On the face of it , “ Mummy on the Orient Express ” is a more traditional physician Who story than anything we ’ve seen lately . There ’s a classic monster ( very Graeco-Roman , in fact ) , a limit outer space , and a mystery to be work — but this story manages to turn those ingredients into something completely fresh . Spoilers ahead …
There ’s something to be say for a level where the Doctor is not in ascendence of events , and also up against a monster and/or villain that has their own agenda . What ’s majuscule is that this sort of “ trapped and in deathly peril ” spot only hold Peter Capaldi ’s Doctor seem more distinguished and hefty than in the late stories where he ’s more or less calling the shots . And it also gives us a new spin on this season ’s main theme : the new Doctor ’s evident unfeelingness , and what it means to be a soldier .
In “ Mummy on the Orient Express , ” the Doctor and Clara go for a jaunt aboard a rendering of the train that Agatha Christie made famous , except in space . ( With Foxes ’ wonderful jazz masking of Queen ’s “ Do n’t cease Me Now . ” ) But the passengers are being murdered by a momma that only the victim can see , and if you see it then you croak 66 second later .
The whole thing turns out to be orchestrated by a mysterious figure know as “ Gus , ” who speaks through the train ’s computer . Gus has fix up for the mummy , known as the Foretold , to be on the train along with a bevy of expert who could perchance capture it . ( So “ Gus ” can replicate it as a weapon . ) Once the Doctor grumble the accuracy , the wagon train turn into a science laboratory . But it ’s only once the Doctor of the Church himself is attack by the mummy that he work out out its secret , and disables it .
When the story begins , Clara is on her final trip with the Doctor , because she ’s still pissed at him about his high - handed behavior , peculiarly that clip whenhe force her to decide whether to obliterate a ginormous creature hatch out of the Moon . She ’s decided she does n’t hate him , but she ’s still fed up with his manipulativeness and brusqueness . She nose up spending a lot of time bonding with Maisie , whose quasi - abusive grannie was the mummy ’s first dupe , and whose dysfunctional kinship is an odd sort of mirror of Clara and the Doctor ’s .
But even as Clara start getting fed up with the Doctor again — he tells her point blank that he ca n’t write Maisie from the mummy , and then divulge that he suspected / hoped that this harmless pleasure jaunt was in reality another death - defying dangerous undertaking — he actually come through , and is kind than he appears .
In fact , this metre around , the Doctor ’s callousness has an external cause , because he ca n’t lay on the line “ Gus ” get wind his plan . The Doctor is able to save Maisie because he pretends he ’s give up on save Maisie — his actual programme is to get Maisie into the science lab with him , so he can “ study ” her demise , and then take her office . ( Presumably , “ Gus ” would not be in favour of this move because it would gamble bear the Doctor die too early , when he has n’t yet had a chance to see several others pass away and peradventure sire utile insights . )
So in a nutshell , this is a story where the Doctor ’s harshness and apparent neglect for life history lay aside a bunch of people ’s lives , and it ’s just a manoeuvre that earmark him to save the maximal number of people .
Except not quite .
Because the Doctor pushes it too far — when the mummy “ expert ” Professor Moorhouse is being attacked by the mummy , Moorhouse is making an effort to report everything he observes about the monster that only he can see . Until the Doctor tells him that any detail he spots might help them save the next person — and then Moorhouse is totally thrown off , realize that he ’s already all in in the Doctor ’s eyes . After that , the Doctor sire nothing more utile out of Moorhouse , who might otherwise have observed the strange markings under the mummy ’s patch . So in fact , the Doctor ’s indurate act may prevent him from memorise the mummy ’s secrets sooner , and perchance saving at least Captain Quell .
In any casing , this episode puts the Doctor ’s House M.D.-esque behavior in a new light , by frame him in an unimaginable position . As he differentiate Clara at the closing of the episode , sometimes you have no in force choices , but you still have to select . ( Whereas last week , he was foisting the choice onto others , because he feel it was humanity ’s crook to make those tough choices . ) When a mummy is pick off mass one by one , starting with the weakest — when you ’ve get a gun to your foreland — you ca n’t yield view , you just have to be flaming - apt .
That ’s a situation that ’s pretty much guaranteed to make the Doctor more sympathetic , because if he wallow in sentiment he ’d only be wasting valuable mummy - vote down sentence . ( And in fact , you have to wonder if the Doctor seek out just such a office , to show Clara why his mental attitude is sometimes completely warranted . ) Clara , who wishes she could quit the Doctor , winds up realizing from Maisie ’s representative that she still has bare business with him — and she recasts his heartlessness as a star sign of an “ dependency ” to relieve oneself those tough choices .
