Well, The War Between The Land and Sea is over and while humanity seems to have won, there’s a hefty price for that victory. For viewers, that price is enormous frustration at the show’s wild turns, the massive ideas it sketched but never explored and the reality that this is all the Doctor Who we’re getting until Christmas. We’ve talked at length elsewhere about it, but before we dive into the rest of the year Alasdair Stuart takes stock and investigates where this leaves Doctor Who as narrative and specific groups and people as characters.

 

 

The Doctor

One of the weirdest questions about the series was ‘Where was the Doctor?’ On the one hand, this is understandable given that 14 has seemingly retired to Earth in a house where at least two people are on UNIT’s payroll. But given we didn’t see either Donna or Rose, where they are is perhaps the more pertinent question.

For me, I was able to reconcile either 14 or 15 (who at this stage is trapped in the hotel in Joy to the World) not showing up fairly easily. It’s not like the Doctor pops up to solve every issue in Torchwood, even the world-shattering ones like Children of Earth and Miracle Day. Likewise Class, or The Sarah Jane Adventures barring small cameos. Plus in 15’s case, they’re fairly clearly busy (and possibly actively imprisoned) in the hotel and 14 could just be off world with Donna and Rose. Also, being cold for a moment, this is a problem between two of Earth’s sentient races and it may well be a fixed point in time. The Doctor doesn’t interfere, because the Doctor can’t.

The Silurians

The 11th Doctor story Cold Blood finishes with the Silurians being put back to sleep for a thousand years (along with passengers). It also implies that the Silurians who wake up in that story are the only ones who did, so it makes sense they don’t have a role to play in the war. In fact, given Homo Aqua have been active for long enough to have a global culture it’s possible this generation of Homo Aqua view the Silurians as a myth.

The Zygons

There are 20 million Zygons on Earth according to The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion. Given the cyclical nature of their discovery, the standoff with UNIT and return to anonymity, it makes sense we don’t hear from them. They’re either convinced they’re members of the human populace and react as they would, or aliens terrified of being exposed. Either way, not having them appear keeps it simple and also makes sense.

Torchwood

Either still disbanded after the events of Miracle Day or quietly doing very weird things in various time periods if you believe the Big Finish Torchwood range. Which I do because it’s great.

 

 

The Lupari

Very little annoyed, or confounded, more than the entirely random (and rapidly brushed aside) canine genocide that opens episode 5. But perhaps, just perhaps, this opens the door to the Lupari? Introduced in Flux, they’re a canine alien race who bond with humanity and are ultimately wiped out by the Flux itself. But they are very good boys, and time can be negotiated with sometimes, so maybe this is their moment.

Humanity

Now has unequivocal proof of the existence of alien life, and has killed the vast majority of it. I’d love to say this would have an effect and I’m fairly sure we’ll get some reference to it in a future episode. But honestly, humanity’s been here before with everything from the Earth being stolen to multiple Auton invasions. I understand why the show insists on our capacity to live in denial but I wish this was something it could move past. The world is much more interesting and dynamic if humanity begins to grow into the species we’re told it will be.

As an aside, the fact Homo Aqua’s cities are deserted, and the reference to its technology being concealed absolutely screams for a story dealing with human scavengers running afoul of Homo Aqua defences in an abandoned city doesn’t it?

Homo Aqua

Now confined to the Marianas Trench and all but wiped out, Homo Aqua is down but not out. We’re shown the deaths of the lead conspirators against it, one in a very Waters of Mars-esque way, and we know they’re still there. I also like to think the eventual accord referenced between the Silurians and humanity includes Homo Aqua. It’s also likely that Salt isn’t the only outcast or isolated groups remain outside the Trench.

Salt

Seemingly ostracised from her people, Salt may be in a better position than we think. The war crime humanity commits has rendered Homo Aqua down to a tiny fraction of their former selves as a result of a virus that used Barclay and Salt as carriers. That presumably makes them pariahs. But the thing about pariahs, as the first episode showed us, is they come in useful as witnesses and leaders. Salt especially is uniquely positioned to be a bridge for an eventual peace. Whether she wants to be is a different matter, but in all the mystifying choices made in the series, it feels hardest to believe that there won’t be consequences for both Earth’s primary species and those will eventually be beneficial.

Barclay and family

Barclay, the patron saint of being in the wrong place at the right time, is in a different world now. Adapted for life in the ocean, with the person he feels drawn to he’s an outcast from his people in the exact way Salt may be from hers. Where things get interesting with Barclay is his family and his status on land. They’re both essentially war criminals but Barclay is going to be viewed by most of humanity as a species traitor. How do you live with that? What do you do? Where do you live? And are Barclay’s poor family now doomed to be the most hated people on land? And what was their connection? And has Accord been done before? Was what happened to Barclay Accord or genetic engineering?

Kate Stewart

Kate Stewart is in hell. In denial over the loss of her partner and doubled over with both that grief and the grief of being unknowingly complicit in genocide, Kate has never been more adrift than she is now. The cute answer here is ‘What she needs is a Doctor.’ The correct answer is what she needs is therapy. Here’s hoping she gets both.

 

The War Between The Land and the Sea is on iPlayer now and Disney Plus later this year.