'Doctor Who' The Story and The Engine Review | Season 2 Episode 5

0:00 Upon watching this episode I feel very relieved because often when I'm watching TVI say which victim am I in this story but because I am bald I no longer have to go get my haircut so I am safe. So please start thinking of stories for yourself. I'm Derek. That's Noah, and this is a bite of And today we are talking about Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 5. Here we go more than halfway through the season, Sir. Man, now I can actually hold up a 5. That's right. I don't know numbers. I never claimed to be a mathematician.

0:41 So, you know, here we are. Yes, we are. Three episodes. Yeah, I think 3 episodes away from the finale of Doctor Who or the third episode of This is the finale. You know, feelings, thoughts. We got them for the 5th episode. Before we get into it, make sure you're following, make sure you're subscribing, make sure you're doing reviews. Comment below. Do all those wonderful, amazing things. But yeah, let's get into it. Spoilers The latest episode of Doctor Who. Let us officially take a bite of Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 5, The Story and the Engine, written by Inua Alams and directed by Michaela McPherson. The Doctor and Belinda land in Nigeria where the Doctor goes to visit an old friend. He finds a cryptic sign telling him to turn back. Once he enters a barbershop, he is trapped with a group of missing men who must tell stories in order to power a mysterious engine.

1:32 So Sir, what did you think of Episode 5? I think this episode is very different and pushes a lot of new concepts for Doctor Who. I really enjoyed it. I love exposition heavy episodes. I think the performances were off the charts here and I really appreciated them. And not that we need to focus on oh the doctor's a woman, oh, the doctor's a person of color, Oh the doctor's a queer person, the person that's playing them, right. But I like that they acknowledge it and especially telling stories of Nigerian roots with an actor that is Nigerian, I think is awesome.

2:12 And this is the things that I love about Doctor Who. Like I don't think we've ever had a story set in Nigeria for Doctor Who. So it's just, it's great, right? I think with it being exposition heavy, it's going to divide people that some people might think it's slow, some people aren't. I like it, some people will think it's amazing. So that's what Doctor Who's about, right? You like some, you don't like some, but here we are. Yeah, I, I think this, I think this was an interesting episode. Like you said, you brought up so many positives about this. I think the costuming, the sets, the way that they told the stories within this episode were really, really strong. But what's so interesting is that I think part of the storytelling wasn't actually that strong within of the episode, meaning I think that the first half of this episode was really great and I think it kind of got a little cumbersome a little bit.

3:06 It fell apart in the second-half. So it it's kind of 5050 for me. Not that I thought that it was terrible, but looking at it from like a reviewer standpoint, I think that there were some things they could have done to either tighten it up or maybe let it breathe a little more. Yeah, I yeah, I think it, the concepts and the story itself was bigger than one episode. And it's hard to really do a beginning and an end with something that seems this big and a lot of twists and turns in this episode. I feel that. I think I just liked it a lot, but I wanted more. And it's going to be one of those episodes where I have to watch it a few times to fully understand it because we watch we watch the Screener and really haven't had time to like, watch it again.

3:51 And I feel like a second watch will really benefit this story. And I'm not sure if that's a positive or negative because again, I enjoyed it, but I can see where it's like that. Wait, what? That's kind of confusing. Or like, how did we, what are we doing here? But I think the concept of powering an engine with stories, sitting in the Barber chair, having you tell a story and if it's a good story, powering the engine, we're good to go. We get the green light. If it's not, we can't power the engine. I think is such a cool concept and just like you said, this showing the stories through that painting and through those images was just just added a layer to it. Yeah, I think there's an interesting question at the heart of this of what makes a good story, right? What makes the engine go green?

4:36 What is it about these stories? Is it the heart? Is it how personal it is? And, you know, these men that are trapped there, they're scared that they're going to run out of stories. And the interesting thing is, is because they're trapped there, they might at some point run out of them because they're not out experiencing life. So there's a bit of a conundrum in here of of these stories. But you know, so much in I think our lives is, is is the value and the power of stories. I'm going to step up my librarian soapbox here. Just this week, Doctor Carla Hayden was fired from being the Librarian of Congress. And the reasoning that was given was that she was doing too much work with DEI and putting dangerous books on the shelves in the children's sections. So which we know this is probably stories about BIPOC people, about gay people.

