‘Doctor Who’ Recap: ‘Arachnids in the UK’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

There are many, many reasons as to why I am such a huge fan of Doctor Who and one of those reasons, is the sheer fact that this series never has to resort to ‘one-upsmanship’ when it comes to its storytelling. Because this saga always has something special to fall back upon thematically in order to tell a compelling story and that matters for today’s recap because let’s be honest, last week’s episode was simply top notch, and there is no topping ‘Rosa’, and had the series tried, I firmly believe we all would have been disappointed by last night’s tale, instead of feeling the outright joy that ‘Arachnids in the UK’ sent our way.
 
Because this particular tale, was just downright fun through and through and it more or less featured a highlight reel of what we love about the show, since the Doctor’s compassion was on full display here, as was an epic and chilling mystery alongside a few surprises along the way. But before we get to discussing those all-important surprises, let’s take a moment and discuss the wonder of the fact that this episode went all-out for Halloween by giving us something that plenty of people fear, giant spiders with an appetite for human flesh that just so happened to be running amuck in Sheffield and this little twist ended up serving as the foundation for plenty of creepy moments, and the fine display of the Doctor’s compassion as well.
 
After all, it’s a well-known fact that the Doctor believes that all life matters, and well, that mantra of hers was taken to a whole new level this go round, thanks to the fact that the spiders in question were not at all what we expected them to be. For normally in science fiction, big bugs equal unrelenting evil as they take full advantage of their size to enjoy every meal imaginable while soaking up the wonder of being at the top of the food chain for a change. But in this tale, the spiders didn’t gain sentience or have malice in their hearts. They were scared, they were confused at their bodies suddenly changing without warning and well, rather than squash them or fight them, the Doctor did everything within her power to help them and her push for knowledge eventually brought us to the true villain of the story, mankind itself. 

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Or, to be more specific, a wealthy and powerful businessman named Jack Robertson who quite frankly, is about as vile as villains come. Because all he cared about in this tale was power and control and his image and he spent the entire episode scheming to keep said image flawless and well, it was just fascinating to see such a realistic villain on Doctor Who since we’ve seen men like him in the public eye or we’ve known people like him in some form or fashion and well, his cruelty knew no bounds in this tale since he was willing to kill the mother spider, who was already facing her end due to a lack of oxygen in order to satisfy his own morbid sense of revenge and he better hope he never crosses the Doctor again because the look in her eyes after he put momma spider down…featured the kind of fury you don’t ever want to see from a Time Lord.
 
However, I did make mention of surprises in this tale, and those came about by way of Ryan, Yaz and Graham. Because now that they were home, they had a grand opportunity to return to their regular lives, but their short adventure through time and space clearly changed their perspectives on just about everything. Suddenly, they came to realize that they either have nothing to hold on to on planet earth at the moment, or that they don’t quite fit into the world to begin with, and that prompted them to go to the Doctor and ask if they can come along for more adventures and that was simply refreshing to see. Because often times, the promise of adventure and a little charm from prior iterations of the Doctor prompted companions to hop aboard the TARDIS. But the Doctor didn’t even try to talk them into it, she wanted them to do this on their own, due to the risk involved and even then, they simply could not say no.
 
In the end however, this episode was simply a blast. The creepy moments were creepy, the jokes were simply phenomenal, in fact the scene where Graham waits for the spider in the hallway was downright hilarious and most importantly, the Doctor was able to save the day once again and put quite the jerk in his place and well, this season simply continues to impress. The writing is top notch and the stories are compelling and Jodie Whittaker delivers as the Doctor week in and week out and now that the team is officially assembled, I cannot wait to see what amazing adventures await us in the stars and the best part of all? #TeamTARDIS is now going to be a thing…until next time. 

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