The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) et al land in Norway this time; as Graham (Bradley Walsh) admires the fjords and asks if that is one in front of them. He's always wanted to come to Norway, amongst other things and places. The Doctor Sonics some sheep and says they're still in 2018 so they're lucky, the sheep aren't fighting humans yet as they will do so in the future. That's all we need, as if humans being sheep isn't enough. Perhaps that's one of their gripes. Ryan (Tosin Cole) notices a cabin in the distance and the Doctor heads towards it, but it's been boarded up. Yaz (Mandip Gill) pointing out it's been done that way for protection, to keep something out. Ryan spots someone looking out, with his perfect eyesight, er which window/door was it? Ha. The Doctor has the Sonic on the go and they should check, just in case.
(NB Justin Case - the name of my next character, it's so versatile!! ha. Copyrighted to me and all that!)
Inside they find Hanne - a blind girl and Graham offers her a pickled cheese sarnie - he keeps plenty of those. After they've eaten Hanne (Ellie Wallwork) says her father, Erik (Christian Rubeck) is missing and the 'thing' takes you away. As they hear noises, the Doctor takes drastic measures and says they should search around. Ryan and Yaz find dead birds in the barn and bear traps, as the noise comes closer. She says they should protect the house and sends Graham into the attic to act as lookout. Wow must be a first where the attic wasn't as spooky as most are in real life and TV. He looks at a mirror and finds he doesn't have a reflection, as Ryan heads up behind him and scares him, commenting they should know if they're vampires. Graham puts his hand through and the Doctor pulls it out, once again using the Sonic. Graham tells her he didn't get lured since he didn't offer it his credit card or anything. She decides it warrants investigating, especially if her father might be in there.
The Doctor writes on the wall that Ryan should assume her father is dead, amongst other things and Ryan should stay behind with her, obviously she wasn't around when Ryan mentioned how Yaz was good with her and he couldn't be with children. But suppose the writer wanted to explore that a little further. As the three of them head through the mirror. Did anyone think of the mirror in A-Ha's Take On Me video when the Doc put her head through and walked in, well I did. (Uh-oh A-Ha being Norwegian too! ha - sorry). She ties some string around a rock as breadcrumbs to follow back (as I clearly said Hansel and Gretel last week). Graham spots a light and they find a Grinch-y type hobgoblin creature with a hideous name akin to Rumpelstiltskin, but more Norwegian sounding! Okay it was neither, but still anything would've been better than Ribbons of the Seven Stomachs (and what's with the number 7, mentioned twice in this ep.) He will tell them if he saw her father and a monster but it will cost and they have nothing to trade. As they also ask for the light.
Ribbons (Kevin Eldon) then sees the Doctor's Sonic and agrees to tell them in exchange for it. She wants answers first and he tells her he'll take them where he is. As well as threatening Graham with a knife. She agrees but payment will be on delivery and he has to leave the knife. Obviously he'll have another one. As they carry the light, a red balloon lantern; a moth is attracted to it and Ribbons throws a dead rat at it. He says he has meat to distract it otherwise it will signal to others. He also cuts the Doctor's string. As more moths do attack and the Doctor tells everyone to stand still as Ribbons told them to move so they mustn't. Ribbons is attacked by the flesh eating moths and they leave. Finding a way out of the mirror.
The mirror being a portal. Did you notice the Doctor's and Graham's hair partings were now reversed as though they were in an alternate mirror image or reality and Erik's T-shirt lettering was also back to front. He was hiding out here as he came to see Hanne's mother Trine. (Lisa Stokke) Telling them this is the only place he can be with her. He left Hanne behind and Yaz and Graham both want to take a swing at him. Trine tells them about their 'friend' who arrived here when they did. Graham finds it's Grace (Sharon D Clarke) and they talk of her frog necklace that both he and Ryan brought for Christmas as they didn't consult each other and she loves frogs. Also recalling she was killed by that thing on the crane. Graham tells her he's been to another planet and he's seen things. Funny she wasn't much interested in Ryan and of course if that was the real Grace, she would have been. But also that Ryan didn't get to see her either.
Yaz and the Doctor notice the room is different and they can be seen in the mirror reflection. The Doctor now gets it. The cave was an anti-zone as Ribbons told them and it separates their universe from this world. Also recalling what her fifth grandmother told her, she had seven of them and one said that one of them was related to the Zygons. She told her about the consciousness, the Solitract which had to stay separate from their world. Well, watch it for a better and more interesting explanation of this. Meanwhile Ryan goes outside and finds the wire he found inside leads to a speaker which is playing the sound of the monster. As Hanne knocks him out by shutting the door on him and taking the key to the attic. She goes through the mirror and finds the others, after Ryan catches up to her and they pass Ribbon's DB. However Ryan doesn't go through, typical.
The Doctor tells Graham that isn't Grace and he says he needs to help Ryan. Eventually realizing it's not her since she'd want him to help Ryan. She wants Graham to stay here and the Doctor tries to convince him otherwise as Yaz is expelled back through the mirror. The Doctor also tells Trine that Erik is worthless and she should keep the Doctor here since she's seen the universe and could tell her about it, getting Trine to expel Erik too. Yeah - go be a father! As their world begins to collapse she says she needs to stop otherwise both worlds will be destroyed. The Doctor ends up in a white room where she sees a frog on a chair. She likes frogs and so became one. The Doctor tells her she needs to go back and the frog eventually lets her go; as the Doctor says they'll be friends forever.
Erik and Hanne will return to Oslo and Graham sits by the river. As Ryan tells him he misses her too and calls him "grandfather." Which took a while coming and Graham wants him to repeat it. Funny part where Ribbons grabs Graham and he tells him he smells like wee and he replies it's not his. Then again he does the same for a second time and Graham tells him he smells even worse! As well as his other line of how some maniac could be keeping children's shoes, as Yaz remarks there are children's shoes in the cabin.
The anti-zone is a "protective buffer designed to keep threats at bay." The Solitract, which is what the Doctor says she met as a frog at the end, is a "whole conscious universe" going back as far as ever, and it's alone. Thus all the so-called 'subterfuge.'
Guessing Erik didn't take Hanne with him as he was afraid she would recognize Trine for who she really is, as she did so when she heard her, okay that's a stretch, but as the Doctor says it couldn't stand the strain of having so many people here before it started to buckle under the pressure, so probably one reason why he didn't take Hanne there too. It wasn't the life for a teen though was it, forever being around her parents in their own little world with nothing for her to do. Also the frog probably alluding to another fairytale. Though the Doctor meeting someone she knew would've been unlikely in that it would've been too rushed as a finale and also the flesh eating moths were most likely a defence for the Solitaract in not allowing anymore humans to enter the other 'realm' thus upsetting the balance and collapsing altogether. That would've also taken out their own universe too.
An ep dealing with loss and facing up to it and on a jolly note, the Doctor says the sheep have vanished and are probably off plotting somewhere!
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