I’ve been thinking, the first song from the Meet the Beatles album is probably one of the best songs to capture Doctor Who, especially from “Rose” onward. Directed this time by Ben Chessell, mostly known for things you’ve never heard of unless you are a fan of Australian/New Zealand comedy like I am because I am weird. Written once again by showrunner Russell T Davies – Yes, I did hold back pretending not to know him, it has been difficult to stop that joke. Meanwhile, it seems we’re in for a series (not season Russell!) of editing by the wonderful Scott Handcock.

It is a fairytale of an episode. If we still used derogatory terms, that could have a double meaning, but “The Devil’s Chord” plays into the possible trilogy (or more) of villains for the 15th Doctor. The first was Neil Patrick Harris’ The Toymaker, the second Jinx Monsoon’s Maestro, and the third is yet to come. Taking Ruby Sunday back to a random Monday in 1963, the two head to a recording studio known as EMI. I’m sure that’s been knocked down and a block of flats have been built on the rubble – the Tories loved that, the state of Robin Hood Gardens, for example.

At the studio is some crap band singing about dogs yet they call themselves The Beatles while they can’t even spell their name right. Additionally, there is some ginger mindlessly singing about love, called Cilla Black, who’ll need a blind date with that writing ability. I swear, you get one drag queen in and I become the cattiest of them all. As it turns out, the musical Maestro themself is behind the toneless tunes of the talentless stars, taking their power and turning it into a (dare I say it) explosive trans, non-binary, drag-esque powerhouse of a demi-god.

We’ve seen it a lot in these last couple of episodes with Ncuti and Russell in particular. There is more fantasy, whimsy, and overall freedom from the sci-fi-esque center of Doctor Who. In a prior run from the powerhouse of a showrunner, I’d have had rather significant gripes, some of which I still have. However, Monsoon’s ability to power through the more fantastical script from the Welsh writer despite her (Monsoon going by she/her) strong American accent, which I often find grating in Doctor Who, somewhat levels it off. Monsoon is the one who, alongside Ncuti and Millie, pulls me through a slow, musically entangled episode of lost hope and destruction.

Of course, I know EMI is now Abby Road, I know The Beatles and I know it is a pun on the musical beat. More importantly, I know who Cilla Black is (surprise, surprise). I also just so happen to know enough about music to know when and where things grate a little from that side, as I’m sure I mentioned during “Subspace Rhapsody.” That along with everything else I’ve said, “The Devil’s Chord” is a drag show centered around loose musical ideas that would seem exciting, entertaining, and all-around fun to anyone who isn’t musically involved or similarly positioned.

Let’s strike up my usual refrain for these TV reviews, “The Devil’s Chord” is not bad, but… some aspects are tiring. It is hard and fast with rules and that doesn’t always land as well as I think Russell intends. I’ve already said that I like Monsoon in this role. I think she’s delightful in this mischievous villain role. That said, her tone shifts from a lilted, musical, operatic “ha ha ha ha” to a low visceral shout that I’ve only seen particularly with non-binary/trans comedy acts. Her power in one aspect shifts to another, never having a rest both visually and musically.

That’s of course part of the character. Maestro feeds off of music, which we see in that opening as they (the character going by They/Them) devour Jeremy Limb’s Timothy Drake. Drake is the only person seemingly to use the Major 7th chord and use it as a motif in music, apparently. This is where I think there is a “problem” with the episode’s idea for anyone who really knows music well enough. The title “The Devil’s Chord” references what was called The Devil’s Interval, more commonly known as a tritone. Russell is right in that at one point in history the tritonal interval was looked upon as something demonic.

That doesn’t mean it hasn’t heavily been used, and, despite the likes of Telemann calling it “mi against fa” (Satan in music) and other noted points in the 18th century calling it “diabolus in musica” (the devil in music), it is still very common. I believe it is the first bar through four of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 first movement Adagio molto – Allegro con brio that the second into the third note and the fourth into the fifth are diminished fifths. Otherwise known as augmented fourths or quite simply tritones in the diatonic scale.

I can hear the comments of “oh, but that’s 1800, Maestro takes the power of music from Drake in 1925.” Yes, so let’s talk about one of my favorite pieces ever and talk about Holst. You may know the piece of music titled The Planets 1. Mars, the Bringer of War, mostly because it had been featured in a small indie film called Star Wars and heavily inspired John Williams in creating the soundtrack to the film itself. If you need a lesson in what a tritone is and how it makes you feel, there is no better piece for it.

Gustav Holst would premiere this beautiful piece composed between 1914-17 in September of 1918. Several years before Drake “uncovers” this mystery chord and piece of musical majesty. Let’s make it a trifecta of tritones as I point out Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) is also an example of tritones being used back in 1894. It isn’t the use of it as the thing to bring out the villain that’s the issue, I think just a line to make it clearer why Drake is the one to “release” Maestro would solve it. Something about Henry Arbinger needing to hear it, maybe.

