Doctor Who: Demons of the Punjab review – a stronger story for Series Eleven?

Yaz explores some of her own family history in Demons of the Punjab.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Demons of the Punjab was certainly a huge improvement from the previous two episodes. But, for our writers at Doctor Who Watch, was it enough?

Demons of the Punjab was quite a refreshing episode for Doctor Who on Sunday. The previous two episodes have been divisive, at best. One of our writers even described The Tsuranga Conundrum as one of the worst episodes ever made. Ouch.

Luckily this week, we’ve got nothing quite that bad from any our three writers’s reviews. And it’s not hard to see why. Overall, Demons of the Punjab saw a lot of key improvements. From the story, to the cinematography, to the characters, to the drama – everything just felt much stronger than what we got in the previous two episodes. It was an excellent improvement that really showed us more of exactly what Series Eleven can do.

But was it enough? While being stronger than the previous two episodes is a good thing, considering how deeply flawed those stories were, that doesn’t make Demons of the Punjab an automatic classic. It may not be quite as weak as the previous two episodes, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have flaws of its own.

So what did our writers think of this episode? What did we enjoy about it? What didn’t we like? And what’s a key flaw that we definitely all agree needs to be improved?

Find out what we think in each of our reviews right now, starting with…

Demons of the Punjab gave us a more emotional historical episode to watch this week.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Raphael Kiyani – Staff Writer

Demons of the Punjab is the first story of Series Eleven to not feature Chris Chibnall in any writing capacity. Instead, guest writer Vinay Patel steps up to construct a solemn but delicately personal portrait of the past.

Daring in its subject matter but slow and character driven in nature – Patel has written an episode that, whilst not perfect, has gifted the Doctor Who universe an emotively unique take on the historical genre.

Throughout Series Eleven thus far, many have decried the lack of character development with companion Yasmin. She has been a noticeably underutilised figure, with episodes such as last week’s The Tsuranga Conundrum rendering her disappointingly irrelevant.

Demons of the Punjab succeeds in helping to rectify this problem by developing Yamin through the vice of heritage and family. Patel allows Yasmin to organically flourish, layering the character with greater depth by navigating her own past.

Mandip Gill brings to life Yasmin Khan in ways not seen before – her interactions in this story gave the character a richness and relatability that builds on what was already established.

The other companions

The Yaz-centric storyline did render Graham and Ryan ancillary for large swathes of the story, however. Graham manages to rise above this with yet another gutsy performance from Bradley Walsh, who continues to deliver warmth and sincerity.

Unfortunately, Ryan does not fair so well and is left to be an inconsequential character this week.  It’s abundantly clear now that the three companion format is not working well. It brings the show down, making scripts feel unfocused. There seems to be a prevailing emptiness that undermines stories.

In terms of plot, Demons of the Punjab whisks us to the maddening chaos of the Indian partition, but chooses to present this with an intimate, small-scale style. This approach was effective, as it made for a deeply personal and heartfelt introspection of this paradigm shifting event.

The marriage preparation in the village was gentle and soft, paradoxically during a backdrop of bubbling turmoil. This made me really identify and empathise with the supporting cast who did sterling jobs in thrusting me into this time period.

Sometimes, we can look upon these big historical moments with a more abstract, distant lens – forgetting about the ramifications that seep into every little crevice of society. This story reminds us of the real-world implications on the ground. Like Rosa before it, it’s a mature exploration of human strife and suffering.

Demons of the Punjab featured demons in various forms. But what were the “true” demons of the episode?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Demons of various forms

What about those said “demons”? The Thijarian race was designed well and reminiscent of Gothic looking undertakers. The twist that they were not hostile, but rather a group of silent mourners was a touching concept.

However, the lack of villainy does hurt the story – despite the fact I liked the idea behind them. The Thijarian’s not being antagonists ultimately made them feel tacked on and a little obtuse to the ongoing drama.

The lack of alien threat subdues the Doctor’s presence also, which is not an inherently bad thing, but so far this series I haven’t seen the Doctor be as assertive or powerful as I would like. Although having said that, Jodie Whittaker’s tender, empathetic take on the character continues to shine here.

The true “demons” were more uncomfortably human than alien – demons such as war, intolerance, religious conflict and imperialism. All were handled with the right amount of sensitivity and scathing social commentary. The fall out of the Indian partition was a gut-wrenching affair and this episode, thankfully, does not shy away from the harsh realities of it.

Demons of the Punjab is a rich concoction of character drama and history. It is small-scaled, cosy and poetic whilst managing to be traumatic and weighty. There are some issues, a few characters feel out of place and the alien element felt unneeded. But, Vinay Patel has crafted a tale that manages to portray an important and complex chapter of British and Asian history with harrowing reflection.

Even though Demons of the Punjab was a very personal episode for Yaz, is she quite as strong a character as she should be?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Luke Molloy – Staff Writer

This week’s Doctor Who was similar to its last historical story, Rosa. It dealt with heavy themes, it was set abroad in near-recent times and it was by far better than the two episodes that came before it.

Demons excelled at character and dialogue, the area I’ve most desired an improvement in lately. I instantly liked the priest in his very small role and was gutted to see him wind up dead a couple of minutes later.

Likewise, Prem and Umbreen were good characters—I remember their names which makes a difference to any character in the past two weeks. They felt natural and real and it made it all the more heart-breaking when the gunshot rang at the finish.

Whereas historical stories under the previous showrunners presented the whimsical enjoyment of time travel, Chibnall’s past-based episodes have confronted us with the human horror of history. I imagine many didn’t know much about the partition of India and it was good to be educated but not talked down to.

