Even without accounting for its serendipitously terrifying timing, “Praxeus” still stands out as one of the most troubling episodes in recent memory. Most people worry about climate change or nuclear war as potential extinction-level events, and with good reason, but, as writers of science fiction have been espousing ever since the invention of the genre, a virus could just as effectively decimate humanity, and it could do so in a way that’s altogether more alarming. We’d have nobody to fight, nobody to blame. McTighe and Chibnall exploit this latent anxiety in the most ghastly of ways as their story sees an intercontinental virus causing people to gruesomely crust over with a crystalline substance before exploding. Scarier still, this virus is carried around the globe by infected birds, the terrifying potential of which has never been fully exploited by the series. As somebody whose wife can’t go near a chicken, let alone suffer any sort of bird flapping around near her, I can see how this episode stokes certain viewers’ ornithophobia in the same way that “Arachnids of the UK” tortured arachnophobes last year.
However, what sets Chris Chibnall’s era as showrunner apart from any other is his in-your-face progressive agenda, which in some of his finest episodes elevates what are already superb stories to another level entirely. “Praxeus” might be the best example of this yet as its already two-fold terror is supplanted by the all-too-real creeping fear that we are destroying our world. The blanket bleakness of “Orphan 55” is traded for scary specificity here as Chibnall and McTighe draw inspiration from – and attention to – pollutant gyres. Praxeus might not have evolved on Earth, but the planet’s oceanic garbage patches, with their high saturation of plastic particles, make it the perfect petri dish for an alien race desperate to find a cure. It’s entertaining; it’s educational; and, most importantly, it’s using the programme’s position of influence to try to make a difference to its viewers’ attitudes.
Unfortunately, as with most of the season’s earlier episodes, the TARDIS crew that once dominated narratives are consigned to much smaller roles here. Mandip Gill’s Yasmin enjoys the most focus this week, as the seconded police officer boldly strikes out her own without the Doctor’s knowledge or consent, but poor Graham hasn’t really had much to do at all since taking off his laser shoes and all Tosin Cole’s Ryan seems to do is hit on women or be hit on by them. At times, it’s difficult to believe that this is the same programme that delivered one compelling companion-centred story after another last year, apparently giving the lie to the now all-too-evident truth that even the finest of writers can’t do three companions justice.
Nonetheless, constantly hopping from Peru to Madagascar to Hong Kong and back again, “Praxeus” is an absolutely stunning piece of television. Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor might not have to grapple with her possible past and potential future this week, but she’s squarely at the centre of the storm throughout, starting a scene in one continent and ending it another without breaking her stride. In what might be a first for the television series, if not the larger Whoniverse, the titular Time Lord isn’t fighting monsters this week, but pathogens and pollutants; the only evils here are those of negligence and apathy.
Doctor Who airs on Sunday evenings on BBC 1 and is available to stream for the foreseeable future on BBC iPlayer. A season pass comprising all ten episodes of the season in 1080p HD and bonus material is also available from iTunes for £20.99, with episodes typically becoming available the day after their transmission on BBC 1. A Blu-ray steelbook is also available to pre-order from Amazon for £49.99.
