Following a surprisingly enjoyable first half last week with Under the Lake, the show returned to its regular standards right from the get-go thanks to the Doctor directly talking to the audience about the Bootstrap Paradox and then grabbing his electric guitar once again (first seen in The Magician's Apprentice) to play both Beethoven's 5th and – I kid you not – the opening titles for the episode. Yep, we're back to normal it seems. But following an opening like that and the continued use of the Sonic Sunglasses, it's evident that there's no turning back (unless...) to the so-called glory days despite a strong starting point beforehand. Question is though – was Before the Flood satisfactory enough to be classed a suitable episode for this season or not?
Following the aforementioned disaster of a pre-credits sequence, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), Bennett (Arsher Ali) and O'Donnell (Morven Christie) arrive in 1980s Scotland in a town designed to look like the USSR took over during the Cold War – don't worry, it isn't all that important – and find both the spaceship/hearse that was found on the sea bed and a living Prentis (Paul Kaye), who's there to bury his race's former dictator the Fisher King (voiced by both Peter Seranfinowicz and Corey Taylor, and portrayed physically by Neil Fingleton) who may or may not actually still be alive. Meanwhile back on the Drum, Clara (Jenna Coleman) and the remainder of the crew come to terms with the presence of a dead Doctor while doing their best to stay alive under the circumstances. With both teams in immediate danger and the Doctor's life seemingly already gone, can they both survive the encounter?
I mentioned in last week's review that Toby Whithouse – the writer of this and last week's episode - has a somewhat topsy-turvy reputation when it comes to his work on Doctor Who, and unfortunately his trend has yet to be broken. I don't say this primarily because of that opening sequence, but because the rest of the episode is a little iffy too, ranging from the overbearing push to convince the audience that the Doctor will in fact die (it's happened far too many times these days to believe it'll actually happen) to the different speech patterns Dead!Doctor has with no explanation over than "He said it, so I must say it, even if it never happens" and even a last push at some romance between the Drum crew members. But with that also comes some occasional tid-bits of greatness such as Cass (Sophie Stone) being followed by one of the ghosts who's dragging an axe behind him and even the monster-Doctor duologue is riveting enough – largely thanks to the vocals of Seranfinowicz. But with the return of the rushed ending and those unbearable moments, it does inevitably lead to yet another black mark on Whithouse's résumé.
With a bit more of the jokey nature that we've all come to know and – well, not exactly love, but put up with – is Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, who continues to be impressive solely via Capaldi's performance. Yep, that opening did some irreversible damage on his character sadly, but it's not like he was bad for the rest of it. His emotional turmoil when he finds out about his death is great stuff, and as mentioned before his duologue with the Fisher King does lend itself to perhaps being the story's highlight. So really, it's business as usual for him. Coleman has returned to her state of not exactly being needed for the story except as a way for the Doctor to contact the crew, but still has a moment which – while a big signpost about her impending departure – has a slight emotional kick to it. Sadly, Christie and Ali are largely forgotten about too, despite being the only people for the Doctor to bounce off of bar the living Prentis – who also doesn't get much screentime, and ultimately fails to surpass David Walliams' performance as a member of the same species back in 2011's The God Complex – with both at one point being told to just stay in the TARDIS.
Back on the Drum, the ghost cast continue to be ghostly as per usual, and in the same way as their co-workers Stone and Colin McFarlane are largely forgotten about, albeit in a lesser fashion. They at least have their moments, and McFarlane has an actual purpose at one point as he goes on a quest to retrieve Clara's phone, but it's a big step back for the entire team after a good start last week. And finally, there's the Fisher King – a design of some level of marvel, and voiced perfectly by Seranfinowicz. His movement is a little stiff, likely hindered by said design work, and the screams of Slipknot's Taylor barely makes a presence, but that means little when you have a menacing-looking and sounding villain...who ultimately doesn't really do much.
It's a pity that Before the Flood failed to meet the expectations many had following a good opener the week before, with characters forgotten and plot points either messed around with or missed out entirely while still adding some gimmicky aspects which just stink of Steven Moffat. Some good moments here and there, and still an enjoyable episode, but one that failed to end things off with a high. 6/10.
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