"Demons of the Punjab" – Doctor Who S11E06 Review

So, "Demons of the Punjab" is old-school Doctor Who. But is old-school what the new kids want?

As several reviewers have noted, and I'd have to agree, "Demons" goes back to two of the show's oldest tropes, dating back to the 60s. First is that "Demons" is an educational historical story. Yes, there are two aliens that are present mostly to remind us that Doctor Who is science fiction and all alien-y and stuff. But the Thijarians really don't contribute anything to the plot. If you took them out, the story would play out just as it did anyway.

The second trope is that of the Doctor being unable to change history, and in fact sometimes being on the "wrong side of history". Or rather, the Doctor and companions have to let time play out the way it was intended even if it's nasty and cruel. We saw this in "Rosa", where the Doctor & Co. had to deprive Rosa of a seat on the bus to make sure history proceeded as planned. Here, Team TARDIS have to let a character die so history will play out the way it's supposed to. And to prevent one of the team members from disappearing with a poof of casualty.

This is similar to 60s episodes like "The Aztecs", where Barbara is doomed to fail in her attempts to create a kinder, gentler Aztec empire. It's not as personal, since Ian and Barbara aren't Aztecs or even South American. Barbara might not have eliminated her and Ian's own timeline: that's certainly not the point of "The Aztecs". Here, although the threat is never explicit, there's also the warnings Yasmin could disappear if history doesn't proceed as it originally went. One would figure temporal continuity might maintain things and Prem would die down the road so that Umbreen could still remarry and have a daughter who would have Yasmin. But who knows if temporal continuity exists in this dojo.

By "temporal continuity", I mean what the show has referred to as fixed points in time. So I guess Prem's death is a fixed point in time? But then, they've also said the TARDIS prevents the occupants from suffering from temporal paradoxes. But then "The Pyramids of Mars" showed a future that happened if Sutekh won, even though that future never happened (and never had happened).

In other words, temporal paradoxes give me a nosebleed. Let's stick to reviewing the episode.

After a birthday party for Yasmin's Nani Umbreen, Yasmin wants to know more about a broken wristwatch her grandmother gave her but won't tell the story of. She convinces the Doctor to plug the watch into the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, and the TARDIS takes them to what they eventually discover is 1947 India during the Partition. Which is when the British created an arbitrary line and carved out Pakistan. Leading to neighbors and families being separated, Hindu and Muslim, over a million deaths (by some estimates), and wide-scale violence.

In the middle of this, Yasmin discovers a young Umbreen (Amita Suman) is marrying a man, Prem, (Shane Zaza) who isn't Yasmin's deceased grandfather according to the photos. But he has the watch Yasmin has, although it isn't broken yet. Adding to the wackiness, two insectoid/humanoids aliens known as the Thijarians are blipping around. There's a nice air of mystery to the Thijarians: their telepathic communication gives people headaches, and it's not clear if they're super-speeding or projecting mental images or teleporting. The Doctor eventually recognizes them as the universe's ultimate assassins.

Prem and Umbreen are going to get married even though the new border runs through their neighboring farms. I think. We never see Umbreen's family or farm or anything. Prem's brother Manish (Hamza Jeetooa) isn't too big on the marriage between his Muslim brother and the Hindu Umbreen, and the recent boundary line makes things even worse.

Eventually the Doctor finds out the Thijarians are teleporting around using transmat locks. She steals a couple of them and sets up a barrier around the farm so the Thijarians can't get there. They get there eventually, teleport the Doctor to their Hive ship, and explain that they're no longer assassins. Thijar was wiped out and the survivors travel the galaxy commemorating people who die alone. Which must be a full-time gig, all things considered. And sounds a lot like the Testimony from last year's Christmas special, "Twice Upon a Time".

The Thijarians explain they witnessed the death of a holy man who Team TARDIS met earlier, and show the Doctor how he died and explain that they're there to witness Prem's death. So uh-oh there. It turns out Manish killed the holy man, and has led the mob to his family's farm. Prem has Umbreen run and goes out to meet the horsemen. Manish ain't listening to reason and has the mob gun down Prem. The Doctor realizes they can't do anything to stop it without wiping Yasmin from existence and leave. In the end, Yasmin tells Nani to save the story of the watch for another time.

