Doctor Who review: Praxeus has a large sense of scale, but is it a strong story?

The sixth episode of Doctor Who’s current series was definitely more standalone than last week’s major episode. But was it a good story in its own right?

To say that last week’s episode of Doctor Who was big is an understatement. Fugitive of the Judoon featured several massive surprises and twists that left fans talking, including the return of Captain Jack Harkness and the introduction of a new Doctor. The episode gave us plenty of questions and not many answers.

So of course the following episode, Praxeus, completely ignores all of that for a completely standalone story.

Well, that’s not quite true. It doesn’t ignore everything from that episode. In fact, the very final scene of Fugitive of the Judoon lead directly into this new adventure. To recap, the TARDIS crew detected three signals around the world and decided to immediately investigate.

The threat turned out to be completely unconnected, but at the very least, it was a clear distraction for the team. Nothing was referenced from the previous episode’s story, but considering how high the stakes were in Praxeus, that’s understandable. We know that the events of this arc will be revisited again later, but not yet. But while the episode has strong reasons to be standalone, does it work well enough as a decent story in its own right?

Warren Brown starred as Jake Willis, a key character in the episode. But was he given an interesting story?

Photo Credit: James Pardon/BBC Studios/BBC America

Worldwide scale

Praxeus is an episode that kicks off with a huge sense of scale, taking place all over the world. Better still, the episode makes excellent use of having such a large TARDIS team by separating them, giving each of the characters something to do. One thing that’s becoming noticeable about Series 12 is that companions are given more to do when they’re completely separated from the Doctor, and the same remains very much true in this episode.

The episode also introduced the intriguing mystery of finding out what Praxeus was and why people were dying in such horrifically violent ways. As a horror fan, this last point was definitely appreciated. It’s always fantastic to see Doctor Who go for pure visual horror in an effectively bloodless way, and the deaths caused by Praxeus definitely went for that.

Still, despite the scale, the mystery and the horror, this episode didn’t fully grab me. It’s not terrible, far from it. The plot worked well enough, as a Doctor Who story. Even when it had a clear environmental message, it felt like a natural part of the story, at least. And, it has to be said, it was far better handled than what we saw in Orphan 55. This week’s message, while obvious, was completely subtle compared to that earlier story!

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Underdeveloped characters

However, while some elements worked well, other elements didn’t. Particularly with the guest characters, who had potential, but felt a little underdeveloped overall.

This felt especially true of Jake. As a cop “on sabbatical”, there was a lot more that could’ve been explored with his character, such as finding out why he was no longer a police officer. Instead, the episode focused on his relationship with his estranged husband Adam, and while we got a great scene between Jake and Graham, Jake’s story wasn’t particularly interesting overall. Which is a shame, as it was clear it was supposed to be the emotional core of the episode.

Overall, Praxeus felt like the definition of a “filler episode”. Not bad, just overall forgettable, especially after such a major episode in Doctor Who mythology. A standalone episode that doesn’t quite stand out.

What were your thoughts on Praxeus? Did you enjoy it? Were you hoping for something more connected to the arc after last week’s episode? Or was the standalone nature refreshing? Let us know in the comments below.