WiC Watches: Doctor Who season 12

Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor – Doctor Who _ Season 12, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: James Pardon/BBC Studios/BBC America

Episode 1203: “Orphan 55”

Doctor Who takes on climate change in this week’s episode, and it’s frankly very jarring. At first, I didn’t realize that was where the episode was taking us. But once it hit me, it didn’t take long for me to begin freaking out about our atmosphere and the like.

The Doctor and her companions decide to take a vacation. And if you’re a Doctor Who veteran, you know those never really work out. Still, the group heads to Tranquility Spa for some rest and relaxation.

What I love about “Orphan 55” is that it takes us back to what we love about the series. There’s a certain vibe about the episode that makes you feel nostalgic and happy inside. It has all the ingredients of a classic Doctor Who outing.

Everyone but the Doctor is taking full advantage of this vacation, which is consistent with how the Doctor operates. As a character, the Doctor is always doing something. Sitting around and doing nothing has never been the Doctor’s M.O. And it’s probably a good thing because it’s she who figures out something isn’t right.

The planet they are on is a deteriorated shell of its former self, and the only people left behind are the ones who couldn’t afford to leave. Of course, this is analogous to the problems we’re having with our own planet, which is feeling the heat from climate change. Doctor Who is known for bringing social issues to the forefront and this is precisely what happens in “Orphan 55.”

As the Doctor and her companions attempt to face the crisis, we are introduced to a handful of new characters. Of course, they’re temporary, but boy are there a lot of them. Most notable may be Bella, a woman Ryan briefly becomes infatuated with. All the new characters had their part to play (who else loved the father/son mechanic duo!?), but Bella was at the heart of it. She wants to destroy the spa in order to get back at her MIA mother.

And that brings us to the big, outlandish Doctor Who plot twist: The Doctor discovers that the planet they’re on, Orphan 55, is none other than the planet Earth. Our Earth. It’s in this horrible shape because of the way it was treated by its inhabitants. The lack of care and love for Earth resulted in its demise years later, and the humans left behind mutated into creatures called Dregs. It’s all very morbid and scary.

Entertainment Weekly highlighted one of my favorite Doctor quotes from the episode in their recap and it’s something I need to repeat here.

"In your time, humanity’s busy arguing about the washing-up while the house burns down. Unless people face facts and change, catastrophe is coming."

Mic drop.