It excelled over Rosa in this respect because it didn’t info-smack the audience over the head with a felt-tip and wall session, but subtly told us enough through natural dialogue so that you could grasp the historical importance.

The regulars

What about team TARDIS? The Doctor was served much better dialogue this week. The live action commentary that usually spills out of her mouth was toned down as was the jargon. (YIPPPEEEE!) However, Graham is still the show-stealer. The scene with Yaz – “we’re too busy living them from the inside” – was lovely and paused the plot in exactly the right way.

Yaz – I’m not feeling it. I look at her and know nothing about her. It’s a fault in her characterisation that makes me think a universe without Yaz might not be as scary as the Doctor reckons (or different at all).

I am still struggling with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and she’s still suffering from nothing-to-do syndrome.  We’re six weeks in and the Doctor has jumped from a crane and blew up a cigar. I’m still waiting for her proper “Doctor” moment.

The Thijarians were a well-designed race. But were they quite as effective as they should’ve been?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

A story that’s too familiar?

The Thijarians were easily the best-looking monsters so far this series. In the first twenty minutes when we were promised perfect assassins with mental penetration, I thought my prayers had been answered. Although it suited the story, and was acutely timed for Remembrance Sunday, I could only have been disappointed when they turned out to be goodies.

And so, rather stupidly, it’s the timing of this episode that’s ruined my experience of it. A combination of my desire for a new good baddie (spiders were good – but they do already exist) and the fact it held the same beats as stories in recent memory has balanced out the positives as average.

Rosa portrayed the complex historical issue, the butterfly-effect time travel mechanics and the villain being human – and although it probably didn’t do it better or worse – it did it first. The second drink never tastes as good as the first.

Likewise, Moffat’s Twice Upon a Time was only six episodes ago and dealt with similar issues – testimony taking people out of time at their moment of death. A benevolent alien. Similar beats.

Vinay Patel crafted a decent, character-driven story and I’d be happy if he returned to writing duties next season, albeit with an evil menace instead. Jamie Childs also deserves a mention for some gorgeous directing touches – the sun flare through the gun-trigger and moments later the Thijarian hive transcending into the floor of the TARDIS – both moments of utter beauty.

The next historical would hugely benefit from staying clear of heavy issues and having an evil alien menace – so it can feel fresh on its own. Demons was interesting enough but couldn’t excel due to the repetition of similar story beats and Rosa’s ground-breaking shadow still strongly cast as the series high point.

3/5

Now a creepy robot that looks straight-outta Greatest Show in the Galaxy? Next week’s Kerblam! may well be what I’m holding out for… Please don’t be a goodie…

Demons of the Punjab might have had similar beats to more recent episodes, but did it have the strongest antagonist this series?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

James Aggas – Site Expert

Well, that was quite an improvement, wasn’t it? Demons of the Punjab was a major step up from both Arachnids in the UK and The Tsuranga Conundrum. In fact, we just might have an episode that comes close to being as strong as Rosa.

There are several key reasons for this. For one thing, we have a story deeply grounded in history. Exploring something as difficult for family television as the partition of India is a risky story to tell. But new Doctor Who writer Vinay Patel clearly cares about the subject matter, and handles it with great care.

He also’s very heavily focused on very human characters, too. One of the problems with last week’s episode was that the characters had potential, but never felt truly fleshed out.

That changes with Demons of the Punjab. Many of them feel like real, believable people, and that’s both due to the writing and how grounded the history is.

The Thijarians were quite an interesting “monster”. If there’s one problem that works against this episode, it’s that it’s a part of Series Eleven. I’m not saying that Series Eleven is a bad series, but it is one that’s noticeably lacking in scary monsters. And this episode is no different.

The “twist” that the Thijarians are actually benevolent observers would’ve been just perfect any other time. But after stories like Arachnids in the UK and The Tsuranga Conundrum, it just would’ve been refreshing to have a straightforward monster.

Heck, after this whole series, with the borderline exception of the Stenza, having an actual monster would actually be a change! Something I never thought I’d say about Doctor Who!

Now that my main complaint about the episode is out of the way, I will say that I do appreciate the Thijarians, both for their design and for how fleshed out their race feels. A race that watches over the dead is an interesting idea, and a little reminiscent of Twice Upon a Time, but not in a bad way.

A clear antagonist

One more thing that aids this episode? The fact that, while it doesn’t have an evil alien threat, it does have the best antagonist of the series so far with Manish. A very complicated character, it’s clear that he still loves his brother a lot, but he’s also badly misguided. His betrayal towards the end of the episode provides the core tragedy of the story, so he came across as an interesting character.

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I also enjoyed how focused this was on Yasmin. Sometimes, she suffers from a lack of development or exploration, especially when compared to the other characters, but Demons of the Punjab served her very well.

Her grandmother had a great story, too. You don’t often get the story of a deeply romantic tragedy with a long-term happy ending. Usually, when someone loses the love of their lives in stories, they’re shown to never find love again.

Even more unusual is that we knew from the start that Umbreen wouldn’t spend the rest of her life with Prem, no matter how much she wanted to. It’s refreshing to get a love story that ends in tragedy, but also has the reassuring message that life goes on, and we can find love again.

Overall, while it’s not without its flaws, Demons of the Punjab is up there with Rosa as one of the stronger episodes of the series. It makes excellent use of its historical setting, and it feels very character focused. I hope we get more episodes like this over the coming weeks.

Did you enjoy Demons of the Punjab this week? What did you like? What didn’t you enjoy? Do you think it served Yasmin well? Let us know in the comments below.