My son who is a very educated man knew nothing of the history of the partition, we spent an hour discussing it after this episode, he was appalled that such an important part of his own heritage is so ignored by our educational system, finding out that this was not the only time partition was used in British foreign policy angered him even more and set him to exploring it. THIS is what drama should be doing, this is what not only Doctor Who but the BBC was instituted to do, a wonderful piece of television and a credit to British and British Asian drama.
Len, I have to disagree. Doctor Who is supposed to be scifi escapism, not a historical education program. While I don't mind a bit of that in scifi, with Doctor Who this season it's been done in a heavy handed fashion that I find out of place and distasteful.
@@TJ347 actually Dr who IS supposed to be about teacher history, not Sci-fi escapism. That’s why the show itself was made, and even when it is in space it’s not escapism, it mirrors real life events like the Pertwee episode ‘the curse of peladon’ being about The European Union.
@@marinettedorien8236 It was at first but then it became escapism. Doctor Who is mostly escpasim. If kids need a history lesson then they go to school for that
Young Umbrine was stunningly beautiful during her marriage scene, and Graham really needs to stop being the best actor on the show every week, he’s making everyone else look bad.
defrostedrobot77 hopefully she’s just settling into the role, most new Doctors are a bit slow to become their full potential, it’s a tricky quirky role to play, it can take a season to settle in (they have to watch themselves onscreen I think). Unless you’re Matt Smith who just played himself and nailed it right from his first sentence, lol!
For those here claiming that Doctor Who was always primarily a Sci-Fi show go back and look at it, Who old and new was always political and historical, for those who could see it. In the early days episodes could be historical with no other sci fi element but the doctor himself, but even when going completely sci fi, the classic monsters were always allegorical Daleks = Fascism Cybermen = dangers of techno-reliance and dehumanization Ice Warriors = The cold war Sontarans = a military based society The master = Militarization and capitalization of science Various plant based monsters = environmentalism Silurians and Sea devils = Human arrogance over other species The Silence = The inability to retain knowledge and learn from our mistakes and perhaps my favourite story ever The Green death = the danger of mindless pollution and poisoning of the world for industrial profit Doctor Who has always been PC even to the point of being preachy, by giving us an unbiased opinion from an outsider who likes us and is trying to stop us killing ourselves. He/She is The Doctor, a teacher, a healer, a scientist.
Len Hazell. Erm. How to start. Okay....I am 55 years old, I grew up with Who, and to some degree it grew up with me. What Classic Who did was say things with subtlety, which your biased characterizations do not include - (Your own agenda there?). Okay. Let's look at the grandad of what is called science fiction - and Doctor Who is not science fiction, but science fantasy - to be correct (Quote Rod Serling: “Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible.” ). Herbert George Well's 'The Time Machine'. Again his message was subtle....have you read the novella? NuWho...under Moffat's last couple of years, combined with Chibnall's, hits you like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick. It is no longer Doctor Who. I am not saying that is is not a good series......just not Who. I am a total fan of Classic Who. But as I keep saying. "You don't have to be a fan of what is, to be a fan of what was". I am starting to get bored of saying that......but it's true.
I actually really enjoyed the indian doctor who theme in the outro, *because* it used the style of music that was heavily featured throughout the whole episode. playing a totally different song that's totally unrelated to the show itself would be rather odd (as e.g. in Rosa. The song worked in the scene but as an outro? No). So here the episode started and ended with the same iconic theme tune, but without immediately throwing the viewer out of the experience by playing the original mix. It felt like an appropriate closing. I also liked how the music continued over the next time trailer. I always disliked how the next timd trailers throw you tight into a totally new thing and out of what you just saw.
I think the purple dust was then assimilating his DNA for that jar in their ship so his face can be added to the collection. Also I think the twist about the aliens being the good guys was necessary, it turns the expectation on its head of the human and alien roles within Doctor Who.
@@NickHoad Well they can't switch from assassins to nice guys overnight, I guess. Old habits die hard. But yeah, that was rather silly indeed. Still I loved that Kylo Ren mask voice that they had.
@@jplegend98 And also 6 episodes ago... Remember Twice Upon a Time? The Testimony? Hell people are visited by a lot of people when they die in this universe! Loved this episode, but I was really disappointed to have the villain ripped off form 6 episodes ago! Not 2-3 seasons ago... This was too fast for me to reuse the exact same idea.
11:44 The purple dust was brought up again, it is the surviving DNA of the assassins' home world, collecting the DNA of one they are bearing witness to, someone who died alone ... That's how The Doctor realized Manish killed the holy man with his older brother Prem's rifle.
11:55 the purple dust was meant to be the remains of their home planet and ancestors, that's what was in the canister the doctor and co took from the ship. Apart from that, great review 👍
This episode is everything Doctor Who was conceived to be and it was absolutely brilliant in every way. Sydney Newman would be proud. The people complaining about a lack of sci-fi... have they seen any Hartnell episode? Or indeed any episode of the show? It's never just been about sci-fi.
Wow. Ok. I liked this one I can agree with you on that. But this show has always been sci-fi and the episode felt very different from what we usually get. If people don't like it because of that then it's fair enough. Vinay Patel wrote an episode that's very much what he knows as it has a lot in common with his other work "murdered by my father" However I don't think this is what the show should strive to be with each episode, the concept, after all allows the characters to go anywhere anytime which creates boundless potential for what episodes can do. It has evolved massively over time and it's now very different from what Newman envisioned.
I agree, except it has always been pretty darned sci-fi, what with the time and space machine and all, but way back when what it tended to do was a couple of historicals, a spacey wacey monster one, and a bottle episode when money was too low to step out the TARDIS, lol
Overall, I felt that this episode was the best of series 11 so far. The writing, acting, and directing was spot on. Probably nit picking here: at the moment before the gun was fired, I felt that the Doctor and the companions could have paused for a second before walking on, letting the moment sink into their minds. It would have made for a more effective and emotional scene. Again, not a significant thing to worry about. Also, that rendition of the theme at the end credits - it was haunting yet beautiful. I just finished watching the episode, and I wanted to give my initial thoughts before watching your video review and reading other people’s comments.
The nitpick I have with that scene is the focus on the Doctor’s reaction rather than the person who’s family member it is and who brought them there in the first place: Yaz.
I’m still not really sold on Jodie yet, Bradly Walsh is the best actor this series it’s just been really off this season (the acting) and Jodie hasn’t had the big *IM THE DOCTOR* moment
for me personally Whitaker's IM THE DOCTOR moment was when she made her sonic screwdriver, and this was further sealed in episode 5 where she walks out of the hospital room and walks back in to say "Its more of a volume really"
I found this an interesting show. It covered a piece of history that I was not familiar with, so I enjoyed it. I'm surprised that it isn't part of UK history in school. As an American, we certainly didn't learn about this at school. It WAS nice for Yaz to (finally) have something to do. I kept having flashbacks to Father's Day, but Yaz was more noble than Rose. For me, the Doctor is the weakest part of this story. Graham was just marvelous.
Apparently the writers weren't familar with history either because it was mostly half truths. The religious infighting was due to the Muslims rightfully fearing they'd be prosecuted by the Hindus when the Brits handed over India to the locals. Why would they fear that? Maybe the murder of 5,000 Hindus some months earlier by Musilms could have something to do with it. Everyone just lived peacefully before the Indian partition? Pull the other one, it has bells on it.
@@nunyabusiness7858 I think the splitting of India into India & Pakistan could hardly be called an atrocity, and I didn't understand the show to state or imply this. Perhaps it wasn't the best solution, but I'm not sure what else they COULD have done. No one forced the Hindus and the Muslims to kill each other.
