Orphan 55

 

"Why would you need to defend a holiday spa?"

Writer: Ed Hime

Format: TV

Broadcast: 12 January 2020

Series: 12.03

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

The Doctor and her friends discover that the luxury resort where they are holidaying is hiding a number of deadly secrets. What are the ferocious monsters attacking Tranquility Spa?

Verdict

Orphan 55 was a very good episode and definitely one that was better than I remembered! If you had asked me yesterday what my least favourite episode of Series 12 was then I think this would have been my answer, but now I am far from sure! That's the beauty of a rewatch and I liked watching with the foreknowledge that Orphan 55 was actually Earth. The simple use of trees to hint towards that was great and something you probably wouldn't have noticed on broadcast. I thought there was a good level of fun between the Doctor and the fam inside the TARDIS with Graham having collected enough coupons to win them a holiday. It was exactly what they needed after some squid troubles but of course, there's no time to relax when travelling with the Doctor. Graham's reaction to the drill at Tranquility Spa was great because he seemed so chuffed to get the chance to holiday and sit back and sip on a few cocktails. The setting of Tranquility Spa was really good and I thought the pace of the episode was excellent in building towards the reveal of the Dregs and the wall that surrounded the holiday resort and it being infiltrated. Hyph3n was a fun character and I loved the Doctor's introduction to her. Jodie Whittaker was on top form again as the Thirteenth Doctor and she really is magnificent in the role. I'm a huge fan and I enjoyed watching this with my girlfriend who was laughing more than me at some of her comments like Kane being handsy. Ryan had one of his strongest episodes at companion thanks to Bella and his attempts at chatting her up were so bad that it made it good. We felt a little sympathy for him! Yaz getting in on that with some slight mocking was fun too and it's good for them to have that relationship. The way things got serious when the location outside of the dome was revealed as a Siberian underground station thanks to the Russian markings on the wall was very good. I actually really enjoyed that the planet was Earth on this occasion and whilst the comments from the Doctor in the TARDIS still provably was overkill in my view, it was a powerful message. I liked the continuity from Spyfall with the Doctor clearly still in a slightly bad mood thanks to her findings regarding the Master and Gallifrey and even though it was minimal, continuity like that is important. I enjoyed the concept of a hopper virus and the Doctor's instructing Ryan through the process was a lot of fun. Bella turning out to be Kane's daughter was really well done and I liked how because her mother hadn't been there, Bella wanted to burn the Tranquility Spa down to the ground. The pair joining forces at the end was a great way to bring them back together and leaving things ambiguous with them left to fend against the Dregs was great. I thought the directing for the Dregs was brilliant throughout and it was good to not show them wholly from the start. It was impactful and made their first full appearance more effective. Nevi and Sylas had a great relationship and I liked how Graham acknowledged that it was the latter as the younger son that was actually the talented engineer. Vilma and Benni's relationship was magnificent and heartfelt and the latter wanting to propose after 46 years together was just lovely. The moment in the vehicle where he proposed and then asked to be killed was extraordinary. The calm and sudden nature in which Kane revealed she killed him because he asked was quite something! Overall, a really strong episode that was definitely better than remembered. 

Rating: 8/10