Week six of Doctor Who Series 11 brings the TARDIS back to Earth and to the past on another continent.
Like with the season's 3rd episode, Rosa, the Doctor and friends are confronted with a point in history that is at the very least uncomfortable. In this case, Team TARDIS bears witness to the partition of British India in 1947 into two independent nations, India and Pakistan.
It is a last gasp of imperial England; to say it doesn't end well is understatement. As the Doctor says, "It’s not just the country that gets divided. Tens of millions of people about to be displaced. More than a million about to die.”
There is a not small consideration of the impact on Yaz who watches her family in a previous century be torn apart.
We'll delve into this deeper after the break.
The spoiler caution is on.
Demons of the Punjab
by Vinay Patel
At a birthday party for Yaz’s grandmother Umbreem, gran starts handing out family heirlooms. Yaz is given her grandfather’s watch and Yas naturally has questions.
Umbreem is not giving out answers.
Umbreem's recalcitrance in talking about her past will not stop Yaz's curiosity. So it's off to the TARDIS to plead her case to the Doctor for a quick trip back to the past for a peek at what's up with Umbreem's mysterious past.
“What’s the point in having a mate with a time machine if you can’t go back and see your nan when she was young?”, Yaz asks.
The Doctor is reluctant to do this. Companions going back along their family history is not a good idea. (Rose Tyler and her dad, anyone?)
The Doctor, always hankering for a new adventure, agrees anyway.
Back in August 1947, Yaz finds her Muslim grandmother
Umbreem is about to get married to a Hindu named Prem. Prem is NOT Yaz's grandfather.
August 1947 is a significant point in history. This was when partition was declared after India won its independence from the British and was divided into two self-governing states, India and Pakistan. This is a particularly fraught time in history. Tension was high between Hindus and Muslims as millions of people were forced to leave their homes in the largest forced migration of people that wasn’t caused by war or famine. Violence erupted between communities resulting in thousands of deaths, families torn apart and homes destroyed.
Prem's own younger brother Manish has become radicalized by the angry nationalist rhetoric of Hindus vs. Muslims.
It is in this time of incredible historic tension that Umbreem
and Prem are looking to get married. And right along the suddenly declared border between the newly separated
countries.
Also there are demons.
OK, the demons are aliens and they are these dark, scary looking creatures that the Doctor identifies as Thagarians, an ancient race of assassins.
So not good aliens, then.
But it seems that the Thagarians have re-written their mission statement and are not so much into killing although their work still involves death. They have tasked themselves to ‘witness’ the deaths of people who die alone.
They are here in this place and time to bear witness to the death of Prem, destined to die on his wedding day.
Prem’s brother Manish objects to the marriage of a Hindu to a Muslim arrives with armed men on horseback.
Prem tells Umbreem, the Doctor and her friends to head through the forest while he tried to reason with Manish. But during the confrontation he was shot and killed. It was a heartbreaking moment, with the Doctor being left unable to change the course of history.
Yaz realises why her grandmother had not told her the full story about her life, because it hurts too damn much. The episode ends with a touching moment between Yaz and Umbreem with Yaz telling her grandmother she loves her as an Indian-influenced version of the Doctor Who theme plays over the end credits.
As with Rosa, this week's episode looks at another point in 20th century history that turns uncomfortably on the axis of humanity's inhumanity. The true threat of death cruelty in Demons of the Punjab comes not from an alien menace but from what terrible things people can do to other people when pushed by fear and ignorance.
And any comparisons to current events is purely intentional, I'm sure.
Yaz gets some spotlight in this episode. I find it telling that she is incredulous when the Doctor is concerned with her well-being in the midst of aliens flitting about during a particularly tense and violent time in history. For all she does for other people, Yaz continues to undervalue how others perceive her, particularly the Doctor.
We get a warm Graham & Yaz moment where they get to chat for a bit about how strange and wonderful stuff like this is, travelling with the Doctor. Bradley Walsh owns every scene Graham is in.
The Doctor actually references her gender change while hanging out for a pre-wedding girl's night. "I never did anything like this when I was a man."
There's a "noodle incident" reference to another between episode adventure. "I have apologized for the death-eyed turtle army! Profusely!”
The Doctor name drops Albert Einstein; she apparently officiated at his wedding.
Demons of the Punjab has moments of humor and weirdness but the weight of history is particularly heavy in this episode. I'm hoping nexst week's episode lighten things up a bit as the gang visits Space Costco.
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