“The Witchfinders” Teasers Explained

Clint Hassell reveals the answers to last week’s hints and teasers for Series 11, episode 8 “The Witchfinders.”

• 1. Exodus 22:18 Matthew 22:39
  When Lady Savage recites Exodus 22:18 (“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”), the Doctor retorts with “love thy neighbor,” a partial quote from Matthew 22:39.
• 2. “You may prostrate yourselves before me.”
  – King James, greeting Lady Savage, the Doctor, Graham, and Ryan
• 3. Someone takes a bit of a shine to Ryan.
  A flirtatious King James shows interest in Ryan, calling him a “Nubian prince.”
• 4. “These are hard times for women. If we’re not being drowned, we’re being patronized to death.”
  – the Doctor, after meeting a very dismissive King James
• 5. Funniest subtle quote: “Why does the lassie speak of commerce?”
  – King James, confused by the figurative meaning of the word “buy”
• 6. The Doctor refuses a glass of wine, but still has a hangover.
  Drying herself by the fire, the Doctor declines Lady Savage’s offer of a glass of wine. Later, after being knocked out by Lady Savage’s Moraxian blast, the Doctor claims to have a hangover.
• 7. The primary lesson from Danny Pink’s second episode is referenced in the third act.
  The Doctor references the main lesson of Series 8’s “Listen” when she tells Willa, “A little bit of scared isn’t a bad thing.”
• 8. “The Two Doctors” – – and both are female!
  Both Thirteen and Willa – – who claims she will take her grandmother’s potions and “be a doctor” – – are both female.
• 9. While we’re on the subject of numbers, someone gets name-dropped thirty-eight times.
  . . . that “someone” being Satan.
• 10. “Look at him – – Alfonso’s loyalty is rare and pure . . . and it’s only a matter of time before I inevitably get let down.”
  – a hilariously paranoid King James, to Ryan
• 11. He’s quoting Quentin Tarantino; she’s quoting Arthur C. Clarke.
  “Or else, we will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger!” – Graham, to King James, quoting a line from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction
  “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – the Doctor, to King James and Willa, quoting Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law.

Hidden teasers:

• Congratulations to Blithe17 for finding the hidden clue, “a very wet weekend with Houdini” – – the Doctor’s explanation for her ability to escape from the chains of the dunking stool.
• The line that Graham quotes from Pulp Fiction pulls from Ezekial 25:17, which King James translated as “And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.”
• The letters in bold spell out “Honi soit qui mal y pense” – – French for “Evil be to him that evil thinks” – – which is stitched on King James’ garter.