After one of the most well-made openings for a new Doctor since the 2005 Doctor Who revival, ‘The Ghost Monument’ had to keep up a surprisingly strong momentum. After ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ ended with our heroes floating in dead space, we were given only a brief set-up and a list of celebrity guest stars after the credits of the previous episode. Therefore, audiences came in to this episode not really knowing what to expect—we knew we would probably see the brand-new TARDIS this episode, and perhaps a title sequence that was missed from the premiere, but story-wise, we had no idea where this episode would take place.
What transpired was, once again, a pleasant surprise. The episode kicks straight into action as our protagonists are scooped up from space on two different ships, watching as they crash-land onto a desert planet. From there, the Doctor promises to get her companions home, but must assist two humanoid aliens in an inter-planetary amazing race in order to get to her TARDIS. It is a simple premise, full of quiet beats; we are treated to small character moments peppered throughout the episode, even getting a nice understanding of our episodic side characters. Bickering race competitors Angstorm and Epso are given a surprising amount of depth, making our protagonist’s journey through Planet Desolation even more watchable. Our companions are also given some nice character moments—Ryan and Graham have a heart-to-heart about their differing processes for dealing with the grief left over from Grace’s death, and they continue to be likeable and engaging characters. At the moment, Yaz is feeling like a bit of a spare part, and I am hoping she gets a little character development before the TARDIS begins to feel too crowded.
However, the highlight of this episode were its stunning visuals. Doctor Who has always had a hit-or-miss relationship with its aesthetic—we have been given some interesting designs, but also some really shoddy visual effects (Absorbalof, anyone?). Season 11, however, is just god-damn pretty. The cinematography has an exceptional sheen to it, and when we are given the eventual reveal of the upgraded TARDIS, we are treated to a beautiful, unique take on the famous spacecraft. The cinematic quality of Chibnall’s first season has given the episodes a memorable quality, and I cannot wait to see what the production designers are going to do next.
My one gripe with this episode is in its lack of conflict. While constructed as a simple ‘get from point-A to point-B’ structure, we were told about more of the dangers of ‘Planet Desolation’ than we were shown. The writers do attempt to include a mystery element to the planet—it was deserted somehow, and the Doctor wishes to get to the bottom of exactly what happened to the race that inhabited it—but she does not do much work to unravel the planet’s mystery. Instead, everything is unraveled for her quite easily as the episode draws on, and a ‘big bad’ plot thread is hinted at as a result. This is an interesting development for this series, as Chris Chibnall has been quoted as saying that there will be no overarching plot to this particular season a la ‘Bad Wolf’ or ‘Torchwood’, but some mutters about a ‘Timeless Child’ in this episode seems to disprove his claims.
In my experience, the second episode slot in a series of Doctor Who is reserved for ‘average’ episodes—they don’t usually take too many risks, in case they scare off the audience the premiere had drawn in, but they need to be engaging enough to maintain the concentration of the fickle audience. With this in mind, ‘The Ghost Monument’, worked as an interesting and enjoyable sophomore episode for Whittaker’s Doctor. While it had its faults, the build-up to the reveal of the TARDIS was done well, making the eventual payoff a lot more satisfying, and the small character-driven moments in the script elevated the episode from becoming completely forgettable. If this is an ‘average’ episode for our new Doctor, I am excited to see what they are able to do with later episodes. Next week, we are taking a trip back to the civil rights struggle—so let’s hope the writers can give us a strong jaunt through time as well as space.
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