The Beatles, a brand new villain and the 1960s wardrobe… what’s not to love when the Doctor and Ruby fight their toughest foe yet?
With a show that debuted in 1963 about time travel and is interlinked with British pop culture, it is shocking that only one episode about the Beatles has been done.
It makes sense. After all, their first album was released the same year as Doctor Who.
The Devil’s Chord takes a little inspiration to this when The Doctor mentions how he lived in Shoreditch with his granddaughter at the time.
This is a reference to the first doctor, who travelled with his granddaughter, Susan Foreman, before leaving her to live her own life.
Can you play the devil’s chord?
The episode starts out in 1925, when a piano teacher tries to show off to a student, who we learn is Henry Arbinger, or H. Arbinger, the “prelude” for the episode.
In playing the ‘devil’s chord’, out comes the devil, or more accurately, Maestro.
We find out they go by they/them, which adds to the “woke factor” in Doctor Who, their correction feeling similar to Rose correcting the Doctor back in ‘The Star Beast’.
The best part of the introduction was when Maestro played a E, which is the starting note for the Doctor Who theme tune.
It’s interesting how this episode surrounded by music is involved with musical transitions from the start to the end. It was the best intro which led into the title screen.
Surprise surprise, it was a very camp episode again, from the get go, and Jinkx Monsoon made that clear.
Fashion your seatbelts for the 60s!
Travelling to the early 60s was a great choice for the Who crew, as it meant new wardrobe choices!
It is interesting to see the Doctor participate in these series of new clothing articles as he traditionally wears the same suit.
This year with Ncuti Gatwa, he is wearing something new every episode. This one consists of a beautiful blue pinstripe suit, sporting an afro and silver rings.
This is the first time seeing Gatwa’s Doctor in a suit, if you exclude the shirt and tie in his debut, ‘The Giggle’.
Ruby Sunday on the other hand, specified she “wants a beehive!”. She also donned a black and cream dress and 60s go-go boots.
In my hour of darkness, she is standing right in front of me
In a world where music is gone, it felt wrong to hear the Beatles or Cilla Black sing.
After watching the trailer earlier this year, we have the long awaited Maestro.
It’s not often that the Doctor cowers away from a fight, but when it comes to Maestro, he did just that. It took a lot for him to stand up to them, using his one ‘trick’ straight away.
It is refreshing to see human science though when Maestro uses the tuning fork to create vibrations and effectively hear again.
We learn about Aeolian tones, music without the need for people, but it wasn’t long before we hear about them again, which felt unnecessarily repetitive.
Maestro breaks the fourth wall a lot, which cinematically adds to what feels ‘wrong’ with this episode.
Did they actually use the p-word?
Paradoxes! They actually mentioned time paradoxes.
When they exit the TARDIS into a dystopian present, Ruby questions where her mum is, and excitingly, why is she still here.
It is only responded with “because of me” from the Doctor, but I’m sure that we can use our minds to make up some Time Lord science behind it all.
Then Maestro interrupts and finally explains their cause for destruction. While explaining how they entered this world, Maestro lets slip the way to send them back.
The timey wimey notes are a nice touch, linking the episode back to the beginning.
It is clear that Davies has orchestrated a very lively production, but how does this compare to the quality of the show?
Seriously, who is Ruby Sunday?
There’s this ever-growing need to know who is Ruby and why does it always snow around her! It is foreshadowing for the finale but we get more information about that night from Maestro, surprisingly.
When they say, “this creature is very wrong”, it does have a comedic factor to it, but it is more interesting to hear why Ruby is wrong. Does this mean she is an alien? Probably not.
But with such a powerful figure like Maestro having what can be described as a mixture between fear and disgust towards her, it does raise some red flags.
When hearing Ruby’s song inside her soul, it is a carol, which is a reminder of the Christmas episode.
The song was Carol of the Bells, which the attention to detail is incredible, as this was the song from the night she was born.
As if it was not interesting enough, Maestro leaks the a few names referring to the hidden cloak figure the Doctor saw.
Him? The Oldest One? The One Who Waits? The question stays, who is this guy?
A battle of the bands… or well, the geniuses
It’s not long before Maestro and the Doctor play a game, similar to Maestro’s father, the Toymaker.
Except this time, the game is musical. It came down to who could play an instrument better.
While Maestro picked up a violin, the Doctor chose the famous Abbey Road piano. It was exciting to see some CGI bring the music to life with compositions flying through the air as they play.
Eventually, the violin breaks and the Doctor finds the notes to send Maestro back… almost.
It wouldn’t be a Doctor Who episode without a monologue. This makes it interesting to see how fifteen differs from his predecessors. It’s like the more we learn about the Doctor, the less we know about him.
It did feel slightly cringey to have John Lennon and Paul McCartney play the winning notes, seeing as the Beatles haven’t been a huge part of this episode as hoped.
There’s always a twist at the end
You should know in Doctor Who that there’s always a twist at the end… and this time it is a dance number. It was expected due to the amount they talked singing and dancing in this episode.
What was interesting was seeing H. Arbinger there watching everyone in the doorframe though. Seeing as he is the prelude, does this mean that Maestro can and will return?
