Review of Legend of the Sea Devils
Warning: This review may contain episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

The middle installment of Jodie Whittaker’s last hurrah of three specials, one that thankfully has nothing to do with Easter or any other holiday despite the timing of its broadcast, Legend of the Sea Devils is enjoyable nonsense. Although certain details of the plot don’t make a whole lot of sense (par for the course), it had a great soundtrack, fantastic costuming, and impressive effects—just the sort of thing one needs for a fun one-off episode.

I had really, really been looking forward to finally getting a story set in historical Asia—something I think we could use a whole lot more of; anything outside of Britain/Europe, really—and I think this episode proved that it’s possible to do that respectfully within the Doctor Who format. But I had to laugh at myself for how, after more than two years of soaking in Asian dramas, I just couldn’t make sense of the panicked villagers shouting to each other in English in the opening scene. (Yes, yes—TARDIS translation circuits. That’s just not what my brain was expecting in that setting.)

There was a lot to love here (and a fair amount to decide not to look at too closely). Having Madame Ching herself on screen was fabulous (though I felt they could’ve done more with her; after all, at her height she commanded hundreds of ships). The rebooted Sea Devils looked fantastic (though we never really got an answer as to why this particular individual had such extreme views or how they rose to power). And the cast all did a fantastic job with what they were given (though I might personally have given some of the guest characters something different/more to do).

Certain parts of the episode set my teeth on edge, like the stars shifting in the sky. Even if the Sea Devil plot to “flip the earth’s geomagnetic poles” had worked, the stars wouldn’t go all swirly like that. (Nor would “longitude [change] to latitude.”) For one thing, the earth’s magnetic field has nothing to do with anything beyond earth, astronomically speaking. For another, even if the planet turned upside-down in its orbital plane (which, to be clear, is not what’s suggested was happening), the stars would only rotate around the sky; their relative positions would remain the same.

However, there were more moments that delighted me than the opposite, like the Sea Devil calling the Doctor a Land Parasite (which, let’s be honest, just makes sense; it’s all a matter of perspective) or the Doctor finding an excuse to shout “Geronimo!” like a previous incarnation. And while I felt they could’ve done more with both Sin Ji-hun (which sounds Korean to me, but whatever) and the Hua Shen, I understand why they were both included in the capacity that they were.

As for that elephant in the room, the potential romance between the Doctor and Yaz, I appreciated how that was handled. For starters, it’s nice to see an actual queer relationship on screen. (Yes, I know they’re not “in a relationship,” but it’s clearly stated that the Doctor is interested in Yaz in that way. Though did it have to be so obvious where bits of the talk got wedged into the Doctor’s frenetic attempts to prevent humanity from being destroyed?) I also appreciate that they showed the two of them talking like actual adults about what they feel for each other.

It’s hard to say exactly where the universe will take this TARDIS crew and their various relationships, but I’m hopeful that Jodie’s final adventure will be epic in all the best ways. With the surprise casting revealed in the Next Time trailer, we’re off to a good start, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed and trying not to set any expectations. If I can do that, I have a good shot at coming out the other side happy.