‘THE DEVIL’S CHORD’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Maestro in the 1960s with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby
So, here we are on the second episode of Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’. As said in my ‘Space Babies’ review, ‘The Devil’s Chord’ was released simultaneously with ‘Space Babies’ to mark the start of Ncuti Gatwa’s first season, which was both on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
Honestly, it’s exciting to have the first two episodes of Series 14 given to us on the 11th of May 2024, especially as they were shown on BBC iPlayer first. Mind you, that was to coincide with the TV episodes’ release on Disney+, which was in parts of the world outside the UK.
There were drawbacks to this decision for both Series 14 and 15 of new ‘Doctor Who’, but we’ll get to that another time. ‘The Devil’s Chord’ is the first pseudo-historical adventure featured in Ncuti Gatwa’s era of ‘Doctor Who’, as it mostly takes place in the year 1963. 🙂
This is an episode that should be very exciting, as it has the Beatles in it as well as Cilla Black and most of the action takes place at Abbey Road Studios, formerly known as EMI Recording Studios. I was looking forward to checking out this potentially gripping TV story.
However, after seeing the episode on TV as well as on Blu-ray, I can’t say that ‘The Devil’s Chord’ is a story that gets me very excited every time I watch it. It’s decent enough, but I think things could’ve been done differently in its presentation and how the story is told. 😐
I’ll try and explain as we go through the review, as I do want to point out the things I enjoyed in this episode as well as things I didn’t enjoy. Needless to say, I prefer the audio story ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’ with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton more. 🙂
Let’s talk about the story. The episode begins in 1925 where a piano teacher named Timothy Drake is giving piano lessons to a boy named Henry Arbinger. I’ve checked and as far as I’m concerned, Timothy Drake isn’t a real person, as he’s a fictional character.
A shame considering what happens to him in this story as well as him being another ‘Tim’ in my league of ‘Tims’. 😀 Funnily enough, when checking out the behind-the-scenes featurette on ‘The Devil’s Chord’, Timothy Drake happens to be played by Jeremy Limb.
Now you may not know who Jeremy Limb is, but he happens to be the son of Roger Limb – a music composer on some of the 1980s ‘Doctor Who’ stories. It was a nice surprise to find that out, as I’ve met and seen Roger Limb a couple of times at conventions over the years.
The stories that Roger Limb has done incidental music for include ‘The Keeper of Traken’, ‘Four to Doomsday’, ‘Black Orchid’, ‘Time-Flight’, ‘Arc of Infinity’, ‘Terminus’, ‘The Caves of Androzani’ and ‘Revelation of the Daleks’. Some of Roger’s incidental music scores are very memorable.
It’s quite lovely to find out that the son of Roger Limb is in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode, and the music connection is a nice touch with the father being a music composer and the son being an actor. A shame Jeremy Limb’s character gets killed off early in the story, but still.
Anyway, Timothy Drake plays a melody to his pupil Henry Arbinger, played by Kit Rakusen, to make the piano-playing more exciting. The melody he plays happens to be called ‘the Devil’s chord’, which is actually a tritone musical chord that first came about in the Middle Ages.
Apparently, the Devil’s chord was banned in medieval times by the Catholic Church, as its followers believed that it would allow the Devil to enter the room. I’m not sure how historically accurate that is, but it’s intriguing as tritones were a thing in medieval times.
The lack of play for these musical chords were thought to be lost. However, when Timothy Drake discovers it by playing it to his pupil Henry in 1925, it awakens a powerful being from within the piano called Maestro, played by drag queen/actress/singer/comedian Jinkx Monsoon.
Now this is my first encounter with Jinkx Monsoon, and it was interesting to see her as the villainous Maestro in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode. Maestro happens to be the Toymaker’s child, following on from the events of ‘The Giggle’, which happened quite recently.
Maestro is the first of the Toymaker’s legions arriving on Earth. The character happens to be non-binary, as Maestro refers to themselves as ‘they’ when Timothy Drake enquires who they are. Maestro is also the god of music whilst the Toymaker was the god of games.
I have come across criticisms where Maestro is over-the-top as a villain, particularly in the way Jinkx Monsoon is playing the character. Whilst there’s truth in that, I wouldn’t say that was a disadvantage for the character. I think Maestro is meant to be the over-the-top.
This is especially when they’re performing through their music or when they’re stealing music from the faint of heart. It depends on how you look at it. I don’t mind Jinkx Monsoon’s performance in this episode, and I’m sure she had a fun time being in this story.
However, considering this is a non-binary character…well, I’m not sure if this is a good representation of non-binary characters in ‘Doctor Who’. Now I’m speaking as someone who worked on a story involving a transgender character that came from Gallifrey no less.
That story was ‘The Regeneration Dilemma’ from ‘The Paul Spragg ReCollections, Volume 2’ anthology by the Divergent Wordsmiths, in case you’re wondering. The Divergent Wordsmiths also have their non-binary ‘Doctor Who’ character called Diamant.
Diamant appeared in the three-volume anthology called ‘A Sparkle of Doctors’, which celebrated ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary. They were sometimes considered a villain in some of the stories of the anthology, but I believe there was far more complexity to them.
The point I’m trying to get across is that I don’t think it was a good idea to start off introducing non-binary characters in ‘Doctor Who’ by having the first one be a villain. I’m sure Russell T. Davies didn’t intend that when he wrote the episode, but the points stands.
