“The Devil’s Chord”
Doctor Who: Series 14 – Episode 2
Written by: Russell T Davies
Directed by: Ben Chessell
Synopsis: The Doctor and Ruby meet The Beatles but discover that the all-powerful Maestro is changing history. London becomes a battleground with the future of humanity at stake.
Continuing Doctor Who’s journey further into fantasy over science-fiction, “The Devil’s Chord” features another omnipotent being from the same pantheon as the Celestial Toymaker, in fact Maestro is revealed to be a child of the Toymaker. Another being from outside of the universe, unburdened by the rules that govern reality, Maestro is the embodiment of music and is able to control and weaponize harmonies. Played perfectly over-the-top with pantomime gusto, Jinkx Monsoon does a tremendous job at bringing the character to life – infusing the episode with a true sense of menace from the outset. Not only was Maestro designed amazingly with eye-catching costumes, but the recurrence visual of them crawling out of the piano was suitably scary for Doctor Who – akin to the Weeping Angels and the Daleks. The ‘hide-and-seek’ sequence with the Doctor using white noise to hide from Maestro was an incredibly tense few minutes, stripping ambient sounds from the show to heighten the tension.
When Jinkx Monsoon was initially cast, I did have slight hesitation that it was another opportunity to put LGBTQIA issues front-and-centre of the actual plot, but after watching their performance, I think they were the perfect person to bring the character to life. There’s no denying that Monsoon put everything into that performance, and I cannot imagine anyone else picking up the mantle as effectively if the character makes a return in the future. This episode also gave Ncuti Gatwa and Mille Gibson a lot more to work with, since there was a credible threat and non-CGI villain to play against. The sequence on the rooftop where Gibson played a soulful tune on the piano and Gatwa’s reminiscence about his grand-daughter Susan (surely, a hint of a reappearance later in the season) were particularly effective moments, as was the first face-to-face confrontation with Maestro in the post-apocalyptic future.
There definitely seems to be a concerted effort to move Doctor Who towards a more fantasy and supernatural genre since Russell T Davies returned as showrunner, with the Toymaker, Goblins and now, Maestro. Pitting the Doctor up against god-like beings, he now actually seems out of his league and less confident, which is a far cry from the cockiness we’d seen from previous incarnations, particularly the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor eras where they would literally defeat monsters by telling them to “look me up”. His reputation means nothing against these beings, and while it adds a whole lot more tension than the Doctor being steps ahead of his enemies, it also makes me wonder how much longer he can get away with defeating these overpowered threats. Presumably, Russell T Davies has some sort of endgame in mind to this particular era of the show, possibly somehow sealing up the rift that has let this beings through. On that note, it is interesting that there has also been an increase in the fourth-wall being broken – perhaps symbolic of these extra-dimensional threats – with Mrs Flood, Maestro and even the Doctor, directly addressing the audience. Given the frequency of these events, I would have to assume that there is an in-story reason behind it, and it’s not just a post-modern quirk. Perhaps the Doctor is more connected to these beings than he realizes?
Another recurring theme throughout every episode of the Fifteenth Doctor’s era so far has been the idea that time is malleable and paradoxes are possible. In “The Church on Ruby Road”, we literally get a It’s a Wonderful Life-esque view of what the world would be like without Ruby in it; in “Space Babies”, we see the butterfly effect in action as Ruby steps on a prehistoric butterfly, and now in “The Devil’s Chord”, we see Maestro interfere and remove music from the sixties. Coupled with the ongoing gag about ‘Gravity/Mavity’ and it seems that there is a more prominent focus on how malleable the time-stream actually is compared to older episodes of the show. It seems that Ruby has some sort of hidden secret locked away within her, and her abandonment on Christmas Day is central to the mystery of this series – even to the point where Maestro recognizes that she her life has somehow been affected by one of the Pantheon (“The oldest one? On the night of her birth? He can’t have been there”). I’m really enjoying the slow-burn on these mysteries and how they seem to be entangled – Russell T Davies is certainly great at building up a season-long arc, although the quality of the final reveal can sometimes be underwhelming – I’m hoping for a satisfying pay-off to all of these mysteries in the finale.
While Maestro was a significant, and successful, element of this episode, I also enjoyed the initial concept behind visiting Abbey Road studios to see The Beatles record their first album. Both the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby looked amazing in their time-appropriate wardrobe, striking an iconic look for the characters – again, judging from promotional images for future episodes, there will be a focus on style and outfits going forward. While I understand why the show was unable to use any of The Beatles’ actual music, it would have been extremely rewarding if John Lennon and Paul McCartney had used one of their early songs to defeat Maestro instead of finishing off the work that the Doctor had begun. I suspect that if the rights to use The Beatles’ music were less financially crippling, we’d have seen them playing “Love Me Do” to defeat them.
The end dance sequence has proven quite divisive online, and I do agree that it felt out-of-place and that the music itself was sub-par. Again, it might have landed better if it was an actual song from that period, but the quasi-breaking of the fourth wall (“There’s always a twist at the end”) and dance number landed flat for me. Not quite worthy of the vitriolic outcry online, but it was a somewhat unnecessary and uninspiring denouement to what had been an extremely strong episode up until that point.
“The Devil’s Chord” is easily the stronger of the two episodes that were used to launch Season 14 and the Fifteenth Doctor’s era. Anchored by a tremendous performance from Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro, there was an energy and momentum to the episode that was extremely infectious and I loved the aesthetics of the 60s London setting, the Maestro’s costume and the way they used sheet music as tendrils to attack and restraint their foes. Russell T Davies is doubling down on this foray into fantasy, hinting at future demi-gods and entities down the line, and I can understand why it is divisive to fans. The series has dipped its toe into fantasy once or twice – mainly early on during the First and Second Doctor’s eras, so such concepts are woven into the fabric of the series, but it has never been so overt before. I’m confident that this shift in tone and genre is temporary and actually part of the current story-arc, and we will see a more traditional approach to the storytelling beyond this season. In the wake of the Flux and the Timeless Child retcon, this more fantastical story-arc has the potential to explain away some of the more recent inconsistencies within the Doctor Who canon, strengthening the show for the future. One thing is certain, Russell T Davies has reinvigorated the mystery of Doctor Who again, and unlike Chris Chibnall, it appears as if he actually has a master-plan behind it all.
Score – ★★★★ ½
Next Episode: “Boom”
Caught in the middle of a devastating war on Kastarion 3, the Doctor is trapped when he steps on a landmine. Can he save himself and Ruby, plus the entire planet… without moving?
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