Doctor Who 12.8 "The Haunting of Villa Diodati"

                                             
This episode of Doctor Who was one of the best thus far this series, yeah don't agree with me, aside from the fact there was some 'borrowing' from other films and the like.  The skeleton hand was reminiscent of The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) where the severed hand of a pianist returned to cause havoc.  As well as the rooms folding in on themselves and ending up in the same place going round in circles, reminded me of the Winchester Mystery House, not the movie, but the actual house.

Anyhoo as Byron (Jacob Collins-Levy) plans to read a horror story to the gathered company at Shelley's house at Lake Geneva, June 19816, there happens to be a knock at the door, revealing none other than the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) et al.

Aside from the fact Byron was a complete coward and the Doctor made reference to Ada, his daughter, as we knew her from before.  The revelation that Shelly had anything to do with the lone Cyberman wasn't much of a revelation.  As for ghosts being real or not real, I would've thought that after having encounters with Charles Dickens, much of this wouldn't' be a mystery for the Doctor after her comment of ghosts not being real.  Okay she didn't actually come across any per se, but surely his works said otherwise.  

Elise leaves the baby in the nursery unattended and by the window when there's a storm outside, yeah that was clever and finds a vase crashes against the wall, along with several ghostly appearances.  As the skeletal hand comes out of the painting and goes on a murderous rampage.  Well only murderous when it hurls itself at Ryan's (Tosin Cole) neck and especially when he's challenged to a duel by Dr John Polidori (Maxim Baldry).  Saved by the hand! Well Graham (Bradley Walsh) wasn't going to be his second but only cos there wasn't going to be any duel.

Well the Doctor too, as she Sonic's the hand away and the valet, Fletcher hits it to the ground with the tray where it becomes dust.  Which the Doctor then proceeds to taste and concludes it's nothing more than a human hand.  Byron admitting he has a skeleton in his room, was going to say in his closet, well... He's collected artifacts from wars and the Doctor takes a fancy to a helmet which she's going to come back for.  The skull and two hands are missing from the case.

Yaz (Mandip Gill) has a conversation with Claire (Nadia Parkes) who was breaking into his room to see if Byron had any letters that may show his feelings towards her.  As Yaz sees a ghostly apparition for an instance.  Though she sat next to the painting on the floor but doesn't notice the hole in it.  As Graham couldn't find the little boy's room, he sure did hold it for the entire ep, ha.  He also goes round in circles and ends up where  he started.  Missing being watched by another apparition.  Yaz is irritating me from way back as she really tries to be so clever and the way she confronted Claire at the door, I mean it's not your house is it and she's not even a guest here, more an interloper!  The Doctor surmizing there's something inherently evil at work here in the house.  

As Mary (Lili Miller) mentions Shelley (Lewis Rainer) seeing a spectral image at the lake and as they rush to the window they see this again.  As Elise sees this too but she doesn't do anything about the baby until she hides with William, but then she doesn't stop him from crying, thus there wasn't any point in hiding.  Graham is charged with looking after Polidori, his "you only had one job" comment from the Doctor when he goes sleepwalking and walks through walls after Graham loses him.  A clue for her to tell them to close their eyes and they find the door leading them out to the rest of the house.  Then there was Graham seeing a woman and girl ghost and his sandwiches, but it doesn't click that they may not be real as they don't acknowledge him.  

They see the spectral image again and the Doctor realizes it's a traveller in time trying to get through.  He gets through into the house and it's a Cyberman. The Doctor coming across them before, obviously and she goes after him alone as he is searchign for something, "the guardian."  She doesn't want the others to follow since she doesn't want to see them losing their free will and humanity and becoming mindless AI hellbent on war.  The Cyberman getting Fletcher and Elise but taking William.  Whom the Doctor finds covered on teh floor later on.  So why did the Cyberman cover him if later on he tells them he didn't kill William since he was a worthless baby.  His intention was he'd eventually suffocate or die of neglect and hunger when he killed everyone.   Yaz then comes up with the idea that the Doctor technically said not to follow her so they split up and search the house.  Graham, Claire and Polidori coming across Shelley in the basement.

He has been channelling the Cyberman and he is the guardian which explained all the symbols and writings on the walls of his room.  The Cyberman's name is Ashad and he answers Mary's questions more so than he did the Doctor's but then revealing his true nature.  That like Frankenstein's monster, he wasn't kind or even remotely human, devoid of all feelings.  Harnessing his power from the storm, the energy making him stronger, just as Frankenstein's monster was created during a storm.  He is actually after the Cyberium (and not one where fish reside either). This one's able to teleport and at first as the Doctor feigns Shelley's death to release it, the Cyberium comes to her and she can feel it inside of her.  Taunting Ashad by saying it came to her and not him.  Prompting Ashad to reveal his ship in the clouds and destroying the planet.  Leaving the Doctor with no choice but to return it. 

