The Proteus has hit problems. Morbius on the other hand is having the Best Time.

Samuel Clemens’ direction is as always both needle point precise and hands off in the best of ways. The performances here all feel spacious, naturalistic. There’s no sense of anyone attempting to hit a specific tone because the tone is open and grounded. Given the nature of the plot, that’s a real achievement and if you’re in the market for slightly grubby spacecraft and the people who (mostly) live and work on them there’s a lot for you in this series so far.

Tim Foley’s script is typically impressive and the interview here provides some welcome context. The Dark Gallifrey series are intended to be expansive stories and the measured pace here speaks to that. This episode is packed with events, and the entire cast get a lot to do, but those events are all given room to breathe. That tone also gives you a sense of the geological inevitability of Morbius’ plans. Howard Carter’s sound design helps with this too and there’s a specific thing they do to Samuel West’s voice at one point which tells you just how bad things have got without having to info dump.

The cast for this series are ridiculously strong too. Hywel Morgan and Mina Anwar are especially great as the emerging figureheads of the two sides of the crew, but everyone gets  lot to do here and it’s all fun. Rachel Atkins’ Captain Argento continues to be the intensely grumpy emergency adult we and the crew need and the Argento/Gilda double act continues to be enormous fun. They all feel like protagonists rather than supporting cast and that brilliantly focuses the central theme of exploring what life is like on Gallifrey if you aren’t lucky enough to have (not quite) infinite goes. Tying everything together with a flourish, a smile and a knife to everyone’s throat, West is having enormous fun as a remarkably chipper Morbius who casts a very, very long shadow. There’s tangible, mercurial menace to the role, made even more acute by how much Morbius does here at long range.

Verdict: Middle chapters can all too easily by an exercise in furniture moving but this is much more than that. It feels like the middle of a tragedy, the specific gravity of West’s monstrously charming despot dragging everyone into its orbit. Menacing, playful and very much an ensemble, it doesn’t just set the stage, it defines the terms. Morbius approves. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart

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