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| The Barber (Ariyon Bakare) goads the Doctor into telling a story. |
1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 46 minutes. Written by: Inua Ellams. Directed by: Makalla McPherson. Produced by: Vicki Delow.
THE PLOT:
The Doctor comes to Lagos, Nigeria to visit Omo (Sule Rimi), an old friend who runs a barber shop. Even before he reaches the shop, he can sense that something's wrong. The street outside is deserted, adorned with "Missing Persons" flyers and signs warning people to turn back. Inside the shop, he finds all the missing people and Omo, but none of them can leave. They are prisoners of "The Barber" (Ariyon Bakare), a mysterious figure who has taken control.
The Barber's technology allows them to exist in two places at once, Lagos and outer space, where his engine propels them toward a destination. The engine is powered by stories, the stories that Omo and his customers tell while receiving haircuts. After each cut, their hair instantly grows back so that they can continue feeding the engine.
Omo offers up the Doctor to his captor in hopes of freeing himself and his customers. Because after all, who has more stories than an immortal traveler in time and space?
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: I think this is Ncuti Gatwa's single best performance as the Doctor. He is nothing short of magnetic from start to finish. He stands up to the Barber and tries to rally the others against him, declaring in the style of a defiant protest leader: "We will leave here!" When the Barber declares his power, the Doctor responds by laughing and poking holes in his claims. He reacts with genuine emotional pain at Oma's betrayal of him. He reveals to Belinda that, in this regeneration, people in certain places and times respond very differently to him than to his white predecessors... but not at Oma's shop. "I'm accepted. I'm able to forget. We... laugh, we tell stories." Oma didn't merely use him - he took away a place the Doctor has thought of as a home.
Belinda: "Hurt people hurt people... The difference between good and evil is what we do with that pain." When her story gets told (by the Doctor instead of her, one of the few nitpicks I have), we see her compassion and dedication to helping others, with her sacrificing her grandmother's birthday in order to save an old woman from what would likely have been a fatal misdiagnosis (in a blatant tipoff that this is science fiction, the hospital doctor actually listens to a nurse telling him that he's wrong). She has no time for the Barber's self-justifications, loudly dismissing his actions as motivated by ego.
Omo: Omo is not in any way a bad man. He genuinely cares about the Doctor, and his guilt at betraying his friend is tangible. At his core, he's likable, as are his customers. When the Doctor realizes that he's been used, the entire group gangs up on him to drag him to the barber's chair to fuel the engine... and the scene is all the more effective precisely because these aren't evil people - They're just desperate.
Abena: The Barber's assistant, Abena (Michelle Asante) is devoted to seeing him achieve his ends. Despite her closeness to their captor, the customers see her as a savior, because she treats them nicely while bringing them food from the outside. Abena resents the Doctor, and we eventually learn that in a prior incarnation, the Doctor abandoned her to a life that she hated. She truly believes that she's serving the greater good by helping the Barber, insisting that when he gains power he will rule with wisdom and justice.
The Barber: Ariyon Bakare is a compelling presence, the rage that's simmered for centuries visible in his eyes as he glares. He speaks and moves with slow deliberation, the low pitch of his voice adding weight to each syllable. There's a scene in which the Barber tells his story twice: first a lie, as he moves to center stage and loudly proclaims himself to be gods such as Dionysis, Loki, and Anansi while cutting his own locks and dropping the hair deliberately to the ground. Then, after the Doctor calls out his lie, he slumps against a wall and tells the truth, in a quiet whisper that's every bit as captivating. There are multiple moments, including this one, in which he becomes almost sympathetic, mainly because his anger is understandable, which makes him all the more fearsome as a villain.
THOUGHTS:
"It does not matter what I am called. It matters who I am, what I do... I begin all things. I am the voice in the empty void. I am the spark, the seed, the dark nucleus, the lie that tells the truth... And this, Doctor, this is my domain."
-the Barber traps the Doctor for the power of his stories.
A glance across the web tells me that The Story and the Engine is a divisive story, with no shortage of people both singing its praises and sneering at it as pretentious and dull. I fall firmly on the side of those that loved it. I think it's my favorite of Ncuti Gatwa's run.
Just like the engine, this narrative is carried by the stories the various characters tell, both in and out of the barber's chair. The teaser is arresting, as Oma tells the story of how he first met the Doctor, with stylized images similar to those in a published version of a folk tale appearing on the glass as he speaks. The Doctor's only story when he's in the barber's chair is about Belinda, emphasizing the importance of an ordinary life. When he sits again, it's for Abena's tale, a story of defiance in the face of oppression.
Just as crucial are the stories told away from the chair. Right after the credits, the Doctor tells Belinda about his love for the shop. The Barber first lies about his origins, then tells the truth. Abena and the Doctor shared a past moment in which their separate stories intersected. Oma and his customers relate the parts of their lives they're missing as they remain trapped in the shop, from the athlete who came for a haircut before a relay race to the father who was getting a trim for his child's naming ceremony. These individual little stories are bound together by the setting and the themes, the strong individual moments each forming part of a hypnotic whole.
The episode is also visually beautiful. The illustrations on the glass would be worth publishing in themselves. Not only are they good art, they vary in tone according to each story. Oma's is like the illustrations of a book of folk tales. When the Barber tells his untrue tale, the images are ominous, threatening. The strength of the Doctor's storytelling is reflected by the glass showing moving images rather than static drawings.
Memorable images aren't restricted to "money shots," but also include simple two-shots and close-ups: the Barber urging the Doctor to tell a story while wielding the clippers like a weapon; Oma, sitting in the chair as he tells his story; the Doctor, loudly defying this self-proclaimed god with the others visible in frame behind him; the Barber, glaring balefully in one shot and staring exhaustedly into space in another. Not to mention a close-up of a haircut that is artful both visually and narratively as it transitions to the next scene. It feels as if each moment has been precisely composed to maximize impact.
OVERALL:
I could nitpick a few things. I really wish Belinda sat in the chair to tell her own story, rather than the Doctor telling it for her, and there's some questionable continuity regarding the Doctor's memories of Abena. But these don't lower my score, because I was too swept away.
I loved this episode. I found it a brilliant testament the the power of storytelling, both oral and visual. Time seemed to stop while I was watching, and I was left feeling transported not only by the narrative, but by the multiple smaller stories inside of it.
Overall Rating: 10/10.
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