Turn Left – A Review

There’s nothing original about the what if story-line.  It’s been done to death in comics and books and genre TV.  Star Trek Next Gen seemed to always do at least one a season (or was that time travel stories).  They’re fun because you can kill anyone you want and put characters through the emotional mill with the knowledge that things will reset back to normal once 45 minutes have elapsed.  That’s also the reason why most of them are shit.

The what if at the centre of this episode – what if Donna never met the Doctor, which resulted in his death – isn’t a particularly interesting one.  Mostly because the answer is so obvious.  New Who has done a very good job as building the Doctor up as Earth’s only defence against the aliens.  And so it’s no surprise that the world goes to shit within 10 minutes of the episode.  There’s really nothing new or clever or innovative about this episode.

In other words it should have been a total bore – another Doctor’s Daughter.

And yet Turn Left is fantastic.

This mostly has to do with Catherine Tate.  If you’re not keen on Catherine Tate, then this might not be the episode for you.  Not just because she takes centre stage, but also because she’s plays the Donna from Runaway Bride – sorry, I mean, the loud shouty Donna from Runaway Bride – for good portions of the episode.  So there’s quite a few moments when she gurns (I love that word) and puts weird stresses on words, especially names, and basically hams it up on screen.  Personally, I think those early scenes – in the pub over X-Mas and in the office, when she’s losing her job – are funny.  But also, I think they show us how far Donna has come as a character.  And when we get into the meat of the episode, Donna, and Catherine Tate, really shine.

Bernard Cribbins also steals the show, with some wonderful turns, especially the sea shanty and labour camp scenes.  But the person who stands out the most is Donna’s mother.  Her progression into total despair is an absolute highlight of this episode.  Her staring into the camera, looking dazed and lost is a dark, disturbing moment, pulled off with great subtlety by both the actress and Catherine Tate.

The episode also has RTD at his most cynical.  He seems to be arguing that when the shit hits the fan, British society turns to fascism to solve their problems.  In other words, the Doctor’s presence not only keeps the aliens away, but also stops the UK Government from setting up labour camps and possibly gassing immigrants.  You could probably argue that RTD is probably being a bit politically naive here – and a tad melodramatic.  But I also think RTD is commenting on society and government’s knee jerk reaction to disaster.  And the scene where the Italian family is taking away is all the more chilling because we want to believe that something like that would never happen and yet… a small part of us… think maybe it would.

And yes, Turn Left is a bit fanwanky.  But not because it replays bits from previous episodes, but because it has time travelling mirror technology like in Evil of the Daleks.  A lovely little reference that only the nerds could appreciate.  If you want true fanwankery, wait till next week.

There are problems with Turn Left.  Like Midnight, it’s a cost saver.  And so it re-uses bits of CGI from the Runaway Bride and the Poison Sky and Voyage of the Damned.  The cost saving is also probably the reason why the beetle wasn’t CGI.  Personally I love the ambition of wanting to use a model monster, rather than just conjure something up on the computer.  However, like the Myrka of old, I think the beetle needed to be something we glimpse, not something we see full on.  When Donna in standing at the centre of the mirrors, the beetle looks like a trendy back-pack, which sort of undermines the terror she’s expressing.

Billie’s performance is the other problem with the episode.  The thing is, Rose is actually great in Turn Left.  Again, we see how much she’s changed from the girl who ate chips on a bus and worked at Hendricks.  She’s basically the Doctor, showing off her knowledge in fits and spurts and even fiddling with complicated control consoles.  It’s a shame that Billie struggles to actually move her lower lip for most of the episode.  I mean it’s like she’s been injected with novocaine moments before the scene.  She admits in DWM that she struggled to get the accent back.  But if that’s the case, why didn’t Graeme Harper or Susie Liggat have her re-dub those lines back in the studio?  The good thing is that when she gets all expositional toward the end, she really does hit her stride, the novocaine obviously wearing off.

But model beetles and novocaine issues aside, this really is a bloody good episode of Doctor Who.  Yes, RTD does the usual what if thing and kills off major characters (and how brilliant is it that it takes one spin-off team to deal with a Doctor-level event) and puts one of the characters through the emotional wringer.  But this episode is one that has consequences.  It’s not just a morality tale where the character learns something about themselves.  I mean, it has that element, but this is also an episode that foreshadows BIG THINGS happening.  And when Donna says Bad Wolf at the end (though why did Rose need to be so cryptic…) who didn’t just break out into a massive grin.

The trailer for next week looks… indulgent.  But it also looks like it’s going to be 45 minutes of fun as well.  Suddenly, I’m all excited about Season 4 – shame it’s just about to end.

So, I give Turn Left 8.5 / 10