It Takes You Away

"Three locks on a deserted house in the middle of nowhere."

Writer: Ed Hime
Format: TV
Broadcast: 2nd December 2018
Series: 11.09

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

On the edge of a Norwegian fjord in the present day, the Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz discover a boarded-up cottage and a girl named Hanne in need of their help. What has happened here? What monster lurks in the woods around the cottage - and beyond?

Verdict

It Takes You Away was a very good episode that was full of intrigue and interest from the get go. I really liked the setting of present day Norway and placing the TARDIS in the middle of a deserted woods was a great start. The creepiness didn't take long to appear and it all took place, technically, within a solitary house that had been boarded up. I thought Jodie Whittaker was once again magnificent as the Doctor and I really liked how she followed in the footsteps of some of her predecessors by identifying their location through taste. The soil didn't seem appealing and I loved when she offered her companions a taste. I have been surprised with the lack of TARDIS interior scenes for this series but I guess they're not really too important. Hanne was a fantastic character and her reactions to the arrival of Team TARDIS was fascinating. The Doctor quickly deduced that she was blind and I liked how that came into play towards the episode's conclusion. I really wasn't a fan of Ryan during this episode, for the most part at least, as I didn't think it was necessary for him to ridicule Hanne for her dad being missing for the past four days. Graham being lured by the reflection-less mirror was good and the reveal that it was actually a portal was unexpected. I was more than ready for there to be a monster in the woods with a story not too dissimilar to Hide but we got something entirely different! Ryan realising that the sounds of the monsters were actually from a speaker left by Hanne's dad was hard to comprehend because how could any father do that to their daughter, especially when they're blind? She was never going to work it out. The anti-zone was a really interesting place and Ribbons was a rather humorous character. I liked how he could just turn on his threat. His desire for the sonic screwdriver was interesting but the way he was devoured by the flesh-moths to try and retrieve it was quite horrifying. Their emergence through a different portal, the other side of the mirror, to the Solitract plane was hugely intriguing and I loved that we got to hear one of the Doctor's bedtime stories. The concept of the Solitract was quite extraordinary and trying to comprehend a universe having consciousness was rather difficult. I was a huge fan of its originality though and its presence causing the current universe's past inability to function with laws and light and the like was very good. It was expelled but now it was back. At the heart of this episode, there was a lonely universe. The use of Grace and Trine to try and lure Graham and Erik to staying and giving it some company was quite emotional. The way the rejections started and were carried out was very good and saved people but the Doctor was willing to sacrifice herself for everyone else. She still wasn't compatible with the Solitract though and she had to say goodbye to her new friend. I wasn't a fan of it taking the form of a frog with the voice of Grace but I'll try and forget about that bit. It was an emotional one for Graham but I did like how Ryan called him grandad. Hanne's blindness heightening her other senses to tell her that this Trine was not her actual mother was terrific and I liked how she and her dad would now head back to Oslo. Overall, a very good episode!

Rating: 8/10