5:22 And so there's the power of stories there and how the regime that is running this country right now is afraid of those stories, right? So I think, although that's not necessarily what's being said in this episode, there is the power of stories and how there is such power educating people. But what's really cool about this is that this whole setting of taking place in this barbershop. So the writer of this episode, Inua Alam, is is of Nigerian descent and wrote a play called The Barbershop Chronicles that really centers on the a barbershop as a community hub and the relationship a Barber has with their patrons and when they come in and tell them stories. And so it's such a central part of of our episode here.

6:06 But of course, you know, after they get their hair cut, the patrons supposed to be able to leave the barbershop, which is, of course, not what happens here. But I did love Wheat. So we have this mysterious Barber figure here. And one of the details I loved was the trimmer that he had and how it looked. And I thought that was such a cool thing and how they really zoomed in on that mask, on that face, on that trimmer. So how did you feel about the Barber in this episode? Yeah, I, I, well, I think the concepts are really cool. The Barber is an interesting character because I think I walked away being like, wait, who was he? And maybe that was the point, because the at one point the Barber, when questioned, says, I'm Loki, I'm Dionysus, I am Anansi. I'm all of these things, these pretty much these tricksters, these storytellers, right, People that are known for lying or, you know, dealing with consumption of things to, I don't know, exaggerate something. I think that's really interesting. And we do find out that it was just a demigod that was scorned by the gods and took what they made and wanted to get revenge on them, right.

7:15 I thought that was really cool. The detail with the the tremors, awesome because it adds kind of new and old to this. Doctor Who is very much leaning into the fantastical. Ever since 14 did the salt at the edge of the universe, it's kind of made things a little more mystical and magical. So I like that they're leaning into that. Do I think that we will see more of this Barber? Maybe. I think it would be cool. There's a lot to explore here because there's multiple characters are intertwined with this, but I think this is the most we've heard about gods outside of like the pantheon. And so we can assume that all of the gods are a real thing because the Doctors actually interacted with some of them.

8:00 So I don't know, it has a lot of interesting implications. I think this is a closer to also I think this is the closest to Chibbles era, the one that did Jodie Whittaker that we've gotten so far like outside of. His era, I did think it was fun to hear of the doctors stories of partying with all of those gods you know, and so when you are a being that can transcend time and space, you're going to have run insurance with these guys and I and I liked that it was also gods from all different cultures, right. Not saying that you know, one set of gods is the real gods, but doctor has been able to party with all of them. What a wildlife, the doctor leads. There's one thing that I think is because the stories and everything that's a big central part of this, of this episode, the one of the, the Barber, the person that owns the shop, Oma, he tells the story of the doctor. And it very much seems like a story that people would tell about a God or something like that. And the way that the doctor almost when they're when he finds out that they're trying to defeat the gods or like he's trying to get revenge on them, which would essentially erase them from all of history.

9:17 It's it's a weird thing because it almost feels like and shooty is or the doctor, I should say, is almost like, that's me too. Like what am I without my stories? And so there's this weird parallel between like, is this like a complex the doctor has or it's just just something that's really close and dear to their heart? Like do they also need the stories for them to live on because they're forever living at this point? I think it's an interesting concept to to think about like the doctors almost paralleling these gods themselves. We still don't know who the Timeless children are. We still don't know all of that. So like, where did the doctor actually come from? I think it's, I don't know, maybe keep our eyes out on that. And even in that story, so I know that you said that they have released that story.

10:03 I haven't read it, but in what is described in this episode, it does feel like he's a God, right? The whole the whole village is on fire. He comes down in his blue box. He pulls out a hose. He puts out all the fire. And then he's like, love you guys, see you later, you know? So he's there. He's a savior in that moment. So that's something that, yeah, he does feel like very much a powerful God who they talk about in legend, in myth. And when will he return to save them? Not to not to pat myself on the back or but early in the early aughts of a bite of we used to have special segments. And there was the Oh my trickster God segment, which was when we covered Loki.

10:44 So if you want to hear about more Trickster gods, please by all means go back and listen to that season. What a throwback. We used to do the special segments at the end of the episodes just for fun. Just for funsie. You would listen to us for over an hour and it'd be like, wait, one more thing that has there's nothing. I mean, I don't think anything will ever be. There's another edition of Bird Facts, but. I still think about that every time. Yeah, so I I do like the addition of I don't I just think that whole scene with when he's lying to them, obviously, but saying how he's all these different gods and just the transitions between those gods and what they look like. It's just amazing. The visuals again, I can't I can't praise them enough in the season. I think that they're really going all out in some of this. And next next episode, the Song Intergalactic or Interstellar Song Contest looks to be another stunning episode. Yeah, that's going to be really cool. But kind of talking about the doctor's relationship even more, we have a character here named Abena who we learn is, I believe the daughter of Anansi the spider, who's a trickster God. And you know, another thing that we have seen, I think, within these last two seasons is how the Doctor affects the lives of those around him.

