Doctor Who recap: Season 11, Episode 9, “It Takes You Away,” Aired Dec. 2, 2018
Once again, a totally normal trip turned into an adventure entirely spectacular. The team encountered man-eating giant moths and some reminders of the past. The Doctor gave me serious “Rings of Akhaten” vibes tonight, too.
And remember, guys, be nice to sheep. There are only 193 years before the entire renegotiation of the sheep-human relationship and the Woolly Rebellion. You heard The Doctor; they’re already plotting.
Babysitter Ryan
To settle their curiosity, Team TARDIS decided to check out a seemingly abandoned cottage. The only resident at the time was a young girl named Hanne. Hanne was blind and lived with her father, who had disappeared days before. When The Doctor noticed that a mirror in the house was actually a portal, she, Yasmin, and Graham went into it, leaving Ryan to protect Hanne.
Hanne and Ryan were both bummed that Ryan was the one stuck babysitting, and she escaped his watch and went into the portal on her own. However, by the end of the episode, Ryan and Hanne ended up on great terms. Hanne is a brave, cute little thing, and I’m glad to see her make a friend of Ryan.
“There are worse things out there than people”
The monster the gang was worried about when they met Hanne was actually a threatening recording set up by Erik, Hanne’s dad, before he left her. He wanted to keep her safe and inside the house. The reason he left was to stay with his wife, who was dead in Hanne’s world but not in the mirror world – the Solitract universe (shoutout to Granny 5).
A universe where people can live with their lost loved ones – sounds pretty irresistible, right? That’s the point; it’s a trap, luring people into the “ideal” universe to keep them there. So “It Takes You Away,” just not in the way the episode led us to believe.
In the end, though, the Solitract – a conscious universe – just wanted to be friends with people from our universe. Bad things for the right reasons?
I’m sobbing
We lost Grace for a second time! What is this nonsense?! As if watching her die in the first episode wasn’t painful enough, we had to relive that loss.
Like Hanne’s mother, Grace was alive in this mirror universe, despite having died in our world. Graham had to face the reality that this Grace was not the real Grace, and he had to leave her. Then, The Doctor had to let Grace go the same way. SO SAD.
Frog?!
Umm… “The Solitract is a frog that talks like Grace.” I’m not sure how that happened.
So yeah. The Doctor heads to confront the Solitract, and it took the form of A FROG because Grace liked frogs. That’s sweet, but I’m still tripped up by the frog.
“It Takes You Away,” alright. It takes everything you expected away and gives you A FROG.
Bonus reference:
Next week is the last episode before the New Year’s special. Can you believe it? I’m so sad the season is almost over.
However, it looks like the season is coming to an epic close, with The Doctor encountering someone from her own past this time. Any guesses as to who it’ll be? My mind is racing with all the possibilities! Let me know what you think!
Next week:
What did you think of “It Takes You Away”? Let us know at @PureFandom on Twitter!
Doctor Who airs Sunday nights on BBC America at 8/7c.
(Image: BBC)
