Video: Tea time: So good it can momentarily cure the aching melancholy of a thousand-year-old wanderer in the fourth dimension. Fact.
After some stark, educational seriousness in its most recent episode, the next episode of Doctor Who is moving on to another one of its roots — scaring the bejesus out of us with giant spiders — in “Arachnids in the UK”.
It also marks the first time since the season began that new companions Ryan, Yaz and Graham finally get back to their hometown of Sheffield… potentially leaving our new Doctor all alone in that big new TARDIS of hers. And as this newly released clip shows, that’s something that the Thirteenth Doctor really doesn’t want:
So far Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor has been defined by an earnest sense of optimism and wanderlust, relishing in the joy and mystery of the world (or worlds) around her, seen with fresh new eyes in the form of her newly regenerated self and her new friends.
Even if it’s very brief, getting to see the moment that bright mask falls as she realises she could be saying goodbye to Ryan, Yaz and Graham is oddly affecting. Even if we, the audience, know they aren’t actually leaving yet. There’s still more episodes this season they’re in! Poor Doctor.
Thankfully, Yaz’s offer of tea — presumably, as someone from Yorkshire, Yaz is referring to the evening meal, rather than the beverage, but who knows, the Doctor and Yaz could have tea with their tea! — immediately brightens her back up. Good to see that two-hearted Lords of Time are just like the rest of us in that regard.
Doctor Who returns for a bite to eat and some horrible giant spiders that I’m still really trying not to think about this Monday, October 29.