You know what I miss, Hustle. We don’t get those types of shows anymore. Wikipedia says there were several series to the show but if we’re honest with ourselves, once Adrian Lester left it was never the same. Hustle was a great idea, because it was a bunch of con artists explaining, setting up, and executing weekly cons in really clever and interesting ways. That is what you want a show to be, full of fun and interesting ideas. The goal is a show with a core cast that you want to spend time around and you know their motives, and you have a great time watching it. No, I don’t understand why the BBC hired Chris Chibnall either.

Why am I talking about Hustle? “Time Heist” was about as close to the fun sci-fi-ladened idea of a bank heist in the short-form style of TV, all with characters you can connect with. It is one of the few (or only) episodes of Doctor Who in series 8 that I am not constantly wanting to punt Clara through a brick wall and into the eye of the solar flare. Arguably, I’d say, it could have been a bit snappier, much like my opinion of “Eve of the Daleks” someone should have edited this one to have a quicker pace to it. The Doctor Strange episode of What If…? understood that, putting some proper pace and emotion into his actions.

Not that I am saying “Time Heist” is bad, I think it is one of my favorites of this entire series. Some of the ideas might be a little predictable, and I say this with (I believe) this being the first time I’ve actually watched it all the way through. The idea of a cloaked figure setting up the heist while one of our heist-ees is a time-traveling old man that looks like a mix of a professor and magician almost undercuts the reveal there. If you can tell me that Peter Capaldi, the man that used to drink, do drugs, and play in a punk band with Craig Ferguson doesn’t have a hooded cape somewhere in his life, I am not going to believe you.

Back to the episode, it is fun, interesting, and isn’t bogged down with unnecessary standing about. Am I taking another swing at the Chibnall-era of Who? Quite possibly, as this is a concept that could only be done with Steven Moffat’s hands guiding it (one presumes) as Stephen Thompson assumed a majority of the work. As was the case with the last two by Thompson, there is something I can’t quite put my finger on that I enjoy but also don’t love. “The Curse of the Blackspot” was a fun pirate adventure, but I still think there was something off about it. “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS” was again fun, but there is always something about it that doesn’t grab me the same way others do.

“Time Heist” has a spark of energy from both writers’ hands, but something about it feels like there could have had a bit more of a “punch up” to the lines. I think it was Christopher Eccleston that recently said something to the effect that the cast/the show is only as good as the writer. While that is true, I think it is a team effort. I’m not entirely begrudging the acting or the writing specifically, my point here is that Tennant could make a crap episode its own. Smith could do it too, Eccleston never really had awful episodes, but there are two actors I have question marks over.

I’ll repeat it for those in the back, “Time Heist” isn’t a bad episode, but at this point, I think there are still questions of who Peter’s Doctor is. He has nothing on Jodie’s Doctor, who in her final two episodes is yet to define herself as anything more than a silhouette and a title. Tennant, Smith, and Eccleston could elevate a script beyond its means, but at this point, neither Jodie nor Peter are taking a 5 to 7 on their performance alone. Yes, I am counting only the five or so episodes we have of Peter so far, and I’m counting all of Jodie’s run thus far too, which puts into contrast the amount of work the writing does for each actor.

I will say, I do come around to Peter as the Doctor and I think he defines himself beautifully at times. However, here it seems more like a bit of indifference for the most part, and just a bit of fun at the reveal. I don’t know why, he merely seems at times passive in his own stories at this early point. Maybe it is that passiveness or it is some of the writing itself. Something about Peter yelling “come on Psi!” across the room felt, odd? It made him stand out as the old man in the room, and not for comedic and fun ways. It contrasts with everything you think of the man with the bossy eyebrows.

I like the Teller and the story going on there, ultimately making the bank heist one not for gold or treasures of untold riches, but of love. Each character (except Clara) in the heist gets what they want: Psi gets his robot memories back, Pippa Bennet-Warner’s Saibra gets the cure to the one thing that got her on the heist, and the Doctor got to save the final two of a species. However, I also really like the design because it is sci-fi enough but also Doctor Who enough. It is abnormal, it is weird, it is a touch scary in a sense, but also felt camp enough to not feel out of place next to golden space-men with torture guns.

I do think there are some lines, assumedly Steven’s notes, that grate on me and there are others that I enjoy. I don’t know how many times I have to berate his fascination with making Clara the worst human in existence for it to be heard, but “I’ve got plans” in response to being told of another adventure in a TIME-MACHINE after all her antics is annoying. We start “The Caretaker” with a montage of all her rushed jumps back to plans with Danny. Anyone with a brain could tell you there was something wrong there. To which, yes, I still hate every single time the two of them are on screen, they don’t have anything together.

I do like the line about the woman in the shop, I like that woman in the shop. “Why is your face all colored in,” and bits like that reinforce the old-man aesthetic, and display a direction for the character to be in. However, as much as I’ll praise that it also leaves the actual character and actor directionless. Ok, he’s an old man with grey hair, eyebrows and a face that is Scottish by nature, but it takes us nowhere closer to a wise old man or anywhere else. I can’t really latch on to Peter as the Doctor if he doesn’t have much of a character to latch on to.

I had more investment in the bloke doing the announcements throughout the bank, and why? Kevan Brighting, or as I am sure most might remember him by, that bloke that spoke a lot for The Stanley Parable. It was a nice hidden easter egg for me to find, as was the fact the villain this time around was Keeley Hawes. I swear, that woman could be in every program and I will be surprised it is her every time. I never pinged that it was her in It’s a Sin, I only noticed it was her here when checking the casting, and only the other day I clicked that she was in Ashes to Ashes.

Ok, if I am honest, the idea of Ashes to Ashes was awful in the first place, but I need to stop talking about British TV. My point? She is the woman that voiced my favorite character in all of video-games, Lara Croft, after I’d heard Judith Gibbins say “Welcome back to my humble abode, feel free to take a look around.” I swear to you, Keeley Hawes is a Chameleon in a human suit, which is weird because Chameleons don’t need suits to blend in.

Am I done trying to be funny? Maybe. As I say, I do enjoy quite a bit of “Time Heist” but there is something, like all of Stephen Thompson’s episodes, that feels like it could have been more. More of what? Fun, energetic, or maybe, just likable in general. That’s the trouble with not knowing exactly what it is about him that’s rubbing me up the proverbial wrong way every time, but it is something that’s just not clicking between us. Stephen, it is not me, it is you.

It is also not Douglas Mackinnon, despite a large portion of the episode consisting of large open industrial corridors or lavishly sized bank vaults and lobbies. He keeps it interesting beyond the sparse backgrounds. That opening segment with the four heist-ees holding the worms is too dark to really make out the back wall, but somehow it is still an interesting enough scene through writing and direction. It is just a shame he’s only got two episodes left and one of them is a favorite of mine for Christmas specials, the other, not so much.

Conclusively, it is hands-down the best episode of the series so far, and putting aside my love of one scene in a later episode making the entire episode, it will be by the end. I can begrudge some bits that don’t strike the same chord they are aiming for, but generally, there is a bit of heart and an interesting concept within the entire episode. If there were standouts to the episode it had to be Pippa Bennett-Warner and Keeley Hawes, never missing a note for each character. “Time Heist” was fun and interesting, but lacked the elevation of a Doctor that had found their shoes, coat, and multi-colored scarf.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Doctor Who "Time Heist"

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Interesting direction and writing, very Hustle.
• Kevan Brighting, always a delight.
• Keeley Hawes, despite hiding in plain sight.
• Pippa Bennet-Warner's Saibra.

Cons

• Could use a bit of punching up.
• The bomb was a bit of a damp squib.