‘Doctor Who’ season 11 episode 2: Doctor’s quest in ‘The Ghost Monument’

“Doctor Who” season 11 episode 2 picked up from the last episode, with the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) stuck in outer space with her new friends, Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) and Graham O’Brien (Bradley Walsh). “The Ghost Monument” finds the gang in an alien planet in their search for TARDIS.

“Doctor Who” 11x02 “The Ghost Monument” spoilers are ahead. The show aired on BBC in the UK on Sunday. It aired Monday on the ABC in Australia.

After finding themselves afloat in deep space, Ryan and Graham were rescued by a female alien named Angstrom in a space ship. The Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz, meanwhile, were rescued by another alien, a man named Epzo, whose ship was about to explode. They all ended up in the same desert-like planet, where it emerged that the two aliens were in the final leg of a race and they were the only remaining contestants.

The Doctor and her companions learnt from the race master, a hologram in the middle of the desert, that whoever got across the ruins to reach the site of the Ghost Monument would win. The prize was a transportation off the planet with enough money to provide for themselves and their clan. The loser would be trapped in the planet. The Ghost Monument turned out to be the TARDIS, which was why the Doctor and her human companions went with the two competing aliens.

The distrustful Epzo wasn’t the best team player of the bunch, but circumstances forced him to trust the group. Angstrom, on the other hand, revealed that she needed to win the race badly for her family. Half of her family were in hiding, while the other half was on the run. The Doctor and the others soon discovered they were in a planet that was a testing ground for the Stenza, the same race of aliens that the group had encountered on Earth in episode 1. According to the writings on the floor that the Doctor was able to translate, scientists on the planet were abducted and tortured as they were forced to find new means of destructions while their families were held hostage.

They had also encountered robot snipers, which became activated when Epzo fired at them. Ryan, frustrated at the Thirteen’s refusal to use guns, took one and tried to take the guards down with it. But when his weapon took time to recharge while the guards were about to fire at him, he hilariously screeched back to the Doctor and their companions for help.

The Doctor deduced that the water had flesh-eating organisms, but she didn’t count on the rag-like cloths lying around the planet to do them harm. As it happened, the cloths almost suffocated Epzo while he was sleeping. The cloths were dormant during the day but deadly during the night, which made travelling in the dark dangerous. They were able to outsmart and kill the cloths by lighting Epzo’s self-lighting cigar.

As they neared the tent, which was the finish line, the Doctor convinced Epzo and Angstrom to walk in together so they could win together. The race master initially refused to declare both the winner, but with some hostile convincing, he allowed the two to share the glory. Although Angstrom tried to ask the race master to transport the Doctor and her companions off the planet as well, the four were still left there.

Without her TARDIS, the disheartened Doctor apologised to her companions for inadvertently trapping them with her in an alien planet. Surprisingly, it was the trio who were optimistic about it, saying at least they’ve got each other.

They did not have to fear for long, though. As the TARDIS appeared just metres away from them, much to the delight of the Doctor. Even with a new face, the TARDIS recognised the Doctor, allowing her to enter without a key. And it redecorated itself. Its new interior appeared to match Thirteen’s new sonic screwdriver, both appeared industrial and had unpolished look to them, though the TARDIS is more bronze in colour and has geometric shapes.

“Oh, you redecorated. I really like it,” she told her spaceship. “This is my TARDIS.”

The awe in the Doctor’s face was infectious; her being reunited with her beloved blue box was a sight to behold.

Next week, the Doctor and her companions will be meeting Rosa Parks, the American civil rights activist whose pivotal role in 1955 Montgomery Bus boycott became a symbol of the freedom movement.