As an idea, it is great because if you don’t know how integral tritones are to music you don’t realize how much you hear them. From Danny Elfman’s “The Simpson’s Theme” to “Purple Haze,” Bowie’s “Station to Station” to Black Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath.” Charlie Parker’s blues standard “Blues For Alice” uses a II V I chord progression but in the 6th bar of this twelve-bar blues track you have a II V without the resolution, shifting down a semitone with the 8th bar ending in a Db7 resolving into a GMaj7 on the start of the 9th bar. That itself is a tritone.

I’m clumsily explaining this, but it is important to the episode and the history of The Beatles. The four of them can’t write a tune between them due to Maestro’s demi-god powers, seemingly instilling fear among the masses to the point all music is toneless and lyricless somehow. That’s the other thing I don’t fully understand from Murray Gold’s standpoint in writing: He was asked by Russell to fart out a crap Beatles song and a crap Cilla Black song, both of which are lyrically dull. My understanding of Maestro’s power is that tone is what they affect, which shouldn’t make the rhythm and/or lyricism so bad.

Everything is written matter-of-factly in run-on explanations. It is very childish and ignores all ideas of symbolism or general ideas of how lyrics are written. Very early Syd Barret work. It is hamfisted in the broadest strokes sort of way, an attempt to club you over the head with just how all-powerful Maestro is and how important a tritone is to music as it progresses. The idea itself is used to good narrative effect but I know it plays hard and fast with the “rules” of music, enough to where it grates. It doesn’t completely take me out, but it certainly underlies my whole opinion.

I don’t hate the idea, the narrative of The Doctor bringing Ruby back here, giving her the moment to play piano which we saw her do in “The Church on Ruby Road,” and the big dramatic expansion on a drag act, along with the general structure is enjoyable. What I think doesn’t work so much is that Monsoon’s Maestro never lets up for the entire time they are on screen. in reflections, she’s mugging into the camera, in front of the pianos she’s lilted then shouting, and generally giving her everything. In a slower-paced episode like “The Devil’s Chord,” sustained long enough it is tiring.

I also like something from the very beginning that seems to have gone over some people’s heads. Before Ruby decides where the two will go it is clear time has passed, they aren’t in their “Space Babies” costumes. In fact, despite the costume change, I think Ncuti’s clothes at the start would have fit well enough in 1963. That said, later on as they head back to our time to show new viewers the timeline can change, he asks if Ruby’s “current” time is June 2024.

What a lot of people seemed to pick up on is that “Space Babies” followed on directly from “The Church on Ruby Road,” while “The Devil’s Chord” aired directly after “Space Babies.” Something, something, timey-wimey. However, there is another clue just before they head back where Ruby insists “You always know,” suggesting once again that time has passed for them and suggesting unseen adventures. I smell Big Finish, books, and Doctor Who Magazine filling those gaps. The other thing it could be is that the episodes were moved around – previously being later in the series.

I am a sucker for a line being dropped in though, and the reason I think Ncuti would have been fine with what he’s wearing at the start is we’re missing that line from “The Unquiet Dead.” Which itself was referenced by the 12th back in “Thin Ice.” That of course is “[…] through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left,” the wardrobe. I like that reference, it is a nice reference.

One more thing about that section of the episode, and I guess the episode as a whole, is Millie’s Beehive. I’m about the only person that will make the connection, but with her hair like that, from certain angles, she looked like a fellow “Northerner,” Sheridan Smith. Smith is mostly known for BBC Three classic by Susan Nickson, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, though she’s also appeared in 34 episodes of Big Finish with 8th Doctor Paul McGann as Lucie Miller. It was a tiny thing to notice, though it stood out as we got that first “OK, let’s dress appropriately for this adventure.”

It is a minor thing but Murray Gold’s appearance is a delight to see. Especially since he’s basically credited as playing himself. Maybe it isn’t this deep but it says to me that Murray Gold is eternal – he was here before and now he’s returned.

Really those two things are more of a buffer before I go into another rant. This time on the case of the 3-4 fourth wall breaks; Jinx’s look down the camera and playing the bass note of the theme, Ncuti’s “non-diegetic” comment, Ncuti’s wink, and arguably that ending twist song. I quite like the first one, and I think I’ve clarified why. I’ve called Maestro a demi-god throughout this piece so far, and that allows for this little nod and a wink. It doesn’t pull me out as much as Ncuti’s actual wink to the camera, but it works for Jinx and Maestro to show they are special.

If you don’t understand what diegetic means, it is about what we as viewers hear and what the characters can and can’t hear (non-diegetic – only we hear it). If you think John Wick is hearing those thumping techno numbers as he murders his way through a small country to revenge his dog’s killing, rethink that. In an episode focused on music like this, it is a funny little nod to us as viewers that he thought all the music he heard was non-diegetic (only we could hear), unlike the musical episode of Strange New Worlds. Simple, innocent fun.

