Potatoes Will Roll

I'll say this for "War of the Sontarans"--it's not the worst episode of the Chris Chibnall era. Also, a big part of what makes the episode bad is that the Sontarans aren't really threatening and it was really in the Moffat era that they became purely a joke. However, "War of the Sontarans" was dependant on some sense of real threat not only when it comes to the Sontarans but to violence and war in general. All efforts were sabotaged by ridiculous writing.

To be fair, the ability to stun Sontarans by wacking their helmet vents was established in the classic series. But they were much creepier back then, too, in The Time Warrior and The Invasion of Time especially. Now, especially after Strax, they're basically an ongoing Mr. Potato Head joke. It doesn't help that Dan's parents are able to take out two Sontaran warriors with frying pans. This unfunny, intended humour is followed by the unintentionally hilarious scene of the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) trying to convince people that the Sontarans are an unstoppable, unbeatable foe.

She's talking to this episode's Horrible White Man, General Logan (Gerald Kyd), who's only slightly less of a strawman than Chris Noth's thinly veiled Trump parody in Chibnall's first season. You can be sure that whatever he decides to do, the Doctor will berate him for being stupid or wrong, even if it's something the Doctor does herself in another scene. He loses most of his men in a battle against the Sontarans because she told him the Sontarans were invulnerable, and then he manages to destroy all their ships with gunpowder because she told him not to kill them. The Doctor also somehow failed to notice Logan's men rigging all the explosives.

Meanwhile, Dan (John Bishop) is back in the future, giving the same kind of toneless performance we had from Ryan and Graham. He's already boasting about his experience dealing with aliens in only his second episode. He hasn't even had time to develop chemistry with the Doctor so I can't even form an opinion yet on their relationship.

Yaz (Mandip Gil) is transported to a place apparently related to the season long story arc. There's dialogue about all of time and great danger and the need to repair things and the calavera sugar skull aliens show up. At least this episode didn't feel as muddled as the premiere. I like the little curl in Whittaker's hairstyle.

Doctor Who is available on the BBC's iPlayer in the UK.

Twitter Sonnet #1490

The empty room presumes to place a bed.
But never nothing holds the sheets aloft.
The morning watch removed the evening dead.
No braver men about had ever scoffed.
Gorilla painters paint the lizard blue.
The mountain suit was morning pink and grey.
We talked of skinny stripes and useless glue.
The bucket saved some ice to chill the day.
Electric plans were hid beneath the fur.
A wooden chair is common stuff at home.
A certain king was never really sure.
We piled pillars up constructing Rome.
The laser hat was useless, hot, and cheap.
The rental wine was never brewed to keep.