@@readhistory2023 I'm not sure what half truths you are referring to. Granted that there was unrest before - I didn't get that this was blamed on the Brits from the show.
@@rtex2020 Oh no don't get me wrong, partition wasn't the worst thing the British Empire ever did, the empire was crumbling at this point anyway; I was talking more about the other stuff our empire did that don't get mentioned in schools.
The worst thing is Yaz still doesn’t have much to do. I feel like, if Graham and Ryan were written out like say, while Yaz was Umbrine’s party they went out to lunch or something and just missed the adventure so Yaz could get stuff to do, I feel like that would work better.
TLDR the comments - the purple dust though. I assumed that was their way of collecting the dna and other genetic info from each person they witness, and added to the big container that the doctor temporarily took
Robert Batina i thought that, I thought it was some of that stuff in the space jar that the Doctor nicked, they lay it on each subject that just died, it does something spacey wacey, then floats away and returns to the space jar bringing the dead person’s essence back with it. Something like that. I’m sure the serious fans will head-canon it, lol!
kanton4108 another perfectly reasonable theory, it certainly resembled the stuff in the space jar, so you’re thinking by some process of extraction it sort of comes to the surface of the body?
“RREEEE I HAVE BEEN HERE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS SHOW AND HAVE NEVER MISSED A SINGLE EPISODE BUT I AM JUST DONE WITH DOCTOR WHO THIS IS UNWATCHABLE RIP DOCTOR WHO REEEE!!!”
@@Πέτρος-λ2ρ I am genuinely scared for Oscars health. A lot of people don't seem to know what TV and film is. How is series 11 not on everyones worst season of doctor who yet? THE CHARACTERS ARE BLAND AND USELESS WITH BAD ACTING ON TOPPPPPPPPPPPP
@@shamu6935 This was the first episode that I saw of this season. Except for the last 15 minutes it was torture to watch and I had to take a break of watching it quite often. But those last 15 minutes actually were pretty good. Especially because the Doctor barely was in it.
I really didn't mind the alien twist, in fact, I really liked it. And honestly, I seriously undersestimated Bradley Walsh when he was cast, he's hit it out the park each episode
Based on the color of Prem’s face as it is lifted into the sea of other forgotten faces, I would assume the blue dust on the holy man is what they place on the dead to absorb their DNA for their system before it dissolves and gets uploaded into their network.
Brilliant episode. Extremely touching and emotional. Loved it. One of the best episodes ever. You are right that as a person who works in education the topic of Partition is not taught in schools. Maybe the past governments did not want everyone to know about this catastrophe.
This story truly encapsulates the heavy burden of preserving history, of being the observer, of being the last of the time lords. I fucking loved this episode!!!
I like the element of the Vajarian’s that they used to be assasins. I think it makes a clear parallel between them and the Hindu nationalists: so preoccupied with harming other races and cultures that they don’t see their own home cracking under their nose.
I really appreciate the historical episodes of this series. Finally, Doctor Who is educational again as it was originally intended to be. Think of all the British children who now have an interest in Rosa Parks or the Partition of India. However, while I think this episode was really really good, it still wasn't Vincent and the Doctor for me. I didn't think the actor who played Prem was very good, and I know this isn't a real criticism but just the fact all the Indians had Yorkshire accents really took the suspension of disbelief out of me. Kind of made it feel a bit cheap? And I thought the direction was boring too. So it's not an episode I'm going to be nostalgic over in years to come, but it's still super good.
If anyone out there is unfamiliar with the history that this story covered I would recommend watching the movie Ghandi For those who never seen it it’s a wonderful film directed by Richard Attenborough
While I cannot talk about whether colonialism was a part of British schools' Curriculum (after all, I'm not British) the Absence of the Partition of India reminded me of the Absence of the genocide of the Herero and Nama by the Germans in 1904, something that didn't come up in my history class. In fact, German colonialism didn't come up at all and I was genuinely surprised once I read that Germany had colonies.
When they stood over the old man, I knew they hadn't killed him, but were paying respects, but I thought he had died of old age and his heart giving-out. Didn't think he was really killed.
I really enjoyed this episode! Probably my 2nd favourite so far after Rosa. It was great to learn about half of my cultural heritage in such an engaging and emotional way.
Everything in the episode was very symbolic which was really nice, especially on the centenary of armistice day it's a lovely thought that no one died alone. It also covered an often overlooked part of history and rightly blames the British for causing the conflict and showed how families were ripped apart because of people interfering.
I really enjoyed this episode. Being Canadian I know zero history about this topic. So it was very well done in that it didn't over play the drama. Just a small family being ripped apart by events out of their control. I had no problems with the aliens either. Their designs were amazing. I would be happy if Doctor Who was more character and drama like this.
This was a great story. It was very educational and about a subject I knew little about and a very personal, tragic and emotional story for Yaz as it gave her more character development. It was like Fathers Day in a historical period.
With regards the purple dust on the holy man, there are various things it could have been. For example, their way on blessing the dead body or their means of incorporating him into their rememberance.
If i recall the purple dust was a genetic sample they take of those they witness, which they add to their canister thing that contains the rest of their species and presumably everyone else they witnessed, they must take a sample from everyone once the body is left alone.
10:31 I interpret that line as “if you don’t stop trying to screw up history, we will be forced to kill you.” It’s a safeguarding measure. 11:44 I believe that purple stuff was supposed to be the remains of the Vajarian’s home planet, and the reason it was on the old man (in my opinion) was because their process of honouring the dead involves lining a fraction of the planet-dust on their skin that quickly dissolves into the air. It’s not practical, but neither is anything else they’re doing- they’re creatures of honour and tradition now.
I did know about the history, but as far as I can remember, it's from the movie Ghandi and because I've always been a history buff, rather then from school.
I am so intrigued by those aliens. They could very well be visited or seen again in their time as assasins. I hope they do and the doctor underestimates them, maybe thinking they're already the peaceful witnesses she encountered in this episode.
This episode hit me quite hard for very personal reasons. My mother, her four siblings and all of their offspring including myself grew up with the "knowledge" that my gran was Canadian, sailed to Scotland just before WW2 and her sweetheart whom she had just married died enroute to Scotland on a different ship which sank. The story was that they had planned to spend their married life together in Scotland and he was lost along the way. A couple of years ago I researched my family tree on ancestry.com and made some startling discoveries. She wasn't born in Canada, and had no Canadian blood whatsoever. She was from central Scotland, and after the death of her father her mother remarried a Canadian serviceman who was staying in Scotland after WW1. At the age of 5, they moved to Canada where my gran only stayed for 9 years before returning to central Scotland at the age of 14 in 1931 to move in with her grandparents (by herself, no "sweetheart" involved and _well_ before the build-up to WW2). She married a man in 1939 and less than a year later he was killed in action in Belgium (no hint of being on a boat sinking enroute from Canada). After the war, she met and married my grandfather. It was bizarre to find out that almost the entire period of her early life as told to the family was a complete fabrication. Not Canadian at all, no newlywed sinking on a boat, no fairytale tragedy. Just a young girl who returned home after a few years in another country. I'd love to be able to ask her about this, but sadly she died 10 years ago so her reasons for fabricating the past went to the grave with her. If I'd done this research a decade earlier then it could have been a very interesting conversation. A lot of my family don't know this stuff, they still think the original stories are true. If they read it here, then, well, now you know! :-) Otherwise, I won't tell them because the romantic tragedy version is actually quite a nice story. So "Demons of the Punjab" really struck a chord with me. I could literally _feel_ Yasmin's confusion and distress that "this isn't the story I've been told" because I have very much been there.
