The Story and the Engine - a review

For the last couple of weeks I have been asking the question: can the next episode maintain the quality of the those which have just gone before?

We're over the halfway point now, and so far I would rate The Robot Revolution as good, and the next three episodes strong.

The Story and the Engine, as well as having one of those enigmatic titles which give little away about what the plot might be, is another episode which has featured prominently in the trailers - with scenes of people being sucked out of a door into some some sort of vortex, plus a great big spider.

We subsequently learned that the setting was a barbershop in Lagos, Nigeria, which the Doctor is familiar with, and there are missing persons posters around. The trailers also gave away the fact that the barbershop appeared to be located on the spider's back. As to what the story was actually about, or who the protagonist(s) might be, there was little clue other than that "The Barber" was significant.

If you think a 61 year old series needs to continually experiment and deliver different types of story-telling, then you will have appreciated this episode. It's all about the power of story-telling - literally and metaphorically - and uses visual imagery in ways rarely seen in the series. A group of men in the Lagos barbershop tell stories, which appear in animated form on the window as they tell them - something we haven't really seen since Can You Hear Me?.

One of the men is the former owner - Omo - and it's quickly apparent that they are trapped here and that their stories have some sort of impact on their surroundings.

The Doctor walks into this, being an old friend of Omo and liking to spend time here - especially since taking on his current incarnation. No matter his outward appearance, or the actor playing the role, the Doctor isn't of African descent, so I'm glad that they didn't attempt anything that might smack of cultural appropriation. He simply states that in this form he sometimes finds it more comfortable being in this type of culture.

Once in the shop he finds that it's a trap - Omo knowing that he will turn up to save them.

But from what? The sinister Barber at first makes out that he is an immortal being who has taken on many forms in the past - all of them deities like Loki, Anansi and Basant. All are associated with story-telling. It then turns out that he was once an ordinary mortal, who is using stories to power a huge mechanical spider through a web-like region known as the Nexus. His aim? To destroy the gods by ending their stories. At least that's what I think it was about. To be honest, the dialogue was drowned by music so often that it will probably take another viewing to get all of the detail of the plot.

Accompanying the Barber is a woman who turns out to have some history with the Doctor. She was the daughter of a god whom the Doctor tricked, something which left her humiliated and out for revenge.

It then transpires that this event took place during the period of the Fugitive Doctor, and we get a quick cameo appearance by Jo Martin. Nice to see her again, but really rather pointless, and since when did the Doctor start remembering things that happened during this time?

When the Doctor is first made to tell a story, we naturally assume he will talk about his own adventures, but he elects instead to talk about an incident from Belinda's life (a flashback sequence which allows for the obligatory Mrs Flood appearance).

Later on, however, when he gets to the heart of the engine which powers the spider machine, we get to see clips from his previous incarnations, as he has managed to take control of it from the Barber.

By the way, that little girl which Belinda sees is the same child who played Poppy in Space Babies.

Everyone manages to escape, the Barber is redeemed, and the spider blows up. It's all very talky and, as I've said, you can't actually make out some of the dialogue clearly. Not only is the music too high in the mix, but it isn't even used appropriately. We get the big epic stuff when actually very little is taking place on screen that warrants it.

It's very much a stand-alone episode, which is likely to be overlooked when it comes to viewing this current series as a whole. You are certainly intrigued to find out what is going on, and who these characters are but, once you know, that's pretty much it. There's very little to make you want to go back and revisit the episode (unless it's to try and work out some of the dialogue...).

Another "Good" from me, thanks to a certain novelty value, but nothing more than that.

Next week, it's the Song Contest one, and the excitement starts before the episode even reaches the TV as we can't guarantee that it's going to be shown on the night. That Cup Final might go to extra time / penalties, meaning that there simply won't be any room left to squeeze the episode in before Eurovision starts. Gatwa will be seen on BBC One that night, whatever happens, as he's delivering the UK's scores.