12:00 And so Abena has a chip on her shoulder against the Doctor because she was left behind. I would say more of a like a, a vendetta, A vendetta or just, I don't know, just. She's mad. Yeah, she's mad. And so we see the doctor in that moment when he realizes who she is, kind of going through that feeling of here's another life I have affected and not necessarily in a positive way. And then we get a glimpse of the fugitive Dr. Yeah, I this is interesting and I, I don't know if we'll ever get the answer to this. Or maybe it's in the Unleashed episode or something. So the fugitive Dr. played by Joe Martin. I love the future to Doctor Doctor so much. I'm a big fan of the Jodie Whittaker era of the chibble era.

12:48 Of course there's things that changed everything, but I think Doctor Who needs to, I don't know, challenge itself and expand its boundaries. And who cares? The Doctor changed, so should the story. Do I agree with everything? No, but I really like the fugitive Dr. And with the addition of the Timeless Child, essentially meaning that the Doctor has had more lives than we know, right? We thought there was only 13 or 15 or whatever it is, and they could only regenerate 12 or 13 times. But it turns out the Time Lords were the ones that stole that genetic trait from the Doctor. But when we find the fugitive Dr., that's when we realize, oh, so does this Doctor like was the fugitive Dr. before Artno, which is the very first Doctor? It seems to be, yes.

13:38 So with the Doctor not knowing the other lies prior to Hartnell, Jodie Whitaker and all of that, it begs questions of like, oh, so do they now remember it? Or did our current Doctor remember Abby here and being the fugitive Doctor because they're in this story engine? Like, was it a situational thing? I think there are some weird questions and they're playing with like we're kind of soft retconning it or not is to be seen. But I just as soon as Joe Martin's face came on that screen, I was like, yes, it's just so cool. So, so cool. Yeah, I, I really enjoyed that, where we're kind of behind a bana and we're looking at Anshuti and then as it pans over, it goes to one side, there's Joe and then it comes back to Anshuti. So, you know, it really is showing that they are 1, you know, in a way, and that their memories are a part of each other.

14:36 So yeah, that was, that was a really cool part. But I think if you're looking at it from a like the world and the universe of Doctor Who, there are definitely some questions there. Yeah. And I like that they almost explained to that because Abena is very much like you left me. And it's one of those things that we have seen a Doctor Who before of like the forgotten companion or the person that was left behind or the mistake that the doctor did. And I like to the line of the fugitive Dr. saying like I was a fugitive, but like I was already in another story like that might another story was happening and I, I couldn't, you know. So I, I'm curious if we'll, I believe she says a line of something like has yet to be told or like maybe we'll find out. And I'm wondering if it's going to be in a Big Finish audio story or will we see it again? They could very much, hey, do a whole series of just showing what happened with future to Doctor. I would be down with it.

15:26 But yeah, I think it was a fun episode for Easter eggs for fans of the show. Not only that, but we saw all the other incarnations of the Doctor again, another weird parallel from last season to now, when in the Rogue episode we saw all of his faces. This episode we see his faces again. But I did like that this episode was very much a black cast outside of flashbacks or TV screens. So I I, I like that. I, I think again, adding the fugitive Dr. here is acknowledging that the chibble stuff happened. How far it will go, I don't know. We'll see. One of the things that I was a little disappointed in this episode and I I'm still hoping will change that. At the beginning of this season, I was really hoping that Belinda would be a more actionable character. And, and in this episode we don't even again, it's the role of the companion, I guess, is to follow the Doctor and do whatever the Doctor's doing.

16:23 And so, you know, she's always, she's just kind of taking orders from him. She's running after him. But when he leaves her behind initially when they land in Nigeria. And so she is in the TARDIS and we're seeing the TARDIS react to the barbershop engine, which is something interesting as well, right? Because for the TARDIS to be mimicking something outside of it, like, what does that mean? What does that connection mean? I don't, I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know if it was just like an added effect or added mystery or we'll never get acknowledge it again, because I don't think Belinda even mentioned it. Maybe she did to the Doctor. Like the TARDIS was acting weird so that's why it came out. I don't know. I, I, it was weird that anytime the barbershop door opens that then the TARDIS would act funny.

