Doctor Who Series 11 Episode 9 - It Takes You Away - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole & Mandip Gill

Written By: Ed Hime

Directed By: Jamie Childs

Like 'The Tsuranga Conundrum', 'It Takes You Away' gave us very little to work with going in. See, a lot of episodes you can casually condense into a word of two - the Rosa Parks one, the spiders one, the witchcraft one, but from its title and brief premise, 'It Takes You Away' isn't generous in dropping clues. The only thing that perked my interest from the premise was the location - a Norwegian fjord. I'm all for seeing the Doctor and co. in Earth locations that we rarely get to visit, so with so little else to go on, might we be in for a bit of Nordic noir? Not quite...

The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz arrive in a remote location near a present-day Norwegian fjord. There, they stumble upon a cabin, its sole occupant a blind teenage girl whose father has disappeared. A fearsome creature is stalking the woods, its roars echoing through the trees, and stranger still the TARDIS crew discover something unusual in the cabin... a gateway to a strange, unfamiliar dimension. 

Looking back on 'It Takes You Away', one of the things that stands out most about it is its narrative structure. I often mention three-act structures in these reviews, and 'It Takes You Away' follows it rather closely and obviously too. Much of the above synopsis only covers Act 1, and is the most conventional of the three. Besides the debut of a Norwegian setting for a 'Doctor Who' episode, the initial setup is basically the show's bread and butter: remote location, scary unknown monster stalking the land, the Doctor and friends show up to try and help those in trouble etc. Conventional it may be, but it's still a decent setup to start out with, but once that portal is discovered and we shift to the anti-zone, Act 2 begins. 

The Norwegian angle is exchanged for this bizarre very alien labyrinth bathed in red light, populated with flesh-eating moths and unusual individuals like Ribbons. I really enjoyed this section, and Kevin Eldon does a great job as Ribbons. The flesh-eating moths were especially gruesome, particularly the image of one of them flying out of the eyehole of a skull, and that stark red lighting proved visually striking. This all leads to Act 3, which provides some of the meatiest sections of the episode and which transform 'It Takes You Away' from standard 'Doctor Who' fare to a poignant exploration of loss and grief. Act 1 - the Norwegian fjord, Act 2 - the anti-zone, and Act 3 - the Solitract plane are all distinctive of each other, yet still flow together naturally with each one arising naturally from the last. Also, not many people seem to spot it on first viewing, but the neat little touch of mirroring the footage in the Solitract plane is a nice bit of attention to detail. 

(Major spoilers from this point onwards - skip to the final paragraph to avoid!) The bits of 'It Takes You Away' that will likely resonate strongest take place with the Doctor, Graham and Yaz in the Solitract plane. It unquestionably gives Bradley Walsh his time to shine, as his character is seemingly reunited with Grace. For almost everyone, Graham has been the clear standout of the Doctor's latest companions and he's been a consistently wonderful presence to have around. Even in the beginning of this episode, it's hard not to find him loveable as he carries around his emergency cheese and pickle sarnies. Here though, I'm reminded of how Walsh can hit the emotional beats of his roles out of the park. Graham telling Grace all about his travels and his joy at finding her again is an emotional gut-punch. It's the best look at Graham's grief that we've had since his return home in 'Arachnids In The UK'. But with this being 'Doctor Who', you just know that the happiness he briefly finds can't last and that of course this isn't the real Grace. Graham having to face up to that and let go reads as incredibly sincere, and if there was any doubt that this isn't the real Grace, she doesn't want Graham to save Ryan when he's in danger. Despite the hardship of having to let Grace go again, right at the end we do get a lovely little moment of reconciliation as Ryan finally calls Graham granddad. I get that it's not the deepest character arc there is and there isn't a whole lot to add to it, but I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a smile on my face at this scene. 

If there have been any consistent points in my praise and criticism of Series 11, it's been praising the guest cast and feeling let down at the lack of material for at least one or more of the companions. While I do think 'It Takes You Away' is one of the strongest entries of what has in my opinion been a consistently solid series, it's also not the episode to buck these trends. The guest cast is strong again, and Graham does get his moment in the spotlight, but Yaz and Ryan are once again relegated to the back benches. With a TARDIS as relatively full as this, I'd be able to overlook one or two episodes where this happens, but I seem to be saying it about Yaz and Ryan week in, week out. Yaz was just there for most of this one, and I know it's a nitpick, but her line about reversing the polarity felt way too clunky and unnatural for me. Ryan does fare a little better as this week's writer, Ed Hime, gives him his own stuff to do looking after Hanne, the young blind girl that they find abandoned in the cabin. Given his own father issues, it makes sense for Ryan to be the most skeptical about Erik's disappearance and that leading to a friction between him and Hanne. The two working to get past that friction and Hanne even giving him a hug by the end is fine on paper, but I never really felt that relationship thawing right up until the end. That is a minor point though, and I did rather like Hanne as this toughened teenager. It's a far cry away from the kind of young kid/teen characters that 'Doctor Who' tends to feature lately, and Ellie Wallwork does a great job, even pulling off a convincing accent too. 

From what I saw when this episode was first broadcast, the thing that seemed to polarize viewers most was the ending, with the Solitract adopting the form of a frog. Funnily enough, I wasn't able to watch the episode live, but accidentally opened my social media feed to see loads of people reacting with WTF about something to do with a frog. When I sat down and watched it myself, I could see why it proved so divisive but I personally loved it. The Doctor talking to a sentient universe in the form of a frog sat on a chair is just gold, and exactly the kind of weird crap I love to see from this daft show. Some people seemed annoyed that Hime apparently missed the opportunity for the Solitract to take the form of a character we've seen before, such as River Song, but surely that wouldn't make much sense? If the Solitract were trying to convince the Doctor to stay with it, why take the form of someone she knows? It's literally just spent the episode trying that with Erik and Graham and that didn't exactly work out well for it. Taking the form of something innocuous as a frog may seem weird and even anticlimactic, but the episode knows that, and it's the kind of thing that helps make the show so special to me. 

'It Takes You Away' is one of the strongest, and definitely the most interesting episodes Series 11 has to offer. It may end up disappointing viewers who were after a more creepy horror-oriented story in the woods as the introduction seemed to be teasing, which is fair enough. For me however, I can't help but love the story that Hime has created. It's like a Russian doll of great big-idea sci-fi, each one fitting succinctly together while still finding room enough to deal with complicated feelings of grief and sorrow. Not perfect, but one of Series 11's best.

It Takes You Away

8/10