This was an awesome episode. Doctor Who is surprising a lot of people this season. Frankly, I knew very little about the partition of India, and this helped a lot. Doctor Who is GOING THERE! Whether it's the Jim Crow laws in the U.S., or the ham-fisted policies of the British Empire, Doctor Who is clearly not just some satirical British comedy, but an idea. The idea is showing through many scenarios, the impacts of fascism, racism, brainwashing, and intolerance. The UK was almost invaded by the Nazis, and they aren't about to forget it.
The purple dust is the last remnants of the Vajerian's destroyed home planet; I assume that as they were carrying it with them in the canister which the Doctor briefly stole that it played some ritual role in the "witnessing" as a mark of respect; they cover the dead body in what's left of their planet. But I wish that had been expanded upon a bit more.
They’re saying they have to leave this place or they will be killed, and they will stand over the corpses. It was seen as a threat, but it was them warning them
This episode was great. It was funny, tragic, moving, educational, and all round brilliant. At the end... I was near crying. I just rewatched it, and... The plot was rather interesting, really just being to how one family was split and torn apart by the fear and paranoia that surrounded the partition. It’s criminal that this isn’t taught in schools or even the subject of films nowadays. It’s just sort of ignored, despite being the biggest refugee crisis of the last 80 years... most likely because of what preceded it that kind of takes up historical movies set in the 40s. It’s a story that doesn’t even necessarily need to be the partition. You could tell a similar story about the rise Nazism, or certain more recent historical events.
One thing I'm really enjoying in the new season is that they're actually trying to be historically accurate as opposed to in the moffat era, when it seemed he just didn't give a shit about history(for example the episode with the vikings, that is such an atrocity), but now we're getting the really historical stuff back.
I'm glad to see more educational stories in Series 11. I just made a video on my top 10 historical periods, figures and events I would like to see in the future of Doctor Who
I was super excited about this episode because it's the first historical episode in the reboot that takes place somewhere outside of the Western world. It gets boring when the same mainstream historical stories get re-hashed over and over when there's so many more that just never get told at all. So I don't understand why people would complain about the series using its time to tell a story they haven't actually heard before.
I agreed with your point at first about the line "we will stand over your corpses" but I think they were inferring them to leave or they will die unnecessarily by the angry people, not the witnesses themselves. Definately could have been worded better BUT this would have given away the unnecessary twist about them not being assassins
I think the implication was that the aliens were spreading the ashes of their planet onto corpses to spread their heritage as part of their mission and that's what the whole purple dust on people was about
19 year old Brit here; taught about partition of India in primary school when I was 5, but never heard mention of it since. It was also watered down and framed as this fun thing, not an instigator of genocide.
steve gale it was watered down I'm sure they are not going to show the mutilations and raping of the women, basically genocide on both sides. Just read the eye witness reports. This story could of been pushed a little further.
Well it might of been if you had a number of Asian kids and it was say the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of India in it's current form. I learnt about it the year before GCSEs but it was just one lesson. We did the whole of C20 history in one year.
awesome review and also in regards to viewing figures, people need to look at the rankings and take that into consideration. It's sort of how people look at manga in Japanese magazine, people look more at the ranking rather then how many people actually read the magazine.
I loved it! Although the episode never stated it outright, I thought the purple ooze was almost like a sign of respect from the aliens. It's made of their dead species (who also died alone) and is a way of commemorating the dead holy man aswell as their own people. That's why it disappears. They respect them and then the evidence disappears so time can continue as it should.
Pretty much felt the same way as you. Though, I found the Doctor’s jokes to be really tone deaf, not fitting with this tragic story about two brothers torn apart by war at all. And while Yaz was the lynchpin of this story, she didn’t get much to do other than give Patel an excuse to tell this really involving drama about much more interesting characters. So, yeah,I still think that she’s an underdeveloped companion. The thing that makes “Father’s Day”, imho, better than “The Demons of Punjab” is that “Father’s Day” is actually ABOUT Rose. Rose triggers the plot and it never stops being her story. While with Yaz the spotlight gets stolen almost immediately by the funny, charismatic Prem and Yaz’s nan. The story being told in the end doesn’t tell us anything new about Yaz as a person other than her nan is way more interesting. Also, Rose having a dead dad is something we learn in episode three of series one and “Father’s Day” is episode eight, leaving us waiting for an episode dealing with this fact. However, we only now learn about Yaz’s nan and the watch so it can be immediately paid off, leaving us with no build up, no mystery, no nothing. Still thought it was the best episode of series 11 so far and a better historical tale than “Rosa”. And it’s restored my faith in the rest of the series.
Best of the series so far, just ahead of Rosa. 8.5/10. Ratings so far: 6.5, 5.5, 8, 4, 5.5, 8.5. (avg. 6.33) Seemed like the most concise episode yet. Everything that happened mattered. Very little time wasted. Humor was organic. Emotional scenes were well acted and earned. After feeling the series had been "just fine" so far outside of Rosa, this one really hit. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a strong stretch run to the finale.
Brown companions never were a problem. Brown side characters neither. But a whole episode focussing on Pakistan and India? That seriously made things so absolutely uninteresting! Only the last 10 - 15 minutes caught my attention.
Just pointing out, since your working on "hide" review,,,you have reacted/reviewed to Ecclsons9th, Mat 11th, Capaldi, hurt,,all the newer Drs including Jodies,...still yet to see any videos on David Tennents(besides "day of the Dr" 50th ep) lol This was a brilliant episode, this next to Rosa are my favourites of the series so far,,
I think it is so weird that british people don't seem to learn about this in school. I'm german and we learned about it in english lesson. We had India as a special topic, but still. It's the same with Rosa Parks. When the episode aired american reviewers said, they did not knowe abou it, but I did learn it in regular english school lessons in middle school. What do british and american people learn about in history lesson. These are such important topics.
As a British person what I learned in history was Ww2 Ww1 Cold war 1920s america 1930s Germany Industrial revolution Rosa parks Civil rights Vietnam war American revolution Tudor monarchs British kings and queens French revolution Roman empire Pirates Renasonce Van Gogh Ancient Greece and Egypt And some other important people and inventions Thats what I remember anyway
The aliens were necessary in order to give the Doctor a reason to stay beyond the hour she had planned. The alien design was nice and the subversion of expectation made them a little more interesting, if not important to the events. The importance in a thematic way was to highlight, again, this Doctor's fallibility; far different from the Matt Smith or Capaldi near omnipotent 'oncoming storm' and far closer in spirit to Hartnell or Troughton.
There was just one thing that bothered me. Nani Ji should have been in her late 80s at least in present day Sheffield, or a LOT younger in 1940s Lahore.
I'm actually really enjoying Docto who this series, far more than i've done in years actually. That said however, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this episode that much, simply because historicall episodes are my least favourite kind in general, but I thought it was amazing. I actually really loved that the assassins turned out to be ex assassins after the distruction of their world and had made them do a 180 in life and make it their mission to bare witness instead. This season has made me reaslise how very lacking my education was. I'm not surpised though, I studyed nursing at uni back in '99 and while we were dissusing Florence Nightingale's contobutions the teacher started talking about Mary Seacole and out of my entire class not one of us had heard the name before.
The British annexed the partition because of the constant war from one side and their inability to defend the people of the other, it wasn't a hastily drawn line at all it tried to include people of one religion on one side and people of another ideology on the other and that is never going to be a perfect solution especially where people land was taken over and they want it back at any cost, it also didn't take into account India's demand for sovereignty which the British gave without concession . None of this stopped me thinking that Bradley was not going to simply call Marc LeBette or Anne Hegerty to come down to answer all the questions and solve all the problems.
