Mummy on the Orient Express

"How many people have to die before you start looking the other way?"

Writer: Jamie Mathieson

Format: TV 

Broadcast: 11th October 2014

Series: 8.08

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

On the most beautiful train in history, speeding among the stars of the future, a deadly creature is stalking the passengers...

Verdict 

Mummy on the Orient Express was an absolutely superb episode and in my opinion is the best of the series so far! It really was a masterpiece by Jamie Mathieson and was right up my alley. No rubbish about picking the companion up, no series arc taking away attention, just pure storytelling brilliance. After Kill the Moon, it was very nice to see Clara back on good terms with the Doctor. As we'd seen Danny say, she couldn't give up travelling with the Doctor because she just loved it so much. I adored how she couldn't bring herself to hate the Doctor. I really didn't like how Clara was portrayed in last week's episode but here she was back to the companion I absolutely love. And oh my, how amazing did Jenna Coleman look! Dazzling is a complete and utter understatement. The story itself was brilliant I thought! A kind of homage to Voyage of the Damned with the space train rather than boat this time but this episode worked considerably better. I loved the relationship between the Doctor and Clara throughout, especially when they first arrived on the Orient Express. Clara was explaining how angry she was at the Doctor for his actions, something I think she overreacted to, but he was pretty much ignoring her as he wanted to do his thing. And that thing was beautiful. Oh so Doctor was he that he could care less about personal thoughts and feelings when there was a whole planetary system being eaten away by a black hole. When the Doctor asked Clara if he could tell her about the planets I was in love with the series all over again. Such a simple line but it defined the Doctor magnificently. Speaking of relationships, the one between Clara and Maisie was wonderful. The kind nature that I so love in Clara came out in abundance. The mythology of space is an amazing concept and I loved how the Doctor believed most myths to be true despite the general consensus not being the same. And here we had the Foretold, a mummy who would hunt you in 66 seconds and kill you. But what made this myth fantastic was that the killer could only be seen by the victim. How do you defeat something that only someone who's got a minute to live can see? Brilliant. Mightily impressive. Peter Capaldi has had an incredible debut season with his performance and I just love everything about his Doctor! The voice, the eyebrows and the awkwardness. It's clear how much he cherishes Clara but he doesn't know how to tell her properly which I think is excellent. I loved the character of Perkins played greatly by beloved Who fan Frank Skinner! It was lovely to read his interview in the latest DWM ahead of this broadcast seeing how such a huge fan is living the dream appearing in the show they love. But of course, Peter Capaldi takes that so much further as he was president of a fan club and is now the Doctor! The use of the 66 second countdown clock was eery and efficient and once we got to the latter stages of the episode it was clever but somewhat surprising that the Doctor was only hoping to gain information rather than save those about to die. But to be fair, it's rather difficult even for the Doctor to save people in 66 seconds from a mythological mummy that can't be seen! The appearance of the Foretold was outstanding I thought! Extremely impressive and very frightening! Exactly what it needed to be. The mystery behind Gus was enigmatic and I liked how the reference in The Big Bang has come full circle as just an attempt from Gus to lure the Doctor to the train and solve the mystery. I loved how the Doctor took on his hard to like persona with Clara making her lie to Maisie to get her to the Doctor. And just as with Kill the Moon Clara was outraged at the Doctor lying to her as he knew that the train would be dangerous. The way he transferred the weakness from Maisie to himself so the Foretold hunted him was fantastic and the "surrender" moment was terrific. The Foretold was freed. A soldier with technology glitches was a very good revelation. Gus' ungratefulness was a bit of a shock after luring the team together he was just going to evacuate the air from them and suffocate them! However the Doctor was there to transport them away and Clara was oh so pleased. It was nice for Frank Skinner to get his scene in the TARDIS and I loved Clara's change of heart. No "last hurrah", she was more than happy to stay travelling in the TARDIS. And I'm more than happy to keep her, especially if she continues to wear dresses like she did here! 

Rating: 10/10