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REVIEW: Doctor Who: ‘Before the Flood’

By Barry Rice

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The Doctor comes face-to-face with the Fisher King (Credit: BBC)

Last week on Doctor Who, we saw the conclusion of the second two-part story this year with ‘Before the Flood.’ The story continued from week three’s ‘Under the Lake’ as the Doctor raced back in time to discover the source of the mysterious ghosts and to save Clara.

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Opinions both here at Doctor Who Watch and all around the internet were very positive for ‘Under the Lake,’ with many hailing as the best episode in years (check out our review here). Atmospheric and genuinely frightening, it was a true example of writer Toby Whithouse’s talent. So with all of that coming before it, was ‘Before the Flood’ able to keep up that momentum?

Related: Doctor Who Recap: ‘Before the Flood’

As you’ve likely noticed by now, we’re doing our reviews differently for Series 9; each staff member contributes a short review and we compile them all into one article. Due to the abbreviated nature, some writers will focus on only one aspect of the episode, while others will write a traditional (albeit abbreviated) review. By the end, though, you should have a comprehensive view of the episode from a diverse group of Doctor Who fans and writers.

Enough talk, let’s dive right in!

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Bennett (Arsher Ali) and O’Donnell (Morven Christie) in their new street clothes (Credit: BBC)

Barry Rice – Co-Editor

To say that I loved ‘Under the Lake’ would be an understatement; it was as close to perfect as Doctor Who has come in a long, long time. And while ‘Before the Flood’ was nowhere near as unforgettable, it was still an epic hour of television and a worthy successor to its beginning chapter.

I wasn’t sure how to react to the Doctor breaking the fourth wall in the opening — the cynic in me wanted to frown, but Capaldi’s delivery was so great, I couldn’t help but grin. Then, when the credits started with their electric guitar trappings, that grin spread into a full-blown smile.

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‘Under the Lake’ truly unnerved me, but a lot of the tension was lost in ‘Before the Flood’ and the terrifying Fisher King ended up with precious little screen time (I have to wonder how much footage ended up on the editing room floor). Still, the story worked with few plot holes or eye-rolling moments (both of which are almost commonplace on Doctor Who these days).

I’ve long advocated for Toby Whithouse to succeed Steven Moffat as showrunner when he finally abdicates the throne, and ‘Under the Lake’/’Before the Flood’ prove above all that he is more than up for the task.

Next: Return of the Bootstrap Paradox

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The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Prentis (Paul Kaye) (Credit: BBC)

Leah Tedesco – Assistant Editor/Staff Writer

The breaking of the fourth wall in the prologue of ‘Before the Flood’ is by far the longest example of this storytelling device in the history of Doctor Who. I really enjoyed the Doctor’s monologue explaining the bootstrap paradox, and felt that it was the best part of the episode. This scene smoothly transitions into the opening credits with Peter Capaldi’s guitar playing. The episode is nicely capped off at the end with the Doctor breaking the fourth wall again by shrugging at the camera.

Speaking of the bootstrap paradox, this is another storytelling device that has been used on Doctor Who before and is always a fun way of playing with time. I, along, with many fans of the program, greatly admire its ingenious use in ‘Blink.’ And while its use is good in ‘Before the Flood,’ the episode feels rather rushed. The same thing happens in the first story of Series 9; The first episode of each respective story is fantastic, while it seems as if the second half of each is scrambling to wrap things up.

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On another note, once again, we are presented with another fan of the Doctor within the Whoniverse. Unlike Osgood, however, it seems that Alice O’Donnell will most likely remain dead. Over the years, the writers have set up many possible long-term companions, only to kill them off. As Whovians, we imagine that these writers take some sort of sadistic pleasure in doing so.

Next: A Timey-Wimey Concept

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A cautious Doctor exiting the TARDIS (Credit: BBC)

James Aggas – Staff Writer

There were quite a few things I enjoyed about this week’s episode. Along with continuing a great deal of the elements that made last week’s episode so successful – including the claustrophobic horror and developing an intriguing mystery – I really enjoyed how the story took a huge “timey-wimey” turn in ‘Before the Flood’.

