Doctor Who Series 11: 4 Ups & 2 Downs From 'Demons Of The Punjab'

A true return to form for Series 11.

Doctor Who Demons Of The Punjab Wedding
BBC

After the polarising 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' last week, hopes weren't too high for this week's Yaz-centric romp, 'Demons Of The Punjab.' The trailers and setting led many viewers to believe this was to be just another stab at the success of 'Rosa,' but after viewing, we were treated to something very different, and something very special.

Kicking things off with Yaz's Nani, Umbreen, being very cryptic about sentimental items from her past, Yaz asks a reluctant Doctor to take her back to India to find some answers. As we saw with 2005's Father's Day, interfering with your own timeline can have drastic consequences (the lack of Back to the Future references this week is a big letdown).

As always, let's begin with the negatives, and be aware that this article contains spoilers.

Downs...

2. The Over-reliance On The Sonic Screwdriver

Doctor Who
BBC

This links back to previous episodes, and will most likely, if not definitely relate to future episodes. The over-reliance on the sonic screwdriver is back. We saw this before with Matt Smith, and it was just dull. Sonic it, read it, there we go. This over-reliance on the sonic screwdriver explaining all plagued the Moffat era, and it looks to taint the Chibnall era too. Back in Russell T.Davies' time, the sonic was used to open doors, hack into systems, and occasionally track stuff. Now it’s a utility belt that can do literally anything.

To add insult to this, there now needs to be some kind of narrative beat to stop the sonic from doing its thing. Last week it was eaten by the Pting - which it spat out. Apparently, it could digest ANYTHING. Oh, but that wouldn’t work for the story. Now it shorts out because it can’t calculate billions of DNA strands in one go. If that is how we’re going to get the Doctor to build things, it definitely means you’ve written yourself into a corner regarding how integral the sonic is to everything. Back in the day, the Doctor would just think 'Why not? I’ll make a machine that can read comic books and cook microwave dinners, as well as the thing I’m actually building it for.'

Now the Doctor needs some sonic-busting excuse. It’s a shame. It’s all scan and read. Not investigate and think.

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Born in Theatre, sits at a Computer. After over a decade of tinkering with Video Editing software, Rich gets to spend his precious time editing whatever's thrown at him. Also the go-to for Doctor Who, and could tell you why Sans Serif fonts are better than most. Still occasionally tap dances under the desk.