One of the great tragedies of modern Doctor Who is that it has the ambition of the original series, but not the runtime. So often good ideas that seem like they would have asked for a movie length to let everything breathe in during the original run are condensed into a mere forty-five or so minutes. “The Devil’s Chord” suffers from this, which is a shame considering it graciously really offers us something the series hasn’t done before. It is a surreal experience that sharply blends comic camp with abstract and conceptual imagery. The episode looks great, with the dark backdrop defining the unsettling, but not significantly wrong, situation that the leads are dealt with. Later there’s a moment of a pitch black background, as if representing the empty heart of someone… The new villain of Maestro represents what Who baddies should be, scary and making you wonder if the Doctor can save the day. Ncuti Gatwa makes the lead genuinely terrified for the human species. His face speaks of someone that thinks his core goals of keeping Ruby and the planet safe will not be possible to fulfill.
The opening scene represents the best of the story. A conversation about Beethoven making beauty in his time of tragedy mirrors the themes of several characters in the story, notably the Doctor. Playing off of the mythology that comes to surround things as simple as chords, Maestro, as played by Jinkx Monsoon, apparently arrives from just that mythological rule being broken, as if the creation of such superstitions has some basis of truth in the show’s universe. One theory as to why is that someone being held captive by a God, like Maestro or the Toymaker, was able to become free, or at least evade death, and document the danger of such things.
Maestro immediately makes a strong impression, wasting no time to tell us about the character, an unfathomable and fashionable deity that feels pulled from the antithesis of the visual aesthetic of 1925, when they arrived. While what we see of the 20s is dark and lacking in color, Maestro is bright. While one man seems stifled by both his own lack of success and lack of understanding of Maestro’s non-binary identity, the villain is mostly free to be who they like and do as they like. Their declaration of pride in their performance is sometimes covered up by special effects and face coverings for other baddies. Some favorite moments of them include when they say to him he never had the “luck” to make it in music, putting a thick emphasis on the word to ensure they’re remembered. Their obsession with music is hinted at numerous times, setting the stage for what the episode will be about. Their fourth wall break in turn hints at how powerful they really are.
Maestro represents a celebration of being strange. While they are a villain, they receive a relatively sympathetic treatment. There’s a beautiful paradox to the message that you should be yourself, even if you’re perceived as weird or queer, but this is embodied through a villain. To avoid this coming off as a claim that queer people are villainous inherently or even disproportionately, crucially the Doctor’s portrayed similarly as strange. Both even seem to appeal to each other on an intellectual level, as if they go hand in hand in some way. Take both having a similar reaction over a strange moment near the end and Maestro clearly respecting the Doctor enough to talk to him in the 2024 scene. Both aim to be themselves as much as possible, which has resonated with queer people, who have historically taken inspiration from the brassy women and other fashion queens that these two roles come from the same cloth of. Both even are reminiscent of villains of the past, that were taken in by the LGBTQ+ community due to them suggesting an alternative form to exist from what society expects. The Doctor never shows an issue with Maestro being queer, essentially saying their presentation is not a problem.
The question must be asked why Maestro wouldn’t do something like instantly destroy the world as soon as they want. If they want to kill the Doctor, can’t they just snap their fingers and make it so? The suggestion is that they want to go through the adventure of it, maybe try to enjoy the feeling of the Doctor screaming or suffering or broken? If this is the reason, it is a disappointing one. For starters, that seemed to be the same reason for the Toymaker’s grudge a few episodes ago. Secondly, it paints the Doctor as mythical and “perfect”, due to being so great that a God finds him a worthy opponent, though this last issue isn’t so bad due to that not being the only explanation. Though this does play into the “perfect Doctor”, you could interpret this differently, especially because the Doctor obviously doesn’t feel any sort of confidence going up against Maestro. Another interpretation is that Maestro’s mental instability means they don’t really know they have that much power, but for the sake of a satisfying story their defeat should involve this element, like if the Doctor uses their foolishness against them.
