Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
Skaak (to General Logan): "I accept your offer of a massacre."
I can't believe I'm actually going to say this but I think Chris Chibnall just went ahead and wrote the best Sontaran focused story since The Time Warrior and the fact that this episode only went and referenced Lynx certainly helped matters as well. There was plenty to enjoy here and I genuinely mean that.
Following the cliffhanger of the previous episode, the Doctor, Yaz and Dan find themselves in the middle of the Crimean War but history has taken something of a rewrite. Upon meeting nurse Mary Seacole (Sara Powell), the trio soon realise that soldiers are going into battle with the Sontarans and then Doctor finds herself without her companions or TARDIS to rely on with this particular conundrum.
Taking both Yaz and Dan out of the action from the Doctor seemed a bit risky but it managed to pay off better than expected. Dan did eventually reunite with the Doctor but before he did, he took a trip back to Liverpool, met up with his parents Neville (Paul Broughton) and Eileen (Sue Jenkins) who were somewhat experts on Sontarans and even the Karvanista helped him during a critical moment on a Sontaran spaceship. The love/hate relationship between Dan and his would be protector continues to be a surprise highlight so far this series.
As for Yaz, she found herself teleported to the Temple of Atropos where the Mouri needed fixing. On the plus side, she met Vinder and instantly worked well with him. It was nice to see a good rapport with those two here. On the less pleasant side of things for Yaz and Vinder, they met with Swarm, Azure and Passenger and the results were somewhat dicey at best.
Swarm certainly wasted no time in telling Yaz and Vinder exactly what he knew about the both of them and both were used as a trap for both the Doctor and Dan. I have to admit that two episodes in, I'm impressed that Chibnall has finally gotten an original foe to really work in this era after so many of them haven't.
Swarm and Azure from a design point of view look absolutely fantastic, the writing has been strong for them so far and the acting from both Sam Spruell and Rochenda Sandall has been superb. On top of that, they feel like a credible threat to everyone they encounter. The knowledge thy have over the Doctor and her friends, the way the episode ended with both Yaz and Vinder's lives hanging in the balance of Swarm snapping his fingers. I want to know more about him and his sister. Hopefully the next episode provides some answers on the devious pair.
As for the Sontaran segment of the episode, with her companions out of the way, the Doctor held her own. She had an excellent rapport with Mary Seacole, the latter who noted certain military habits of the Sontarans and got a few nice confrontation scenes with her old enemies, including their Commander Riskaw (Jonathan Watson). The only slight letdown was General Logan (Gerald Kyd), who basically ruined her plan of getting the Sontarans to retreat but other than that, the Crimean War setting truly worked here.
- Dan Starkey who has played various Sontarans in previous eras also got to play the one that Mary Seacole got her information from. This makes him the only actor so far to have appeared in Russell T. Davies, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall's eras of the show.
- Yaz told Vinder she was a police officer in this episode while Swarm revealed that Vinder was looking for redemption. Yaz also met Joseph Williamson in the Atropos temple.
- The TARDIS has been corrupted and it was getting worse in this episode.
- That house the Doctor saw at the start of the episode in black and white. I'm certain that it was the same one Azure lured Diane in to. I'm also convinced that Passenger will end up being Diane.
- Not only did it look cool to see a Sontaran on a horse but the episode also commented on it too.
- Chronology: 1855 Crimean War and November 2nd 2021. Dan was missing for two days according to his parents.
War Of The Sontarans hit all the right spots as an episode. The new design for the title baddies looked fantastic, they felt like a credible threat and I loved the addition of new lore with them (Sontar-Ho as a mark of disgrace/execution). Not to mention even though they were apart for most of the episode, all of the main characters had something worthwhile to do. I'm getting optimistic that this shortened, serialised format might have been the thing that Chibnall needed all along because it's working to his advantage so far.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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