The Doctor now having to chase it so that the future isn't destroyed, wasn't exactly her leashing of it onto the world.  It was Ashad who arrived here as a traveller, though how did Shelley end up with the Cyberium, aside from his walk by the lake.  It appears to have entered his body just as it did the Doctor. 

This famous get together on a dark, dank, stormy night of course was the inspiration for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and here the allusion was to her meeting the lone. almost Cyberman and appealing to what maybe left of its humanity.  Obviously he doesn't have any and no soul either, no matter how hard she tried to reconcile it to its own humanity.  As well as the Doctor getting her own exposition on sacrifice again and taking life unnecessarily, I mean how many times has she said how dangerous it is to change even a tiny snippet of history and the lasting implications for humans and the future.  Yet she still has to say it here.  By now they should know she's not one for killing so when they chance upon killing Shelley as a solution, they don't think of the bigger picture.  She has never advocated killing for the sake of it, or per se. 

Doctor Who 12.7 "Can You Hear Me" Review

                                            
Our story begins in Aleppo, Syria 1380 when a girl, Tahira (Aruhan Galieva) asks to come into the asylum.  Here her fears are unleashed as a hairy monster with sharp claws takes away her friend, Maryam (Sirine Saba) and everyone else at the place.  The Doctor (Jodi Whittaker) drops back Yaz (Mandip Gill) at home for the anniversary she's here to celebrate with her sister, Sonya (Bhavnisha Parmar).  She can cook now and that comes as a shock to Yaz.  But we're not told what the anniversary is for, except it appears to be a painful time for them.

So Yaz it appears was empowered in this episode when Sonya says she always runs away so she's no help.  Apparently this probably emboldens her for what's to come over the next few weeks.  Well only 3 eps left.  Ryan (Tosin Cole) turns up at his friend, Tibo's (Buom Tihngang) place who is scared as he's uses all his locks on the door and doesn't want to let Ryan in, but he had chips! Reluctantly he does and Ryan gets to the bottom of this asking what's wrong with him.  He is hesitant in telling him since he doesn't want to be laughed at.  He tells Ryan about the strange man in his dreams but he's really in his flat.  Ryan stays over and he sees the man place his disembodied fingers in Tibo's ear.    Cue complaints about encouraging the hacking of fingers for the impressionable viewers.  He then vanishes with Tibo when Ryan confronts him.

Graham (Bradley Walsh) is in a card game with his friends who tells them he's feeling better now whilst being on a cruise.  He gets a vision in his head of a girl asking for help on some sort of a planet.  Yaz dreams of being in the open road with Sonya and a police woman behind her.  Then the man appears in her flat too.  The Doctor also sees the man in the TARDIS and she finds there's a clue leading to Aleppo which she decides to visit alone of course.  She finds Tahira and the creature appears again.  Of course that was her own manifestation of her fears. The Doctor doesn't get any reading on the Sonic as the creature doesn't exist.  She does find a hair on the wall which she analyzes but still gets nothing, even though the hair is real.

The others tell her what happened and she pinpoints the planets Graham mentioned after plugging him into the TARDIS telepathic device, which is painful.  They come in space where she sees two planets heading for a collision course and spots something in between them.  It's the woman Graham saw asking for help and the Doctor tries to reverse the lock holding her prisoner.  As the others vanish looking for Tahira, the man appears again and releases his fingers to capture them. Tying them up.

He then confronts the Doctor and we get the usual exposition about how humans are pathetic whereas she defends them.  He is an immortal, Zellin (Ian Gelder) and he's playing with the humans as fun to last through eternity.  He tells the Doctor he knew she would come and also help rescue the other deity friend of his.  The people of the planet locked her up in the hopes of destroying at least one of them, setting their planets on a collision course, after the gods messed with them over the years, causing fighting and wars.  The companions each have dreams where Graham is told by Grace that his cancer has returned and he only has hours to live.  Grace asking why he didn't save her.  Ryan's is more about Earth burning in fire in the future and Tibo asking where he was.  Yaz is more of the same of running away and is spoken to by the policewoman, Anita Patel (Nasreen Hussain) who convinces her to go home and places a bet that she will be okay and to look her up in three years.  The Doctor is confronted by the Timeless Child, heading ever forward to this story.

