It’s honestly a bit tragic that we’re very much near the end of Jodie Whittaker’s run as Doctor Who. Mainly because, not unlike Peter Capaldi at points, she hasn’t been able to deliver some truly memorable episodes outside ones like “Rosa” (which I still hail as a masterpiece). Flux did her no favors, “Eve of the Daleks” wasn’t that great, and then “Legend of the Daleks” was…middling at best…and had some of the worst editing I’ve ever seen from this show, or any show for that matter.
No, really, look at the first chunk of the episode alone and they do odd camera angles and jump cuts for no clear reason. The Sea Devil wiping out that village for example was poorly cut. Or, when they do the first commercial break (after the young man outed the Pirate Queen as the reason for the Sea Devil getting out), we go from everyone being together, to the Pirate Queen somehow being on her ship, Dan and the young man going after her without the Doctor’s permission, and the Doctor and Yaz are in the Tardis. To put it bluntly, “HOW DID WE GET TO THAT SET OF ACTIONS??!!??”
Remember, this is the Doctor, she wouldn’t have just let the Pirate Queen go off, let alone the young man (can you tell I don’t remember the names? Sorry about that, but that’s part of the problem with the episode if you will) who was sworn to avenge his father. Yet, they didn’t mind doing that MASSIVE jump in dialogue and scenes. In a later battle, the Doctor vs. The Sea Devil leader had multiple jump cuts in fractions of a second, that’s just bad! That’s Iron Fist bad, ok? And you know that’s a terrible insult. They also did a jump in logic in terms of them getting BACK on the Sea Devil ship despite it hovering above them and them having no clear way back on…but…who cares apparently?
The overall plot could’ve been something special if handled right, because who doesn’t love a good pirate adventure? Notice I said “good pirate adventure”, which eliminates some of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, just saying. And having the Pirate Queen (something history doesn’t openly talk about at times…there were plenty of female pirates!), the treasure of the Flora De La Mar, the ancient captain being alive centuries later, and more were great elements that…didn’t really pan out in the end outside of a few moments like the captain sacrificing himself and the Pirate Queen taking ownership over what she’d done.
The Sea Devils were fine overall, but we never really got an answer as to why this sect was different from the ones the Doctor met before. She said they didn’t like conflict, but these ones were all for it, so what changed from then to now? We don’t know! One of many things that weren’t answered sadly.
The ironic thing is that outside of the premise for something special, we did get some great advancement on the Doctor/Yaz front. Usually I’m against romances in shows that don’t need it, and given that the Regeneration is coming and NOW we’re potentially getting this relationship would’ve been sad…if they didn’t play it like they did here. The Doctor admitting that she can’t “be fixed with anyone” may sound cliche…but she backed it up. Even mentioning one of her/their wives (likely River given Capaldi was previous to her) and how “given enough time, it’ll turn to pain”. Which is fair. Remember, across the many regenerations the Doctor has been married (in serious ways and jokes like with 10 and 11), had children (remember, 1st Doctor had a granddaughter), and had lost loves like with Rose, Amelia, and more. So while she definitely digs Yaz, it’s fair that she’s nervous about doing another relationship when she knows via Flux (an event I still don’t fully understand) that her time is coming to an end.
I wish they had focused more on the episode on them instead of some of the stuff we got instead. Though I do appreciate setting Dan’s endgame up with Di, so he wasn’t just the joke of the episode via his outfit.
In the end, “Legend of the Sea Devils” was…fine. But it was hardly wonderful or awe-inspiring. But, with the final run of Whittaker’s Doctor coming in the fall…she has one last run in her to make her run truly shine.
2.5/5
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
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