A very, very good episode, along with "Rosa". It seems that Doctor Who has grown up a bit this year. I'm sorry that some people don't appreciate this move in a new direction. Suddenly all the whinging about the Doctor being a woman seems old-hat and no longer relevant. The end with Yaz talking to her nan after all that happened got to me, remembering my own Gran and imagining what it would have been like to have seen her life as a young woman.
mcarp555 I scroll through the comments of a few doctor who review videos. I don’t see anything about the doctor being a woman. I see many complaints on the show being too PC, dull stories, bad acting and terrible writing. This show has turned into a political agenda pushing, dull shitshow.
i feel the doctor needs more individual interactions with the companions because she hasn't really made a connection to these companions yet like that scene with graeme and yaz for example should've been between the doctor and yaz instead. also my favourite historical episodes are human nature and family of blood.
For those who don't know the begining of doctor who, it was supposed to be just a history show, people going back in time and seeing events. It failed as a show and became what it was for 50 years a sci-fi show. This is not a documentary. All you see is someone's opinion of history. The youtuber here admits he doesn't know the history. I don't either. However, he has come to the conclusion that this is historically accurate. I don't know. All I do know is Dr. who had been a show that was entertainment with a social and political commentary. Now its a social and political commentary with some sci-fi thrown in. I did purposely leave out entertainment. There has yet to be a show where the doctor's uquie skill set has been needed. Is it just me, or is everyone forgeting the doctor ISN'T human. There are certain features of the doctor that have been true through all the characters until now. Let the doctor be the doctor.
Kinda feels like doctor who is really trying to become educational, the aliens play little to no role in most episodes this season. I really feel like this show should just be played on the kids channel to teach them history. This isn't the doctor who i knew 😭
Don't you bloody tossers like anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You bitch and fucking whine and bitch and and fucking whine again!!!! Are you all that fucking stupid????? Apparently so! What a pack of bloody morons!!!!!! You just don't get it, do you? Duhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!
So far we had an emotional episode centered around Ryan and Yaz's heritage. Will we get a similar one for Graham? Will it be revealed that he is actually Jewish, or half Irish?
When I first saw the trailer I was worried it was going to be as god awful as Rosa was but it turned out to actually be a decent episode. No PC rubbish. No agenda pushing. Just a good story. Where this episode went right was it did not bring in a historical figure, just a time period which allowed for more creative freedom.
@@ilgilg9394 that's your opinion. Personally I found it really gripping from start to finish, especially towards the end when we were wondering if history would happen the way it should.
@@jplegend98 the main point of the episode was to teach us about what Rosa Parks did which had an impact on us a lot today. However, they also made a huge emphasis on the fact that discrimination still exists today.
Honestly, Series 11 has been so bold and it's done so well to teach people so much about history ... I'd honestly be honored if in Series 12 or Series 13, they go to Jesus. Doctor Who to tackle the most influential figure and controversial human being in human history would be an experience.
I thought it was a great episode, perhaps with one or two recycled ideas. I'm pleased that The Doctor didn't say "It isn't an evil plan" again though when the Tha'Jar explained themselves. I've heard other reviewers mention how the older brother was a bit passive in the face of his brother's betrayal and as he is about to get shot. I think he could have been a bit less relaxed about it too, y'know, since he was facing death and all. A bit too accepting of his fate.
The 1st half of this episode was way too fast. But the 2nd half was way better. I can see the influences from Farthers Day. "Get to the shed" in perticular. I'm glad to see more historical episodes in this series.
I kind of miss the whole darker side of the doctor, like when he used to get mad and became cold and even scary sometimes. I haven't really had a single moment with the 13th doctor where we see this other dangerous side of the character. I know some people aren't huge fans of these dark moments, but come on, not once this whole season have we seen the doctor as threatening and mad. Maybe these scenes were overused at times in the past, but we need a little here and there on occasion, its an important part of the character.
Didn't they mention the purple dust was what remained of their people and I'm assuming they put it on for ritual purpose? Or he becomes part of the dust?
It’s was alright actually surprise surprise the first episode without Chibnalls name in it was alright, the acting was a bit wobbly in places and there were times that the bat/assassin creatures were hard to understand but in the end it was alright next week looks good and seems more proper doctor who so I’m definitely looking forward to that
Once again, this proves that every writer other than the showrunner writes the best episodes, with the only exception possibly being "The Woman Who Fell To Earth". The main issue I had with this episode was I found the supporting characters quite unlikable, and found the fact there were only four people both families attending scream "budget cuts" something. Also, though the idea of the villains worked for this episode, I am still anxiously waiting for a strong alien THREAT. However, overall, one of the best episodes of the series for me and am excited to see a few episodes with Chibby.
My son who is a very educated man knew nothing of the history of the partition, we spent an hour discussing it after this episode, he was appalled that such an important part of his own heritage is so ignored by our educational system, finding out that this was not the only time partition was used in British foreign policy angered him even more and set him to exploring it.
THIS is what drama should be doing, this is what not only Doctor Who but the BBC was instituted to do, a wonderful piece of television and a credit to British and British Asian drama.
Len, I have to disagree. Doctor Who is supposed to be scifi escapism, not a historical education program. While I don't mind a bit of that in scifi, with Doctor Who this season it's been done in a heavy handed fashion that I find out of place and distasteful.
@@TJ347 actually Dr who IS supposed to be about teacher history, not Sci-fi escapism. That’s why the show itself was made, and even when it is in space it’s not escapism, it mirrors real life events like the Pertwee episode ‘the curse of peladon’ being about The European Union.
@@marinettedorien8236 It was at first but then it became escapism. Doctor Who is mostly escpasim. If kids need a history lesson then they go to school for that
Young Umbrine was stunningly beautiful during her marriage scene, and Graham really needs to stop being the best actor on the show every week, he’s making everyone else look bad.
He really is outshining Jodie at this point.
defrostedrobot77 hopefully she’s just settling into the role, most new Doctors are a bit slow to become their full potential, it’s a tricky quirky role to play, it can take a season to settle in (they have to watch themselves onscreen I think). Unless you’re Matt Smith who just played himself and nailed it right from his first sentence, lol!
Seriously the scene with Graham nearly crying because he knew what was coming really touched my heart and made me cry as well.
JacktheRah oh it broke my lot, lol, I have a roomful everytime it’s on, there were real tears from one of us!
Old men interacting with the Doctor is always guaranteed to be heartrending. Remember Wilf?
For those here claiming that Doctor Who was always primarily a Sci-Fi show go back and look at it, Who old and new was always political and historical, for those who could see it.
In the early days episodes could be historical with no other sci fi element but the doctor himself, but even when going completely sci fi, the classic monsters were always allegorical
Daleks = Fascism
Cybermen = dangers of techno-reliance and dehumanization
Ice Warriors = The cold war
Sontarans = a military based society
The master = Militarization and capitalization of science
Various plant based monsters = environmentalism
Silurians and Sea devils = Human arrogance over other species
The Silence = The inability to retain knowledge and learn from our mistakes
and perhaps my favourite story ever
The Green death = the danger of mindless pollution and poisoning of the world for industrial profit
Doctor Who has always been PC even to the point of being preachy, by giving us an unbiased opinion from an outsider who likes us and is trying to stop us killing ourselves.
He/She is The Doctor, a teacher, a healer, a scientist.
Len Hazell By your own definitions, The Doctor is *NOT* an unbiased outsider, having spent many decades on Earth and near human colonies in space.