Maestro beginning to play the Doctor Who theme, which starts off the actual opening, communicates their Godliness in a way that’s both funny and greater than originally fathomed. It even seems that by the end of the opening the music is playing off of the Doctor’s jukebox, like Maestro has such control as to intercept the TARDIS and creep in even the safest of spaces. Seeing as the theme isn’t acknowledged, perhaps the music isn’t literally playing? Maestro’s powers are still hinted at, especially if the takeaway is that they’re breaking the fourth wall to such an extreme degree that they’re hijacking even the fictional narrative of the episode. Later, music plays over the leads’ transition from their more normal outfits to the 60s ones. There is also no direct sign of a time jump, as if the two changed their outfits and hair in a matter of seconds. This stylized approach to the show is new. Possibly to accommodate fans that want this sort of thing to have an explanation, the presence of Maestro has already seemed to change reality to have this more eccentric approach. Thus, the use of music, a normal trait of cinematic language, has now been another thing that Maestro is manipulating. It’s as if anytime music is heard, it’s put there by them to create this story, for their own benefit.
Every episode so far the Doctor has worn something different and each time it’s something that emphasizes his attractiveness. His main costume for this story isn’t as sexualized as what he wore in the first few minutes. All of his outfits seem perfectly tailored to look as good as possible. That’s not to say past Doctors’ outfits looked bad for the most part, but they didn’t look so unworn and designed to show off muscles and skin. The outfit he wears here was depicted in advertising for months before the episode dropped. It is intriguing and frankly gorgeous. It also suggests the Doctor embracing his newfound “blackness” with his hair, which isn’t properly brought up. It does give the impression that the Doctor sees this as a costume of sorts. Now that he’s black he’ll go full into seeing what it’s like.
The Doctor celebrating his blackness is almost the opposite of early Doctor Who. The first few Doctors were older white straight men, which would be seen as the most intelligent and worldly type of person at the time, but as culture’s views of such things changed, it has opened to the Doctor being younger white men, then eventually a woman, and a black man, like they all can be smart. Gatwa here wears such a development on his sleeve with the turn towards pristine black fashion. It is interesting that those older and earlier Doctors are dead, leaving the show to be represented by the younger leads on TV or audio dramas. We’re living beyond that older style. Of the first three Doctors, the only deceased ones, the youngest of whom at the time of becoming the Doctor was Patrick Troughton. He was forty-six. The only “true” example of a Doctor older than Troughton since these first three was Peter Capaldi, who was actually by a small margin the oldest. Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy did hit forty-six by the end of their terms, but were for the most part younger. I would not count John Hurt and David Tennant’s second tenure, as neither was ever intended to be a Doctor with more than fifteen minutes of fame.
Not so constrained by the limitations of a story like “Space Babies”, Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson turn in sharper performances. Ruby rambles about her history with the Beatles, which may become a character defining trait which we haven’t before seen. A confused Ruby later tries to reassure the Doctor by patting his back, this is then cut away from quickly, adding to the comedy by lightly implying this wasn’t planned. The Doctor has this great look of disappointment with his line, “Oh, Cilla.” The series has had a habit of stopping to be funny, but this shows a successful attempt, with the two blending together more naturally, due to the setup of how Maestro behaves and has impacted the story and the bit committing to being comedic.
The reveal related to the Beatles early on is such a funny moment, especially when seeing the Doctor and Ruby’s faces of bafflement. It works like a sitcom, with an establishment of what we are to anticipate, and how reality differs. This reveal is slightly spoiled by a few factors. We already knew to a degree what was going to happen based on teases to the episode by the Beeb; within the episode we’re at the point you’d expect a subversion, though this is lessened by the previous relaxed nature of the leads, not expecting this; the music the band plays doesn’t sound much like something that would come from the 60s, featuring the quirky indie lyrics of a modern internet song. It’s as if Maestro could have chosen any way to make the songs people play bad, but decided to choose something that would resonate to our modern climate, which is either lazy or genius the more you think about it. The Beatles in the episode also look nothing like the actual Beatles. This seemed like it might be something that would be explained in the episode. Similarly to how the Master has used a perception filter to alter how he’s seen, the sort of thing I was expecting was for these to not be the real Beatles, but fakes by Maestro.
