Doctor Who: The Well

"It came from the well. It came out of the well and we don’t know how to stop it!"

The Doctor and Belinda continue their quest to find their way back to May 24, 2025. Things do not go according to plan. That's as much as you should know before you watch this episode.

I'd noticed, prior to this episode airing, that there was an unusual dearth of information as to what it was about. It turns out that that was a deliberate and important choice. So, more than ever, I caution you to not read any further before you've seen the episode, because we're going to have to talk about the spoilers and you owe it to yourself to see this unspoiled.

To that end, I present for you the Manatee of Spoiler Defense. Consider yourself safe in the arms of the gentle sea cow and venture no further before viewing.

You are safe from spoilers in my flippers.
Now please throw me a cabbage.

The first thing I want to mention about this episode is that it's directed by Amanda Brotchie. She also directed last week's 'Lux,' and I commented on that one how lovely the atmosphere and direction was. That's even more the case this week. The way that shots are set up to emotionally guide the viewer through the story is masterfully handled.

To illustrate what I mean, consider the way the shot is composed when the troops are first about to enter the mining colony building. They're tiny, along the bottom of the screen. The building itself simply dwarfs them in frame. And behind that we have the entire panorama of starry sky. Everything in that image is designed to present the troops as vulnerable and alone, lost out in the middle of nowhere and unsafe.

Similarly, nearly every single shot of Aliss frames her alone in the center of a huge open space. The shots are designed to make us understand her as a frightened, isolated, sole survivor. And that's before we get to that inspired overhead shot of her position in the room which visually and metaphorically cements this episode's connection to...

OK, just this once I won't be coy about things and just get right to it. The reveal that this is a sequel to the episode 'Midnight' was fantastic. It was timed perfectly in the episode, the reveal was handled quite deftly in the dialogue, and we got just enough flashback footage and explanatory dialogue that if you hadn't seen 'Midnight' you could still keep up with what was going on, but if you are familiar with the earlier story, it's all a bit of a treat.

Which is a great time to segue into talking about the script. Pleasantly, an episode of television this well directed is rewarded with a script good enough to deserve it. The screenplay is credited to both Russell T. Davies and Sharma Angel-Walfall, and I would love to know exactly how the workflow broke out between them, because the whole thing gels together fabulously.

The big reveal that this is the planet Midnight, last seen in the episode 'Midnight' could easily have landed in the dialogue with all the subtlety of an abrupt slap in the face with a large, angry flounder, but instead the dialogue leading up to the reveal is natural conversation as actual human beings understand it, and the course of the conversation is entirely believable. A conversation about why Shaya is such a good shot – itself a nicely planted seed for events later in the script – leads believably to a discussion of where she's from and the history of wars there.

And that's where the real trick that makes the reveal work takes place. I mentioned human beings in the previous paragraph, and the Doctor's conversation with Shaya leads to the discovery that Human Beings just don't exist here, despite the fact that they should. Which means that when they follow that up almost immediately with the Midnight reveal we're already so wrong-footed thinking about the whole 'not existing' thing that it catches us by complete surprise.

At least it did for me. I would be interested in hearing if there are any minerologists out there who already knew what Carbon-46 was, and if that had already given things away. I know that I nearly stopped the episode at least three times to look Carbon-46 up just out of curiosity, and I'm so glad that I didn't. I did fully intend to look it up before I wrote this review though, as I have a strict policy of pretending to be informed about minor details so that readers will be fooled into thinking that I am smart.

Obviously, the implication of both the Doctor and Belinda finding out independently that humans no longer exist is meant to lead us to the assumption that the world ends with the season's finale – hence all the floating international monuments a few episodes back. I'd assume that the answer is going to turn out to be a bit more complicated than that, but this is a great example of keeping a season long plotline simmering just enough in view to keep us curious but not so much as to distract from the story being told at the moment.

