Villordsutch reviews Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 3 – ‘Under the Lake’…
Doctor: “Hello Sailors!”
In this week’s Doctor Who we have a “Haunted House” scenario, this personally always makes me happy due the fact everyone is placed on the edge and the Doctor can either become the guiding light or the untrusted antagonist. Here is this episode he occasionally borders on the latter, but primarily is the former to all, whilst being tormented by the undead souls below the lake.
Opening in a underwater mining facility – called the Drum – in Caithness, Scotland it’s the year 2119 and we meet the crew who have recently discovered a craft of unknown origin, it appears to be completely empty except for four symbols scratched into the inside of the vessel. As the crew discuss where this craft may have come from we catch a glimpse of a Tivoli ghost in a top hat, a few seconds later the engines of the craft ignite killing the Moran, who was in charge of the team. As the crew evacuate the room, sealing the bulkhead door, they turn to discover both the Tivoli ghost and now Moran – also as a ghost – but his eyes are now gone and black, empty sockets, now sit in their place.
The TARDIS materializes and the Doctor steps from it, he is instantly aware that there is something wrong as he questions the TARDIS and her current level of sadness. These questions are soon interrupted however by Clara with her new sense of adventure, and even the Doctor seems to enjoy her new spirit. When they discover the rec room and the current level of mayhem within they realise something drastic has happened, stepping around a corner they meet the first two ghosts, who guide them to the craft with the symbols. Once Clara and the Doctor witness the symbols both ghosts turn violent and attempt to kill them; making their escape our Time-Traveller and Companion find the crew hiding within a large Faraday Cage. It appears the ghosts can’t enter here, also we discover that during the day they also don’t appear, with that the base switches to day mode and the crew leave the cage.
We’re told that the Drum is actually sat upon an old military base and back in the 1980s a dam burst flooding the whole village along with the military base also. However Vector Petroleum – the company financing the Drum – located a large amount of oil under this lake and have begun to drill for it. As the Doctor investigates the alien craft with the Drum’s crew he finds both a power cell and also a suspending animation chamber missing, the Drum crew know nothing of this, however our representative from Vector Petroleum – Pritchard – makes an unscheduled visit off the base whilst the Doctor suddenly gets excited and believes in ghosts. He does however have to get out his apology cards due to his excitement upsetting the crew of the Drum. Suddenly the computer aboard the base announces – rather early – that it is now evening and almost immediately the TARDIS Cloister Bell chimes. The Doctor informs Clara the issue of ghosts and the problems they are causing upon time, making the TARDIS want to depart, however with the Doctor ignoring the TARDIS’s wants jams on the handbrake of his faithful friend, and as Clara leaves to continue the adventure the Doctor also attempts to put the brakes on this trip, not wanting to see harm come to Clara for he has got, “…got a duty of care.” As both travellers say their piece and come to an understanding the Doctor turns to the TARDIS console – whilst straining – moans a final warning to him.
As Pritchard finally returns from his excursion outside the base – in search for the rogue power cell – he’s greeting by the ghost of Moran who releases the override on the airlock drowning Pritchard, minutes later his ghost is found in the rec room where he makes an attempt to kill Clara and the rest of the crew. Through the quick thinking from O’Donnell – in the control room – the base is put into day mode and Pritchard vanishes saving the crew from death. With Cass now in charge she wisely chooses to abandon the base, but when they call up for support they discover somebody has already done this, the Doctor realising this is the work of the ghosts, informs the submarine to not attempt a rescue and uses his UNIT command code. I dawns on the Doctor that they know nothing about the ghosts so he hatches a plan to trap the ghosts in the Faraday Cage using the crew and Clara as running bait, after a few tense moments including an odd moment where Lunn wasn’t killed by a ghost (though it had the chance) the Doctor’s plan works. Trapping the ghosts and using Cass to read the lips of the ghosts they discover they are saying, “The Dark; The Sword; The Forsaken; The Temple.” over and over again.
The Doctor notices the phrase is actually co-ordinates involving the constellation of Orion and Planet Earth, he also points out that the killing of people and turning them into ghosts makes the signal stronger; though he does not know what the message is actually for, but when Cass asks what the Temple is the Doctor highlights the church in the drowned military base. The crew use a submarine and retrieve a stasis pod which has been dead-locked sealed so the Doctor can’t access it, however the Doctor then realises what the symbols are in the alien craft. They are magnets that have rewritten the brain to keep you thinking about them even after you die. The ghosts then begin to flood the base, so as the flood doors begin to close the Doctor takes the crew of the Drum to the TARDIS, however they become separated Clara and two on one side and the Doctor with the other two on the TARDIS side. The Doctor has a plan to go back in time to find out why this has happened, to find a solution and hopefully fix this problem, however as soon as he leaves another ghost appears in the water outside the rec room windows, and this ghost is the Doctor!
Another excellent episode in Series 9! Not only this we’re treated to another two-parter giving Toby Whithouse the time to expand and flesh out his story, which is what anyone of old Doctor Who has been crying for, for the past ten years. We love our stories expanded, we love chapters, we love cliff-hangers, we want the writers to have breathing room. Under the Lake was also quite excellent for myself as it rang so many bells of classic Who in the feel of the story, Peter Capaldi was channelling both Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee, his attitude and personality shown with the previous incarnations from smiles to excitement and frustration. Watching certain subtle movements performed you can tell Mr. Capaldi is a to the core a Doctor Who fan and is having fun making the Doctor his but retaining elements of the past Doctors he grew up with. It also helps that this story from Toby Whithouse could have easily fitted into a classic Who collection with is simple idea, basic sets (corridors mainly) and limited special effects.
Our next episode will see the Doctor return to the moments before the bursting of the dam and it’s titled, “Before the Flood” and you can watch the trailer for it here.
SEE ALSO: Check out the Series 9 episode title and descriptions here
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&t=332&v=C_zu6XuI_g4
Originally published October 5, 2015. Updated February 24, 2020.
