Doctor Who: The Power Of Three

The fourth episode of Series 7, 'The Power Of Three' was ALMOST fantastic, but like 'A Town Called Mercy', it kinda dropped the ball in a few key aspects. Writer Chris Chibnall returns for the Pond's penultimate episode, and although the episode is dominated in the second half by the black cubes storyline it's clear from the get go that this is a story that is very much centred around Amy & Rory. Up until now Series 7 has felt very Doctor centric, and yes I know that he's the main character and all but with the Pond's leaving so soon you'd think they'd have a lot more to do than just tag along right? Heck they were barely featured in 'A Town Called Mercy'! It should feel like their story is coming to an end, and 'The Power Of Three' is the first episode where I really felt that. 

BEST. CHARACTER. EVER

The episode is based around the simple-yet-genius idea of the black cubes: one day billions of tiny black cubes appear out of nowhere all over the globe and.....appear to do absolutely nothing. It sounds like the most boring idea ever right? I mean invasion of the black cubes that just sit there? WORST. IDEA. EVER. But this situation is probably one of the most original Doctor Who invasion stories I've seen. The Doctor has to essentially live with the ponds for an indefinite amount of time waiting for the cubes to do something. He's bored, and it perfectly demonstrates the differences between his life and the Pond's life to humorous effect. Minutes after the cube invasion UNIT arrives, and we're introduced to it's new commander Kate Stewart (played by Jemma Redgrave), who later is revealed to be the daughter of legendary Doctor Who character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. While Jemma doesn't have a massive amount of screen-time in the episode, and UNIT as a whole is just a means to get the Doctor into a research lab (under the Tower of London!) I can't think of  a better way to continue UNIT in the show's mythology. Let's hope that this is a character that's destined for multiple appearances rather than just a one-off, because if Jemma Redgrave's character is going to become the new Brigadier than I heartily salute everyone involved on the production of the show. Earnest, intelligent, rather posh and a with slight hint of humour, Kate Stewart is an amazing tribute to Nicholas Courtney's character. 

Fish fingers and custard!

Continuing the trend of amazing side-characters in Doctor Who is Brian Williams, played masterfully once again by Mark...erm...Williams. Rory's Dad is simply a delight to watch, whether it's contemplating over the intent of the cubes or patiently studying them with his camcorder day in, day out the character is instantly lovable. It's a shame that Brian was introduced so late what with Amy & Rory leaving so soon, I would love for him to become a part-time companion ala River Song. But sadly, the departure of his son will most likely mean the departure of Brian *SIGH* R.I.P Brian, the most vigilant character on DW. 

Oh god, NOT THE BIRDIE SONG! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!!

As the episode went on, the mystery of the cubes became increasingly compelling, and the many news reports coupled with celebrity comeo's really helped built a sense of scale that if I'm honest Doctor Who hasn't seen in quite a while (not since the RTD days). The comparisons to the ipad/iphone was a neat little inclusion too, along with the Doctor's disdain for Twitter and the cubes going haywire in several different (rather inventive) ways. Despite the air of mystery throughout and increasingly high stakes, it's the subtle humour that really takes the first half of this episode over the edge from being 'Good' to 'Great'. Want to know another moment that I really liked? The scene between Amy and The Doctor on the wall, what a magnificent little scene that was, it's moments like this one that we should have gotten more of in the previous episodes just to further run home the fact that yes, Amy really is leaving. The episode continues to built the stakes immediately after that, with a good ol' fashioned ticking clock appearing on all of the cubes. I was gripped to my seat the whole time, anticipating that big reveal that the whole episode felt like it was building up to (I mean, this has been going on for more than a year right? The pay-off/climax to this must be massive!)....and then the cube opened, revealing nothing. Ooooh. I was really stumped. It was then revealed that the cubes are EMP devices designed to stop peoples hearts and approximately 1/3 of the population of earth had just suffered from fatal heart attacks, so clearly the death toll (and stakes) were now at astronomical levels. 

'Oh God, is that really the ending?'

Then the episode devolved into a rushed conclusion that basically amounted to The Doctor teleporting onto the bad guys ship, waving his magic wand at a screen which SOMEHOW caused everyone dead from heart attacks to suddenly come back to life (wait...WHAT?!) and self destruct the enemies ship. Problem solved, everybody lives, happy ending. I'm sorry, but that ending had more holes in it than swiss cheese riddled with bullet's, and that's without mentioning the fact that it felt incredibly rushed and generic in almost every sense of the word. WTF HAPPENED CHIBNALL, ANSWER ME!!!!!!!! I mean, look at this list I complied detailing all the errors of your bullsh*t ending: 

-First of all, what was the purpose of those guys with the cubes in their mouth? They were never explained or dealt with in the episode!

-Why were the cubed doctors abducting all those people?

-Did the Doctor just let all the abductees die in the end? They were still on the ship when it blew up....

-The glowing girl robot was pointless.

-The Shakri are the most generic villains in Doctor Who that I have ever seen, they just want to exterminate the human race because of 'the tally' or something? 

-What was with the whole '2nd dimension to the left' bullsh*t?

-Why did everyone suddenly come back to life all fine and dandy, that is quite literally the most rubbish cop-out that I've ever seen! 

-Why was the teleport in Rory's hospital, of all the places in the world that it could have been in, what's so special about that hospital? NO EXPLANATION GIVEN. 

-What happened to all the cubes? 

-The Shakri don't make any attempt to stop the Doctor at all, it's like they're the most useless villain ever.

So yes, that's a lot of plot holes. 

Overall though, I would still say this was a good episode. Sure the ending didn't make a lick of sense and was lazy writing on Chibnall's part but the thirty-five minutes before that was a great thriller and had me entertained the whole time so....how the hell do I rate this? Ultimately, it was a great episode with an awful ending that doesn't QUITE negate the previous half an hour so...8/10? Maybe that's a bit too high, but it's the same reason behind why I loved Mass Effect 3 so much: sure the ending could have been better, but it's  the journey there that matters (the main bulk of the game) and not the destination (the last 10 mins). 

Even by our standards, that's a pretty crappy villain!