"Demons" is a weird little standalone story, and its resemblance to the recent "Twice Upon a Time" doesn't help. Where it does work is in presenting a "new"-era Doctor Who story. The Thijarians aren't bad aliens, they're just... aliens. Time is the enemy here, and to some degree it's good to see the Doctor unable to "defeat" it. Previous Doctor like Ten, Eleven, and Twelve would have walked all over time, stomped it down, and forced it to say uncle.

The problem with this is, if you're used to the newer Doctors and Doctor Who, the whole "must maintain the timeline" thing is a bit odd. What worked back in the 60s doesn't necessarily work now. We've had decades of the Doctor folding, spindling, and mutilating time to do what he wants. Yeah, there have often been minor limitations and restrictions (void where prohibited), but with "Rosa" and now "Demons", we've seen the Doctor pretty much trapped by historical events and having to maintain the original timeline.

Also, the focus on Earth history and temporal continuity means the aliens are pretty secondary. We had the laughable Krasko in "Rosa", who couldn't shoot straight and had a gun that either ran out of ammo or overheated after one shot. Here we have Thijarians that don't do… much of anything. They look ominous, they teleport around, and they give people headaches. And while the Doctor has heard of their reputation as assassins, she didn't hear their planet blew up and they turned into universe-traveling commemorators? Script selectiveness, I guess.

What balances this all out is the episode is so damned good otherwise. It's beautifully decorated by Jamie Childs, with scenes of poppy fields and war zones and Prem going to face death at the hands of a backlit-by-the-sun mob. And "Demons" addresses one of the issues I raised in my review of last week's "The Tsuranga Conundum". Yes, Prem and Umbreen are all characters we probably won't see again, but they're drawn well enough that it's enjoyable to watch their one-shot appearance. The crew and patients in "Tsuranga" were pretty thinly-drawn stereotypes. Prem and Umbreen, the opposite.

It also helps that the fate of Yasmin (Mandip Gill) hangs in the balance. We still don't really get any characterization for Yasmin. But at least she gets to do something. Even if there's a Back to the Future-ish vibe to the whole thing as she (and we) worry if she's going to flicker out of existence. Team TARDIS is large enough they could have Yasmin disappear and it wouldn't be as consequential as, say, Sarah Jane or Ace or Rose or Clara casually disappearing at the end of the episodes for good.

Jodie Whittaker still bounces from one extreme to another in a very... Doctorish sort of way. A fact which she gaslights. Whittaker works better in the quieter moments, like her delight when she ends up with the women for once when the two genders split up for the before-wedding parties. Or when she officiates at the wedding. There are a few bits of more frantic Doctorisms, but for the most part Whittaker's Doctor is a... calmer? presence this episode.

I like Bradley Walsh as Graham, who manages to bring an elder statesman kind of gravitas to the proceedings. He's more of the voice of experience while the Doctor settles in: giving Yasmin advice, enjoying the team's travels, and hugging Prem before the wedding.

Tosin Cole and Ryan still don't do much for me. We've heard a lot about his issues with his dyspraxia and his father. But I think they've forgotten the whole dyspraxia thing, and his father issues only come up when the creative team decides Ryan needs a "character moment".

But then again, "Demons" is the kind of episode where the Doctor and her companions aren't really the focus of the episode; they're just pawns caught in the web of time. Prem and Umbreen are effectively drawn in a few relatively brief sketches. Manish and Umbreen's mother Hasna (Shaheen Khan) get their moments as well. Yasmin's family shows up again and they're very settled in and family-ish.

Overall, "Demons" is probably the best episode of the season to date. Good directing, good writing, well-developed characters. Its downsides are probably the Thijarians: it seems like Chris Chibnall as show runner isn't that committed to the whole science fiction/alien concept of Doctor Who. With the exception of Tim Shaw in the season premiere, the aliens this season have been wet squibs. We've had giant spiders, and floating pieces of cloth, and... the Pting. Not exactly Daleks and Cybermen and Sontarans, are they? Or even Angels.

If Chibnall doesn't want to "do" aliens, then great. But I wish he'd stop half-assing it. If he doesn't want aliens, don't do aliens. They feel like they're more present to keep the alien-liking segment of the audience happy, rather than an organic part of the episodes they appear in. If Chibnall wants to do a historical, then he should do a historical: not toss in a couple of Testimony knockoffs to do nothing.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?