Len Hazell. Erm. How to start. Okay....I am 55 years old, I grew up with Who, and to some degree it grew up with me. What Classic Who did was say things with subtlety, which your biased characterizations do not include - (Your own agenda there?). Okay. Let's look at the grandad of what is called science fiction - and Doctor Who is not science fiction, but science fantasy - to be correct (Quote Rod Serling: “Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible.” ). Herbert George Well's 'The Time Machine'. Again his message was subtle....have you read the novella? NuWho...under Moffat's last couple of years, combined with Chibnall's, hits you like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick. It is no longer Doctor Who. I am not saying that is is not a good series......just not Who. I am a total fan of Classic Who. But as I keep saying. "You don't have to be a fan of what is, to be a fan of what was". I am starting to get bored of saying that......but it's true.
The Daleks are based on the nazi and the odd are totally not an Allegory for slavery.
@@chrisgorton4577 it's possibly to watch things for many decades & still interpret it completely wrong.
Matthew Chenault the only time I find it bashing was spiders in U.K. and kill the moon
I actually really enjoyed the indian doctor who theme in the outro, *because* it used the style of music that was heavily featured throughout the whole episode. playing a totally different song that's totally unrelated to the show itself would be rather odd (as e.g. in Rosa. The song worked in the scene but as an outro? No).
So here the episode started and ended with the same iconic theme tune, but without immediately throwing the viewer out of the experience by playing the original mix. It felt like an appropriate closing.
I also liked how the music continued over the next time trailer. I always disliked how the next timd trailers throw you tight into a totally new thing and out of what you just saw.
I think the purple dust was then assimilating his DNA for that jar in their ship so his face can be added to the collection. Also I think the twist about the aliens being the good guys was necessary, it turns the expectation on its head of the human and alien roles within Doctor Who.
It could have been handled better though, the aliens' lines before the twist are all very threatening for no reason.
@@NickHoad Well they can't switch from assassins to nice guys overnight, I guess. Old habits die hard.
But yeah, that was rather silly indeed.
Still I loved that Kylo Ren mask voice that they had.
Shame they already did that earlier this season, and in season 9, mutible classic who and big finnish audios. Ect
@@jplegend98 they've done a lot of things before in all of those forms variants of Doctor Who, doesn't mean they can't do them again.
@@jplegend98 And also 6 episodes ago... Remember Twice Upon a Time? The Testimony?
Hell people are visited by a lot of people when they die in this universe!
Loved this episode, but I was really disappointed to have the villain ripped off form 6 episodes ago! Not 2-3 seasons ago... This was too fast for me to reuse the exact same idea.
11:44 The purple dust was brought up again, it is the surviving DNA of the assassins' home world, collecting the DNA of one they are bearing witness to, someone who died alone ... That's how The Doctor realized Manish killed the holy man with his older brother Prem's rifle.
11:55 the purple dust was meant to be the remains of their home planet and ancestors, that's what was in the canister the doctor and co took from the ship.
Apart from that, great review 👍
This episode is everything Doctor Who was conceived to be and it was absolutely brilliant in every way. Sydney Newman would be proud. The people complaining about a lack of sci-fi... have they seen any Hartnell episode? Or indeed any episode of the show? It's never just been about sci-fi.
Ben W EXACTLY
Ben W I thought exactly this.
Wow. Ok. I liked this one I can agree with you on that. But this show has always been sci-fi and the episode felt very different from what we usually get. If people don't like it because of that then it's fair enough. Vinay Patel wrote an episode that's very much what he knows as it has a lot in common with his other work "murdered by my father"
However I don't think this is what the show should strive to be with each episode, the concept, after all allows the characters to go anywhere anytime which creates boundless potential for what episodes can do. It has evolved massively over time and it's now very different from what Newman envisioned.
I agree, except it has always been pretty darned sci-fi, what with the time and space machine and all, but way back when what it tended to do was a couple of historicals, a spacey wacey monster one, and a bottle episode when money was too low to step out the TARDIS, lol
DoctorWhoIntoTheVortex - Spoken like someone who didn't actually watch the episode (which wasn't even written by Chibnall)
Overall, I felt that this episode was the best of series 11 so far. The writing, acting, and directing was spot on.
Probably nit picking here: at the moment before the gun was fired, I felt that the Doctor and the companions could have paused for a second before walking on, letting the moment sink into their minds. It would have made for a more effective and emotional scene. Again, not a significant thing to worry about.
Also, that rendition of the theme at the end credits - it was haunting yet beautiful.
I just finished watching the episode, and I wanted to give my initial thoughts before watching your video review and reading other people’s comments.
They couldn't, because then Prem's death wouldn't have gone unwitnessed.
The nitpick I have with that scene is the focus on the Doctor’s reaction rather than the person who’s family member it is and who brought them there in the first place: Yaz.
I’m still not really sold on Jodie yet, Bradly Walsh is the best actor this series it’s just been really off this season (the acting) and Jodie hasn’t had the big *IM THE DOCTOR* moment
That is because she is NOT the doctor nor will ever be.
She just is no doctor.
for me personally Whitaker's IM THE DOCTOR moment was when she made her sonic screwdriver, and this was further sealed in episode 5 where she walks out of the hospital room and walks back in to say "Its more of a volume really"
I am having trouble deciding between this and "Rosa" for my favorite episode this season. They're both powerful stories.
I found this an interesting show. It covered a piece of history that I was not familiar with, so I enjoyed it. I'm surprised that it isn't part of UK history in school. As an American, we certainly didn't learn about this at school. It WAS nice for Yaz to (finally) have something to do. I kept having flashbacks to Father's Day, but Yaz was more noble than Rose.
For me, the Doctor is the weakest part of this story.
Graham was just marvelous.
Apparently the writers weren't familar with history either because it was mostly half truths. The religious infighting was due to the Muslims rightfully fearing they'd be prosecuted by the Hindus when the Brits handed over India to the locals. Why would they fear that? Maybe the murder of 5,000 Hindus some months earlier by Musilms could have something to do with it. Everyone just lived peacefully before the Indian partition? Pull the other one, it has bells on it.
Most things the British Empire did is conveniently not taught in schools, we did kind of commit a lot of atrocities over our colonial years...
@@nunyabusiness7858 I think the splitting of India into India & Pakistan could hardly be called an atrocity, and I didn't understand the show to state or imply this. Perhaps it wasn't the best solution, but I'm not sure what else they COULD have done. No one forced the Hindus and the Muslims to kill each other.
@@readhistory2023 I'm not sure what half truths you are referring to. Granted that there was unrest before - I didn't get that this was blamed on the Brits from the show.
@@rtex2020 Oh no don't get me wrong, partition wasn't the worst thing the British Empire ever did, the empire was crumbling at this point anyway; I was talking more about the other stuff our empire did that don't get mentioned in schools.
The worst thing is Yaz still doesn’t have much to do. I feel like, if Graham and Ryan were written out like say, while Yaz was Umbrine’s party they went out to lunch or something and just missed the adventure so Yaz could get stuff to do, I feel like that would work better.
TLDR the comments - the purple dust though. I assumed that was their way of collecting the dna and other genetic info from each person they witness, and added to the big container that the doctor temporarily took
Robert Batina i thought that, I thought it was some of that stuff in the space jar that the Doctor nicked, they lay it on each subject that just died, it does something spacey wacey, then floats away and returns to the space jar bringing the dead person’s essence back with it. Something like that. I’m sure the serious fans will head-canon it, lol!
@@Lumibear. I think they were extracting the DNA but were stopped mid-extraction when Prem shot at them.
kanton4108 another perfectly reasonable theory, it certainly resembled the stuff in the space jar, so you’re thinking by some process of extraction it sort of comes to the surface of the body?