Near the resolution, he hugs Ruby though, and in doing so he turns his eyes to the camera and gives a literal wink. I thought “Ok, that’s ruining the whole thing.” Unless there are Scottish robot sex ghosts on Mars under threat from another secret cult of Romulans, you’d never have Jean-Luc Picard look down the barrel of the camera and wink at you to tell you all the danger is a facade. The Doctor is supposed to be the serious one, the one taking all of this quite literally: from Goblins that want to eat babies to drag queens that stole music.

I know the show has done something similar before, such as John Simm’s The Master addressing the world, 10 explaining the Weeping Angels, and a handful of others. I think Matt Smith did a wink once, and it wasn’t “I know we’re pretending this is dangerous.” Having Ncuti sort of reassure us as viewers “It is always going to be fine, I know this is all play pretend,” rubs me the wrong way (Ncuti could never) because I want the character to feel in as much danger as everyone. Maestro does it because they are cocky, but why does The Doctor?

Let’s get to the egregious, episode-extending, not very good, “isn’t it fun,” possible tease of what is yet to come, happy-cheery musical number. A whole lot of description for a song that simply repeats the phrase “There’s always a twist at the end,” then there isn’t really a twist to plunge our Doctor and companion into danger again. We do get the sighting of Henry Arbinger again, and for those slow on the uptick: Henry Arbinger… H(enry)arbinger. He may be a harbinger (could I use a bigger sledgehammer?) for the third in this possible trilogy of Toymaker, Maestro, and whatever comes next. At least I assume this is a three-part arc.

I don’t think I’d mind it if it were a bit better as a musical number, or a bit shorter. However, it is a standard Grease-like dancing number, with a chorus that I think is trying to indirectly hint at the Toymaker’s arpeggio’d laugh. It at least does the rise up through the scale, but not the dissension back to the root, which is fine. Maybe I’m picking up on something that isn’t there, mostly because I was bored by the almost three minutes of trailer-filler. That and it is another UK-centric reference.

I don’t mind the use of Cilla Black as “the other musician plagued by Maestro’s fear.” She was also produced by George Martin, also recorded music around 1963, and later on in the UK, she’s the fairy godmother of dating shows with Blind Date, a better version of the US show The Dating Game. She’s right up there in the pantheon of “Saturday night telly” alongside Lily Savage, Bruce Forsyth, with a bit of comedy from The Two Ronnies. If you play your cards right, very few of them will be problematic to talk about in 2024.

That said, the music number at the end was simply to get in some Strictly Come Dancing stars for the people that usually catch the last 5 minutes of that before Doctor Who. Maybe next week we can have Bill Oddie clearing invisible mines out of Badger setts. For those unfamiliar with the last two sentences, Strictly Come Dancing is where you get Dancing with the Stars, and is a light entertainment show. The people Ncuti and Millie dance with in the hallway are from that show. While Bill Oddie has nothing to do with the episode, he hosts wildlife programs Springwatch and Autumnwatch, which often air before Doctor Who.

Moaning, ranting, and tangents aside, I don’t think that “The Devil’s Chord” was a technically bad episode despite my gripes with its use of music. That said, I don’t think I’ll be returning to watch it anytime soon. On a rewatch, I might even skip it if I’m not in the mood for it. I like that it tries to be something different and big, but where I think it lacked from Russell’s side and arguably from Jinx’s side is some restraint. I adore her passion as she comes into the show, but by the end, I’m not left wanting too much more as she has given everything already.

I’m enjoying Ncuti and Millie’s dynamic as they come together more on screen, and I adore that there is nothing romantic between them. I’d like it a bit more if she wasn’t pressing too hard on his pass, the mention of Susan was enough – pressing on it to expand “they are all dead” didn’t have to be such a big moment.

I also quite like that we’re given that moment calling back to “The Church on Ruby Road” where Ruby talks about being friends with Trudy and nothing is said of her being trans. I like that we’re talking about trans characters, bringing them up, noting their relationships, but never hanging on those labels too much. Especially as we get a beautiful piano piece. While I’m on that I also like that it is the old woman that is touched by it most, eventually playing music of her own and being attacked by Maestro. It shows the world isn’t completely devoid of hope.

Ultimately, I enjoy “The Devil’s Chord” despite its slower pacing, high, unrelenting energy from Jinx, and its emotional beats showing Ncuti’s Doctor as someone who’s fallible. We’ve seen Doctors in recent years be stoic and hardened by their past, but he is finally allowed to let that weight of being the Doctor press down on him in high-pressure situations. I could have done with moments of rest from Maestro while they are on-screen, at least to show that they are dynamic. The episode isn’t one-note, but the villain seems to be a two-tone track with only six semi-tones between those notes.

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Doctor Who "The Devil's Chord"

6.5

Score

6.5/10

Pros

• Ncuti's Doctor is fallible.
• Jinx brings a whole lot of power as Maestro.
• A great, big idea of an episode, showing Russell is taking risks

Cons

• Jinx could have had a touch of restraint.
• Musically there are gripes to be had.
• Did we need the song about the twist at the end?
• I don't like the faux-piano like it is Big; at least make sure they are hitting it right.