Doctor Who: Lux Review
The Doctor continues his journey to try and get Belinda Chandra home in this latest installment of Ncuti Gatwa's second full season.
But things go somewhat awry when the pair ends up in 1952's Miami, where strange things are happening. 15 people have disappeared from a cinema one night after a mysterious visitation from a Mr Ring-a-Ding (Alan Cumming at his vocal best).
Despite Belinda's insistence on not getting involved, the Doctor talks her into finding out why the cinema's chained up and why it's still playing films at night....
There's much in Lux that would prove to ruin the experience were spoilers to be discussed. Suffice to say there's a fair few parallels with The Devil's Chord, a lot of foreshadowing from Mrs Flood once again and a scene that will prove to be extremely polarising (again for reasons too spoiler-filled to discuss). Add into that a nod to a Sylvester McCoy classic and this is quite the catnip for long-term fans.
Yet it remains that this episode of Doctor Who looks like nothing before - the animation of Mr Ring-a-Ding is incredibly reminiscent of early Disney films and the cartooning of the Doctor and Belinda (as above) owes much to La-La-Land's distinct feel.
And if the ending doesn't quite stick the landing, the build up to it is impressive and enjoyable. From the reminders of the horror of segregation through to Gatwa and Sethu's acting, this is an episode that's bold in its attempts to break out from its mold.
Whether it all adds up to something that pays off when the show ends this season remains to be seen, but for 43 minutes, this diversion to Dade, Miami is a provocative thrill ride that will be talked about for a long time to come.
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Mr. Ring a Ding/Lux feels like a character who belongs in a much better series - one that actually cared about reaching his cool/sinster and somewhat adorable potential.
ReplyDeleteDue to have mixed feelings (sometimes negative) regarding the Chibnall Era and Second RTD era, I rertreat to the "Ten Doctors" comic by Rich Morris. It might just be the best multi-Doctor story we never had. It somehow manages to keep the first 10 Doctors and their companions busy with a huge storyline that somehow, at least to me, never gets to big to comprehend yet covers basically everyone and everything in the Doctor Who universe up to that point. It's grandiose and yet small at the same time, with the time spent with careful attention to the personalites of the Doctors and friends. The downloads page is archived on the Wayback Machine and the big .zip file was also archived: https://web.archive.org/.../comics.shipsinker.com/downloads/
Probably the only place to legitimately find it if Rich's blog doesn't come back. https://doctorwhopaneltopanel.blogspot.com/
It also being preserved here.
I may end up eating my words come May, but I don’t buy the “Belinda is going to turn out to be Susna” rumours for a second. It just sounds too preposterous to me. Yes, not every decision RTD has made has been the cleverest, but I don’t think he’ so idiotic as to bring bring a classic character, whose actual actress is still alive, even if now old. Just think of how much ill-will would generate against him. And how would they follow on from that? There’s a reason Susan, for the most part, is always played by Carole Ann Ford. It is much like there was rumours that she would return as Susan in "Twice upon a time" and that ever happened.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I don’t want another actress to play the character, regardless of whether Susan can regenerate or not, so maybe I just don’t want it to be true. But we don’t know the details of the season finale, so I’m sticking with “it’s all an overblown rumour” until the finale is released and I’m proven right or wrong. If I’m wrong, then fine, I’m wrong, I’ll eat my words, my hat, and a slice of humble pie (providing I remember I wrote this comment in one month time).