We get more information on the Doctor’s past, which is delivered a bit better than last episode. The Doctor calls attention to this because he happens to be close to where he used to live, the explaining doesn’t briefly run through a lot of information, and it’s in a more visually interesting area. The dark background arguably is supposed to showcase the sadness inside the Doctor, even. Especially to the Doctor, and to a lesser extent the audience, his past with Susan must feel very long ago. It’s bizarre to consider that after close to sixty years since the show started, the lead hasn’t revisited this area or his family on the tv show. This makes sense considering the show has moved beyond the depiction of the Doctor as an older, fatherly figure, distancing itself to be more about an action Doctor that is a youthful romancer over someone older and curmudgeonly.
Thematically, it makes a lot more sense for a show like this to start with something like a younger Tennant or Smith Doctor, then eventually reach an older and wiser figure, so it’s tried to make that true. What is thus implied, and basically stated by some installments, like 2017’s “Twice Upon A Time”, is that the First Doctor is really not that smart or clever relative to his future, and was merely too self-centered to see that. While that is not bad characterization, it is often not suggested by how he acts in the original era, especially seasons two and three. Even the second and third incarnations crank up the brilliance, them finding ingenious solutions to the threats they face being prominent character traits. Like these older Doctors, Susan is only a piece of a puzzle that has long since been recut and repainted to something different and not compatible with what was before. Like as Rudy acts, it’s hard to imagine him as a grandparent.
In universe, even if there’s some explanation as to why the Doctor can’t go talk to Susan, you’d think he might do something like watch her from a distance. Ideally he would have gone to see her far sooner, or at least reflected on her supposed death sooner. You’d think this would be hitting him when he was the Ninth Doctor. Better late than never, Fifteen seems setup as the perfect incarnation to address this. Based on how he’s been portrayed, maybe he’ll start crying over the loss of Susan? Him being especially emotional might be an excuse for why he hasn’t reflected on her. The past Doctors have been shown as particularly jaded, probably as an explanation for their lack of focus on this sort of drama. The Doctor slightly awkwardly laughs as Ruby hugs him, like he’s unsure what to make of the discussion of his granddaughter’s death. Maybe the reason he’s not so sad here is that he’s for a long time been pushing his feelings about her down, not wanting to accept her fate or that he’s been a bad grandparent? The point of this current season seems to be to blend the whole history of the show together, constantly referencing the past as if it is as relevant as the now. This is bound to play as a bit weird, like sixty year old episodes are equally as important. If Susan returns, played by her original actress, it would be jarring to recall a teenage girl, now played by the same person in their eighties. Still, as a fan, I’m here for it.
The Doctor running and hiding shows the fun loving incarnation at his best so far, really out of his depth and limited in options. It’s not like he can just use some magic tool and have no issues. Gatwa’s delivery of dialogue sometimes has a slightly muted quality, not having the tonal gut punch you’d hear from someone like Peter Capaldi. His main skill is certainly with his face, with bold and beaming eyes. It does put you in awe upon considering that the franchise has almost never gone so far as to have this all powerful God figure introduced, possibly because there’s a general expectation to be even bigger next time. Thus, maybe such an experience would give the Doctor this sense of stilted unsurety? This leads to a natural difference in personality between him and his companion, with Ruby trying to reassure him. Not to fall into the trap of making her perfect, her reassurance is not portrayed as logical, but due to her own fears.
