Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Amanda Brotchie
Lux (to the Doctor/Belinda): "Don't make me laugh."
No, seriously, don't make Mr Ring-A-Ding (Alan Cumming) laugh because the consequences could get rather animated for those involved. This was quite the episode, wasn't it?
Following the events of the previous one, the Doctor's having trouble getting Belinda back to May 24th 2025 and his Vindicator (Vortex Indicator) didn't take them back to the present. Instead, they got to go to Miami in 1952.
Yup, Belinda's first trip in the past and in spite of wanting to go home, she found herself enamoured by exploring the past. Also an abandoned cinema with fifteen missing people had her and the Doctor investigating the Palazzo where the villain was on the animated side of things.
Yup, Mr Ring-A-Ding aka Lux was a cartoon villain, a two dimensional character with a backstory and enough to keep a grief stricken projectionist named Reginald Pye (Linus Roche) in his place. Reginald would maintain a tradition in solving the Lux problem in a way that a lot of guest characters have done on this show.
Getting back to Lux, he's the God of Light and assumed that the Doctor's defeats of the Toymaker, Maestro and Sutekh were all destined for their inevitable encounter. Of course, there was some animation to be had for the Doctor and Belinda and then there was that scene. Yup, that one.
Having the Doctor and Belinda step out of the television and realise they're part of a TV show and they've got fans in Hassan (Samir Arrian), Lizzie (Bronte Barbe) and Robyn (Steph Lacey). This could've been such a disaster but I actually think it was pulled off rather beautifully with music used from my favourite Doctor's era as well.
As for Lux, he needed the essence of a Time Lord in order to make himself more dimensional but Belinda's quick thinking and Reginald's sacrifice had Lux given a much different fate. Granted, it's a defeat that doesn't rule out a future return but two episodes in and the Doctor/Belinda dynamic has been nicely established.
- Mrs Flood appeared to have Logan Cheever (Lewis Cornay) and company witness the TARDIS leaving. She made a point about limited runs too.
- Belinda talked about Rock Hudson having HIV as well as Reginald having Nicotine stained fingers. Belinda's mum is a violinist and her father does taxes.
- Those fans really liked Blink, huh? They didn't seem as taken with The Devil's Chord and Boom.
- Massive points for this episode ruthlessly taking the piss out of that hateful #RIPDoctorWho hashtag.
- We got a mid credit scene with those fans taking about this episode.
- Chronology: 1952 Miami for most of this episode.
Lux felt like a successor to The Devil's Chord and we can now tick off another Pantheon member from the list. It's a very strong episode that could've tackled certain things disastrously but didn't. The talk of limited runs and bigenerations are clearly foreshadowing near future events.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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