Doctor Who right now is in limbo as it hasn't been cancelled at all but there's also no new episodes being made and it doesn't look like they'll be new episodes for a few more years at the very least. That doesn't mean that we still can't talk about episodes that are now apart of what is now officially the last era of New Doctor Who and that's exactly what is going to be happening as the episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today was one of the few good episodes from this season and so then join me as I review the episode that is a sequel to to the episode Midnight with the episode in question being called simply just "The Well" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is whilst trying to get Belinda back home The Doctor and Belinda find themselves on a ship where the crew have a mission to find out what happening on a mining colony on a planet that The Doctor has visited once before. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the episodes plot being a far cry away from the types of plot that were getting in not only this season but also in the previous season as well where the episodes did tend to be a little bit preachy in it's messages whereas here in this episode the plot was just allowed to be this really creepy plot. This is something that does work for the episode as Doctor Who has always done really creepy plots or plots that are meant to be scary and they nearly always worked and it's the same thing here as thee plot of the episode does work as it's just this one group of characters alone not only with a total stranger but also with a beast that only the stranger Aliss can see with this being something that does make the episodes plot be all the more thrilling and while the episode does focus alot on it's plot it doesn't do it enough to the point where you do buy into the plot a the episode does advance the series long plot which weas somethin that it really didn't need to do as focusing on the episodes main plot is where the episode shines bright with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor , Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra and Annabel Brook as Hanno Yeft. Also starring in this episode is Luke Rhodri as Callo Rence , Bethany Antonia as Mo Gilliben , Gaz Choudhry as Kai Sabba , Christopher Chung as Cassio Palin-Paleen , Caoilfhionn Dunne as Shaya Costallion , Gary Pillai as Albie Bethick , Rose Ayling-Ellis as Aliss Fenly , Frankie Lipman as Sal Van Hyten , Paul Kasey as It Has No Name , Jermaine Dominique as Ulric Dazen , Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood and Amy Tyger as Val Vivo.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The fact that we have good acting in this episode isn't really all that surprising as even tho alot of the season does have some pretty badly written stories in it nearly all of them have some really good acting in it with this episode of course being of no exception to this rule as all of the episodes actors do feel right at home in this episode with them all tuning in some really good performances that granted won't be winning them any awards but will still get them noticed for how good the performances are in the episode. With the episodes best actor by a long country mile being Rose Ayling-Ellis as Aliss Fenly as she is just so good in thus episode not just because of the fact that she is a deaf actor and therefor she can use that and draw upon it for inspiration but also because of the fact that she is just a good actor in her own right with her acting circles around not only Ncuti Gatwa but also the rest of the episodes actors with her getting more of the episodes more dramatic moments which is something that really does pull of with ease with bringing a certain vulnerability to her character that really does shine through in her performance. With the acting that's n this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is Freefolk and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Real SFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The episodes CGI was to be frank alot more better then what it really had any right to be as while the episodes doesn't create a fully CGI version of the episodes monster it does mainly use CGI to either film something that they couldn't do in real life such as showing The Doctor and Belinda falling to the planet from space from a example or by extending things in the episodes sets both or good ways to use CGI as there only using it to do something that they couldn't do in real life with the episode actually using alot more practical effects then they do CGI effects with even the creature being done for real when they really didn't need to as they very easily could have had the creature be a CGI effect and it still would have worked by the fact that they did it for real and that alot of the stunts in the episodes was done for well does say that the makers of this episode really do know how and when to use CGI as there not just using it because they have the budget to do so which is something that they very easily could have done as they would have had that big Disney money to play with but they don't and heck alot of you might not realise this but a small portion of the room that Belinda and Aliss stay in whilst it's was mostly done for real had some CGI done to it and yet you don't notice it because of the the fact that it blends in with the live action footage so well.
Just to be frank out all of the new characters that this new era of Doctor Who gave us Aliss Fenly has to be one of the best characters. As this character is smart and sassy and isn't afraid to stand up for herself and fight for what she knows is right even when alot of the episodes other characters are telling her she's wrong these are things that are the hall marks of not only a good Doctor Who companion but just a good character in general with the fact that the character is also death being secondary to everything else about her as this is a character that has a life outside of that part of her with her doing anything that she could do just to see her daughter again as that's who she is as a character and the fact that Russel and Sharma Angel-Walfall who are the co-writers of this episode wrote her to be more like a real person and less like a character that's there to hit home whatever message they want does show you that Russell T. Davies could still write good new characters when he really wanted to. Heck it's not wonder that the Doctor Who fanbase welcomed Aliss with welcome arms when this episode first came out as she is just such a fun character and it would be interesting to see where any future Doctor Who writers took her character as there are so many ways that you can go with her character both re and post this episode and all of it would work and yet for odd reason the BBC seem to shoving Jo Martin down our throats when she's not that interesting as a character and yet Aliss is more interesting with there being more stories that you could tell with her character and heck even seeing what she got up to after this episode all of the trauma that she would have to deal with due to the events of this episode would be alot of fun and seeing the attack on the base again is something that would be interesting to see even tho we know how it all ends.