The scene without sound, while emphasizing the sense of conflict with Maestro, doesn’t mean much. It’s just a second of nothing. Though I love stories of the past with a lot of nothing and running around, like 1964’s The Keys of Marinus or 1965’s The Chase, those have the benefit of really letting you look around and take in the scope of a grand adventure a two-and-a-half hour story can take you. Here, this scene is part of the adventure, but this doesn’t come with much tension, other than being a red herring that the episode would explore this, only for it to not. This scene, as well as another with the three players, are suspenseful in a vacuum. Later, the energies of the three main cast members are balanced with Jinkx Monsoon firing exposition in response to the fear of the others. The Doctor even invokes the Toymaker’s rule of fair play, as if trying to come up with anything to make things easier for him. The Doctor’s fury makes for some of the best moments here, like he almost can’t accept what’s going on. Arguably all of this might matter later, such as the Doctor’s fear, but in this episode we could be getting anything. Maestro could have any number of reasons to be evil. Maestro is just explaining themselves for the audience and could have done so at any number of points, so why here? If this moment had happened in the beginning, such as when the leads left the TARDIS a few minutes in, we’d have gotten something basically the exact same.
There are various small mistakes left in the episode, showing some signs of this being rushed or at least not as polished as Russell T. Davies would like it to be believed. You get things like the 180 degree rule being broken, which even happens in mainstream cinema. There’s also a scene of Maestro playing the violin where you can tell they aren’t even doing anything, as if Monsoon doesn’t know how to play it. The previous episode’s ending of the Doctor meeting Ruby’s family; it being said Ruby is from 2024 and not 2023; and Ruby saying the Doctor doesn’t hide when at this point she hasn’t known him long and has in fact seen him run and hide all suggest that there have been many more adventures in between “Space Babies” and this episode, possibly suggesting the order of episodes was originally different. This episode works better as close to the beginning of the season. It’s fairly upbeat and showcases the ambition of the series, unlike last episode that is only a few fancy effects away from being dreadfully standard. It being established that this episode is several months after the previous also means we’ve lost months of juicy character development, seeing how these two gel.
Some of the smaller roles, like the character Timothy Drake, are not so well handled. He doesn’t seem electrified by meeting a strange monster, even when they do what would look like from Drake’s perspective as killing a child. Some other bit roles, like the maid the Doctor and Ruby talk to, seem to function for the purpose of the leads without much personal identity. Her actions don’t make sense unless the world just revolves around the Doctor. Considering what I’ve said about Maestro, maybe it does now? “Henry Arbinger” by contrast seems like he is supposed to have an identity that will be realized later. While setting up for the future is not wrong, we’ve already had a lot in the previous episodes. More damningly, most of what we learn about him is through dialogue that just explains him. If he is to play a larger role down the line, why not have him show up then? Him being Maestro’s son also leaves many questions. If he could arrive in our world, why not Maestro? Assuming that someone did whatever little thing was needed to send him here, as happened with his parent, why wouldn’t he be doing something about it, like trying to free Maestro? Maybe he’s there to learn the devil’s chord, but then that leads us to why he would know that is how to free Maestro, but couldn’t quickly learn the chord and find a piano? Who is paying for his teacher? You could also say that if Maestro has such powers, couldn’t they just immediately destroy the world instead of enacting a much slower and easier to stop plan? It could be argued that they want to do something that interferes with the Doctor.
The montage of Ruby playing piano is edited strangely, with many quick cuts, but those in the cuts are always moving slowly. As has been seen before this era, there’s a mindless blend of closeups, establishing shots, and anything else you can think of. All of this seems designed to not allow the sequence to get boring, but it mostly feels like a waste due to the fact basically any of these scenes could go in any order, and many could be removed, so why not get something that tells us more? One of the highlights of this montage is the Doctor standing and looking out at the buildings. He appears to be contemplating something but not very apparently, as if it’s a wandering thought. What seems to be in his mind is his past. Unfortunately upon rewatching this scene, he’s not looking to where he said he and his granddaughter are. What he is looking at doesn’t appear to be anything significant. If not his previous life, what would he be thinking about here?
Maestro at one point showing something on a wrinkled cloth, possibly being projected, is reminiscent of classic era episodes that used similar methods, even if it was by a supposedly advanced society. This episode being mostly set in the 60s could be a fun nod to that. Imagine Maestro actually going to a store and buying this?
