Yorkshire 1893 A man goes into a room filled with red light and says goodbye to his wife. When a woman comes with others to tell her that her husband's not going to be okay. A man, Mr Thursday (Brendan Patricks) comes to ID his brother, Edmund (Brendan Patricks) in the morgue and to collect his body to take back to London. He's told there are many others like that too. He takes a photo of his eyes cos according to Romani myth the eyes retain a picture of the last thing they see as Thursday tells Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) as he turns to her agency for help. The last thing Edmund saw was an image of the Doctor - WHO else.
Vastra and Jenny (Catrin Stewart) set off for Yorkshire, or North as they call it and Strax (Dan Starkey) thinks he can go undercover at Mrs Winifred Gillyflower's (Diana Rigg) meeting. However it's Jenny who goes in with Strax still referring to her as a boy and has in mind to use yet more explosives and weapons. Well once a Sontaran, always a Sontaran. Jenny infiltrates the meeting where Gillyflower talks about Sweetville and shows them a plan of the mill buildings. Where the rains from the heaven will rain down on them?? Jenny signs up to go. Gillyflower also introduces her daughter Ada (Rachael Stirling) who she describes as being blinded by her husband.
When they arrive at the mill, Jenny strikes up a conversation with another woman whose friend told her about Sweetville but then was never heard from again. Jenny pays her a guinea to create a diversion and she breaks into the place. Here she sees a room full of large gramophones and men carrying a large bottle filled with red liquid. Vastra visits the man at the morgue and he gives her a bottle of the red liquid, known as the 'Crimson Horror'. She lifts her veil and exclaims she knows what this is. She likes revealing her face.
Jenny searches the place and finds the door where Ada had just fed hee monster and she opens the hole where he grabs her. She opens the door and finds it's the Doctor (Matt Smith). Leading him out to the room where he turns back into himself with the use of his trusty Sonic. He needs to rescue Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) but Jenny wonders why, cos she died in The Snowmen. It's a long and complicated story but he'll try and shorten it. SO we get a fast, old Victorian picture show style, in sepia, complete with grainy picture and sound and splotches on the film summary of how the Doctor and Clara arrived here. As they were meant to to go Victorian London but ended up in Yorkshire. They meet up with Gillyflower after Edmund shows them Sweetville and strange goings on there. Going undercover as a married couple, the Doctor and Mrs Smith. Gillyflower shows them around Sweetville where this handsome couple will fit right in. She opens the door to a house and the two of them are taken.
The Doctor ends up in the vat and is "fried tonight," as Clara stands with other women. He ends up on the reject pile where he reaches out his hand as Ada is passing. Ada takes him in as her monster and keeps him locked and shackled up. He heads back to the house where he sees himself and Clara preserved in a glass belljar. He takes her back to get the mill and that room to get her back. Jenny and the Doctor are surrounded by others and Jenny takes off her dress revealing her catsuit outfit and manages to kick a few of them. Before others arrives as does Strax to save the day. Vastra thinks he's hyper cos he's been eating jelly sherbet fancies again.
The Doctor wonders what Gillyflower has in mind and Clara tries to tell him about the chimney, succeeding on the third attempt, there's no smoke from the chimney. Vastra recognizes the Crimson Horror as a red leech that got into the water system and contaminated it. He sees Ada again and makes her touch his face, he's her monster. Yes also he could be an alien cos of his "big chin". Never miss an opportunity to get that line in! They must stop Gillyflower and head to confront her as she sets the rocket to launch.
Doctor: "I'm the Doctor, you're nuts and I'm going to stop you." Great line!
She reveals Mr Sweet, the leech attached to her body and how she aims to destroy the world. Ada walks in and attacks her as Clara uses a chair to stop the launch. Not letting the Doctor use his Sonic. Hey she only used the chair after he used it first to get her out when he smashed the belljar. He uses it again to break the window as Gillyflower takes Ada hostage. There's a secondary launch button to the rocket and this time she manages to launch it. Only Jenny and Vastra turn up with the big red bottle. Strax arrives and holds a gun on Gillyflower who shoots at him and he shoots back of course. She falls down the stairs and Sweet leaves her dying body. Ada tells her she won't forgive her. Then proceeds to kill the worm with her walking stick.
Jenny asks about Clara but it's complicated to explain. He drops her back home and the children have photos of Clara and her time travelling adventures on the computer, they found them at school. They want to time travel too or will tell their parents. Calling the Doctor her "boyfriend." As if we haven't had enough snogging this time round, ha. SO next ep it's those Cybermen again. Can't have an episode without them.
Note Sherlock-esque music when Vastra was meeting with Thursday in the conservatory. Clara reminded me of Ingrid Bergman with her dress and her hair done like that from Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Gaslight. Thought the large vat the bodies were being dunked in was a bit Carry on Screaming, without the shouts of "frying tonight!" The Doctor in his long Johns was a bit Odd Bod like from the same film too, if not a little akin to Frankenstein's monster. Thus Ada referring to him as "my monster." Also the Doctor speaking in a northern accent, as he did in season 5's The Lodger. With his line of, "things 'taint right 'tat mill."
Funny them using the name Doctor and Mrs Smith, since last ep we were shown the key with the name Smith on it, even though we know the Doctor has been known as John Smith in the past. The Doctor mentioning dropping off the gobby Aussie at Heathrow Airport was a reference to Tegan. Brave heart, Clara." Tegan was the Fifth Doctor's (Peter Davidson) companion. Also when the Doctor says "look at the muck in 'ere" which was said by Larry Grayson from the BBC's The Generation Game.
Mark Gatiss especially wrote the parts of mother and daughter here for real life mother and daughter, Diana Rigg and Rachael Stirling, as Rachael said they have never been in anything together.
This was a fun and enjoyable episode and Doctor Who seems particularly more interesting when it's set in Victorian times. Though the doctor doesn't make an appearance until at least 14-15 minutes into this episode and here Vastra and her companions were the ones who discovered the mystery behind the Doctor being involved and disappearing. The Crimson Horror having a striking similarity as a title for a Sherlock Holmes mystery!
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