Doctor Who, series 11, episode 4 – Arachnids in the UK

Doctor’s team has returned home, in Sheffield, in the town she took away from only a half of hour after they left (from the perspective of the rest of the world, the universal time) and each of them returned to their homes and their regular problems (memories, families, jobs, and so on).

But one of the problems is common to all of them. All Yorkshire, actually, was affected by spiders: some of them were running away of danger, others multiplied a lot killing people. The episode from yesterday reminded me of The twilight zone, with 2 young men (teenagers) lost in a empty factory searching for their scientist father who wanted to produce an abundant source of food. They were grabbed by a huge arachnid who was stalking them in the dark, inside an elevator.

This time the source of the problem was a hotel built over an empty coal mine, and the mutant spiders appeared because of the neglect, the ego and dirty business (literally) Jack Robertson was conducting there. I think we’ll meet him again in this season, there are not many people that defied the Doctor and left unpunished.

The episode 4 of series 11 was meant for team TARDIS. It didn’t have a clear villain, only spiders that didn’t ask to become mutants, and the Doctor’s companions asked her to travel along in the Universe (something expected from them, not surprising at all). They will never return the same people as they left, some of them they could not return at all, but their presence in the TARDIS is necessary: the show could not exists without them.

Directed by Sallie Aprahamian, story written by Chris Chibnall. Cast: Jaleh Alp (Frankie Ellish), Sharon D. Clarke (Grace O’Brien), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Tanya Fear (Dr. Jade McIntyre), Ravin J. Ganatra (Hakim Khan), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Shobna Gulati (Najia Khan), William Meredith (Kevin), Chris Noth (Robertson), Bhavnisha Parmar (Sonya Khan), Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor).

The next episode, The Tsuranga Conundrum: injured and stranded in the wilds of a far-flung galaxy, The Doctor, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan must band together with a group of strangers to survive against one of the universe’s most deadly – and unusual – creatures.