Wait... People disliked this episode? I LOVED it! It is the first episode that I have as thoroughly enjoyed in a long long time!
Graham can bring me to tears in practically every episode.
This whole Fucking show bring me to tears! 😉
*in before people start saying "it was too PC" or "I'm so done with the show" or "this season sucks" and not elaborating*
"it waz too pc" "so dun with dr who" "dis season sux" =P
It was too PC.
@@NPCarlsson It was so historical hartnell.
“RREEEE I HAVE BEEN HERE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS SHOW AND HAVE NEVER MISSED A SINGLE EPISODE BUT I AM JUST DONE WITH DOCTOR WHO THIS IS UNWATCHABLE RIP DOCTOR WHO REEEE!!!”
I HAVE AN ENCYCLOPEDIC KNOWLEDGE OF DWM COMICS AND THEY WERE NEVER THIS PC REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
This season has been so refreshing, It's so good to have characters rather than caricatures.
Like Robertson from Arachnids in the UK?
@@Πέτρος-λ2ρ Exactly!!! you get it!
@@oscart7827 I don't know if this is sarcasm or not xD
@@Πέτρος-λ2ρ I am genuinely scared for Oscars health. A lot of people don't seem to know what TV and film is. How is series 11 not on everyones worst season of doctor who yet? THE CHARACTERS ARE BLAND AND USELESS WITH BAD ACTING ON TOPPPPPPPPPPPP
@@shamu6935 This was the first episode that I saw of this season. Except for the last 15 minutes it was torture to watch and I had to take a break of watching it quite often.
But those last 15 minutes actually were pretty good. Especially because the Doctor barely was in it.
I really didn't mind the alien twist, in fact, I really liked it. And honestly, I seriously undersestimated Bradley Walsh when he was cast, he's hit it out the park each episode
Loved this episode - It was the most emotional one since Vincent in my opinion - probably the best episode this season so far!
Based on the color of Prem’s face as it is lifted into the sea of other forgotten faces, I would assume the blue dust on the holy man is what they place on the dead to absorb their DNA for their system before it dissolves and gets uploaded into their network.
it was fu**ing brilliant! love your reaction and (nearly) universally had the same response. Keep up the good work MRT
Brilliant episode. Extremely touching and emotional. Loved it. One of the best episodes ever. You are right that as a person who works in education the topic of Partition is not taught in schools. Maybe the past governments did not want everyone to know about this catastrophe.
This story truly encapsulates the heavy burden of preserving history, of being the observer, of being the last of the time lords.
I fucking loved this episode!!!
Awesome review Trilbee, this is the first masterpiece from Series 11, easily the greatest of the 6 so emotional and thought provoking!
When you show your passion for the historical subject matter, you're compelling. It's the director in you, Wil.
Another fun touch: the male vocal rendition of the theme they used over the credits. I want this season's OST just for that.
I like the element of the Vajarian’s that they used to be assasins. I think it makes a clear parallel between them and the Hindu nationalists: so preoccupied with harming other races and cultures that they don’t see their own home cracking under their nose.
Fantastic episode! Reminded me of the more serious Hartnell historicals. More of this, please!
I really appreciate the historical episodes of this series. Finally, Doctor Who is educational again as it was originally intended to be. Think of all the British children who now have an interest in Rosa Parks or the Partition of India.
However, while I think this episode was really really good, it still wasn't Vincent and the Doctor for me. I didn't think the actor who played Prem was very good, and I know this isn't a real criticism but just the fact all the Indians had Yorkshire accents really took the suspension of disbelief out of me. Kind of made it feel a bit cheap? And I thought the direction was boring too. So it's not an episode I'm going to be nostalgic over in years to come, but it's still super good.
If anyone out there is unfamiliar with the history that this story covered I would recommend watching the movie Ghandi For those who never seen it it’s a wonderful film directed by Richard Attenborough
While I cannot talk about whether colonialism was a part of British schools' Curriculum (after all, I'm not British) the Absence of the Partition of India reminded me of the Absence of the genocide of the Herero and Nama by the Germans in 1904, something that didn't come up in my history class. In fact, German colonialism didn't come up at all and I was genuinely surprised once I read that Germany had colonies.
When they stood over the old man, I knew they hadn't killed him, but were paying respects, but I thought he had died of old age and his heart giving-out. Didn't think he was really killed.
I really enjoyed this episode! Probably my 2nd favourite so far after Rosa. It was great to learn about half of my cultural heritage in such an engaging and emotional way.
Everything in the episode was very symbolic which was really nice, especially on the centenary of armistice day it's a lovely thought that no one died alone. It also covered an often overlooked part of history and rightly blames the British for causing the conflict and showed how families were ripped apart because of people interfering.
loved it. easily my fav episode of the season
I really enjoyed this episode. Being Canadian I know zero history about this topic. So it was very well done in that it didn't over play the drama. Just a small family being ripped apart by events out of their control. I had no problems with the aliens either. Their designs were amazing. I would be happy if Doctor Who was more character and drama like this.
This was a great story. It was very educational and about a subject I knew little about and a very personal, tragic and emotional story for Yaz as it gave her more character development. It was like Fathers Day in a historical period.
AAAAA you made me burst into tears again lol
With regards the purple dust on the holy man, there are various things it could have been. For example, their way on blessing the dead body or their means of incorporating him into their rememberance.
after some disapointing episodes, this I thought was very good. hopefully on the up.
If i recall the purple dust was a genetic sample they take of those they witness, which they add to their canister thing that contains the rest of their species and presumably everyone else they witnessed, they must take a sample from everyone once the body is left alone.
10:31 I interpret that line as “if you don’t stop trying to screw up history, we will be forced to kill you.” It’s a safeguarding measure.
11:44 I believe that purple stuff was supposed to be the remains of the Vajarian’s home planet, and the reason it was on the old man (in my opinion) was because their process of honouring the dead involves lining a fraction of the planet-dust on their skin that quickly dissolves into the air. It’s not practical, but neither is anything else they’re doing- they’re creatures of honour and tradition now.
I feel like The aliens is this episode are gonna show up again at the end of the season when one of the companions dies
I did know about the history, but as far as I can remember, it's from the movie Ghandi and because I've always been a history buff, rather then from school.
Yep, same here. I watched Ghandi a dozen times. School doesn't teach history, just indoctrination.
I am so intrigued by those aliens. They could very well be visited or seen again in their time as assasins. I hope they do and the doctor underestimates them, maybe thinking they're already the peaceful witnesses she encountered in this episode.
I think the only time I had water in my eyes in Doctor Who was during Bill's little speech to the unconscious Doctor in The Doctor Falls. That got me.
This episode hit me quite hard for very personal reasons. My mother, her four siblings and all of their offspring including myself grew up with the "knowledge" that my gran was Canadian, sailed to Scotland just before WW2 and her sweetheart whom she had just married died enroute to Scotland on a different ship which sank. The story was that they had planned to spend their married life together in Scotland and he was lost along the way.
A couple of years ago I researched my family tree on ancestry.com and made some startling discoveries. She wasn't born in Canada, and had no Canadian blood whatsoever. She was from central Scotland, and after the death of her father her mother remarried a Canadian serviceman who was staying in Scotland after WW1. At the age of 5, they moved to Canada where my gran only stayed for 9 years before returning to central Scotland at the age of 14 in 1931 to move in with her grandparents (by herself, no "sweetheart" involved and _well_ before the build-up to WW2). She married a man in 1939 and less than a year later he was killed in action in Belgium (no hint of being on a boat sinking enroute from Canada). After the war, she met and married my grandfather.
