Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “The Interstellar Song Contest”

“The Interstellar Song Contest” Is A Bleak Episode

“The Interstellar Song Contest” only has one full song in it. The song is beautifully sung, and important to the plot, yes, but “The Church on Ruby Road” somehow gets a fully laid out song, with lyrics, and a dance number, and this one doesn’t? We get the full Mr. Ring-A-Ding number basically twice in “Lux,” but the scenes here keep cutting away for every performance? That’s so weird. This is a weird way to do this story.

In fact, I’d argue that a lot of the episode didn’t need to be about a song contest. It could’ve been any very publicly viewed event in a stadium, and the core ideas would’ve worked—and it wouldn’t have to constantly tease its audience.

Don’t Expect Much Actual Singing In This Episode

But whatever, let’s go over the actual story as we have it. And for an episode with such a cheery title, “The Interstellar Song Contest” is actually one of the heaviest in the whole season, and might even top anything from the previous. I don’t know, maybe “Boom” is a contender.

To prove my point, let’s go over some of the major events. “The Interstellar Song Contest” has the destruction of a planet to strip it of resources, and the people who lived on that planet—the ones who weren’t murdered already by said exploitation—experience immense bigotry and racism, and one of them has to chop off part of their head to avoid detection. And that’s mostly the backstory. The villain of “The Interstellar Song Contest” is attempting to commit genocide after trying to murder an entire stadium of people. The scene of so many bodies being sucked into space is genuinely disturbing, and if it wasn’t for a deus ex machina, the Doctor wouldn’t have woken up and likely died up there.

Easily One Of The Season’s Most Intense Episodes

And then, to round all of that out, there’s a scene of actual torture, where the Doctor is seemingly fully willing to do so until the person dies. There’s no reason to believe the Doctor couldn’t have made that first shock lethal, or at least enough to knock the villain unconscious—this was an active choice.

To be clear, I don’t mind morbid or violent or disturbing stories. I loved “The Well.” I love horror media. But I had no idea the episode would be like this, and up until the first of those many moments, there weren’t many hints. I was thrown completely off for most of the episode, and didn’t quite know where this could be going.

Do Not Expect This Episode To Maintain Any Tone

But, likely, that was the point. That was the intention. And like “Lucky Day” before it, I enjoy when media tricks me. It usually sticks with me for longer than normal stories.

But what was, I’m sure, a slip-up is the sheer cavalcade of luck that makes this plot possible to solve. Basically, everyone Belinda or the Doctor runs into during the course of the episode has the exact and perfect skill sets to solve problems or know precisely the right information to progress the story. I like that we acknowledge the Doctor stole that couple’s seats—we don’t often jump to people unintentionally screwed over by those antics—but this is just too many coincidence for one story. The confetti cannon is a fun reincorporation. Having the Doctor ask aloud for a very specific skill set, and one of the only two other people in the room having it, is another. It’s very much a conflict of tone, if nothing else.

Several Of The Solutions Are Way Too Convienent

And somehow, me talking this long about “The Interstellar Song Contest” hasn’t actually addressed the twist. The big freaking twist. We finally learn who Mrs. Flood is. Which was cool—but I admittedly have no idea what could happen with her, or the Doctor’s granddaughter, for that matter. The setup for this plotline has been so aggressive, so prolonged, so obfuscated, that I’m at a loss. Besides the obvious questions, why would a bi-generation cause one to defer to the other? And how did the Rani not know about being sucked into space? The Rani seemed to have a general idea of what was happening in all other cases.

Those are obviously future episode reveals, hopefully, but I think it still ties into my general feeling of this episode knocking me into chaos. Taken for what it ended up being, I like this episode a lot. It’s a strong mix of commentary, drama, and science fiction, with genuine, interesting, and dire stakes. If I had known that going in, I would’ve been hyped. But my feelings for this one have become almost all retroactive. My experience of watching it overwritten. So, if somehow you read this before watching—at least be prepared.

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