17:10 Maybe they're connected somehow, because at the end, in the climax of this, the Doctor is very much connected to the story engine and their story alone could power this entire thing, which I think is just a fun, I don't know, like a heart warming thing with the Doctor. Like they've lived so many lives, they have so many stories to tell that they could just power an entire interweb, you know, on the side of like Belinda. I, I agree with you, but I also don't only in that this is kind of the role of the companion. And I do think that this episode was very much for Anshuti, very much for this Doctor. But I did like that they were able to find a way for Belinda to be involved in this, in that talking to Abina and saying hurt people hurt people.

17:57 And that flips kind of, Oh, OK. So I shouldn't just be festering in my hate for my father or for the Doctor hearing what the doctor had to say and that they wish they could have taken them with them. And yeah, my, my father hurt me, but maybe I should stop hurting people and be good. So I, I do like that. Like, she kind of came in and was like, hey, by the way, maybe you should just, like, be nice. Then this guy does like, you know what? You're fucking right. Yeah. Totally. But also just I honestly like, I love the story of the doctor in the blue box and putting out the fires and everything. Belinda's story was so heart warming and also so sad. I just again, the power of a story that was such a simple story.

18:42 And the doctor talks about like, you don't need these big things. You just the an ordinary life is some of the best stories. And that was just such good storytelling. And that she's trying to go to her, her gran's birthday and she has to stop. And this doctor's not listening to her. And it's like, OK, you want to fix it. It's your story. But then she ended up saving this woman's life and this woman came back and was like, thank you. It's just, it's so good, that little moment. Yeah, and I think we see that often nurses are the unsung heroes, right, of the medical profession. And so that is very much illustrated in this. And like you're saying that, you know, the doctor tells this what can be deemed as an ordinary story of an ordinary person's life, but it's still powerful enough to charge this engine, right and make it move forward. And I think that, you know, I guess that is part of the magic of Belinda.

19:29 I do like that she still had very much is seen as a valuable figure whether she's in the TARDIS or at home and and I think that's why I want her to have more moments in in this season. Do you think I I almost feel this way a little bit? Not to say Doctor Who usually doesn't have like a series or even season long arc of like a story. A lot of times I feel like in the past it's been like kind of something that's like kind of snaked its way to the finale. I think with it, starting with this big mystery of Belinda and like, can't get her back home. I think sometimes it's hard for us to be like, I like the things that are happening and I like these stories that we're getting because that's Doctor Who, right?

20:13 Landing somewhere, story happens, go somewhere else. But I think what I'm feeling with this Belinda stuff is love everything about the actor and the character. But like, he went out, put the vindicator down, done. And then it was almost like, OK, now we're getting a Song Contest, which obviously the vindicator is going to come out. It's going to do its thing, right? But almost like, I know there's a rush, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it. And that's just because of the nature of the show. So I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing for us to start that way. But I am feeling very much like, how is this story going to like actually give room for it to breathe when we're like not really dealing with it only in the aspects of Belinda be like, when am I going home? And then it goes into the story of the episode. So I don't know, I think there is some weird structural things, but I'm hoping the two parter finale is going to give enough time for like the story to really pay off I. Mean, if we think about it right as we saw in that story of Belinda's life, she's with a Doctor Who isn't truly seeing her value.

21:17 And here she is again with a doctor. Not that I don't think he's seeing her value, but her problem is not as big as all the stuff he wants to deal with, right? Because they land here and she's like, all right, we'll go have fun, right? And whereas she wants to go home. Yeah, I, I think it's hard for Belinda in that instance when the doctor explains to Belinda of, you know, this barbershop is the place that I feel like I can be myself. And it feels very much like because I'm a, I'm a black person, I can go here and it just feels like home. It feels safety. And Belinda, we've seen even in the story that the doctor tells, it's like always putting other people before herself. And so it's just perpetuating that of like, well, yeah, sure, go, go on.

