Praxeus was an odd one, an episode that I think would've worked better had it not come in the wake of last week's game-changing episode. I say this because last week's set up so much and yet this episode really didn't do anything to act off the back of that, there was no mention of the 'Ruth' Doctor, Jack or the 'Lone Cyberman'. Maybe this was deliberate to make the audience get used to long play narratives but what I found while watching it was that I would just rather be watching a continuation of last week's. For this reason i'd have swapped episodes 5 & 6, in order to have a pretty episodic format for the first half and a massive scale, linked narrative second half. But now I've said that (which has been on my mind since Sunday night) let's get into Praxeus...
This episode has I think proved to be Doctor Who at it's most divisive (certainly this series). There have been those praising it's environmental message and those arguing that it was too on-the-nose. But at the end of the day Doctor Who fans will always find something to argue about, one thing I think we can all agree on is that the episode looked amazing! One of the main things i'm loving about the Jodie Whittaker era is the location filming in South Africa, and this episode made great use of it's scenery. Not only that but the visual effects are a step up, especially the scenes in which the Praxeus infection take effect, those shots looked amazing! It's just a shame all (bar one) of the victims disintegrated, because it mean't we didn't see enough of the infected.
On that topic, let's talk about the monsters (or lack thereof), the episode did feel as if it lacked a proper threat. I say this because, while we see the infection across three continents, we only see it infect a handful of people, this doesn't build any sense of jeopardy or threat like this is a global pandemic. (and no, plastic filled birds don't count as monsters). The episode did seem to miss an enormous opportunity, and one which I think most fans were expecting, and that would have been bringing back the Sea Devils. The episode would've fitted the context of the story perfectly and all throughout the episode I was just waiting for an army to emerge on the Madagascan beach, even up to the scene where Yaz and Gabriela arrived on the underwater base I thought the big returning monster reveal was coming. But alas, it's not like we don't already have enough from the shows past returning this year.
One positive I did have with this episode is that the guest cast were terrific, with Warren Brown and Matthew McNulty giving great performances. Oh, and if Chris Chibnall could find a way to make Joana Borja's Gabriela character a full time companion then that would be great!
Overall, this wasn't really my kind of episode, especially what with us already having a pollution themed episode three weeks ago. But it was enjoyable for what it was. Next week's looks a bit good though doesn't it!
5/10
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