( And then the Doctor turns this on its head , hint that maybe Clara is also an addict , who ’s examine — unlike him — to kick her addiction to danger and life - or - death decisions . )
In the end , Clara determine to keep traveling with the Doctor — not surprisingly , since this was n’t a season finis . And it ’s not just that she feel like he does care , deeply down , or that he does make the correct choice — she also seems to glimpse some vulnerability in him , when he require if she would “ like to think ” that he ’s secretly a softie , deep down .
Capaldi continues to be incredible in the function of the Doctor . The real joy of this time of year , thus far , has been watching Capaldi in a sort of situations , just nab the strangeness and peculiarity of the Doctor . I said earlier that he seems at times to be doing a bit of Tom Baker — but his vox is actually reminding me at times ofJon Culshawdoing Tom Baker , instead , in a wondrously wry tone . He gets so much mileage out of line like “ She was an previous woman . It ’s practically their occupation description . ” And of course of instruction , “ Are you my mummy ? ”
And meanwhile , Capaldi is constantly using his eyes to telegraph when the Doctor is being especially calculating , or not exclusively aboveboard with mass . In this finicky account , specially , the Doctor keep back looking to one side when he talks to Clara , as if he ’s essay to sneak something past her . The Clara - Doctor human relationship has been a lot more fascinating this year , and not just because Clara is no longer a closed book to be solved — both Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are really bring a great deal more layer to their interactions , and it ’s capital to watch . This season ’s stories , thus far , have browse from “ okay ” to “ superb , ” but the performances have been pretty much uniformly great .
Anyway , when Clara changes her mind and decides to keep traveling with the Doctor after all , she use her boyfriend Danny as an excuse , which is kind of an malevolent move on her part . She suddenly affect that it was Danny ’s idea all along that she cease go with the Doctor , and now Danny ’s changed his mind — and I hope we get to see how Danny react when he learns that she ’s hung him out to dry out like that .
Meanwhile , the theme of soldiers also gets act in a somewhat new direction — this meter , it ’s much more about ex - soldier who have PTSD and ca n’t escape their past times . This is literally true of Captain Quell , who just want a soft Book of Job on a luxury train and does n’t want to deal with any mummy murder after see the space equivalent of shell shock . And then when the mummy ’s secret is revealed , the mummy , too , turns out to be an x - soldier , from a long - forgotten warfare , who ca n’t die as long as it imagine the war is still going on . ( So the secret to disarming it is to say “ We surrender . ” )
So this is a tale that manages to cast the on-going “ Doctor ’s spoiled attitude ” return in a new light , and also takes preoccupations like “ fear of soldier ” and “ giant that must n’t be seen ” in new and pretty rewarding directions . “ Mummy on the Orient Express ” is also a cracking great adventure with a lot of tension and funny bits , both of which do good from a debauched pace and some inviolable atmosphere .
But we wind up not acquire an resolution to the biggest interrogation of all : Who is “ Gus , ” and what does “ he ” want with the mummy ’s secrets ? “ Gus ” patently have intercourse who the Doctor is , and is resourceful enough to invite the Dr. onto the train . And the brain behind all this is ruthless and groom to shoot down a lot of people just to get the Doctor to stop mouth on the phone to Clara .
The obvious candidate for “ Gus ” ‘ identity is Perkins , the super - helpful , charming train engineer who help the Doctor with his probe . Perkins seems almost too keen to help , something the Doctor points out once . And he ’s such an in a flash likable , favorable character , you ca n’t help distrust him . Except that at the end , he gets a look at the interior of the Doctor ’s TARDIS , and an offer to move with the Doctor — which he turns down , because he ’s already seen how the Doctor ’s lifestyle might change someone for the defective . Is Perkins just playing coy ? Does he not want to be too stuffy for the Doctor too long , because he ’ll get rumble ? Or is he genuinely a decent man who turns down the trip of a lifespan because he fears for his person ?
The other obvious nominee for “ Gus ” ‘ identity operator , of course , is one of the the great unwashed who dies early on on — in true Agatha Christie way , it ’s possible Professor Moorhouse , or Captain Quell , or Maisie ’s grandmother talk through one’s hat their last . Or maybe it ’s Maisie herself — or perchance , not anybody we met in this instalment . In any case , this seems like too big a mystery to be left swing everlastingly .
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