22:04 I want to say just like anytime you guys do that, something happens. Just like either do it or don't. Like what's to stop him from solving Belinda's mystery and then just going back? Well, then we want to have the story. Yeah, it's funny. It's like a weird better thing where it's like you could not do that but like. Then there wouldn't be an episode. Right then we want to get this beautiful episode, right, Right. OK, so one thing I did want to touch on with this is so we talked about the gods, we talked about the story. I think the the way the story engine looked with the heart and the brain. Fantastic. Ebena telling the story of slaves putting like roots to freedom on the hair and for other people to read it. And it was passed from generation to generation, slave to slave.

22:52 And then she did the thing to the doctor of showing the route to get to the story engine. I think was just, oh, whenever that happened, I got chills. I was like, that was just such a smooth way of telling that story and then incorporating it into the story I thought was beautiful. But there's one mystery that happens on the set, kind of gets mentioned again, but we don't really talk about it. And I think it's going to come into play later is when Belinda is walking to the shop, she sees a child and the child seems a little out of place. My theory with that child, because she says something to the doctor. I saw, I saw a child. It was really weird. And doctors like, oh, it was stories were just spilling out, right? I for some reason, my gut reaction was like, that's Poppy from Space Babies.

23:39 And I don't know why, but that's what I felt. And I don't know why she would be there. But it also makes me think, like, is Belinda a space baby? I don't know. I don't know. It's just like, for some reason it just my first reaction was like, that's Poppy. Yeah. It just, it just felt like something that it would be Doctor Who, right? Just tying in the first episode into this somehow. I don't know. I think that would be a really great call back. That would be very cool. But I guess the question is why is Poppy there? Right, right. And are the space babies off exploring all corners of the universe and time? I mean, they are adventurers at heart. Are the space babies the Timeless Children? Is the Doctor a space baby?

24:21 How many generations of space babies are there? I just like saying space babies. Space baby Yeah, yeah, that that's definitely a mystery. I think hopefully we get an answer to it. But again, I feel like I feel like I'm mad at the doctor this this episode because and she's saying she saw something weird and he's like, oh, don't worry about it. It's a typical doctor though, until it bites them in the butt. Why don't they ever listen to their companions? They do only when this story needs it. So final thoughts. Let's get to final thoughts of this. We did get a Missus Flood sighting, of course. I think she's been in every episode so far, just like Susan Twist was in every episode last season she was in Belinda's story, which again, very weird that Misses Flood is involved with the companion so much. But final thoughts, I think again, conceptually and storytelling wise, great.

25:14 There was some interesting moments where maybe it was solved a little too quickly. Exposition was good and also not good. But I think overall an excellent episode for Doctor Who. Overall, I thought it was a good episode, but my main problems are really with how things were tied up at the end. I thought the the 180 turn of of the Barber really kind of came out of nowhere. And granted, look, I love the this, this notion of hurt people hurt people. So stop the cycle. I think that's very important but but I just thought that he was like so vindictive and so hell bent on destroying these gods for him in a moments to just turn around.

25:58 It felt way too easy. Well, I will say, yeah, that's Doctor Who, right? Doctor Who is very much all about non violence. They don't use guns, you know, So it's like it's a lot of always talking the person into coming to the realization that they should come to. And sometimes in this case, it just feels a little out of place because highs of them being so sought out for revenge is so high that when they do finally become good or get defeated, it does seem a little quick. And I would say that's kind of a criticism with Doctor Who as a whole, especially with these almost self-contained episodes, which is a bummer because everything leading up to that point was so good.

26:38 Yeah, that I think in like 40 minutes they had to be like, well, how do we do the turn? I don't know. He saw the error of his waist, you know, and. If, if only it were that easy. That would be a beautiful thing. Yeah. OK. So next week we have the Song Contest, which very excited for the next time on. That was just so intense. And also it takes place during Eurovision, so you know. Yeah, they time things out real, real good and right. There's like that. May 20 something date. Does the does Doctor Who end on the May 20 something date? That they're trying to get back to May 24th. May 24th, right? Yeah. So maybe the first one will land on May 24th and then the next one will finish after that. I think it's in the middle of the week maybe, I don't know, we'll see.

27:22 All right, calendars, Yeah, get your calendars. All right, let us know what you thought of the story in the engine. Just the title of the episode. So good. Yeah, but see you next time. And then go listen to our Loki season. And then you can hear the special segment. And then tell us who your favorite trickster God is. Yes, Loki season 1. There is no video for that one, Apologies, but you can just hear our voices, all right? Until next time, goodbye.