Doctor Who review: “Legend of the Sea Devils” is underwhelming

For her penultimate Doctor Who episode, Jodie Whittaker got the short end of the stick. There was something underwhelming about last night’s Easter special, “Legend of the Sea Devils.” Perhaps it’s that the Doctors who came before her had grand send-offs and penultimate episodes filled with familiar faces, or that the stories were just better.

However, there were portions of last night’s special that stood out, mainly when it dug deeper into the relationship between the Doctor and Yaz (Mandip Gill). In case you’ve forgotten, the New Year’s Day special found Yaz confessing to Dan (John Bishop) that she had feelings for the Doctor. And Dan might have accidentally spilled the beans.

Tiptoeing around this revelation is probably what makes “Legend of the Sea Devils” a worthy watch. Oh, and getting to see real-life pirate queen Madame Ching (Crystal Yu) portrayed onscreen. That was definitely fun, as were the oddly cute yet creepy fish aliens.

So without further ado, let’s get into the episode. SPOILERS below!

Doctor Who sails onto the high seas

If you’ve ever wondered what Doctor Who meets Pirates of the Caribbean might look like, “Legend of the Sea Devils” is here for you. The Doctor, Yaz and Dan find themselves in China circa 1807. It’s a bit confusing here because the characters don’t seem to understand why they are where they are; we were under the impression they were heading off for a beach holiday. But suddenly they’re wearing pirate attire, so I’m not sure what happened there. A script snafu, perhaps?

Anyway, upon arriving, the Doctor discovers that there is some sort of anachronistic device in their midst and promptly begins to investigate. Soon enough, she hears screams from the village nearby; a Sea Devil is murdering the townspeople.

Just to give a quick history on the Sea Devils: we last saw them in 1984 during the tenure of the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) in the episode “Warriors of the Deep.” They’re an advanced aquatic alien species who were on Earth before humans.

The trio meet the Chief Sea Devil (Craige Els) who’s too freaked out by them to stick around. He calls for his pirate ship (which flies, by the way) and zooms away before explaining much of anything.

I just want to say that the Sea Devils were a bit too funny-looking to take seriously. There was something off about their appearance, and I found myself chuckling at times. I know they were supposed to look more like the old school version, which I appreciated, but it just didn’t quite work.

Doctor Who searches for the treasure of Flor de la Mar

Okay, so going back to the Chief Sea Devil. As we see at the beginning of the episode, he was originally just a statue until Madame Ching came along and restored him. I’m not sure how history remembers Madame Ching, but Doctor Who shows her no mercy. She only freed the Chief Sea Devil because he had information she wanted: the location of the Flor de la Mar. Rumor has it that the Flor de la Mar includes all the treasure one’s heart could desire, and she wants it all.

This revelation kickstarts the Doctor and Yaz’s adventure as they use the TARDIS to go back to the moment the Flor de la Mar went down. There they meet the ship’s captain, Ji-Hun (Arthur Lee), who has his entire crew jump off the ship.

What happens next is something we have not seen on Doctor Who before (at least I don’t think so): the Doctor takes the TARDIS down into the water, right to the sea bed, opens the doors, and both she and Yaz are look around underwater without any consequences. That was definitely a fun part of the episode.

But the moment is disrupted by the appearance of a huge sea monster that chows down on the TARDIS and takes it away to the Sea Devils. All the while, we’ve got Dan working alongside Ying Ki (Marlowe Chan-Reeves), the son of a man who was murdered by Madame Ching. Just to remind you, the Doctor and Yaz traveled even further back in the past while Dan stayed in 1807.

Dan and Ying Ki board Madame Ching’s ship only to get captured. They learn something interesting, however: Ching is looking for the treasure in order to get to her sons, who have been captured by her rivals.

The keystone

Doctor and Yaz soon learn from the Chief Sea Devil that there is something called a keystone, a powerful object that turned the Chief into a statue in the first place. Apparently, this keystone has been found. They also find Ji-Hun in stasis. Apparently he’s been kept alive all these centuries?

Things move rather quickly from here, which feels like yet another script snafu. We progress from the Doctor, Yaz, and Ji-Hun being captured to them escaping. It would have been nice to see how exactly that happened, right?

The Chief Sea Devil follows them to where they’ve reunited with Dan and Ying-Ki, and promptly snatches the keystone away from Ying Ki’s neck. He’s had this heirloom since Ji-Hun took it from the ship; it’s been a part of his family ever since.

With the Chief Sea Devil in possession of the keystone, he can basically flood the entire Earth. I was hoping that in pursuit of the Sea Devil we’d get to see some epic pirate fighting, but it’s underwhelming; it’s just arms and legs swinging around, and ultimately the Sea Devil is taken down because Dan kicks it.

Long story short (seriously, this is how they conclude the story), the Doctor finds a way to save the world by destroying the Sea Devil base. The only caveat here is that someone has to stay behind and hold the two cables together so it can all be blown to kingdom come. The Doctor volunteers first but Ji-Hun offers to take her place.

Thanks to Ji-Hun’s heroism, the Sea Devils are taken care of while everyone else heads off into the TARDIS, leaving history somewhat intact.

The Doctor and Yaz

And then finally, the moment we had all been waiting for…So, yes, Dan did tell the Doctor about Yaz’s feelings, and yes, she harbors feelings too…but there’s just one problem.

Or rather two problems: The Doctor doesn’t want to get hurt, and also the Flux revealed to her that she doesn’t have much time before she regenerates.

I was so sad to see that the Doctor and Yaz romance is quickly stomped on. However, I love that the show included this storyline at all.

Sigh, maybe one day in the future, folks.

Doctor Who companions return for Jodie Whittaker’s final episode

And there we have it, Whovians! Jodie Whittaker’s penultimate episode is officially done, and now we wait until later this year to bid her farewell. It’s going to be a tough one and I honestly can’t believe that we’ve already reached this point, but all good things must come to an end.

Whittaker has been an absolute joy to watch as the Doctor and I will be sad to say goodbye to her. But this is something Whovians always know is coming, and while this is going to be hard, I look forward to the next chapter of Doctor Who, especially with Russell T Davies set to take over!

Plus there’s still one episode with Whittaker left; you can watch the trailer above. It will see the returns of Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and Vinder (Jacob Anderson), as well as a couple of companions from the ’80s: Tegan Jovanka and Ace.

See you guys in the autumn!

Grade: B-

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