As was mentioned at the very start of this review this episode is actually a sequel episode to the episode Midnight. With the makers of this cleverly not announcing that it was going to be a sequel episode rather they let us all find out at the exact same time and that was a genius move as now it means that us the audience can go back and rewatch the episode looking for any clues as to what the big reveal is and yeah there are some major clues to be found once you know that twist reveal and yet they don't take anything from the big reveal or make it more obvious rather they do serve as a fun little thing for us to pick up on on repeat viewings and that is something that a good reveal like this one should do and while they are other better reveals in Doctor Who this surely has to be up there as one of the best plot reveals in the shows history due to the fact that no one saw it coming. With the only thing that lets this reveal down being the fact that it's not something that is brought up or even hinted it at prior to the reveal with making it look like that the reveal was thought up at the last second as while it does have a part in the episodes plot with it being something that inspires The Doctor to find a way to stop the villain of the episode prior to this reveal there is no sense with The Doctor getting a feeling that he's been here before as while he was only on what is basically a train in Midnight he was still on the planet and therefor would have been able to work out that that the planet he is on is the same one that The 10th Doctor went to back in series 4 of the show, whilst this doesn't harm the episode in any major way it does make the big reveal feel more like an after thought when t should have been something that the makers of this episode were building towards.
The villain of this episode is called either Midnight Entity or It Has No Name as the creature as the second name would suggest has no name. Heck across both this episode and Midnight we only get to see it in it's true for for a handful of seconds in this episode and even then it's mostly covered in darkness this again is such a good idea as it does mean that us the audience have to use our imagination as to what the creature not only looks like but how they talk and what there backstory is and that is something that is far more scarier then anything that could be created on a TV show budget as there's no limit to your imagination with the little that we do see of the creature not really giving us much to work on as the character is inly very briefly on screen for a matter of seconds. With the fact it's only killing people for fun and not to archive any goal does make it feel like that the villain is meant to be seen being more childlike as children don't do things for rhyme or reason they just do them with this creature taking that exact same approach with it only killing people when they step behind it with this being something that does make it more creepy as a villain and while it would have been nice if we did get to see what the villain looks like alot more this is something that would ultimately harm the villain as not knowing what it looks like actually makes it all the more scarier as now it could look like anything and it would work however it would it have been nice if we did get to see the creature in action alot more as this is something that would have made it alot more of a threat to the characters prior to the big reveal nearer the end of the episode rather then only having the character be this major threat to the characters near the episodes end as by that point in time it is far to little to late to make the character be all that threatening.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty eight minuets and four seconds. This is pretty much the bogstanderd running tm for this era of Doctor Who and to be fair the episode does need that amount of running time in order to tell it's plot in a way that does do justice to it as the episode does have to build up tension to make that big reveal work and and t make the monster be all the more threatening in the first place with this being something what would have been impossible for the episode to to do if it had a more shorter running time as it would mean that something would have to get from the episode it self with the episode having more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time. However tho this episode still doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot with the episode giving a good portion of its running time into furthering the seasons plot which would have been find if this was say the fourth episode of the season but its not it's the third episode and therefor the main focus of the episode still should have been on the episodes main plot and it making sure that the plot was well developed with the makers of this episode caring more about making us scare of the episodes villain then they were in giving us plot development. The same thing is also true for the episode characters as while it could be argued that both The Doctor and Belinda don't really need any character development as there the main characters but we know so little about what it is that makes Belinda tick in the first place that she does come of as being a surrogate character for audience rather then a character in her own right and the rest of the episodes get nothing interms of character development with the makers of this episode putting more thought and effort into giving us another clothes changing scene then they did in giving us character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With there not really being much in the way of action in this episode as the episode is more of a horror focused episode with there being of a focus on horror , tension and suspense but then the episode does have an action scene no matter how quick it ends up being it is something that does still end up working due to the fact that the makers of this episode did put some amount of care into making sure that we cared for some of these characters. With the best action scene in the whole episode being when Shaya Costallion works out the best way for them to get rid of the creature is for the person who is being haunted to by to kill themselves with her pulling out her gun and using it on Belinda who is being haunted by the ghost shooting her thus getting the creature to attach itself to her and when she does she just runs back to the well having flashbacks of her own childhood and then jumping into the well killing herself and seemingly the creature as well this was such a good action as while there are no explosions and no cool moves being done its just simple storytelling with one character showing that she's willing to do anything to do anything to save the fay and that's it with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this episode is a kore then worthy sequel to Midnight as it gives us all of things that we'd want to see in a Midnight whilst also giving us a likable character in Aliss and also giving us some really creepy visuals and a creepy villain all of which are things that do make this episode really good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. ow then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review ell then boys and girls and and well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Tardis . Wiki. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Tardis . Wiki really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Tardis . Wiki really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.