SPOILERS
The best use of “Ncuti’s expressive face” comes when the camera zooms on his as we hear Ruby go outside to see the destruction of Earth. It’s as if he is trying to keep composure, but even the episode has to spoil his fun by letting us see his pain. Ruby’s emotionality and attempts to justify Maestro destroying the future, added to with the Doctor comforting her, are more wonderful opportunities to add a human element to the leads, who don’t feel as confident as before. The quality of this scene is slightly lessened when considering that parts of it are based on a famous moment from 1975’s Pyramids of Mars. This time is certainly no direct copy, with Gatwa having a level of vulnerability and warmth to Ruby that Tom Baker didn’t have. The original scene is more about showing what is at risk, while the modern one both accomplishes that and uses it as a character moment for Fifteen and Ruby. While the Doctor saying he’s the reason Ruby doesn’t disappear doesn’t make a lot of sense, the line does serve to reinforce their bond.
Maestro’s purpose in doing all this is delved into, loving the sound of white noise essentially and “feeding” off of unsung songs. This idea is fairly interesting on the face of it, but not essential to understanding them or the plot. In keeping with the “bored/ridiculous God” concept Maestro appears to be, it does seem that their plan is to do something that visually looks absurd, like seeing everyone seriously sing and play their instruments poorly. Their wrinkled screen and theatrical behavior all play into this created absurdism, like they are trying to make everything around them wacky because that is especially unsettling and confusing. It might seem convenient that the only place the Doctor could go after 2024 was back to the 60s, but it makes sense if Maestro has made it that way, like they want to continue the fight in their location of choice.
The image of Ruby being dragged down the hallway blends horror and comedy to good effect. The episode wants to be subversive and feels about on the cutting edge when using this “trippy” approach, even if it’s been seen in various movies. This particular one is not unlike Sam Raimi. Not everything is as trippy or tonally consistent. The music battle doesn’t really serve any point, with it being edited with the same problems as described with the montage of Ruby playing. If this had been setup in some way, like if the Doctor had been shown struggling to play the piano earlier, this might have more emotional weight. Maestro yelling as the Doctor begins to play the lost chord feels like dramatic filler, like Monsoon needed to find something to do. Maestro is in turn lessened by this. Was all they wanted to just do something like this, instead of something with greater stakes? Based on what we’ve seen of them, you’d almost expect them to pick up Ruby and drop her on the ground, maybe trapping the Doctor first so he can’t save her? Maybe after lifting her up they could say that if the Doctor plays the chord, then Ruby will fall upon their disappearance? They want to torture the Doctor, so let’s see it. Let’s take the element of horror in the story somewhere, not that this was the only way to fulfill it.
The Doctor just knowing the right chord, while emphasizing the theme of luck, does feel a bit too convenient. Considering how devastating Maestro is, it would be difficult for the story to figure out how to resolve itself in a satisfying manner, but this is got to be one of the worst ways, not even trying to have an explanation. Taking in the point of the Doctor being perfect, he shows almost no problem besting this literal God. This scene, as well as the one of the Doctor being trapped by a window only to break it, could be interpreted as speaking to the surrealist concept of the episode, but it hasn’t committed to surrealism or given these scenes any significance. They only seem here to give the Doctor a problem only to quickly fit in a solution. After the Doctor and Ruby are disposed of, Maestro just dances around doing nothing, like the episode had nothing for them to do. The Doctor and Ruby getting trapped inside musical instruments is so hilarious. This serves the plot of getting them in danger, plays into the concept of being something wacky, and shows us Maestro’s power, with the battle lacking such an inventiveness.
