But things are not what they seem.
We'll find out more after the break.
There will be spoilers.
It Takes You Away
by Ed Hime
The Doctor, Graham, Yaz and Ryan meet Hanne, a young blind girl who has been through some stuff lately. Her mother recently dead, her father gone for several days and there's a monster lurking in the woods. The Doctor resolves to help her and the team (Gang? Fam?) gets to work. Ryan and Graham find a mirror that does not have their reflection in it. (Ryan asks, "We would know if we were vampires, right?") The Doctor reveals the mirror is a portal to... somewhere else.
The somewhere else is a dimly lit cave with killer moths inhabited by a nasty alien piece of work named Ribbons. Ribbons is dangerous and untrustyworthy and those are his good qualities but don't get too attach to this guy; he gets shredded by the killer moths. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Yaz and Graham find another portal that exits into a cabin that almost but not quite looks like the one they left. Here they find Erik keeping house with his dead wife, Tina. And they've been joined by another recent arrival.
Graham's dead wife, Grace.
Uh oh.
While Graham is having his heart torn open, the Doctor is laying down a serious exposition drop on Yaz about what is going on. If Yaz is confused, so am I. But here goes: the 1st portal hooks up to an Anti-Zone which serves as a buffer between the universe we know and a threat to the universe. The 2nd portal opens up to that threat, a Solitract, a living sentient universe that cannot exist with our universe. This Solitract is seeking to bring people from the real universe with the lure of being reunited with their deceased loved ones.
The problem is the Solitract is not stable and will destroy itself along with the Anti-Zone and along with that, our universe. Making matters worse is all the people from the real world now in the Solitract universe. They need to go home.
The Doctor is not able to active the portal from the Solitract to the Anti-Zone and then back to the real universe. The Solitract can send them back as they reject the reality of this existence.
Graham is reluctant to lose Grace again but realizes this Grace is not real as she is unconcerned about Ryan's safety. Eventually, only the Doctor and Erik are left with the simulation of Tina. Erik doesn't want to go but the Doctor points out to the Solitract that she with her years of life experience would be a better companion that dull, boring Erik. The Solitract sends Erik back.
This leaves the Doctor alone in a void with the Solitract who is speaking with grace's voice and has taken the form of a frog because Grace liked frogs and this pleases the Solitract.
But the sentient universe is still not stable, threatening the life of the Doctor and still posing a hazard to the real world. The Doctor promises she is the Solitract's friend but if she isn't sent back to the real world, everything will die. The Solitract acquiesces as the Doctor blows this sentient universe a kiss good-bye.
The Doctor returns to the Anti-Zone where she gets everyone back to safety to the real universe, sealing off the portal forever.
A few things of note:
The Doctor having a heart to heart chat with a frog on the fundamental nature of loneliness and the multiverse is really weird and I enjoyed it. I know some fans may decry the lost opportunity to have the Solitract appeal to the Doctor by taking the form of a lost loved one, River Song for example, but man, I digged the talking frog.
Graham carries a sandwich when they leave the TARDIS because he's learned that stopping for lunch on a Doctor adventure is not always a priority or a possibility.
Ryan's issues with his father color his thinking with Hanne's tale of her vanished father. Ryan suggests he's just run off. It was a bit harsh to say that to Hanne but turns out he was right.
Ryan finally calls Graham "grand dad". Awwwwwwww!
Yaz suggests the Doctor try "reversing the polarity or something". The Doctor smiles and replies, "You're speaking my language."
Over all, It Takes You Away has an effectively moody atmosphere with a strange, quirky mystery at its core. I think the scenes in the Anti-Zone were a distraction and I would have preferred more time in the Solitract universe with scenes of danger there instead of the Doctor just telling us about the danger.
And i think there was too much "telling". After the Doctor's exposition dump to Yaz about the Solitract, she adds, "Aren't you scared? I know I am." Well, I for one wasn't scared because I was not immediately clear on what the Doctor described.
Still, It Takes You Away has more good than bad working for it with some good moments of drama and humor as well as character development.
No comments:
Post a Comment