Legend of the Sea Devils

"Our Earth will be glorious aqua once more."

Writers: Ella Road & Chris Chibnall

Format: TV

Broadcast: 17 April 2022

Series: 2022 Easter Special

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Dan

Synopsis

In nineteenth century China, a small coastal village is under threat – from both the fearsome pirate queen and a monstrous alien force; the Doctor must emerge from this swashbuckling battle with the Sea Devils to save the planet.

Verdict

Legend of the Sea Devils was a fun Easter Special to bring back a legendary Classic villain! I was super excited by the trailer for this episode when it aired shortly after Eve of the Daleks, and this was just a lot of fun. It's not gong to go down as one of the greatest ever stories, but it was just an enjoyable adventure from start to finish and hinted at things to come for our TARDIS trio and their love interests. It only seems like five minutes since Dan joined the TARDIS team back in The Halloween Apocalypse, but now it seems like he's taking an evaluation of his current situation following that phone call to Di. It was nice for her to get another cameo following on from Flux, but for me this was all about the Sea Devils. I thought the design was tremendous and was really great at honouring the Classic era. I liked that the Doctor referenced The Sea Devils and how they had more honour than this batch, and the first meeting with the Doctor and Sea Devil didn't take long at all which was enjoyable. However, I do think the aim of the Sea Devils came into play a little too late and for the first half it was fun but there didn't seem a huge purpose other than the stereotypical pirate aim of finding treasure. I will give props where they're due as this episode definitely felt at home with Pirates of the Caribbean and I should also mention the costumes which looked outstanding. Madam Ching was a tremendous historical figure and whilst I knew nothing about her from history, I thought she was by far the standout here. She really was excellent. Her letting the Sea Devil loose from the statue was an exciting start although I thought the defence was a little too late. It later did provide Ching with a responsibility of Ying Ki and he became a part of her crew at the end which was a nice touch. I thought the new ability of the Sea Devils to transport with the mystery green mist was good and I enjoyed that there was clearly a Chief Sea Devil in control. Their desire to return the Earth as their own was recycled and not new, but the effort to reverse the poles and replace latitude with longitude and vice versa was quite the means of creating chaos! I enjoyed that, it just came a little too late. The use of the TARDIS to go back to the sixteenth century and find the location of the lost treasure felt a bit like cheating, but it was fun for Ji-Hun to still be held in stasis back in the nineteenth century. I wasn't a huge fan of the giant sea monster and it would have been so much better for it to be a Myrka! Restoring that reputation could have been wonderful. I thought the humour that came from Dan's costume was brilliant and the Doctor talking to Yaz and him like they were children was terrific. The real conversation though between the Doctor and Yaz about their relationship was extraordinary and it's so nice to have it addressed. The Doctor basically said she would go out with Yaz, but she couldn't because of who she is and how it would hurt too much. She would outlive them. The comment about her wife and being a different man back then was glorious stuff. As a whole, I thought the Sea Devils being defeated was a little quick and the stabbing of the Chief was very sudden. The gemstone should have been more prominent too. But as a whole, this was more than an enjoyable episode! 

Rating: 7/10