Zellin mention the Celestial Toymaker and the Black Guardian and is overjoyed the Doctor fell for his cunning plan to rescue Rakaya (Claire-Hope Ashitay).  The mysterious creatures, Chagaskas (seems like we needed a little chug of something here) as to the dire nature of this plot.  As it was Tahira's creation to begin with why even have the Doctor travel there to begin with to get her.  Tahira did much of nothing, except the Chagaskas being used to catch Zellin and Rakaya into the orb again and lock them away.  Their dreams aren't so fearful or scary either.  Just more fuel to see what the Doctor now sees in the child. 

The Doctor is caught and the pair go to Earth to torment the people there and Rayaka wants to take it slow as they have billions of years.  Oh yeah well the rate at the which the planet is being consumed is anything to go by, infact does she have billions of years.  Anyhow, the Doctor wriggles her hips, well kinda, to get the Sonic out of her pocket and catch it so she can undo her ties, releasing the others.  Using the orb and the Chagaskas, Tahira can get the two into the orb, fearing for their lives, but they're immortal what harm could it do them.

Graham tries to tell his real fears to the Doctor who isn't very sociable and replies she'll come up with something reassuring about two minutes later.  However there must be some cure out there if Graham ever needs it.  Ryan helps Tibo get help as he's not one for talking in group counselling.  As Yaz visits Anita to give her the 50p in the bet.  She remembers Yaz of course.  Ryan wonders how long they can keep doing this as they're older and people are moving on without them.  Even if, as Yaz says, the Doctor can put them back at any time, he says they're changing and everyone else isn't.  The Doctor breaks up their desperate talk to tell them "Frankenstein" and they'll need a change of clothes.

Seems like just a filler ep which really didn't add much to the scheme of things this series.  Their fears weren't that drastic or scary, except maybe graham, but he still fears not being bale ot help Grace, would've thought that was more guilt than anything else.

Doctor Who 12.6 "Praxeus" Review

                                              
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. 

Uncle Vanya - Harold Pinter Theatre

                                                 
Anton Chekov's play brought to life in such topical fashion, but still maintains it's subtle nuances on what was written over a hundred years ago but is reminiscent of today.  Comedic elements add to the fray of the opening scenes in Summer in the garden of the Serebryakov estate where Dr Mikhail Astrov (Richard Armitage) has been summoned to check up on Professor Aleksandr Serebryakov (Ciaran Hinds) who has ill health but really doesn't want to see Mikhail, as he finds out he's been gallivanting around the gardens.  Cue Uncle Vanya (Toby Stephens) who has tirelessly looked after the estate and brought up his sister's daughter, his niece, Sonya (Aimee Lou Wood). Unrequited love rears its ugly head as she pines for Mikhail who really isn't interested in her, maybe if he'd known how she felt six years ago but not now.  He's more interested in Serebryakov's young wife, the stunning Yelena (Rosalind Eleazar).  Jokes on age, whilst indulging in some singing, lots of vodka and a vast nod towards climate change and sustainability as Mikhail brings out his charts showing how green the land was and how the trees have made way for buildings.  It's progress which you can't argue with but so much green has vanished.  Thought hey, could've been a map from The Hobbit here for some reason, ha.

Then there's the professor's wife, so beautiful and yet off limits.  Vanya longs for her, as does Mikhail who she does eventually kiss and is found out by Vanya, that wrecks him too but Mikhail can only argue how she creates havoc with her beauty and allurement.  Peppered with commentaries from Mikhail of how beautiful she is, but one must be beautiful inside too, in the mind and soul and not just outward beauty.  Though that doesn't stop her being coveted.  Mikhail wants to stop drinking but can't.  Is distraught over losing a patient under chloroform and when he's told there's been an accident at the factory, he lingers preferring a drink before he eventually goes.  For an instance you sense he questions his calling but then that doesn't last when Vanya steals his morphine to end it all after he tries to shoot the professor and this backfires.  With Mikhail demanding back the bottle before he's found out and struck off.  The professor decides to sell the estate and Vanya doesn't want this since he spent all his years here and now has nothing to show for it.

Sonya encourages him to stop this talk and to help her, she will be there for him and they carry on working with the invoices that have piled up as the visitors leave during Autumn.  Coming round full circle in a way as their lives will continue in the same way on the estate, gathering hay.  Whereas the others will be in the city, the professor and Yelena and as Mikhail returns home to his estate full of trees and greenery.

The cast excel in this timeless production adapted by Conor McPherson and directed by Ian Rickson with Toby Stephens giving a funny and poignant performance as troubled and put upon Vanya who has nothing to show for his life at the estate or for his age of 47.  With Richard Armitage showing he's more than capable of delivering a mesmerizing stage performance full of energy and life, including token shirtless moment; making this a must see production.