Despite having time travel as an important part of its concept, Doctor Who has rarely explored time travel like it has done here. While in some stories, including the season’s opener with ‘The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar’, stories have explored the consequences of the Doctor’s actions, in this story, the consequences are in some ways revealed before the actions are made.

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Surprisingly, in over five decades of the show’s history, that’s a particular type of story that hasn’t often been done, or at least, not in much depth. We’ve had hints of it in arcs like the Saxon arc for Series 3, or the Silence for the whole of Smith’s era, but focused in one story, like in ‘Mawdryn Undead’ with the Fifth Doctor or, to a lesser extent, ‘Blink’ with the Tenth, has very rarely happened, so it’s nice to have an episode like ‘Before the Flood’ to explore such an interesting concept.

Overall, it helped to add a sense of doom to the episode, particularly with moments like the Doctor facing his own ghost or finding out that the list of names is the order in which people died. The Doctor facing his mortality has been done before – in fact, it’s most heavily been used throughout the Moffat era – but it still feels well done in this episode, both in terms of writing and in performance, with Capaldi continuing to be brilliant in his portrayal of the Doctor.

‘Before the Flood’ was a great conclusion to last week’s ‘Under the Lake’, and another reason why I’m so thankful for the return of the two-parters.

Next: A Change of Pace

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The massive Fisher King taking up an entire doorway (Credit: BBC)

David Hill – Co-Editor

Series Nine of Doctor Who had been a welcome departure over the past few seasons. In having the multiple two part episodes, there has been a different feel to the program, hearkening back to the early days of the show when such concepts as character development and interaction ruled the day. It has been tremendous to see that aspect return once more to Doctor Who.

Another fun development in the return of the two part episode has been that the pacing has been much better. All too often over the past few seasons, episodes would meander, only to have what felt like a rushed conclusion because the producers, directors and/or Steven Moffat realized that they were short on time. That change, even if it has been for a couple of episodes, has been excellent to witness.

Related: More Continuity Issues with Death in ‘Before the Flood’

That was not the case with ‘Before the Flood.’ Not only was there a disappointing lack of the Fisher King in an episode that was about the Fisher King, but the ending, where the Doctor saved the day and trapped the ghosts in the Faraday Cage, seemed quite rushed. It was as though the pacing issues of previous seasons returned, when they realized that there was but a short period of time left to fit in the ending.

Perhaps this is just a one episode issue, something where they simply lost track of time. However, given the problems where endings felt rushed in previous seasons, it is somewhat concerning. Series Nine has been stellar thus far, but the way that the episodes end can truly make an impact upon the overall feel of the show.

Series Nine of Doctor Who has had a great feel overall. Hopefully, that will continue, and this rushed ending will simply be a blip on the radar instead of a sign of things to come.

Next: The Power of Paradox

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Bennett (Arsher Ali) and the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) on the lookout (Credit: BBC)

Kory Plockmeyer – Staff Writer

First of all, can I just say that I called it? I suggested in my predictions last week that it was the Doctor in the suspended animation chamber. I literally pumped my fist with excitement when I saw that I was right.

To be honest, this was an episode that needed to grow on me. When I first watched it I had missed some of the opening discussion about the bootstrap paradox. I suppose that’s one of the challenges watching Doctor Who with a three year old running around. But as I watched the episode again, I found it growing on me. I think that breaking the fourth wall was an effective technique in this episode. This episode forced us to ask the questions that we normally don’t need to ask. And ultimately, it was willing to leave the questions unanswered and to simply let it be a paradox, a mystery.

What made this episode grow on me was the realization that this wasn’t just another episode about the doctor worrying about whether not he can break the rules of time that he seems to bend all the time anyway. Rather it was a sophisticated piece that explored and called our attention to one of the paradoxes of hypothetical time travel. On first glance, this episode seemed shallow. But after re-watching it, I realized it is actually one of the deepest, most thoughtful episodes of the season so far. I would even suggest, perhaps, the most profound. Profound in the sense that time travel by its very nature would be accompanied by paradox. By willingly and openly embracing the reality of paradox (accompanied by awesome guitar riff), Doctor Who actually removes some of the power of paradox.

