Doctor Who – “The Well” Review – “Well” . . . Why?

Clint Schwalen gives his SPOILER-filled commentary on the third episode of Series 15.

Note: this review contains full SPOILERS for episode 3 of Series 15.

Don’t let the brevity of this review mislead you: “The Well,” the third episode of Doctor Who’s fifteenth series, is a perfectly fine episode.  Featuring a standard, “base under siege” plot where a small, isolated group is terrorized by a barely seen monster, the episode uses its cold, industrial setting, bleak score, and jump scares to ratchet up the psychological tension.

The cast adequately portrays their stock characters—including the noble platoon leader, the hotheaded know-it-all, and the out-of-her-depth subordinate—with deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis shining as the believably terrified, confused, and desperate Aliss Fenly.

The plot of the episode advances predictably forward as the Doctor is again separated from his TARDIS—this time through actions that seem especially capricious and out of character—and the cast is slowly whittled down due to ignorance, arrogance, and sacrifice.  Belinda fulfills her role as a companion, astutely recognizing that all the mirrors within the base have been shattered, before becoming endangered herself.  “The Well” seeds the series-long storyline, establishing that the destruction of Earth first evidenced in “The Robot Revolution” is so great that it rewrites the future, erasing humanity’s expansion across the Universe from the timeline.  Additionally, the enigmatic Mrs. Flood remains omnipresent in the Doctor’s periphery.

While this may sound like the definition of “damning with faint praise,” it should be noted that the episode does include a couple of uniquely clever moments.  For example, just as Belinda questions whether humans still exist 500,000 years into the future—a major theme from Series 1’s “The End of the World”—Murray Gold’s orchestral score cuts to Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” further referencing that episode.  In perhaps the episode’s most effective line, Aliss, fearful that she will be abandoned at the mining station after the entity possessing her reveals its proclivity to kill anyone standing behind her, cries, “Don’t turn your back on me.”

Where “The Well” underwhelms is not in its execution, but in its exigency, its raison d’être.  Why does this episode exist?  While a follow-up to the acclaimed “Midnight” seems like a fantastic way to encourage long-time fans not watching the current series to return to the show, this facet of the episode was not advertised in advance.  Further, almost no additional information is revealed about the Midnight entity, frustrating both Time Lord and audience alike.

In fact, it would be easy to argue that “The Well” isn’t a sequel to Series 4’s “Midnight,” as the entities that feature in both episodes are portrayed so differently that it is difficult to consider the two to be the same monster.  Where “Midnight” depicts an unseen creature that rips apart a bus before possessing Sky Silvestry’s consciousness, enabling her to mimic the Doctor and “steal” his words, “The Well” shows a being that hides behind its victims and kills by violently catapulting its prey into the air.  Because of this, the episode seems less a direct sequel to “Midnight” and more of a spiritual successor to “The Time of Angels”/“Flesh and Stone”—the Series 5 follow-up to “Blink” that completely changes the nature of the Weeping Angels from silent, unmoving assassins who stalk their prey before shunting them backwards in time to mobile, neck-breaking thugs that speak through their deceased victims and can be replicated via an image.  While “The Time of Angels”/“Flesh and Stone” reignites the mystery of River Song’s identity and features a cliffhanger that seemingly defies the Doctor’s anti-gun stance, the story completely overturns the mythology of the Weeping Angels that was established in Series 3.

The inconsistent portrayal of the Midnight entity aside, “The Well” isn’t a bad episode of Doctor Who—far from it, as the acting, narrative, special effects, and score are all capably executed.  The episode joins “Dalek,” “The Impossible Planet”/“The Satan Pit,” and “Last Christmas” as a perfect example of the series’ many “base under siege” stories.  Perhaps that’s the issue.  Though an acceptable mid-series adventure, “The Well” contributes little to the oeuvre of this particular type of Doctor Who episode.  Considering the seemingly annual tradition of “base under siege” stories, one must ask: how often can the series draw from this particular “well,” before it runs dry?

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From a production standpoint, “The Well” is capably executed.  However, beyond a captivating performance from guest star Rose Ayling-Ellis, the episode does little to rise above its roots as a standard “base under siege” story, instead relying on its ties to Series 4’s acclaimed “Midnight,” whose monster is inconsistently portrayed here.

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