So, just a really well-done episode on every level from beginning to end – barring one small quibble that I'll deal with in the next section. A lovely opening scene in the TARDIS setting up the Doctor's promise to keep Belinda safe, which we circle back to in the final scenes in a structurally satisfying way. The two of them immediately getting swept up in an unexpected free fall space jump, which was fun. What appears to be a riff on Aliens – what with the visuals of the landscape, the plummeting space Marines, and the mysteriously abandoned colony. The mystery of what killed all but one of the colonists and its high concept explanation and resolution.

All that, plus the return of a fan-favorite alien from 2008. What a well-structured delight this episode really is. Neither Amanda Brotchie nor Sharma Angel-Walfall appear to be currently scheduled to do another Doctor Who, but they should both be invited back immediately. I find myself a big fan of both of their work.

Bits and Pieces:

— I'm disappointed that they made a plot point out of Aliss being deaf. I was really, really hoping that she was just going to be a character who happened to be deaf. Much like Diane back in 'Flux' whose limb difference never became relevant in any way. But then we got to the 'Ah, you've been safe because you can't hear it whispering' and I was disappointed. That said, I'm really trying to live by a motto I heard recently, 'Nothing about us without us,' and I know they worked with the Deaf community on this episode, and it's not my place to be offended on anybody else's behalf.

— I like that we still haven't really seen whatever the creature on Midnight is. It's so much better not knowing.

— Belinda getting tagged by the creature and then shot in the chest was entirely the Doctor's fault for lingering in hopes of seeing the whatever-it-is.

— I love the additional information that if you kill the current 'host' that the creature attaches itself to you instead. Particularly the way it led to Aliss' 'What, you think it came for me first??' moment. Imagine killing your best friend and then discovering that it only caused that friend's curse to be passed on to you. That's dark.

— I don't often think to mention this, but the sound design on this episode was also particularly good.

— It was wonderful the way that Shaya used the basic logistics of the situation to take out Cassio after he got nearly everyone killed.

— Mrs. Flood is now also 500,000 years in the future and apparently the head of an alien military force. Because of course she is.

— This week hope was irrelevant. In 'The Robot Revolution,' the cat was irrelevant. I'd need to re-watch 'Lux' to see if anything was declared irrelevant there. Just a coincidence? Am I seeing signs that aren't there?

— Why are there never safety railings around these huge, cavernous holes to the center of the planet?

— The initial scenes inside the abandoned colony reminded me very much of the 'Star Trek: TOS episode 'The Naked Time'. I was nearly expecting Kevin Riley to show up and start singing.

— On the off chance that the world IS going to end in late May, that would be super useful information to know as there are a number of bills that I'd love to have the opportunity to not pay.

Quotes:

Belinda: "Have we been invaded? Or hit by a meteor? Or swatted by a giant moth?"
The Doctor: "Oh. Imagine a moth that big!"

The Doctor: "I will meet your mum and dad. And I will make your dad laugh. And your mum can whistle at my behind. And I will sing. I will do the singing. That is a promise."

Shaya: "And jump, jump, jump!"
The Doctor/Belinda: "What??"

Shaya: "Hope is irrelevant."

Cassio: "You should stay suited."
The Doctor: "Oh, I’m just not loving the look, babes. I come in peace."
Cassio: "It’s not appropriate to call me babes."
The Doctor: "Okay, hon."

Belinda: "It could be a survivor."
Shaya: "It could be the killer."
The Doctor: "It could be both."
Well, there's all three of their world views in a nutshell.

The Doctor: "Bel, be careful of her."
Aliss: "I can still lip-read."

The Doctor: "Earth."
Shaya: "Never heard of it."
Cassio: "Stupid name for a planet."

The Doctor: "If it was a clock face, you die at midnight."

This is just a really well-crafted episode all around. It told a complete, concise story of its own while still contributing some to the season long plot, had some very effective jump scares, beautiful imagery and the unexpected treat of a return to Midnight.

Fourteen out of fifteen Doctors.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, retired firefighter, and roughly 78% water. You can find more of his work at the 42nd Vizsla. If you'd like to see his raw notes for this and other reviews, you can find them at What Was Mikey Thinking.

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