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| The Doctor confronts the Rani (Archie Panjabi). |
1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 44 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed by: Alex Sanjiv Pillai. Produced by: Chris May.
THE PLOT:
John Smith (Ncuti Gatwa) is a normal man who has a normal job at an insurance agency. He has a normal, happily domesticated wife, Belinda (Varada Sethu), and a young daughter, Poppy (Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps). They are making plans for tomorrow's holiday: May 24, 2025, while on the television set, Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King) presents a commemorative story about "Dr. Who."
A strange woman comes to John's door. Ruby (Millie Gibson) swears that he is actually "The Doctor" and that nothing about his life is real - but she flees when Belinda picks up the phone to report her for having doubts.
Doubt is contagious, however, and both John and Belinda find themselves doubting their perfect world. Belinda realizes that she can't even remember when Polly was born, while John finds that he can't quite conform to the society in which he's supposedly so happy.
Above London, in her Bone Palace, the Rani (Archie Panjabi) prepares for her victory. She isn't worried that the Doctor might remember who he is and bring this artificial world crashing down. In fact, she's counting on exactly that...
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: He's all but disappeared into the "John Smith" persona. None of his old self is visible when he rejects Ruby's assertion that he's the Doctor, with him mainly just responding with indignation and confusion. It's only in the little slips in which his old personality emerges, such as when he's casually urging Ibrahim to ask Kate out on a date or when he dares to wonder who the Rani is. Even with no memory, he remains protective of Belinda, attempting to shield her when the Rani has them both picked up for "doubting."
Belinda: Somehow, she's less fully enfolded by the illusion than the Doctor is. My pet theory is that he longs for a place to belong, and so this fake world fulfills some of his desires, while Belinda has no great urge to cosplay as a submissive 1950s housewife. The Doctor has small slips at work, but Belinda has a full-blown freakout when she realizes that she can't remember the birth of her supposed daughter.
Ruby Sunday: She's partially insulated from the false memories thanks to her experiences in 73 Yards. She doesn't quite remember the real world, but she perceives snatches of the truth, as if she's seeing them out of the corner of her eye. She has no conscious memory of Conrad, but an instinct has carried over that he cannot be trusted.
Conrad: Lucky Day ended with him being rescued from prison by Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson). The "wish world" of the title is his: a pseudo 1950s utopia that feels less like the actual 1950s than like the product of someone who watched too many Leave It to Beaver reruns. Ruby and the group of outcasts she joins refer to him as the god of this fake world, but he seems to still be a prisoner. He spends all of his time in a single room, perpetually exhausted by the mental energy required to keep this fake society running. When Mrs. Flood brings him a sandwich, he seems on the verge of tears at receiving this simple comfort. All told, he probably would have been better off in his cell.
Recurring Cast: There are cameos for all the members of the UNIT crew. Kate is "John's" no-nonsense boss at the insurance company, reacting sternly when he's merely on time for work instead of early. Col. Ibrahim is one of the staff. Mel, a single middle-aged woman, can't possibly work in Conrad's wish world, so she spends her time in contemplation. Wheelchair-bound Shirley has no place at all, so she is the leader of the outcasts Ruby joins. They're all present long enough to register, but only Shirley receives any real attention, sharp enough to wonder how she could afford medicine for her spinal condition and a high-quality wheelchair and pointing out the inconsistencies that riddle this world.
The Rani: Archie Panjabi's Rani is less the amoral scientist of The Mark of the Rani than the "female Master" of Time and the Rani and Dimensions in Time, which I find to be the less interesting choice for the character. On the plus side, if this Rani is just a camp villain, at least Panjabi makes her a fun camp villain, throwing herself into the role with gusto. Russell T. Davies has retained the character's intelligence. She doesn't underestimate the Doctor - quite the reverse, given that her plan actually requires him to break through the conditioning. Thanks to bi-generation, her previous incarnation, Mrs. Flood, remains at her side - and Mrs. Flood seems ever-so-politely annoyed at being treated like a servant by her own successor.
THOUGHTS:
I ended my review of The Interstellar Song Contest by praising this season as a whole - something I did in no small part because I had low expectations for Wish World. Thankfully, I ended up mostly liking this. It's enjoyable and well-paced, and it gets a lift from some very good performances.
The plot is familiar stuff. Thematically, there's more than a touch of Pleasantville, with a 1950s utopia that is actually a dystopia. The "regulars in a fake world" plot has been used by multiple science fiction series. TNT's The Librarians ran through variations of this plot twice!
Still, it delivers a nicely creepy vibe. My favorite scene is the one with Belinda's mother and grandmother, the women cheerfully recounting the full female life cycle according to Conrad Clark: perfect daughter to perfect wife to perfect mother. No wonder she runs out screaming. I also appreciate how completely the Doctor falls into the John Smith persona. The Story and the Engine showed how much he longs for a place to belong. As twisted as Conrad's world is, it gives him that - so completely that it takes external force to start snapping him out of it.
The story weakens in the final Act, when it starts to feel as if writer Russell T. Davies is copying himself. The scene between the Doctor and the Rani feels very close to the Doctor/Master confrontation at the end of The Sound of Drums, right down to it taking place on a vessel above London, and it even includes the Rani dancing. At least we're spared a "Gollum Doctor" moment, but the entire sequence amounts to an extended exposition drop, with the more interesting aspects of this episode mostly forgotten in the setup for the next one.
OVERALL:
I have noticed that Season Two repeats the general structure from Season One. Wish World occupies the same slot as last season's The Legend of Ruby Sunday and it fulfills the same role: setup for the finale, ending on a cliffhanger that teases the return of a foe first seen in the 1970s.
Judged as an episode in itself, I like this Wish World better. It makes better use of the characters, Ruby included. It also has a story of its own, of the Doctor and Belinda gradually breaking through the fake world, which makes it feel like an actual episode and not just extended prologue.
I would place this on the weaker end of this season's offerings. Still, it's never less than entertaining, and it is much better than I had expected.
Overall Rating: 6/10. Would be a "7" if the last ten minutes wasn't a step down from the rest.
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