It was bizarre to find out that almost the entire period of her early life as told to the family was a complete fabrication. Not Canadian at all, no newlywed sinking on a boat, no fairytale tragedy. Just a young girl who returned home after a few years in another country. I'd love to be able to ask her about this, but sadly she died 10 years ago so her reasons for fabricating the past went to the grave with her. If I'd done this research a decade earlier then it could have been a very interesting conversation. A lot of my family don't know this stuff, they still think the original stories are true. If they read it here, then, well, now you know! :-) Otherwise, I won't tell them because the romantic tragedy version is actually quite a nice story.
So "Demons of the Punjab" really struck a chord with me. I could literally _feel_ Yasmin's confusion and distress that "this isn't the story I've been told" because I have very much been there.
As an Indian, it was interesting to learn more about my Indian history as it opened my eyes up about how much my country means to me.
@@donnathespiv sometimes that's not the case as for some people as things can happen that make them lose faith in their country.
@@donnathespiv thank you.
Thanks for this one. Will give another watch and hope some of this enthusiasm washes off on me.
I think the purple stuff is the DNA (?) remains their own people and the people they witness. It's why it's in the central column thing of their ship.
This was an awesome episode. Doctor Who is surprising a lot of people this season. Frankly, I knew very little about the partition of India, and this helped a lot. Doctor Who is GOING THERE! Whether it's the Jim Crow laws in the U.S., or the ham-fisted policies of the British Empire, Doctor Who is clearly not just some satirical British comedy, but an idea. The idea is showing through many scenarios, the impacts of fascism, racism, brainwashing, and intolerance. The UK was almost invaded by the Nazis, and they aren't about to forget it.
The purple dust is the last remnants of the Vajerian's destroyed home planet; I assume that as they were carrying it with them in the canister which the Doctor briefly stole that it played some ritual role in the "witnessing" as a mark of respect; they cover the dead body in what's left of their planet. But I wish that had been expanded upon a bit more.
They’re saying they have to leave this place or they will be killed, and they will stand over the corpses. It was seen as a threat, but it was them warning them
This episode was great. It was funny, tragic, moving, educational, and all round brilliant. At the end... I was near crying. I just rewatched it, and... The plot was rather interesting, really just being to how one family was split and torn apart by the fear and paranoia that surrounded the partition. It’s criminal that this isn’t taught in schools or even the subject of films nowadays. It’s just sort of ignored, despite being the biggest refugee crisis of the last 80 years... most likely because of what preceded it that kind of takes up historical movies set in the 40s.
It’s a story that doesn’t even necessarily need to be the partition. You could tell a similar story about the rise Nazism, or certain more recent historical events.
One thing I'm really enjoying in the new season is that they're actually trying to be historically accurate as opposed to in the moffat era, when it seemed he just didn't give a shit about history(for example the episode with the vikings, that is such an atrocity), but now we're getting the really historical stuff back.
I'm glad to see more educational stories in Series 11. I just made a video on my top 10 historical periods, figures and events I would like to see in the future of Doctor Who
This is one of my favorite episodes of the Doctor. Great story!
I was super excited about this episode because it's the first historical episode in the reboot that takes place somewhere outside of the Western world. It gets boring when the same mainstream historical stories get re-hashed over and over when there's so many more that just never get told at all. So I don't understand why people would complain about the series using its time to tell a story they haven't actually heard before.
I agreed with your point at first about the line "we will stand over your corpses" but I think they were inferring them to leave or they will die unnecessarily by the angry people, not the witnesses themselves. Definately could have been worded better BUT this would have given away the unnecessary twist about them not being assassins
I think the implication was that the aliens were spreading the ashes of their planet onto corpses to spread their heritage as part of their mission and that's what the whole purple dust on people was about
Honestly I don't know how but I'd love to see more of the aliens featured here. I know they weren't the focus but man they had a great design.
The purple dust is collective his essence (or at least his face) for their hologram display of dead people faces.
*Loved your review!*
19 year old Brit here; taught about partition of India in primary school when I was 5, but never heard mention of it since. It was also watered down and framed as this fun thing, not an instigator of genocide.
steve gale it was watered down I'm sure they are not going to show the mutilations and raping of the women, basically genocide on both sides. Just read the eye witness reports. This story could of been pushed a little further.
The initial comment was talking about their experience at school
Well it might of been if you had a number of Asian kids and it was say the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of India in it's current form.
I learnt about it the year before GCSEs but it was just one lesson. We did the whole of C20 history in one year.
This year instead of The Nativity Year 1 bring you The Partition of India.
Definitely happened. Science fact.
The Vajarians will return. I'm calling it now!
awesome review and also in regards to viewing figures, people need to look at the rankings and take that into consideration. It's sort of how people look at manga in Japanese magazine, people look more at the ranking rather then how many people actually read the magazine.
I loved it! Although the episode never stated it outright, I thought the purple ooze was almost like a sign of respect from the aliens. It's made of their dead species (who also died alone) and is a way of commemorating the dead holy man aswell as their own people. That's why it disappears. They respect them and then the evidence disappears so time can continue as it should.
Pretty much felt the same way as you. Though, I found the Doctor’s jokes to be really tone deaf, not fitting with this tragic story about two brothers torn apart by war at all.
And while Yaz was the lynchpin of this story, she didn’t get much to do other than give Patel an excuse to tell this really involving drama about much more interesting characters. So, yeah,I still think that she’s an underdeveloped companion.
The thing that makes “Father’s Day”, imho, better than “The Demons of Punjab” is that “Father’s Day” is actually ABOUT Rose. Rose triggers the plot and it never stops being her story. While with Yaz the spotlight gets stolen almost immediately by the funny, charismatic Prem and Yaz’s nan. The story being told in the end doesn’t tell us anything new about Yaz as a person other than her nan is way more interesting. Also, Rose having a dead dad is something we learn in episode three of series one and “Father’s Day” is episode eight, leaving us waiting for an episode dealing with this fact. However, we only now learn about Yaz’s nan and the watch so it can be immediately paid off, leaving us with no build up, no mystery, no nothing.
Still thought it was the best episode of series 11 so far and a better historical tale than “Rosa”. And it’s restored my faith in the rest of the series.
Best of the series so far, just ahead of Rosa. 8.5/10.
Ratings so far: 6.5, 5.5, 8, 4, 5.5, 8.5. (avg. 6.33)
Seemed like the most concise episode yet. Everything that happened mattered. Very little time wasted. Humor was organic. Emotional scenes were well acted and earned.
After feeling the series had been "just fine" so far outside of Rosa, this one really hit. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a strong stretch run to the finale.
“Brown people in Doctor Who REEEEEEE!!!”
I’ll have you know that last decade one of the main companions was brown and no one had a problem with that!
Brown companions never were a problem. Brown side characters neither. But a whole episode focussing on Pakistan and India? That seriously made things so absolutely uninteresting!
Only the last 10 - 15 minutes caught my attention.
@@ilgilg9394 How can watching white people being portrayed as filthy racists ever get boring? ;-)
We officially lost the empire 40 years later
Just pointing out, since your working on "hide" review,,,you have reacted/reviewed to Ecclsons9th, Mat 11th, Capaldi, hurt,,all the newer Drs including Jodies,...still yet to see any videos on David Tennents(besides "day of the Dr" 50th ep) lol
This was a brilliant episode, this next to Rosa are my favourites of the series so far,,
I think it is so weird that british people don't seem to learn about this in school. I'm german and we learned about it in english lesson. We had India as a special topic, but still. It's the same with Rosa Parks. When the episode aired american reviewers said, they did not knowe abou it, but I did learn it in regular english school lessons in middle school. What do british and american people learn about in history lesson. These are such important topics.
