Doctor Who, “The Witchfinders”, Review!

Team Tardis is walking in a village trying to find the coronation of Elizabeth I.  The Doctor goes apple bobbing.  An announcement is made for Mistress Savage.  A masked man watches Team Tardis.  A woman (Tricia Kelly) is in chains.  Graham identifies they are in Lancashire, north west England.  The Doctor realizes it is a witch trial led by Mistress Savage (Siobhan Finneran).  The woman pleads for the young girl Willa (Tilly Steele) not to cry.  The Doctor jumps in to save her.  Yaz find out that Old Mother Twiston has died. The Doctor holds up her psychic paper i.d. which Mistress Savage sees as Witchfinder General.  Willa says she has to bury Old Mother Twiston.  The Doctor wants to stop the trials.  Yaz goes to find the young girl.  The Doctor asks Mistress Becka Savage about the evidence of Satan and she says blighted crops.  The masked man removes his mask, it is King James (Alan Cumming)!  A fun guest role.  He sees the psychic paper as the Doctor as an assistant since a woman couldn’t be a general, right.  He identifies Graham as the general and Ryan as a “Nubian prince.”  King James wants to go after the grand child, Willa.  She is busy giving funeral rites, Yaz sees a tendril made of mud about to attack her, and batters it down.  The Doctor inspects Mother Twiston’s room and Yaz appears.  The Doctor goes with Yaz while Graham and Ryan have to keep King James in check.  Team Tardis is now brave, facing dangers, because they know they have to investigate. 

DOCTOR WHO -- “The Witchfinders” -- Ben Blackall/BBC. 

A misty lake, King James gives Graham the hat of the previous Witchfinder General and a brooch for Ryan.  Graham wants all of the suspects and villages listed, but Mistress Savage says she knows all of them.  King James vows to destroy every witch.  Yaz and the Doctor catch up with Willa who wants to leave the village.  In her house, they find medicine, Willa mentions Mistress Savage is her cousin.  The Doctor scans Willa with her sonic screwdriver.  Yaz says she knows Willa’s sickness, a dread, that she faced.  Ryan asks King James why he can’t trust anyone walking in a forest.  All of his family were killed.  The Doctor looks for signs of the tendril. She has a sample with a piece of mud bouncing around the bottle.  She thinks it’s alien.  A Mud Woman in the form of Old Mother Twiston appears.  It reaches for the bottle.  The Doctor throws the bottle and it is consumed by the Mud Woman.  Others appear.  The Mud Women are spooky, but we know what an alien creature looks like, has nothing to do with their intent.  King James and his group hear the scream.  King James’s group draw swords.  Alfronso (Stavros Demetraki) is about to shoot the Mud Woman who uses her power to knock them down.  They all start to run.  Yaz, Graham, and Ryan race to check on the Mud Women.  The Doctor thinks the witch hunt and the Mud Women are connected and wants to question Becka.  She suspects the Doctor.  King James wants to check the Doctor.  Willa defends her, but King James has the Doctor taken away.  Willa is an interesting character for these times.  

DOCTOR WHO -- “The Witchfinders” -- Ben Blackall/BBC. 

The Doctor is tied to a tree when King James talks with her.  He shows her wand, sonic screwdriver, and she says he is hiding behind his title.  She questions her mother leaving him.  The darkness is inside him.  This is great writing!  She pleads with him to free her.  He calls for the witch trial.  Team Tardis reaches the bedroom of Old Mother Twiston and the Mud Women are there.  The Doctor suspects Mistress Becka, but not why.  She sees the tree reacting to her touch.  The Doctor is chained.   Ryan hears a ringing and he rushes off with Yaz and Graham.  The Doctor is chained to a tree on the river.  Mistress Becka glorifies over the ceremony and King James gives the word.  She falls into the river and Graham, Yaz, and Ryan are desperate for her to be raised.  The tree is raised with just the chains.  The Doctor walks out of the lake and says she learned how to escape from Houdini.  The Mud Women approach them.  Becka tells them to stop and the Mud Women obey.  She admits that she cut down their favorite tree and the mud tendril attacked her.  Becka wanted Old Mother Twiston’s help, but she wouldn’t cut off her leg with an axe.  She admits to King James that she is the witch.  The mud consumes her and she says her name is Morax.  She wants King James since they are trapped in the hill.  Morax says the lock was broken, says she wants to take over the world, and unleashes her power.  Graham is wakened by Yaz.  The Doctor scans the tree to show that it is alien.  They have the tree made into torches to stop the Morax.  Graham gives the Doctor her hat.  Willa leads them up the hill to rescue King James.  The historical episodes with aliens is a Doctor Who trope, but there is a good connection with the terror of the witch trails and this alien threat.  

Five Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five! 

#DoctorWho, #TheWitchfinders, #AlanCumming, #TillySteele