Under the Lake

Dear Gary—

“So, we are fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor.” That is a perfect and succinct summation of Under the Lake. The result is a tense, base-under-siege tale as well as an eerie ghost story and an intriguing mystery, succeeding admirably at each even while riddled with defects.

All three elements come into play immediately as the scene opens in the 2119 underwater mining facility with the crew examining a baffling craft discovered on the lakebed. A ghostly figure in Victorian dress appears and the engines of the unknown ship ignite spewing flames which kill the captain, who next shows up as vaporous companion to our Victorian garbed friend. It is a compelling start despite some of the weaker elements already established; those being the characterizations. The crew is generally stock stuff, although ably portrayed.

The most stereotypical of the assemblage is Pritchard.  No effort is made to depict him as a human being. He is Corporate Mouthpiece, nothing more. Every word out of his mouth and every action he takes is in service to this function. When the Doctor rudely dismisses him therefore (“Why is this man still talking to me?”) it’s OK because Pritchard has no thoughts or feelings; he’s simply a cardboard cutout. The only remarkable thing about this man is that he does not survive long enough to undermine the actions of the others as is usually the fate of such characters. Rather, he is quickly dispatched to become a much more interesting ghost.

Unfortunately the most charismatic of the group, Captain Moran, is the first to be turned into a spectral being. The acting commander Cass and her interpreter Lunn are the standouts of those who remain, although their secret desire for one another is telegraphed throughout and is mildly annoying because it is so obvious and yet very deliberately unacknowledged. Rounding out the cast is Bennett the nerdy scientist and O’Donnell the spunky female technician. Their secret desires are revealed more subtly, yet the focus on the one gesture (the punch on the arm) is just as intentional and therefore intrusive.

They serve their purpose, however, these clichéd characters, and the presence of the ghosts and the strange vessel with its unearthly markings keeps things exciting.

Enter the Doctor and Clara. The Doctor and Clara always liven things up, however there are certain aspects of their relationship in this story that are forced and fall flat. Clara is much too gung-ho for adventure and the Doctor uncharacteristically cautious. His “duty of care” speech is contrived and serves to remind me of how bad both the Doctor and Clara are at this particular responsibility. The note cards shtick is another example of the script trying too hard to make a point. The Doctor has rotten people skills and Clara is there to guide him. This routine only reinforces the fact that Clara is a lousy teacher and belittles the Doctor’s intelligence.

On the other hand, the Doctor’s varying reactions to the phantoms are more apropos. His initial skepticism is to be expected and his speculations draw us further in to the mystery. His delight when he determines that they are actually ghosts is infectious. Once he has accepted them for what they are he plans accordingly as he tries to understand them, their capabilities, and their motivations, all of which propels the plot.

The ghosts themselves are another plus, but again despite their weakness. They are fantastically realized and provide abundant eeriness and scare factor. However I can’t understand why the crew doesn’t fight back. After it has been determined that the ghosts cannot harm them unless armed, why not grab the weapons away from them instead of simply cowering and running? I can understand to some extent being too frightened in the moment to think straight; however they have ample time to stand around and discuss strategy when the ghosts aren’t around.

Speaking of strategy—what was the Doctor thinking? It seems the haunted house mentality has taken hold of him. Sending three people out to draw the ghosts into a trap doesn’t make sense. Only one person is needed for the job. Using three only serves to provide the opportunity for something to go wrong, exactly as it does. The ghosts split up. “I’m beginning to think we should have let the ghosts in on the plan.” No, Clara, you should have devised a better plan. It’s an adrenaline rushing chase, though, and that’s a good enough excuse. I’ll even excuse the idiocy of both Clara and Lunn as each stands squarely in the middle of the doorway in full view before the door slams shut. Only then do they duck to the side out of sight. In Lunn’s case he’s too late, but luckily Cass had the foresight all along to keep Lunn out of the alien spacecraft so he doesn’t have the code words embedded in his brain and the ghosts let him go; and how convenient too, that this is the means by which the Doctor figures out that it is the markings in the ship that are the key.

The markings in the ship; the code words—this is both ingenious and head scratching. It is expertly done as one by one characters gaze at the etchings and we see those strange symbols reflected in their eyes. The ghosts silently chanting the translation is haunting and the tying in of Cass’s ability to lip read is clever. The words themselves—the dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple—are intriguing and the Doctor’s conclusion that these are coordinates leading to the church within the flooded and abandoned town is original. However I can’t get over the vagueness of it all. OK, I can accept the space, Earth (as the fourth component of Orion’s Belt), and church suppositions, but how does “forsaken” lead one to that specific flooded and abandoned town? Surely there are thousands of abandoned towns with churches on the planet.

There are a few more minor issues I have with this episode. How is it that the ghosts are able to manipulate the system during the day cycle when supposedly they can only come out at night? Why did the TARDIS materialize on this base to begin with when it doesn’t like being there? Finally I have to question the efficiency of this ghost transmitter idea. With technology like that, wouldn’t you think the alien intelligence that created these ghosts would have had the means to transmit the coordinates in a more direct fashion? But oh well, as we say in Nelma.

As in any good Doctor Who, the action takes over, sweeping any questions aside. The group races against the clock to reach the TARDIS before they get trapped; only half of them make it. The Doctor, O’Donnell and Bennett board the TARDIS to go back in time to before the flood while Clara, Cass, and Lunn remain behind. “Sit tight,” the Doctor tells them. “I’ll come back for you.” Clara trusts the Doctor one hundred percent. “This is how we roll,” Clara states confidently. “He’s going to go away, come back, and we’ll have to listen to how he did it.” However while she says this a new ghost appears and with growing dread the trapped trio realizes—it is the Doctor.

Replete with flaws, Under the Lake nevertheless transcends them all to deliver one doozy of a tale, topped with one whiz-bang cliffhanger. In short, Gary, Under the Lake is some darn good Doctor Who.