Another topical ep of the show where certain people will have their knicks in a knot over it and claiming it's not the same as it used to be. Add to that the number of times plastic was used and how humans were to blame and well you get the picture. Some mention this ep being a timely inclusion due to the Coronavirus. The action starts right off as the companions are dropped into three different countries, Ryan (Tosin Cole) in Peru where he comes across the element of birds falling from the sky and meeting up with Gabriela (Joana Borja) whose friend, Jamila (Gabriela Toloil) vanished from their tent after hearing a noise. With their fave camping spot being overrun by landfill. (& it's pronounced Ja-me-la not Jermilla! Tsk!) He retrieves the dead bird and tells her how the birds have gathered. The Doctor (Jodi Whittaker) is in Madagascar and comes across a navy sailor, Zach (Tristan de Beer) in the water, as his submarine met with trouble. She shouts to Suki (Molly Harris) and Aramu (Thapelo Maropefela) for help in fishing him out of the water. As for the word fishing, good question as there were no little fishes around or big ones either. Instead we got The Birds and yes I mentioned that before several of them formed an attacking spiral and headed to the lab too. Just like the one solitary bird watching them on the beach too.
Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Yaz (Mandip Gill) find themselves in Hong Kong as they meet Jake (Warren Brown) who is trying to break down the door to a building with little success. He's a police officer as Yaz says she's one too but isn't doing what he does. You see he's looking for the missing astronaut he saw on the news, Adam (Michael McNulty) who texts him for help and sends him coordinates to his location. So how'd he manage that then, or did I miss something seeing as he was otherwise suitably tied up in the warehouse. He's connected to some contraption and as they try to remove him from it, Graham tells Jake to stop since it may be keeping him alive or something. They're fired upon by people in masks and have to unhook Adam anyway. Making a run for it, the Doctor arrives and rescues them in the TARDIS. Having turned up for Ryan and Gabriela in Peru in time to save them from Jamila's zombie-esque awakening. After they find Jamila in quarantine. She opens her eyes and the Doc arrives to tell them she's not alive as they watch her develop a stone-like appearance and shatter into sand. That was more a Medusa touch-like scene. The same happened to Zach.
As the Doctor takes them all inside the TARDIS, of course we get the astonishment of it being larger on the inside; Yaz wants to remain behind and see what the device was that the aliens wanted. Since the Doctor sneaked a peek under the mask and saw he had an alien face. They head back to Madagascar where Aramu stands watch over the birds as they gather in force and form an attack pattern. Poor lad, he was forgotten quick smart!! Inside she uses the lab to see what they're dealing with and asks Ryan to dissect the bird as he must've done that before. She compliments on the lab and its impressive equipment including micro-filtration of the water. Ryan finds plastic inside the bird and the Doctor gets a brain wave, well 'brains wave'. Since the micro-filtration means they consume plastic into their bodies even if they think they don't.
Thus the virus is a pathogen that utilizes plastic and she analyzes Adam's blood as well. Hoping to find a cure. In Honk Kong, Yaz and Gabriela are disturbed by a surviving alien who manages to make it back to the device and transports himself away. Yaz wants to do the same and goes for it, reminding Gabriela of her blog and they end up on what Yaz believes is an alien planet. As she finally clues the Doctor in on what's happening after she sets to work on a cure for Adam, having gotten off Madagascar and escaped The Birds, and finding out Suki is an alien too. With the equipment being a giveaway.
Down below, the Doctor bursts Yaz's bubble when she finds out they're under the Indian Ocean and not an alien planet, which leaves her peeved. Kinda glad, Yaz was never one of my faves, she just didn't seem to do much or fit in, very uppity (so kinda waiting for her betrayal of the Doctor soon!) She finds part of the submarine there and then Suki turns up too. It's her ship and she's an alien scientist who sent the virus to Earth in the hopes of infecting an entire planet so she could find a cure for her own people, the few who were left. (A nod in some ways to Gallifrey and its destruction, as another planet is destroyed.) There follows an explanation of how the plastic clogged up the ocean and the virus find a source to feed off by attacking the microplastics in humans.
Was also going to mention Tim Shaw and the Stenza re the teeth but these weren't teeth, though equally grotesque in many ways. The Doctor finds a cure in the organic part of the ship which can be used to detonate the antigen above the Earth and destroy the virus. However autopilot won't work and so Jake goes back to show Adam he is capable of doing something, even if it involves self sacrifice and we think why isn't the Doctor able to retrieve him, which she saves until the final millisecond, thus reuniting the husbands and giving them a new chance of life together. With Gabriele in tow who will be able to vlog.
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