: S11E09 – It Takes You Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the ninth and penultimate episode of the eleventh series of Doctor Who<\/i>, the team finds a young blind girl alone in a cabin in a remote part of Norway, terrified that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be taken away next. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For extensive discussion of grief\/death, and for mention of ableism<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Why is this show determined to destroy me!!!<\/p>\n

The House in the Woods<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, this episode starts off with some great horror tropes, and I love that it goes in a direction I never could have guessed from those earlier scenes. I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s partially due to audience knowledge, which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to in a bit when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m discussing the Solitract. I just accepted that what was happening was real and that Ryan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assertion\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat Hanne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father willingly left her\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t true. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the cleverness of this script! This story is set in an isolated locale, one where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s believable that some sort of mysterious creature is tormenting the father and daughter who live there. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also believable that this monster either kidnapped or ate Hanne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, the alternative is so grim<\/i>, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, we watch as yet again, the companions all willingly rush into the face of potential danger in order to help someone. As I said before, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pleasure to have seen all three companions grow as characters and in their own bravery over the course of series eleven. The initial scenes of them trying to determine what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong with this house in the middle of a Norwegian forest are tense and upsetting, especially once they meet Hanne and her story is really, really awful? But I liked that there was also an interpersonal conflict mixed in with it, that Ryan butted heads with Hanne, but then had to learn to overcome his belief that he was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rubbish\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with kids. These two characters started off on the wrong foot, and then spent most of the episode\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, hold up, there was<\/i> that moment where Hanne knocked out Ryan with a door.<\/p>\n

ANYWAY. Onwards.<\/p>\n

The Antizone<\/b><\/p>\n

I am very, very thankful that every aspect of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It Takes You Away\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is committed to being THE WEIRDEST THING POSSIBLE. Virtually nothing about this episode is comfortable or recognizable or familiar. The design for the Antizone\u00e2\u20ac\u201da weird buffer \u00e2\u20ac\u0153space\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that exists to protect universes from damage\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis dark. Creepy. Claustrophobic. AND THEN THERE ARE FLESH MOTHS? And weird sources of red light that just look like balloons? And we never really find out where Ribbons came from or what species he was or what he was actually trying to do. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a bizarre fucking character in the midst of a nightmare realm. And yet, it all made a weird sort of sense to me? If Antizones are inherently places made to protect from one universe from mixing with another, a dark, twisting cavern full of flesh-eating moths that fixate on light and motion is a pretty effective system. Maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where Ribbons came from: he was created by the Antizone as a protection method. Regardless, there was a metaphorical meaning to that place: these people traveled through a hell in order to find\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what? Heaven? Hope? It certainly seemed<\/i> to be a better world.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Solitract<\/b><\/p>\n

Now, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible that the Solitract was mentioned in a past episode or in the Classic series. But I operated under the understanding that this was the very first mention of it on Doctor Who<\/i>. Which is fine! Yes, it meant that guessing the outcome of this story was pretty much impossible, but that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother me. The story that the Doctor tells us as she figures out what is going on is emotional enough, and the ramifications of the Solitract are just so goddamn hearbreaking that this all worked for me. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize it until later that the Doctor nearly figured this out when she said that Graham was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lured\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by the portal. JESUS, SHE WAS RIGHT.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That luring, though, is just.. holy shit, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. This episode punched me right in the heart. I remarked recently that this season feels like Doctor Who<\/i> plunging into the future, undaunted and unattached. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m beginning to think that was intentional, that Grace\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death was planted earlier so that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be two characters dealing with grief. In particular, Graham traveled with the Doctor to specifically<\/i> escape his grief. He couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stay in his home with traces of Grace all around him. And so, he traveled the known universe. He became closer with his step-grandson. He made friends with Yaz and the Doctor and he saved lives and he nearly died and he lived<\/i>.<\/p>\n

And then the Solitract lured him into their world with an image of Grace.<\/p>\n

It makes a heart-rending amount of sense. The Solitract, unable to exist in our universe, desired companionship so much that they created an entire world they thought we would love to live in. This was not malicious; it was an act of love and desperation. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this any less cruel, of course, and watching Graham interact with the image of his dead wife was TRULY FAR TOO MUCH. Because this seemed so real to him. How could he leave her behind? How could he lose her all over again? Oh god, and then there was Erik, who LEFT HIS DAUGHTER BEHIND so he could be with his<\/i> dead wife. Oh my god??? That reveal was so deeply fucked up, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, and I am glad we got that chilling moment where the Doctor glared at Erik once he was back home and saw the message scrawled on the wall.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I will say that this episode does a fine job of showing what grief can do. Erik\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction is extreme, of course, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why the Solitract\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world was so appealing. What if you could be with the person you lost again? What if you could pick things up right where they were left off? What if you could stay with them forever<\/i>?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The other shoe eventually dropped, but not before the Doctor gave herself up to save the humans. It is in this that the show goes EVEN WEIRDER, and I am so goddamn happy that the Solitract just appeared as a talking frog and we just have to accept that. I found it easy to do so because of how emotional that final scene was, and Jodie Whittaker completely stole the show. She had to portray the Doctor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s genuine joy at becoming friends with the Solitract, only to then immediately ask them to let her go, lest the Solitract\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s universe collapse from the instability. The Solitract was just lonely<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi, who allowed this?<\/p>\n

So, as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m about to go into the finale, I just want to say what a pleasure this has been. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve loved every single one of these episodes, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so impressed with what Chibnall has done with the show, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so consistently good and rewarding and emotional, and you can consider me a STAN for Thirteen. AND ALL THREE COMPANIONS. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not ready for this ride to be over!!!<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It Takes You Away\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"