Doctor Who recap: The TARDIS gang face giant spiders in Arachnids in the UK
By James Aggas
In Arachnids in the UK, we were introduced to Yaz’s mum, Najia. But what does she make of her daughter’s new friends?
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
The Doctor and her gang face giant spiders and corrupt businessmen, as we cover the latest episode of Doctor Who, Arachnids in the UK.
After introducing us to the hotel owner and American millionaire Robertson and establishing just how much of a jerk he is – particularly when he instantly fires Yasmin’s mum, Najia – Arachnids in the UK then focuses on the Doctor finally getting her new friends home. Initially, there’s an awkward goodbye, until Yasmin invites them all round her place for tea.
Graham decides to go home first, as he has his own things to deal with. When he gets there though, the grief and the loss of his wife Grace are both still too real for him. He can still imagine her being there, right there with him. The events of The Woman Who Fell to Earth are very hard for him to move on from, no matter how much he wants to.
While the Doctor (very awkwardly) introduces herself to both Yasmin’s father and sister, she starts to hear about a problem with the rubbish in the building. They also learn that their next door neighbor hasn’t been heard from for a few days.
Breaking into the neighbor’s place after meeting Dr Jade McIntyre, it’s not long before they find the neighbor wrapped in cobwebs. As Graham joins up with them to confirm that he’s just seen a giant spider too, the Doctor quickly realizes that McIntyre had actually expected this.
McIntyre explains that the spiders in Sheffield have been behaving strangely for a while. The Doctor eventually narrows down where the source of the problem is: the exact same hotel where Yasmin’s mum worked.
Najia’s interest
Initially, Yasmin has trouble with Robertson when she arrives at the hotel herself to give her mum a lift home from her former workplace. But it’s not long before Robertson finds out that there’s a spider infestation in the hotel on a massive scale. Reluctantly, he decides to join up with the Doctor and her friends, more out of a sense of self-preservation than of doing the right thing.
It’s slowly made clear just how famous Robertson is to the Doctor’s friends, at least. Not only is he incredibly rich, but he also clearly wants to be president.
However, while Najia is sure that she doesn’t like Robertson one bit, she’s not sure what to make her daughter’s new friends. Especially the Doctor, who doesn’t give very satisfying answers to her questions.
As the episode goes on, it’s clear that she has a very active interest in her daughter’s life. Especially her love life, as she asks whether the Doctor or Ryan are dating Yasmin.
By the end of the episode, she’s none the wiser. But how long before she finds out what her daughter’s really been up to?
As her family enjoyed dinner together, Yaz went back to the TARDIS. But not to say goodbye…
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
Toxic waste
As the episode goes on, it becomes clearer and clearer just how corrupt and dangerous Robertson actually is. When they go underneath the hotel and into the mines that the hotel was built on, they discover its worst secret: the mines have been used as a landfill for industrial waste.
Worse still, waste from experiments that McIntyre was working on involving spiders could’ve easily been a part of the waste. The sheer toxicity of the waste along with the experiments made on the spiders caused them to mutate and grow rapidly. Particularly the mother of this breed of spiders.
Ryan and Graham soon discover how big the mother is when they see it crawling on the ceiling of the ballroom. Graham describes it “as big as a van”, which is definitely an accurate comment.
Panic room
After they take a visit to Robertson’s panic room, they work together to lure all the spiders there by sound and vibration – which in this case was a selection of Ryan’s favorite genre of music, grime. Most of the spiders are safely locked inside there, except, of course, for the queen spider.
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However, the Doctor realizes that they don’t need to worry about killing it – its body is simply too large to sustain itself, and it can’t breathe properly. However, despite knowing this, Robertson is quick to kill it with a gun, anyway.
The Doctor of course isn’t happy about this, but Robertson doesn’t care one bit. Even worse, it’s clear that he’s going to suffer no consequences because of his actions, either.
Towards the end of the episode, Ryan, Graham and Yaz head back to the TARDIS. Initially, the Doctor believes they want to say goodbye. But none of them want to give up the TARDIS life just yet, all for different reasons.
Graham still misses Grace far too much to go back to their home any time soon, and traveling with the Doctor so far has been the best way to not have to deal with it, at least not all at once. Ryan hasn’t got much of a life back home, and Yaz loves her family, but she also knows that she may love the TARDIS life even more.
And so, the TARDIS gang head off into new adventures. This time though, through choice.
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What did you make of Arachnids in the UK? Did you enjoy it as a monster episode? What did you like about the story? Let us know in the comments below.