The cleverness of the best of the story is a bit let down by how easily it’s resolved, with Lennon and McCartney happening to walk by a piano at the right time. However, considering the theme of luck it’s worth noting that the way the day has been saved so far in these stories is by chance. Ruby happened to see the baby getting stolen and reached for the ladder. The Doctor managed to be in the right place to save the Bogeyman, and now we had good fortunes here. Of course, it works better narratively to not have such conveniences, especially as obvious as here, but it’s not so egregious. Note that the only reason Maestro was not already defeated was because the Doctor happened to hit a bum note. Thus, this feels like an unnecessary extension for the story, but necessary to give an opportunity for the luck to be seen. It’s as if reality was bent in such a way to create this. You could even see this as Maestro manipulating luck to their advantage at first. Even the states of the Doctor and Ruby are inherently absurdist, like we are at a breaking point where all rules are off. The two Beatles are also participating in the abnormal by literally playing notes floating in mid-air without questioning it. Considering that in the series, attacks by monsters against Earth were relatively rare until the sixties, you could almost consider this episode as breaking the world in such a way that these abnormalities now make sense and are accepted. Arguably the usage of flying music notes was the real influence of The Beatles in this universe.
The convenience of the ending would have been easily aided by simply having Lennon and McCartney more involved in the story. Imagine if, not unlike a story like 1985’s Timelash, they actually get brought into the TARDIS and are along for the adventure? At least give them something to do that would more naturally result in them being there. Still, there is the nice surprise of seeing them reenter the episode as they do, at the moment you think the heroes have lost. Their presence is even set up by the leads earlier, with them encouraging their artistic instincts. If they were there to practice or write, then all the noise going on would draw them to that area.
The shot of the leads on the roof after the day is saved is so refreshing, having this beautiful and expansive look. Not to spoil thematically tying off the wackier elements of the episode, the Doctor winking at the camera and the wildness of the ending are so charming, as if the episode is unable to escape Maestro’s ways. Ncuti having fun with the dancers is a highlight. Part of what’s so great about the ending is that it essentially features the Doctor using something that Maestro introduced to the world, non-diegetic music, against the way that Maestro wanted. He’s now celebrating music, when Maestro wanted to destroy it. It is understandable if the music is either too bad or the sequence is too stupid for those that like their Doctor Who more grounded, but it might speak more to a fan of surrealism and the tropes that this scene is paying homage to, classic film musicals mainly. There is some explanation from the past of the series, with the Toymaker’s residual energy seemingly giving the Doctor some magical abilities when he was defeated. Now, it’s like this is the result of Maestro’s. To nitpick, it doesn’t make much sense why the Beatles and Cilla Black, now back to normal, would be singing a relatively modern song. Taken as something non-diegetic, this makes more sense…
OVERVIEW
Music has been shown as a liberating and freeing agent, even to the fault of the Beatles being treated as almost holy. Its appeal is universal, unfortunately mostly through dialogue, with the lack of its appeal seeming to cause humanity to destroy itself, not unlike in “The Giggle” when the Doctor spoke of the destructive nature of Earth. The opening of “The Devil’s Chord” even set the stage in the first scene for it being harmful to keep your musical ideas in. Translating this to the real world, the message could be to let your creativity and other ideas free, and that without them the world would be a lesser place? Thus, looking at the Doctor as having a similar intellect and a fair amount of strength, he’s going to celebrate music in the biggest way he can to release that positivity. Note his giant smile at the end. The ending with the piano walkway could show that the music goes on, even in little ways. For the future of the season, it could be seen as the effect of Maestro going on, just like how last episode changing the past minutely resulted in radical change.
The episode wants to be interesting and subversive. It succeeds, but feels like a much bigger idea with its various components incomplete and condensed. Even a scene like the music battle might be better if just lengthened to the point of being its own thing, instead of feeling like a brief sidestep. Still, you can’t deny the good of this story, with the best of it playing as a comedy-horror blend that transcends the tropes of the series into something bolder.
We’ve probably come to a point in our great year 2024 where the offbeat and chaotic music performed in this episode would be fleshed out and made into something people like (me). Some of it is reminiscent of a band like the Raincoats, which rock.
The Filme Diary 