Written by Pete McTighe & Chris Chibnall
Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
The Doctor (to Graham, re Jake/Adam): "What can I say? I'm a romantic."
Ah yes, but three weeks ago, you also let a mother and daughter perish in one of the show's worst ever episodes. If Orphan 55's environmental messaging wasn't to your taste, then perhaps Praxeus will be or won't. It really could go either way here for viewers.
Last time we dealt with humanity becoming dregs on an orphan planet in the possible future. This time around we're dealing with a pathogen in plastics that's spread through birds and there's moments where it felt like we were a direct homage to a certain Hitchcock movie. That certainly added to the atmosphere of this lush looking adventure.
Another thing that really added to this one and one that gives it a bigger advantage over Orphan 55 would be the use of the guest characters this week. Notably we had on leave police officer Jake Willis (Warren Brown) venture to Hong Kong to try and rescue his astronaut husband, Adam Lang (Matthew McNulty) who found himself infected with the titular problem and for most of this episode, it really did look like he was going to be a goner. Then he got better and it looked like Jake was going to be a goner. And then the Doctor rescued him, so the hunky gay married couple of the episode survived this one.
Yes, while the episode did look like it was going to venture into the 'bury your gays' trope, the episode managed to subvert it nicely enough. Shallowness aside - I genuinely thought both Jake and Adam were decently development guest characters, both actors had chemistry with each other and felt like a believable pairing and most importantly, they worked well with the Doctor and the companions while also helping with solving the main problem this week.
The other prominent guest was blogger girl, Gabriela Camara (Joana Borja) who got some rather decent scenes with both Ryan and Yasmin before heading off with Jake and Adam at the end of this one as she lost the other half of her online presence while scientist Suki Cheng (Molly Harris) was the closest thing to an actual villain in the episode but mostly fell into the misguided role before becoming a victim of the title episode.
Of course the thing about this episode was the rumours of a certain classic monster appearing in this episode. Unfortunately that didn't materialise here. Sure, the Autons got a nice mention but given the third act's underwater setting, it's a bit of a bummer that the Sea Devils didn't emerge in this one. Fortunately there was more than enough going on in the episode, so it didn't matter too much. Just about.
- Yet another episode where a female character checks out Ryan. Oh and Yasmin was acting a lot off in this one. That better be leading to something.
- The time of this episode, given what's in the media right now couldn't have been more on point to be honest.
- Unlike last week's co-written effort, there was nothing in this episode that hinted at any of the major storylines this series.
- Warren Brown who played Jake in this one also has a recurring UNIT role of Sam Bishop in the Big Finish audios.
- The comm dot is a reference to The Tsuranga Conundrum from last series.
- Chronology: Early 2020 with trips to Hong Kong, Madagascar and bottom of the Indian Ocean.
Praxeus was certainly in danger of being another preachy one for this current run and while it doesn't quite live up to the hype of oh say, Spyfall or Fugitive Of The Judoon, it's still a very strong entry in the series with Pete McTighe continuing to be the most successful find in this era. An engaging guest cast and some gorgeous location work also helped too along with all the companions feeling useful as well.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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