As a British person what I learned in history was
Ww2
Ww1
Cold war
1920s america
1930s Germany
Industrial revolution
Rosa parks
Civil rights
Vietnam war
American revolution
Tudor monarchs
British kings and queens
French revolution
Roman empire
Pirates
Renasonce
Van Gogh
Ancient Greece and Egypt
And some other important people and inventions
Thats what I remember anyway
The aliens were necessary in order to give the Doctor a reason to stay beyond the hour she had planned. The alien design was nice and the subversion of expectation made them a little more interesting, if not important to the events. The importance in a thematic way was to highlight, again, this Doctor's fallibility; far different from the Matt Smith or Capaldi near omnipotent 'oncoming storm' and far closer in spirit to Hartnell or Troughton.
There was just one thing that bothered me. Nani Ji should have been in her late 80s at least in present day Sheffield, or a LOT younger in 1940s Lahore.
Great episode and great review. Startling how people can be so shallow and pig headed regarding race, gender etc. Crazy
I'm actually really enjoying Docto who this series, far more than i've done in years actually. That said however, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this episode that much, simply because historicall episodes are my least favourite kind in general, but I thought it was amazing. I actually really loved that the assassins turned out to be ex assassins after the distruction of their world and had made them do a 180 in life and make it their mission to bare witness instead.
This season has made me reaslise how very lacking my education was. I'm not surpised though, I studyed nursing at uni back in '99 and while we were dissusing Florence Nightingale's contobutions the teacher started talking about Mary Seacole and out of my entire class not one of us had heard the name before.
The British annexed the partition because of the constant war from one side and their inability to defend the people of the other, it wasn't a hastily drawn line at all it tried to include people of one religion on one side and people of another ideology on the other and that is never going to be a perfect solution especially where people land was taken over and they want it back at any cost, it also didn't take into account India's demand for sovereignty which the British gave without concession .
None of this stopped me thinking that Bradley was not going to simply call Marc LeBette or Anne Hegerty to come down to answer all the questions and solve all the problems.
A very, very good episode, along with "Rosa". It seems that Doctor Who has grown up a bit this year. I'm sorry that some people don't appreciate this move in a new direction. Suddenly all the whinging about the Doctor being a woman seems old-hat and no longer relevant.
The end with Yaz talking to her nan after all that happened got to me, remembering my own Gran and imagining what it would have been like to have seen her life as a young woman.
mcarp555 I scroll through the comments of a few doctor who review videos. I don’t see anything about the doctor being a woman. I see many complaints on the show being too PC, dull stories, bad acting and terrible writing. This show has turned into a political agenda pushing, dull shitshow.
if we can get more episodes like this and less like episode 5, this season could end very strong.
i feel the doctor needs more individual interactions with the companions because she hasn't really made a connection to these companions yet like that scene with graeme and yaz for example should've been between the doctor and yaz instead. also my favourite historical episodes are human nature and family of blood.
I hadn;t been hit this hard since Heaven Sent
For those who don't know the begining of doctor who, it was supposed to be just a history show, people going back in time and seeing events. It failed as a show and became what it was for 50 years a sci-fi show. This is not a documentary. All you see is someone's opinion of history. The youtuber here admits he doesn't know the history. I don't either. However, he has come to the conclusion that this is historically accurate. I don't know. All I do know is Dr. who had been a show that was entertainment with a social and political commentary. Now its a social and political commentary with some sci-fi thrown in. I did purposely leave out entertainment.
There has yet to be a show where the doctor's uquie skill set has been needed. Is it just me, or is everyone forgeting the doctor ISN'T human. There are certain features of the doctor that have been true through all the characters until now. Let the doctor be the doctor.
Yaz tied the binding rope. :)
Kinda feels like doctor who is really trying to become educational, the aliens play little to no role in most episodes this season. I really feel like this show should just be played on the kids channel to teach them history. This isn't the doctor who i knew 😭
Don't you bloody tossers like anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You bitch and fucking whine and bitch and and fucking whine again!!!! Are you all that fucking stupid????? Apparently so! What a pack of bloody morons!!!!!! You just don't get it, do you? Duhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!
Didn't we see this in TWICE UPON A TIME?
So far we had an emotional episode centered around Ryan and Yaz's heritage. Will we get a similar one for Graham? Will it be revealed that he is actually Jewish, or half Irish?
When I first saw the trailer I was worried it was going to be as god awful as Rosa was but it turned out to actually be a decent episode. No PC rubbish. No agenda pushing. Just a good story.
Where this episode went right was it did not bring in a historical figure, just a time period which allowed for more creative freedom.
How was Rosa agenda pushing? Is "don't be racist" some sjw agenda to you? Surely it's common sense not to be racist.
@@ilgilg9394 that's your opinion. Personally I found it really gripping from start to finish, especially towards the end when we were wondering if history would happen the way it should.
@@LouisEnright exactly. It is common sense. So why is the episode acting like its still the 50s now
@@jplegend98 the main point of the episode was to teach us about what Rosa Parks did which had an impact on us a lot today. However, they also made a huge emphasis on the fact that discrimination still exists today.
in my opinion, it's probably the strongest episode in Series 11. :)
The acting from the guest cast was hilariously stilted.
@@ilgilg9394 Well that as well ;)
Honestly, Series 11 has been so bold and it's done so well to teach people so much about history ... I'd honestly be honored if in Series 12 or Series 13, they go to Jesus. Doctor Who to tackle the most influential figure and controversial human being in human history would be an experience.
i loved this episode so much
I thought it was a great episode, perhaps with one or two recycled ideas. I'm pleased that The Doctor didn't say "It isn't an evil plan" again though when the Tha'Jar explained themselves. I've heard other reviewers mention how the older brother was a bit passive in the face of his brother's betrayal and as he is about to get shot. I think he could have been a bit less relaxed about it too, y'know, since he was facing death and all. A bit too accepting of his fate.
The 1st half of this episode was way too fast. But the 2nd half was way better. I can see the influences from Farthers Day. "Get to the shed" in perticular.
I'm glad to see more historical episodes in this series.
I kind of miss the whole darker side of the doctor, like when he used to get mad and became cold and even scary sometimes. I haven't really had a single moment with the 13th doctor where we see this other dangerous side of the character. I know some people aren't huge fans of these dark moments, but come on, not once this whole season have we seen the doctor as threatening and mad. Maybe these scenes were overused at times in the past, but we need a little here and there on occasion, its an important part of the character.
Didn't they mention the purple dust was what remained of their people and I'm assuming they put it on for ritual purpose? Or he becomes part of the dust?
Best of the season. Still bland. Although in this one I actually LIKED Jodie proving it's definitely Chibnalls shit scripts I hate about 13.
He keeps writing her like an 11/10 hybrid. She could be good with the right material.
It’s was alright actually surprise surprise the first episode without Chibnalls name in it was alright, the acting was a bit wobbly in places and there were times that the bat/assassin creatures were hard to understand but in the end it was alright next week looks good and seems more proper doctor who so I’m definitely looking forward to that
The sonic screwdriver untying rope at the end annoyed me
Once again, this proves that every writer other than the showrunner writes the best episodes, with the only exception possibly being "The Woman Who Fell To Earth". The main issue I had with this episode was I found the supporting characters quite unlikable, and found the fact there were only four people both families attending scream "budget cuts" something. Also, though the idea of the villains worked for this episode, I am still anxiously waiting for a strong alien THREAT. However, overall, one of the best episodes of the series for me and am excited to see a few episodes with Chibby.