Army of Death

Main Range #155

Released: 12 December 2011

Listened: 7/17/21

The horror tropes keep on coming, as this time we have the walking dead. Mary doesn’t sympathize with the monster this time, though, as it’s just an animated skeletal army from the get-go. Oddly, the army pretty much becomes a background event, as there’s a bunch of politics between two competing cities on this planet. It comes across as rather strange, as both cities’ leaders are dead, except maybe not, and who killed whom at whose instigation becomes thoroughly muddled. David Harewood plays the leader of one city, and although he’s a good actor, his character comes off as out of his depth and desperate, wanting the Doctor’s help, but never quite able to ask for it. The monster is played by Mitch Benn, and that’s completely over-the-top to the point of absurdity. And I know we’re not supposed to worry much about the science in Doctor Who, but “bone control” is one of the sillier bits of pseudo-science, without much attempt at all to explain it. Mary spends most of the story away from the Doctor, but unlike last time, not doing anything important. She finally calls the Doctor out on enjoying the threat-of-death stuff just a little too much, and asks to go home. Whether she actually gets there right away or not is uncertain. It’s a poor last episode for her, compared to the other two.