The Story and the Engine is one of the most original episodes of Doctor Who that’s been produced in years, and it gets there by going after the thing that makes us human. Our stories. How they shape our world, how our identities and even our destinies are linked to them.
This is Season 2, Episode 5, and it takes us to Lagos, Nigeria, a setting we don’t normally see the Doctor in. It was so well done that I believed they were on location. Come to find out, if you watch some of the BTS stuff, they were on a soundstage. Big giant soundstages, interconnected, that made up most of the city areas. It was gorgeous, and I was really here for it.
The Doctor and Belinda land in a peculiar barbershop in Lagos run by a mysterious figure known only as the Barber. This isn’t your average hair salon. It’s a place where stories are told, and those stories have the power to shape reality. As they navigate this enchanting yet dangerous world, they learn about the Barber’s quest for revenge against the gods who wronged him by taking credit for all of his stories. The episode is a celebration of storytelling, of how stories define us, connect us, and can save us. I know. It’s brilliant.
The Barbershop Is a Character
The setting, for me, is one of the most unique I’ve seen in a long time. The barbershop as a hub of storytelling.
I’m speaking as a Doctor Who fan, and also as a man of color. When I was growing up, my uncle used to take me to the barbershop. We’d go, I’d sit there, and you’d literally hear the older guys just telling stories and riffing on things. I’ve really come to appreciate that, because it’s sort of lost today in, you know, your super clips and blah, blah, blah.
Using that as a storytelling mechanism is such a fresh take, and it works brilliantly. In the context of this episode, I’d argue the barbershop is a living, breathing character all its own, and I think that’s pretty awesome. It’s a community space. People come to share joys and sorrows. “Oh, I broke up with my girl, I’m getting a haircut.” Or, “Hey, man, I’m having a baby, I need a haircut to make everything nice.” Everything.
That’s the central theme of this whole thing: community and shared stories. The idea that shared narratives help us all bond was such a fun approach. I didn’t know what to expect when I saw the previews. I don’t know what I thought. But it was wonderful.
We Finally Have Enough Episodes to Know Fifteen
Ncuti Gatwa is really standing out this season as Fifteen, and I’m going to do a backhanded compliment on this. My complaint last season was that we didn’t know who this Doctor was. And the truth is, I don’t necessarily know that we’re getting a more fully formed Doctor as much as we just have more episodes to see who he is now.
Which, to me, falls under the category of things they need to consider about bringing back more episodes. I know they’re doing eight because that’s Disney’s sweet spot, which is the only thing I can think of. More money equals less episodes. But when you have so few, it doesn’t give you an opportunity to attach yourself correctly, or at least understand the nuances of who these characters are.
With Gatwa’s Doctor, we had no clue who he was, until suddenly we’ve got more episodes to look at and we begin to understand the character better. Now we can see he’s full of energy, he’s full of wit, he’s got his own thing. Yes, he does the crying thing, whatever. To me that only speaks to how emotionally in touch he is, which falls right into who he is. After all, he’s the Doctor that’s finished getting healthy, remember, and not David Tennant, who’s still on Earth trying to get to healthy and going through, essentially, therapy. I love that idea, and it’s finally starting to pay off in terms of who the character is for us.
A Special Fraternity
The Doctor and the barbershop are a unique pairing. On the TARDIS, Belinda’s like, you really have to get me home, and he’s like, I’m working on it, I really am. Then he suddenly gets the idea that they should go to Lagos. Apparently it’s got the strongest antenna, in a specific time frame, whatever. But there’s also this barbershop.
So he tells a story. It’s something we’ve seen other Doctors do, but Gatwa’s version of it is unique. You can see it in his eyes and in the way he’s acting. He has a sense of community there. He says it’s the first time he’s been Black.
There’s a discrepancy there, obviously, because in this same episode we get Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor, and people have argued about it. What are you talking about, I thought he’d already been this before. Remember, Thirteen’s memories weren’t all that put together. Thirteen didn’t fully understand what the past was like. Thirteen just knows there are memories to be had there. I think when we get to the Barber’s assistant, that’s when the connection happens. “Why do I know your face?” That’s when he’s suddenly like, I know you, and a memory that got dislodged back in Thirteen has been unlocked.
However you feel about that, the conversation he’s having on the TARDIS in the beginning is about having a sense of community. I remember I paused it immediately, looked over at Mrs. Know-It-All and said, listen. Here’s a Time Lord who lost everything, who normally walks around looking like a British man, and when he became Black, he joined a special fraternity. He suddenly found a different sense of community.
Nobody can argue with the fact that there’s a fraternity when it comes to wearing this color. I understood immediately where that sense of community comes from. He’s experienced community before, sure. But this one is unique to this specific world and these life experiences, and to the Doctor that would be new. He was ushered in and welcomed. He felt safe in there.
That’s what makes the betrayal by the barbershop owner hit the hardest. The owner’s like, look, he’s here, you can take him, he’s got stories to tell, he’ll power you forever. And the Doctor says, “I love this shop. I loved you, Omo. I thought it was a home for me. I was safe. How could you do this to me?”
I felt that. Oh, I felt that so viscerally. It’s one of those moments that really solidified for me who Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor is.
Belinda Hasn’t Had the Episodes
Varada Sethu’s Belinda started as a reluctant companion. Now she shows bravery, she shows intelligence (obviously she’s shown intelligence before this point), and she helps the Doctor here. She literally walks in and he’s like, “Oh my god, finally you got here.” And I’m like, really? You guys got it like that?