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Of course, what made this episode especially good with all of the accompanying details to support this framework. The scene with Cass and the ax was terrifying. I jumped out of my seat when O’Donnell’s ghost appeared outside of the Faraday cage – even on the second time through. I think I even squealed a little bit when the final romance was revealed. The image of the Doctor cowering before the Fisher King was perhaps the most iconic of this episode. I don’t know that I ever believed the Doctor thought he was going to die, but I did believe that he was actually scared of the Fisher King. This was a healthy counterbalance to the seeming omniscience of the Doctor. At a certain point, I would like to see what happens when the Doctor genuinely does not have a plan, or when we reach the end of the episode and find out the Doctor had not had it all figured out from the very beginning.

One final note: I would welcome any of the surviving crew members as future companions. By the end of the two-part episode, I thought each had developed into characters whose story I would want to hear and, more importantly, who would force the Doctor to reckon with his decisions.

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Prentis (Paul Kaye) seems a little confrontational for a Tivolian (Credit: BBC)

Joel Getter – Staff Writer

I feel conflicted on this one. Last week, I said that the fun is in figuring out how the magician does his trick. However, it also stops being fun if the magician explains every step of the process to you.

After last week’s setup of a very creepy ghost story, ‘Before the Flood’ falls more into the realm of science fiction with the Doctor’s internal struggles on whether or not to change history after learning about his approaching death. This is nothing new to Doctor Who as an entire season was based around the problem of the Doctor knowing he is going to die. The best moments of this episode involved the Doctor’s willingness to break the rules for the person he cares for most and Clara’s continued development towards being more like the Doctor. It seems like they are each changing the other in the opposite direction. Here’s hoping this plays out in a major way later this series. Despite being less frightening than its first half, there were still a couple of genuinely scary moments. My favorite was axe-wielding Moran creepily following Cass. The Fisher King was well done, and I wish we had gotten more moments with this creature.

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Then there’s the whole matter of the bootstrap paradox. Again, this is nothing new to the program. I was reminded of the mini-episode ‘Time Crash’ involving Doctors Five and Ten working together to save the TARDIS. In a nutshell, the Tenth Doctor knew what to do because he remembered being the Fifth Doctor watching Ten perform the calculations that saved the TARDIS. I love timey-wimey episodes, and for the most part, I enjoyed this one. However, I question if we really needed the Doctor’s lengthy explanation regarding what a bootstrap paradox is at the beginning of the episode. I don’t mind the breaking of the Fourth wall, but it did feel like the information was handed to us rather than letting us come to the conclusions ourselves. For me, half the fun of these types of episodes is in reasoning out how the pieces come together. Having it laid out for us like this makes me wonder if they thought we would not be smart enough to connect the dots.

All in all, this was a solid episode that could have been even better if we were given a chance to puzzle more of it out for ourselves.

Next: What Did You Think About 'Before the Flood'?

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The Fisher King (Credit: BBC)

There you have it: our thoughts and opinions on Doctor Who‘s latest episode — but what did you think of ‘Before the Flood’? Take our poll and tell us your thoughts!

This week, Doctor Who starts another two-part adventure, with the Doctor and Clara traveling back to the age of the Vikings in ‘The Girl Who Died.’ Here’s how Steven Moffat teased the episode to Radio Times:

"In a backwater of history, in a little Viking village where all the warriors have just been slaughtered, a young girl called Ashildr is about to make a desperate mistake. The Mire are the deadliest mercenaries in the galaxy, famed for being unstoppable and without mercy – and Ashildr has just declared war on them. The Doctor and Clara have twelve hours, to turn a handful of farmers and blacksmiths into a fighting force ready to face down Odin himself. And there’s more – because this is the day when the Doctor remembers where he’s seen his own face before."

And here’s the trailer for ‘The Girl Who Died’:

We’ll have our traditional episode recap Saturday evening after the episode airs, followed by another round table review from the staff on Monday morning. For more info on ‘The Girl Who Died’ and the rest of the upcoming episodes, check out our frequently updated guide: Doctor Who Series 9: Everything There is to Know So Far.

What did you think about ‘Before the Flood’? Any pet theories or nit-picky moments you’d care to share? Sound off in the comments below and tell us about it!

Next: Doctor Who: More Continuity Issues with Death

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