‘Doctor Who: Before The Flood’ Trailer And First Look
This week will see the conclusion of the new Toby Whithouse two-parter, Doctor Who: “Before the Flood.” The new episode will follow last week’s intense cliffhanger, “Under the Lake,” where an episode made mostly of setups culminated in The Doctor having become a ghost and haunting Clara. Doctor Who: “Before the Flood” will see the introduction of a new monster, the Fisher King, a terrifying looking beast over seven-feet tall, described as the “alien warlord” who has initiated this twisted series of events to ensure his own survival.
When we left the action last week, The Doctor and Clara had been separated after the flooding of the underwater facility The Drum. In the new episode, we will finally get to meet the dread adversary behind the strange transmission and ghostly goings-on. From the synopsis of Doctor Who: “Before the Flood” released by the BBC, we know that the new enemy is the Fisher King, that his actions are rippling out over the whole universe, and that this is yet another time when The Doctor will potentially need to alter history in order to save the situation. The synopsis asks, “Will the Doctor do the unthinkable?” We can’t help but be reminded of episodes like “The Waters of Mars,” where we see The Doctor breaking the rules that he so frequently declares to be inviolate.
So there’s a lot to look forward to in the new episode. As showrunner Steven Moffat says, when ghosts are introduced into science fiction, there is potential for some intriguing paradoxes. “Can you go back in time and make your own ghost?” And if you can, what happens if you meet it? Will it be a situation like the episode “The Big Bang,” where a future Doctor can give information to a Doctor displaced a few minutes back in time? Or will The Doctor’s ghost be just like the others, unable to say anything but the mysterious set of coordinates “The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple?”
It would seem that we’re in classic Toby Whithouse territory here. There are shades of “The God Complex” in the idea of a mysterious ancient monster twisting time and space in order to survive. Whithouse has written enough episodes now that we can talk about a typical Whithouse episode, and it looks like Doctor Who: “Before the Flood” is going to have some of these characteristics. A new element, however, is the fact that Doctor Who: “Before the Flood” is actually being told in reverse. The potential twists and permutations of such an approach are classically mind-bending in the best tradition of time travel fiction. Timey-wimey stuff galore is definitely on the cards.
There are also hints that Clara’s character will be undergoing something of an evolution. In the introductory interview, Jenna Coleman says that this is an important episode for Clara, where she realizes that The Doctor “is her whole life” and she is unwilling to let go. In the previous series, Clara has swung between dependence, hostility and the kind of relationship that tends to follow an amicable break up. In this new season we see a Clara who revels in her role as companion. The series opener saw her as a confident and regular member of U.N.I.T., and the opening of this latest two-parter had her champing at the bit for more adventure. Many reviewers were nonplussed like this, wondering whether Clara had perhaps done too good a job of becoming like The Doctor. It should be noted that when previous companions have done this, it has invariably led to their exit story-lines in tragic fashion.
Doctor Who: “Before the Flood” will air on Saturday.
[Images Courtesy of BBC]