With the added cast of:
Nana - Anna Calder-Marshall
Grandmaman - Dearbhla Molloy
Telegin - Peter Wight

Uncle Vanya Harold Pinter Theatre until 2 May 2020

Doctor Who 12.5. "Fugitive of the Judoon"

                                            
The Doctor (Jodi Whittaker) finds herself up against the Judoon again and this being the first time the others have come across them. They have a forcefield surrounding Gloucester and look for a fugitive.  This fugitive happens to be Lee (Neil Stuke) married to Ruth (Jo Martin) whose birthday it is on a Monday no less.  She's a tour guide and when she gets her birthday coffee from the shop, she is given a dossier on Lee from All Ears Allen (Michael Begley).  But she refuses to read it not believing he's like that.  The Doctor does some more fixing to the TARDIS and the others ask more questions about where she disappears for days on end and doesn't return after she leaves them on planets to explore.  She doesn't want to answer them and after some coaxing she says  is searching for The Master, hoping to locate him with some form of gadgets.  She always prefers to say "it's personal."  Referring to what The Master told her.

Then the Judoon alarm goes and she's interrupted so we don't really get to see much more on this.  She rushes to save whoever's in trouble, but already Marcia (Judith Street) is executed after their fugitive checks.  Their actions and mannerisms are akin to when we viewed them in Smith and Jones ep and that's to be expected from their particularly characters. (I keep hearing David Tennet's voice everytime he said 'Judoon.') The TARDIS lands coincidentally, or not, into the said coffee shop's kitchen and as they are about to leave, Graham reaches for a cake and is zapped away.  He ends up on a ship with Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) who's in search of the Doctor.  Obviously we got Graham mistaken for the Doctor again as he was in the opening Spyfall.  Until he tells him she's a 'she.'  Which he finds interesting.   He uses the beam and zaps Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Yaz (Mandeep Gill) as they leave Ruth's building as they attempt to stall the Judoon from entering until the Doctor can leave with Ruth.

This after the Doctor uses Psychic paper to show the Judoon she's an authority figure and they don't have jurisdiction here.  She negotiates five minutes so she can enter the building as long as they don't use their radiation cannon which will kill humans.  Inside she tries to get Lee and Ruth to tell her what's happening but they don't and Ruth doesn't believe Lee is hiding anything.  Even after Ryan notices their bags are packed so they were escaping.  Ryan and Yaz search the house and Ryan finds a box in their bedroom which isn't earthly.  Lee again refuses to speak and as time runs out, the Doctor leaves with Ruth.  The Judoon enter the building and are confronted by the woman, Gat (Ritu Arya) who hired them.  She doesn't want him escaping and he's sentimental about the medal in the box which is how she tracked him here.  She has him executed too as she searches for Ruth.

Ryan and Yaz end up with Jack as well and he finds out they're her companions too, as he says he always wanted a threesome, but that's another story.  He finds the beam is faulty so he can't hone in on the Doctor, but as the nano genes are getting him, he has to leave, programming the ship to take them back.  But not before a message of warning for the Doctor about the Lone Cyberman who is coming to wage war.  The Doctor finds herself in the cathedral and she asks Ruth what the text message says but she doesn't tell her.  The Judoon catch up and Ruth busts out into Ninja  moves and breaks the horn off one of the Judoon Captain's face.  She's still evasive but tells the Doctor about the message and takes her to the lighthouse where she was raised by her parents before she left.

As the Doctor searches outside at an unmarked grave, Ruth breaks the glass and is transformed into another person, dressed differently with a weapon.  The Doctor digs and finds a TARDIS.  As they confront one another, Ruth introduces herself at the Doctor and doesn't know how she fought them off other than having her memories triggered when she broke the glass.  The Doctor takes the Doctor inside her TARDIS and she uses the Sonic to analyze them both.  Ruth doesn't have a Sonic and also she used the weapon too.  The Judoon arrive outside along with Gat who is a Time Lord from Gallifrey.  The Doctor doesn't recall any time as Ruth nor does she know Gat but she says that they must be her past since Gallifrey is no more.  She uses her mind to show Gat this.  However Ruth knows she would use the gun even if she warned her not to.  Being so characteristically different from our Doctor who never uses weapons.  Which in a way probably also alludes to why there were three Vics here who were exterminated by the Judoon, including Lee.  Though don't know how much of a Vic he was even if he did speak of honour.

