Doctor Who Recap: Here Comes the Fun

The Doctor gets by with a little help from his friends.

Generally, for a double premiere, I’d recap both episodes in a single post. But “The Devil’s Chord” is so different from “Space Babies” that it doesn’t feel right to lump them together — we’ve gone from a creature made of baby boogers to a godlike being from another realm who can turn music into a physical weapon. With the help of the Beatles, the Doctor and Ruby must take on Maestro, a child of the elemental force known as the Toymaker. (In case you didn’t catch the 60th-anniversary specials, the Toymaker was banished by the bi-generated Doctor, but not before ominously promising that his “legions” are coming.) Jinkx Monsoon is in her forte, pun intended, in this delightfully villainous role. The episode is still silly, but we’ve traded toilet humor for campy theatrics.

Maestro is unleashed on the world via a lost chord discovered by musical genius Timothy Drake. After popping out of a piano (and informing us that they use they/them pronouns), Maestro puts all the muscles in their face to work, flipping between cackles, pouts, snarls, and shouts. They swallow Timothy’s songs with a satisfied moan. It’s the start of their efforts to consume all music until only the Aeolian tones of nuclear fallout are left.

Of course, the Doctor and Ruby don’t know that yet — they’re busy strutting across Abbey Road in 1963 to watch the Beatles record their first album. The pair quickly realize something’s wrong when they hear Paul, John, Ringo, and George in the studio singing lyrics that sound AI-generated. But the group can’t even give the nonsense words a catchy melody. “My dog is alive / He’s not dead” is no “That’s that me, espresso,” that’s for sure.

The Doctor asks Ruby to play piano on the roof, and a few people poke their heads out of their windows to listen. But when Maestro appears and giggles the tune that the Toymaker used to control humanity, the Doctor realizes that Russell T. Davies is pitting him against yet another godlike creature. He just wants to run and hide, which makes sense! Maestro can tamper with the TARDIS through sound waves and can travel through space and time on their own. Realistically, how is the Doctor supposed to overpower or outsmart the living embodiment of music?

When it comes to “the gods,” the Doctor feels he only gets one trick. He can’t split himself in half again like he did when facing the Toymaker. This time, his trick is to use his sonic screwdriver to temporarily put the world on mute, prompting Maestro to treat us to a master class in silent acting. But after a few shots of soundless frustration, the Doctor’s best plan is rendered useless by a tuning fork and a puddle. The Doctor is out of ideas and feels like giving up. Seeing him admit this is (for lack of a better word, since he is an alien) humanizing.

To get Ruby to understand how dire things are, the Doctor brings her back to 2024 to show her the world is in ruins. Without music, humans have descended into war and apparently ceased to exist. Maestro shows up and sings about their daddy issues, then lets slip that they were brought back by a chord. This helps the Doctor realize that Maestro could be imprisoned with the right combination of notes. Yes, it’s a bit of a far-fetched solution … but that comes with the territory of introducing antagonists who are basically deities. Their immense power raises the stakes significantly but also makes it seem pretty convenient if there’s a way for the Doctor to defeat them in a single episode. Let’s not forget that the Toymaker transcended the laws of reality but was ultimately sent packing after agreeing to a game of catch.

Back in 1963, Maestro targets Ruby because she’s the last human who remembers music. But the song that’s pulled out of her is a Christmas carol from the night she was born, which once again causes snow to fall. It looks like the secrets of her birth will continue to be a slow burn. Maestro releases her after vaguely noting that the song has power that is comparable to “him, the oldest one.”

There’s little time to ponder who that might be because it’s finally time for a musical showdown. Ruby and the Doctor shoot notes off from the piano that the Beatles wrote their biggest hits on. Maestro isn’t worried when their violin collapses because they doubt the Doctor has the musical genius to find the chord. But the Doctor argues that emotions are what drives music, and he has experienced everything. Maestro is whimpering on the floor at six out of the seven notes, but regains power when the Doctor flubs the last note. Ultimately, Paul McCartney and John Lennon have to stumble across the piano to find the final note, which frees Ruby and the Doctor from the instruments that Maestro has stuffed them into. “The one who waits is almost here,” Maestro warns before vanishing.

We end with a massive musical number. Ruby does a great job singing and dancing, but Fifteen is electric. Some of the charm of previous Doctors comes from the fact that they’re a little awkward in their bodies and that they look a little silly while dancing. But Fifteen doesn’t miss a beat. He’s practically vibrating with physical charisma while surrounded by dozens of extras, confetti, balloons, and streamers. After a long sequence that includes umbrella choreography in indoor rain, Fifteen and Ruby finally leave the studio. They’re still hearing tunes when they cross Abbey Road, and the closing shot of the TARDIS doors is timed to instruments. Hey, if you’re going to do an entire episode about how crucial music is to the survival of humanity, you have to throw a proper celebration once it comes back.

Cut for Time (Lord)

• Loooved the scene where the Doctor and Ruby sprint to the TARDIS closet and strut out in their ’60s ’fits. Please, please let Fifteen continue to deliver visual proof of his declaration that he’s “got wigs galore!” Also, the costume department for this episode killed it in general. I want all of Maestro’s heels.

• At the beginning of the episode, Maestro looks directly into the camera and plays the Doctor Who theme. The Doctor winks at us and cues the closing musical number. I know some people don’t like the fourth wall being broken, but I think it’s actually just right for the tone of this episode.

• The Doctor mentions in passing that a past version of himself is living in Shoreditch with his granddaughter Susan. It’s nice to hear the First Doctor mentioned! But Fifteen suggests that the genocide of the Time Lords might’ve killed Susan, too. The fact that he laughs and changes the subject right after saying that is a little jarring. He might not be quite as healed as he’d like to believe.

• Maestro sent a “son,” Henry Arbinger, as a harbinger. Henry disappeared when Maestro initially arrived but is peeking out during the closing musical number. Perhaps that’s a sign that the Maestro could be released again one day? It seems highly likely that the Doctor will meet more godlike beings in the lead-up to the reveal of the final boss. Who do we want to see while we wait for the one who waits?