This week’s episode Doctor Who deals with grief in all it’s forms. While last week’s episode dealt with the Doctor’s impact on history, “It Takes You Away” explored the Doctor’s impact on emotions. There are even several moments where it seems like the Doctor s is saying goodbye to the audience. However, the meaning behind that is anyone’s guess. Let’s break down Doctor Who season 11 episode 9 for ourselves and see what we can find.
Nice Fjord
The episode begins with the Doctor and her companions arriving in Norway. They’ve arrived in 2018, and the Doctor reminisces about future events
While Graham and Ryan discuss their family history. Graham shares that he and Ryan’s grandmother discussed going to Norway and that he regrets
not going. The group stumbles upon a seemingly abandoned house and move to investigate it. Ryan spots someone inside the house that looks
like a fortress. The group investigates the house and meets Hannah, a blind girl. She shares that she and her father live in the house and her father
has been gone for four days.
The group discusses Hannah’s father’s disappearance. Ryan points out that her father might have left her. Hannah disagrees and the group
investigates the property. They learn Hannah’s father left the city after her mother’s death. The group hears something loud from the woods that
frightens them. The group moves to secure the house. When Graham goes upstairs he discovers a mirror that doesn’t show his reflection. Moving
closer, he and Ryan discover something that disorients them. The Doctor moves in to investigate and discovers a portal to another world.
The Flesh Moths
Excited by the discovery for a portal in her dad’s bedroom. The Doctor declares, matter of fact, that the mirror isn’t safe. The Doctor takes
Yaz and Graham through the mirror, leaving Ryan behind. Before they do so, they give Ryan directions to protect the girl no matter what the cost.
Upon entering the portal, they discover a foggy craggy area. They meet a creature named Ribbons who attempts to bargain with the Doctor. The
creature will trade information for the Doctor’s sonic. The Doctor tricks the creature who leads them through the dark. On the way through the
path they encounter flesh moths drawn to the light. Ribbons reveals that they are in an anti-zone, a space created by the universe to keep out a threat.
They’re attacked by moths and Ribbons is eaten. The Doctor, Yaz, and Graham see the portal and run through it. They leave Ribbons body behind.
Meanwhile Ryan discovers the monster in the woods is a recording set up by her father. Hannah distracts Ryan and knocks him out,
running through the portal. Ryan soon wakes and follows. As they go looking for her companions, Graham, Yaz, and the Doctor discover
that they’re in a mirror version of their earth. They have, in effect, ended up “On the other side of the mirror.”
A Conscious Universe
The Doctor and her companions encounter Hannah’s father Erik. Erik is hiding his wife Trina, Erik’s dead wife. While Trina declares that she’s
not dead and is the real Trina. Trina asks if they want to see their friend and takes them outside where they meet Grace, Graham’s wife who died
in the premiere episode. Graham, unwilling to believe, quizzes Grace on her appearance. They share a discussion of Frogs, her favorite creatures,
and Graham becomes convinced she’s real. Meanwhile, Ryan and Hannah make their way through the path trying to find their friends.
The Doctor breaks everything down and realizes they’re in something called the Solitract. The Doctor shares that their grandmother told a bedtime
story about a conscious universe that existed along with the universe itself. This universe, the Solitract, can’t function in the regular universe.
The Solitract lured Erik and the Doctor’s companions into it’s clutches.
Graham and Grace continue to talk, Graham falling deeper into the Solitract’s clutches. The Doctor attempts to drag Graham and Erik back to their universe.
Graham refuses to go. Erik refuses to go as well. The Doctor attempts to re-open the portal. The Doctor fails just as Hannah gets through the
portal. Hannah rejects her “mother” and the Solitract rejects her. It becomes clear that the only way they can get out is for the Solitract to
let them go. It refuses to do so.
Frogs
One by one, each one of the Doctor’s party rejects the Solitract’s advances. The Doctor convinces the Solitract to let Erik go and keep the Doctor
in it’s secondary plane of existence. The Doctor encounters the Solitract in the form of a frog who asks the Doctor questions. Despite the Doctor’s
Willingness to answer, the Solitract is still unstable. The Doctor bids the Solitract goodbye in a tearful farewell telling it they have to go. Explaining
That this is not the end and that if the Solitract lets the Doctor go they will be friends forever.
After they return to the real universe, Erik and Hannah plan to return to Oslo. Graham and Ryan share a tender moment revealing that Ryan will continue
to support Graham and they will grow closer. The episode ends with the TARDIS fading out and going to a new adventure.
What did you think of Doctor Who Season 11 episode 9, It Takes You Away? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
