Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “The Devil’s Chord”

“The Devil’s Chord” Has Too Many Good Plot Ideas

“The Devil’s Chord” is too short of an episode. I mean this as a compliment—and a criticism of everything added to the episode that limits chances to tell more of this story. This should’ve been a two-parter. It needed to be a two-parter. It could’ve been a top-ten, all-time episode if only it had been a two-parter.

And that’s familiar. I’m sensing a pattern. This is the same problem “The Giggle” had. Doctor Who correctly decided to dedicate tons of scenes to showing off the god-like beings’ powers in both cases—and I’m not complaining about that. “The Devil’s Chord” is great at getting across how dangerous The Maestro is while still being PG about it. I love that The Maestro can emerge from any instrument they want. I love how cosmic horror their plan is.

But the pacing, the plot, and the coherency of “The Devil’s Chord” are all messed up by the need to fit a storyline amongst all that. After watching The Doctor have a breakdown about not being able to defeat a godly being—which Ncuti did incredibly well, may I add—I began to assume that, since the episode was already so far along, The Maestro would need to be an off-and-on villain, appearing occasionally. And that would’ve been fine. That’s how The Master/Missy is usually handled. But no. We only get this one episode, apparently.

Doctor Who Needs More Time With Its New Villians

And that means that the writing has to justify a way to defeat a godly being in very little time. At least The Toymaker being dismissed by a simple game is kind of self-evident, it’s cohesive, but I legit do not understand how The Maestro loses in this episode except in the loosest sense. Making this episode a two-parter at least would’ve allowed The Doctor to come up with the solution at an interesting narrative pace.

And then there’s The Beatles. This episode is also supposedly about The Beatles. And I love this concept. Using such an iconic band as a way to introduce the mystery of music going away is peak time-travel storytelling. But it’s so underutilized. There’s a version of this story where The Beatles get to be part of the adventure. There’s a version of this episode that really gets to play with the history of the band and interlock it with the concepts of music being suppressed. “The Devil’s Chord” made me happy multiple times—I know that doesn’t necessarily come across in my rant here—and I appreciated all of the little sound effects and creative uses of instruments, but I can’t help but imagine the spectacular, show-stopping version of this episode if only it had the time.

“The Devil’s Chord” Has Incredible Story Potential

Which makes the dance sequence all the more frustrating. I understand that it works in narrative. It’s established in “The Giggle” that defeating these godly beings gives you a reward—that’s also why the street glowed. I accept there would be a dance party: music was returning to the human race all at once. Sure, there are a few fourth wall breaks, even from The Doctor, but technically the party is within the rules of the universe. But you can probably already guess why it annoyed me: it made this episode even shorter. I’d rather have more The Maestro, more exposition, more The Beatles, more pop culture or historical references, more classical music, more anything. I’d have happily watched an entire season devoted to this plotline. Don’t give me less than the usual runtime for it.

So, you can see my paradox. I’m annoyed—but I clearly liked “The Devil’s Chord” a whole lot. Ncuti, Millie, Jinkx, all of The Beatles actors: they all did such a good job. The special effects mostly worked. The mystery and the general plot beats: engaging and exciting. I even totally buy that taking away music from humanity would be that devastating. But the missed opportunities! My only hope now, the only one I’ve got, is either the show still brings back The Maestro eventually, or that we get more of The Toymaker’s pantheon in the next few episodes.  

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