Doctor Who Episode Review: Boom (2024)
Synopsis: The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) land the TARDIS on a war-torn planet. Hearing a scream, the Doctor rushes toward the sound to lend his assistance, only to step on a landmine. Unable to move out of fear of setting the mine off, the Doctor's only hope is to convince a war-weary soldier she and the others are being tricked into fighting a war against a non-existent enemy and surrender. To make matters worse, Ruby is fatally wounded.
Review: I wasn't in the mood to watch the president's speech before Congress last night (nothing political, I just didn't want to sit through a 90-minute speech after being at work all day). So, since our other favorite shows were being pre-empted, I brought up Disney Plus and watched the Doctor Who episode Boom. I didn't regret that decision.
This was a well-written, suspenseful episode. While the Doctor has been known to pull off miraculous things, including stopping wars, doing so while unable to move and being forced to control his emotions to keep the landmine from exploding was pretty intense. Oh, and the device effectively turning him into a bomb that could potentially wipe out half the planet was a nice touch too.
I also thought the subplot about a for-profit war that uses an algorithm to ensure just enough people were killed to keep the conflict going so the most money was made was kind of chilling, mostly because it's probably not that far off from eventually being true (if it's not already). And while the non-existent enemy thing was technically a spoiler, it was also kind of obvious long before the Doctor made his reveal. That, in turn, made his argument against letting faith guide your actions rather than common sense a bit firmer and not-so-subtle as social commentary.
My only real complaint about the episode was it doesn't explain why the Doctor and Ruby were on the planet in the first place. They just arrive and barely have any conversation before he runs off to try to save someone. I doubt he purposely brought his companion to a war zone but other than maybe the view in the night sky, I didn't see any other reason for them to be there.
Final Opinion: It's a good episode with a great deal of suspense and a premise that isn't as unbelievable as it probably should be. I recommend watching it.
My Grade: A
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Here are some other reviews of television episodes:
The Walking Dead Episode Review: The Bridge
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