Doctor Who, “It Takes You Away”, Review!

The Tardis is overlooking a Norwegian fjord with Team Tardis looking on.  The Doctor eats some grass and then finds a sheep.  She thinks it might be the Wooley Rebellion.  Ryan points out a cottage.  They find boards covering the windows of the cottage.  The Doctor knocks and then uses her sonic screwdriver to open the locks of the door.  She sends Ryan and Graham to check the upstairs.  They find sweet wrappers and open a closet door, Ryan screams, they find a little girl with sunglasses hiding. She says a Thing took her father.  The Doctor asks if Hanne (Ellie Wallwork) is blind.  Her father has been gone for four days.  Her mother has died.  Hanne’s watch beeps and she urges them to get into the house.  The Thing hunts at that time.  Yaz and Ryan check out a shed and find animal traps on the table.  They hear roaring in the woods.  Team Tardis goes into the house and the Doctor has Graham watch from the window.  Graham checks out a mirror that he and Ryan can look through.  The Doctor uses her sonic screwdriver to stop it.  She shoves her head into a strange dimension.  The Doctor says the mirror is a portal.  In a mirror to another world? Very Alice, Through the Looking Glass.  

DOCTOR WHO -- “It Takes You Away” -- Simon Ridgway/ BBC. 

The Doctor writes a message in chalk to protect Hanne.  She says her dad’s name is Erik.  Ryan stays behind with Hanne as the others enter the portal!  The dimension in the house reminds me of The Twilight Zone episode, “Little Girl Lost” (1962).  They have entered a misty dimension, Graham points out light in a rock, the Doctor ties string to a rock.  She asks the demon, Ribbons (Kevin Eldon), if he’s seen Erik.  He threatens Graham with a dagger and the Doctor backs him with her sonic screwdriver.  Ribbons wants the “tubular”, sonic screwdriver, in exchange for information about Erik.  He leads leads them away.  Hannah is angry that Ryan said her dad would leave her.  She wants to enter the portal so Ryan takes her away and locks a door.  Ribbons throws a rat to distract a flesh moth drawn to the lantern, a red globe, and he cuts the string.  Ryan follows a wire to a speaker that was producing the roars.  She knocks him out with the door and takes the key.  Her resourcefullness reminds me of Millicent Simmonds in A Quiet Place.  Yaz is getting lost.  Ribbons points out the cut string and takes Graham hostage with a knife.  He sees a flesh moth and more check on them.  The lantern light goes out, Ribbons snatches the sonic screwdriver, and Graham tackles him.  Graham is becoming an action hero!  

The Doctor warns everyone that the flesh moths are drawn to movement.  Ribbons tries to reach for the sonic screwdriver and the moths swarm over him.  The Doctor picks up her sonic screwdriver and they run, but end up on the other side.  Hanne enters the portal and finds the string.  The Doctor opens the door and finds Erik (Christian Rubeck).  He has set up the recording to keep his daughter in.  They find Hanne’s mother, Trine (Lisa Stokke), who was dead in the other world.  Everyone finds, this is shocking, Grace!  A dimension of lost loved ones?  Hanne makes her way to the devoured body of Ribbons and Ryan gets the lantern.  He tries to reassure Hanne, but she knows he’s lying.  A flesh moth lands on the lantern.  On the other side, Grace says she’s real, Graham doesn’t believe her.  He shows her a gold frog necklace which she explains.  The Doctor works it out with Yaz that the Anti-Zone formed because the Other Side is dangerous.  She explains the Solitract told by her one of seven grandmothers.  The Other Side is the Solitract, a “conscious universe”, that is a doorway to the universe.  Yaz says it’s a trap and they start running.  Graham tries to explain the Tardis to Grace.  The Doctor runs up, tells Graham they have to leave, and that Grace is not Grace.  She tries to use the sonic screwdriver.  Ryan and Hanne escape from the flesh moths.  Hanne gets through to the Other Side and sees her father and mother.  She draws back realizing that Trine is not her mother.  The loss of a family member is so difficult and this episode really tackles it with a sci fi/fantasy twist. 

DOCTOR WHO -- “It Takes You Away” -- Simon Ridgway/ BBC. 

The presence of all of them is disrupting the Solitract.  The Doctor understands that the Solitract has taken forms to connect with people.  Yaz gets through and then Hanne confronts Trine who sends her out.  The Doctor tells Graham that Ryan is in danger.  Grace pleads for Graham to stay.  He says that Grace would never put Ryan in trouble.  The Doctor puts Trine with the choice between her and Erik.  He says she’s not Trine and she sends him out.  The rumbling stops and bright light fills the room.  In the bright limbo, the Doctor walks, there is a frog on a chair.  The Solitract talks with the voice of Grace.  The Doctor tries to explain the universe.  Her hands begin to shudder.  The Solitract misses the Doctor who says they will be “friends forever.”  The Doctor leaves.  This is for some reason sad to see a lonely frog.  The Doctor is in a crumbling Anti-Zone with the others.  They run through the portal with the Doctor leaping behind them, she uses her sonic screwdriver, and the mirror shatters.  Erik sees the Doctor’s message, later he says Hanne and he will leave for Oslo.  Hanne hugs Ryan.  Graham looks back and Ryan checks on him.  Thanks Chris Chibnall for bringing up some memories.  Ryan calls Graham grand dad and they head into the Tardis.  This episode seemed to go off track half way through, but then hits you with an emotional punch!         

Three Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five!   

#DoctorWho, #ItTakesYouAway, #EllieWallwork, #LisaStokke