Doctor Who season 12 episode 3 preview: “Orphan 55”
By Lacy Baugher
Doctor Who season 12 continues this Sunday with “Orphan 55,” an episode that finds Team TARDIS at a luxury resort spa when danger comes to call.
After a two-part premiere episode that brought back the Master and set-up a season long arc focused on Gallifrey’s apparent destruction (again), Doctor Who season 12 continues with an episode that feels much more straightforward. At least if the promotional materials are anything to go by.
It pretty much looks like the Doctor and the rest of Team TARDIS go on a much-deserved holiday, only to (as per usual) stumble into trouble along the way. In the form of some kind of monsters that may or may be not being kept prisoner at this same high-end establishment.
To be fair, after the action-packed, slightly overstuffed premiere, a simple adventure involving the gang finding a monster in an unexpected location feels like a nice return to normal. After all, even if showrunner Chris Chibnall does intend to play with narrative structure a bit more this season, not every episode needs to be a multi-part effort to save all of humanity.
It’s okay to have a little bit of balance.
The official synopsis generally makes “Orphan 55” sound like a pretty basic adventure, but as always with the Doctor, anything is possible.
"The Doctor and her friends discover that the luxury resort where they are holidaying is hiding a number of deadly secrets. What are the ferocious monsters attacking Tranquillity Spa?"
The trailer certainly makes the luxury Tranquillity Spa (yes, it’s unfortunately really spelled like that, my spellcheck is going nuts) look very lovely, but also like its probably full of monsters and/or keeping some kind of really dark secret. Maybe both!
Admittedly, however, I do kind of love the idea of Graham, Yaz and Ryan getting to just relax somewhere fun for a bit. I’m sure it won’t last long, but let’s enjoy some quality fam time while it lasts!
Next. Doctor Who season 12 episode 2 review: A messy but intriguing conclusion. dark
Doctor Who season 12 airs Sunday at 8pm ET on BBC America. Join us here at Culturess for reviews and discussion following each episode!