As the others return they end up in the TARDIS and give her the message, not knowing who the Cybermen are, the Doctor explains and also mentions the Daleks.  Heck I was just thinking about them the other day too and how the companions haven't come across any (yet) so hopefully they will.  The others reassure the Doctor that they're here for her always and she can rely on them.  They're not just friends but they're more importantly family, as Graham says.  Which makes her feel better.  Although she did want to meet Jack again.

Does this possibly mean that the Doctor is the Timeless Child that's been mentioned over the past eps now.  Especially since there can't be two of them in the same time space continuum.  As the Master told her she was lied to.  Ryan refers to Jack as cheesy, but a good cheesy and each one of them has different reactions to him, but he takes it all in his stride.  Fans tripping at the brief return of Jack even if just to deliver a message and not really doing much.  So Ruth as the Doctor, destroyed another Time Lord, seeing as they're in short supply.

Doctor Who 12.4 "Nikola Tesler's Night of Terror"

                                             
The Doctor (Jodi Whittaker) follows energy to Tesler's (Goran Visnjic) where he and Dorothy Skerrit (Hayley McGee) are being pursued by a hooded man shooting at them.  She saves them and asks if he's seen anything unusual.  The Doctor takes them to the train where the others are and the Doctor tells Tesler he's a liar.  As the hooded man pursues them still.  She manages to take his gun which she identifies as an alien weapon, obviously.  As they manage to evade the man they end up at Tesler's lab, where she admits she was expecting to see more.  Seems Yaz (Mandeep Gill) hasn't heard of him but everyone else has, where have you been Yaz?  However Tesla is portrayed as more of an intellect than possessing any intellect for finance and well with his knack for inventions seems he should've had the same to help him get investors for his inventions.

He's in period America and is now rivals with Thomas Edison (Robert Glenister) after leaving his employ.  Edison invented the light bulb, his name up in lights so you couldn't forget!  Tesla and Edison competing between AC and DC currents.  With added aliens, known as The Skithra, resembling giant scorpions with a Queen who is a pillager and looter of others' inventions, of course.  Seemed different to other historical stories/characters they had on the show in that the Doctor was in awe of meeting him and really helped him save Earth, as well as having Tesla being open to the existence of aliens, which made it easy as he says he received a message from Mars with his Teslascope. 

References to Tesla's future inventions are thrown in such as wi-fi as Ryan (Tosin Cole) comments and a look at Wardenclyffe Tower.  When Edison's own lab is attacked and his workers killed, the Doctor finds out that the hooded man was holographically masked and taken over the face of Green, one of Edison's missing employees he had spying on Tesla.  The Doctor also discovering that they end up running into a lab where she can mix some chemicals together and exact their escape.  Also taking Edison into her TARDIS, where Graham (Bradley Walsh) ensures he doesn't touch anything. 

With the Queen (Anjli Mohindra - who was in The Sarah-Jane Adventures) I thought of Madam Vastra for a second from the Paternoster Gang.  Ha.  They're after Tesla as they want him to create weapons and other things for themselves as they're too lazy to do it and the Doctor isn't impressed with this at all.  As they come for Tesla, Yaz jumps with him into their beam and ends up on their ship, which is conveniently cloaked above New York City.  Reminiscent of  Ada Lovelace doing the same in Spyfall.  The Queen threatens Yaz unless Tesla helps him.  Meanwhile the Doctor finds a teleportation device she bought in a market and ends up on the ship rescuing them.  The Queen now threatens the destruction of everyone unless she hands over Tesla.  Seems she didn't really want Edison even though her holographic lacky did turn up at his place too.

They end up at Wardenclyffe where Tesla plans to generate electricity and the Doctor says they can get the energy to strike the ship.  Leaving the others to raid his lab for weapons or anything they can fight the Skithra with.  As Yaz and Edison get the people off the streets.  Graham and Ryan find weapons, a gun which fizzles out at the last minute.  As the Queen arrives at his lab, the Doctor tricks her into stealing the bracelet she used earlier and she's transported back to her ship where the electricity destroys her, thus wiping out the rest of the Skithera too, as they're a hive. 

The Doctor getting back the Orb of Thassa which wasn't as significant other than it was modified to spy on Tesla, as it wasn't heard of again.  And just leading the Doctor to her meeting with Tesla to begin with.  That's why she called him a liar as he had the Orb.  As with Rosa, this one is sad in places as Tesla never realized the glory he was after in the sense of his inventions being accredited in his lifetime, which left him penniless and accruing debt wherever he went.  As Yaz feels sorry for him and he labels himself  a man for the future. A moment of sadness for the Doctor as the Queen comments on the destruction of a planet and if she's seen it, a faint hint of Galifrey's music from the Spyfall ep was heard.