“You can’t do this, you know. You can’t keep us down here against our will!” Investigating a conspiracy on board the Twist, the Doctor, Hattie and Jakob have discovered the real truth about the space station. But now they know its shadowy secret, the hyper-evolved Foxkin cannot allow the Doctor and his new friends to leave. With the very foundations of the Twist proven false, will its species be able to settle their differences? Will the Doctor be able to prevent an all-out war…?

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!

And you thought the only Twelfth Doctor episode with Foxes in it was Mummy on the Orient Express! No, the canids in this story are the Foxkin, intelligent bipeds that evolved from ordinary foxes on a space station in the absence of the humans the vessel was intended for. It’s similar idea to the Cat in Red Dwarf, but with foxes… and fewer laughs.

The Twist comes to an unconvincingly convenient and sappy ending, with the Doctor managing to overcome fear and prejudice among the inhabitants of the station by staging a rock concert. “I know it’s terrifying – to face the unknown,” he tells the gathered crowd, “but you must remember who you are. Don’t be the monsters. Be better than that. Be human.” Oh, please! And at a punk rock concert – hardly the most calming and peaceful musical genre.

A more trifling imperfection is that the dialogue refers to the Doctor wearing a “sharp suit”. Evidently writer George Mann did not have the Time Lord’s hoodie and t-shirt outfit in mind, though that is how artist Mariano Laclaustra has chosen to depict him. It certainly is the more rock ’n’ rock look.

The very end of the episode is good, though, as the Doctor is joined in the TARDIS by his new companion, Hattie, and he prepares to play her a tune he thinks she’s love. You can almost hear the end title music after that closing panel. Diddly-dum, diddly-dum…!

5

Richard McGinlay