The Keystone and the Pirate Devils

Story: Legend of the Sea Devils
Written By: Chris Chibnall & Ella Road
Length: 60 Minutes
Year: 2022

Happy Easter!  Doctor Who returns for the second of three specials which close out the Jodie Whitaker and Chris Chibnall era of the show.  Also returning are a classic monster making their first appearance on the show since it's revival: The Sea Devils!  Now maybe I am crazy, I dunno, but I always loved the Sea Devils more than their cousins the Silurians. Even in the classic show, the Sea Devils just had an all around better design and had a better serial in my opinion...perhaps my memory is playing tricks, but that was how I saw it.  So having them back is fun, and the episode featuring them is a fun seafaring/swashbuckling piece of entertainment.

Lets ignore all the pointless controversy of the Chibnall era for a moment, and lets be real here: his era has the absolute best updating of classic monsters since the Daleks in 2005.  I mean I have loved what has done with the Daleks, I have enjoyed his Cybermen (I mean...barring that CyberTime Lords thing), the Sontarans were perfect (they looked much better here than they did in their initial 2005 redesign), and with the Sea Devils they just made a slightly better looking version of the original costumes only enhanced with CG to make the face slightly more animated.  It is exactly how monsters in Who should be upgraded in my view. Because the Silurians as they were revived under Moffat were the absolute worst redesign possible.  

As to the story, it is a pretty stock standard adventure, just fun stuff with Sea Devils, pirates in ancient Asia, and good character moments.  The big character stuff here was the Doctor and Yaz bits.  Before they exit the show, they've decided to really tackle the romantic feelings Yaz has developed for the Doctor...and here instead of avoiding it at all costs the Doctor decided to broach the subject, though not as Yaz would want.  The Doctor says she would if she could, she would absolutely go for Yaz, but it can never ever work, because the Doctor knows it will never end well. It just can't.  She has learned the lesson too many times over the years now, that she can't make that work.

And that's it really.  I enjoyed this.  Honestly the show has been hitting on all cylinders again.  Despite my disappointment in how Series 12 ended, and how that ending did linger over Flux, I think the show has been consistently fun since.  And from the looks of it, it can end on a high note if we are lucky...as it appears that many are returning for the Thirteenth's grand finale, and we will get The Master, Kate Stewart, Daleks, The Lone Cyberman, Vinder, and...my god Tegan?  Ace?  The hell?  Should be interesting!

NEXT TIME: The Chibnall/Whitaker Era Comes to a Close