Doctor Who Series 11: 5 Ups & 2 Downs From 'Arachnids In The UK'
Arachnophobes beware. Many giant NOPES ahead.
Returning to the tried-and-tested monster of the week formula, this week's episode of Doctor Who takes you on a creepy-crawly tale that's very close to home. Arachnids In The UK, uninspired title aside, is one of the most interesting episodes of Who we've had in a long time. From family matters to political commentary, this week's arachnophobe's nightmare is chock-full of spiders, scares, and seriously weird moments.
Once you're out from behind the sofa, and finished flinching after thinking there was something large and hairy crawling up your leg, Arachnids In The UK left us with a lot to unpack.
Let's start with the negatives.
Downs...
7. The Mother Spider's Death
Robertson was introduced and established as a character really well. He’s a colossal fool. There we have it. Then that was further reinforced with the Spider Mother’s death. After reluctantly agreeing to use his panic room to lock in and leave the ‘smaller’ spiders to die, he, as an American, was dying to shoot something. It ended up being the Spider Mother in the ballroom, a creature growing weaker due to her size, and terrified of the humans stood before her.
It’s incredible that this episode made me feel sorry for a creature I would want to do nothing more than catapult into the sun. I was kind of hoping that The Doctor would save her in some way, but Robertson waltzes in and shoots it dead instead. It does further establish this character as a giant f**knut, but it brings that depressing side of Who to the table we don’t see very often. Being sympathetic towards one giant nope was a brilliant direction, but this abrupt gunshot figuratively and literally killed it.