Because of the few episodes we’ve gotten with her, that growth feels clunky to me. The relationship they have doesn’t feel 100 percent earned. I feel like we’ve missed stuff, and again, it’s because of the short seasons. If Ruby Sunday had continued as the companion into this season, then by now, similar to Gatwa’s Fifteen, I’d have a better understanding of who Ruby is. As it stands, I have a very superficial understanding of who Ruby is.
In this episode, I clearly see who they’re telling me Belinda is. But I don’t feel a connection to who they’re telling me Belinda is. Does that make sense?
A Playwright and a Poet Wrote This
The writing is some of the most inspired the show’s had. Inua Ellams is a new Doctor Who writer. He comes from the world of playwrights, and he brings a fresh perspective that I thought was really refreshing. You can definitely tell he’s a playwright and a poet. The dialogue, especially when they’re talking about myths and meaning, is poetic and dramatic in a way that comes from the stage.
The concept of stories having literal power is fascinatingly fitting for a show like Doctor Who. The guy who regenerates and travels through history and time is a major part of the series. To me, those are all MacGuffins for what this episode is at its core. Storytelling. That’s really what the series has been about. Let’s be real.
Where It Falls Apart: Revenge Against the Gods
Okay, criticisms. The Barber’s whole revenge against the gods feels very ham-fisted. It really did.
As they’re telling that part of things, it all began to fall apart for me. Any mystery you built in the first few minutes of the episode starts to come undone, because you’re explaining too much to me. You’re telling me too many things I don’t care about. You’d already established that this guy was intimidating. You’d established he had some power the Doctor couldn’t contradict or handle, so much so that the Doctor tries to use the screwdriver, tries to leave, steps out and sees the giant spider machine thing that’s the worldwide web, if you will. All of that comes together and I’m sitting here going, but wait, what? And then you find out who he is. That all felt ham-fisted.
I honestly think the interaction between Belinda and the barbershop patrons is where this episode stands out the most. The character portrait study, so to speak.
The Fugitive Doctor Is Canon. Deal With It.
Jo Martin returns as the Fugitive Doctor. At one point the Barber starts running through who he is. He goes by many names: Anansi, Bastet, Dionysus, the Greek god of theater, even Loki, god of mischief. He says he’s been them all. And the Doctor’s like, no you’re not, you’re lying. I’ve talked and walked and dealt with those people. Bast tried to sell me her kid.
That’s the moment, because you find out the Barber’s assistant is Anansi’s daughter. And then you find out the Doctor who had that particular encounter was the Fugitive Doctor. They do this really interesting over-the-shoulder trick, which I thought was cool, and you get to see her for a moment.
I know there are going to be criticisms of this. I didn’t care for the Fugitive Doctor storyline. I didn’t care for the Timeless Child storyline. But they’re here, they’re canon, deal with it. There are many things about old Doctor Who that I didn’t like either. Many things about the Fourth Doctor, the Seventh Doctor, whatever. They’re canon, deal with it. Same thing here. This is the story, this is what it is.
And you know what? I didn’t mind seeing her in the least. I actually enjoyed having that context, having her be able to speak in that moment, and then you come back and it’s still Ncuti.
I’d love to see them do that a little more with the likes of David Tennant or Matt Smith, or even Peter Capaldi. The recent ones who are still around and accessible and look somewhat like they used to. Heck, I’d love it if they started doing some deepfaking and used some of the old Doctors. Have him look in a mirror and it’s the Fourth Doctor looking back at him. That visualization works really well. It helps define his history.
I Live, I Die
The minute he starts introducing who he is and talking about the history he has, you see him in the little TV screens, him from the past, all of them together. Oh, I loved that. That’s such an RTD one thing. It hearkens back, for me, to “The Eleventh Hour,” where the Doctor literally shows all the faces, steps through and says, in other words, run. It just harnesses that age-oldness.
And that’s the thing that saves the day. His story is I live, I die. I live, I die. It’s a never-ending story. I dug that revelation.
I thought the picture wall was really cool, a nice visualization. The spider machine was interesting. And we’re getting to see more of the cosmology of Doctor Who, which I find fascinating. I know they said this run is going to be more mystical and less sci-fi, and the sci-fi was something I always loved about RTD one, but I’m learning to dig what he’s doing in this one.
It Ends in Forgiveness
At its core, outside of the barbershop stuff, the trappings, the sci-fi, the whatever, this is a story about forgiveness, and Mrs. Know-It-All is the one who pointed that out. You don’t see that in stories often.
More often than not, you see the Doctor confront an enemy who’s a malevolent force of some sort. He flat out warns them, they don’t listen, and then he’s forced to do the bad thing or let the bad thing happen. You didn’t get that this time. There was forgiveness.
There are people who’ll say that was so anticlimactic, he got away with everything. Bro, it was forgiveness. And I’m really kind of here for it.
The Verdict
Doctor Who: The Story and the Engine earns a solid 9 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
It’s original, it’s heartfelt, it’s beautifully acted, and there are just a few minor inconsistencies that don’t really detract from the overall experience. At least not for me.
The Story and the Engine is a love letter to storytelling. It reminds us that stories are essential to existence. Think about that for a second. They give us meaning. They connect us to each other. To some small extent they can even change the world, and that’s huge. It’s a testament to this show’s ability to reinvent itself while staying true to its roots.
If you’re a fan of Doctor Who, or if you appreciate stories about stories, this is not one you want to miss.
What did you make of stories having literal power in a show like Doctor Who? What was your favorite part, and did you catch any Easter eggs I might’ve missed? The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