Also, bear in mind, this episode is by the guy who didn’t want Davros to be seen as a disabled wheelchair user who’s evil in ‘Destination: Skaro’ and it rubbed fans the wrong way when that happened. So, make what you will of the decision to make Maestro a villain.
It’s also a shame when you consider Maestro is being played by a drag queen and this story is about music in general. It’s something I have an issue with concerning the plot’s development and how it culminates in its climax, but we’ll get to that later on in the review.
After Maestro dismisses Henry Arbringer, whose surname happens to be short for ‘Harbinger’, Timothy Drake is called a ‘genius’ for unlocking ‘the lost chord’. Unfortunately, Maestro consumes the music from his soul, which can be quite horrific to see on screen.
At least, it would be horrific if we didn’t have those physical musical notes getting in the way. Yeah, I’m not a fan of the physical musical notes appearing in the episode, as that makes it too obvious when this is an episode about music. Couldn’t that have been subtle?
Maestro breaks the fourth wall, looking into the camera and saying “Now!” – indicating they need to consume more music from people’s souls – before they play the opening notes of the ‘Doctor Who’ theme music, just as this story’s opening titles start to roll up. 😐
Yeah, I know I’m sharing another video of the ‘Doctor Who’ opening titles as I did in my reviews for ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ and ‘Space Babies’. But it’s quite fascinating Ruby hears the end of the ‘Doctor Who’ theme music on the Doctor’s juke box in the TARDIS. 🙂
I mean, Ruby must have seen the ‘Doctor Who’ TV show that was to be shown in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’, as we cut from Ace leaving Mike’s house to the Counter-Measures group’s HQ. She must’ve seen it to maybe know the ‘Doctor Who’ theme music. 😀
What other sci-fi shows has Ruby seen apart from ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Star Trek’? 😀 Anyway, Ruby is with the Doctor in the TARDIS. I’m assuming some time has passed between ‘Space Babies’ and ‘The Devil’s Chord’ for Ruby to become a seasoned traveller.
This is especially when a reference is made to Ruby being from June 2024 later on in the story. Ruby asks the Doctor to take her to see the Beatles record their very first album. The Doctor reacts with excitement about the idea of meeting the Beatles in the 1960s. 🙂
Doctor: Oh! People always say the Titanic, or Mars, or Bethlehem. But the Beatles! Why have I never done that before?
Well, technically, you did try to see the Beatles in 1963 when you were the Fifth Doctor and you travelled with Nyssa in ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’. But you ended up meeting the Common Men who played Beatles-like songs, which I enjoyed listening to. 🙂
♪ Oh, won’t you please love me? Girl, I’m begging you please. Oh won’t you… ♫ – ARGH!!! It’s back again! After all these years, it’s followed me since I did my review on ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’. Ah well, at least it goes to show that story had a huge impact on me.
More so than for Russell T. Davies, assuming he has listened to that audio story. Or probably not, considering there’s no reference to ‘Fanfare’ in ‘The Devil’s Chord’. Though, the Big Finish audios don’t get a look in the latest TV eras of ‘Doctor Who’, which I find so sad.
And look, people are entitled to their opinions on these things, and I’ll explain why ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’ means more to me as a ‘Doctor Who’ story set in the 1960s with a Beatles-vibe more than ‘The Devil’s Chord’ later in the review. Anyway, back on track.
Once Ruby has made the suggestion to go back in time to meet the Beatles in 1963, the Doctor and Ruby change clothes from modern-day wear to 1960s attire. And they manage to change quickly into their attire once they go out and come back into the console room.
This is the first time that it happens in the Ncuti Gatwa era of ‘Doctor Who’ where the Doctor and companion change their clothes so quickly before going out for an adventure. I can’t wait to get to my reviews on ‘Lux’ and ‘The Well’ for more ‘changing clothes’ scenes.
The Doctor and Ruby venture out onto Abbey Road on February 11th, 1963. And sorry to disillusion people, but that isn’t really Abbey Road that the Doctor and Ruby walk on. That is a street in Cardiff made up to look like Abbey Road where some scenes were filmed. 🙂
I was surprised upon discovering that fact in my research for the episode in the behind-the-scenes featurette for ‘The Devil’s Chord’ on Blu-ray and on Wikipedia. For those who were convinced that was Abbey Road and not a Cardiff, all I can say is, you’re welcome. 😀
Our heroes enter EMI Recording Studios (before it became Abbey Road). Incidentally, it’s amusing to see Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor in 1960s gear and wearing what’s clearly a wig. 😀 And Millie Gibson looks amazing in her 1960s gear, especially with that beehive hairstyle.
After taking a tea trolley from a tea trolley lady, played by Sherinne Kayra Anderson, the Doctor and Ruby enter one of the recording studios and come across the Beatles in the midst of a recording session. It was fascinating to see the Beatles appear in this episode.
Technically, the Beatles have been in ‘Doctor Who’ before in the story called ‘The Chase’ with William Hartnell, but that was an archive recording from an episode of ‘Top of the Pops’. Here, the Beatles actually appear in the story, albeit played by actors as characters.
George Caple plays Paul McCartney, Chris Mason plays John Lennon, Philip Davies plays George Harrison and James Hoyles plays Ringo Starr. Sadly, George and Ringo don’t get much screentime compared to Paul and John, which I feel is a bit of a shame in this story.
Also, the Beatles don’t really have a huge part to play in ‘The Devil’s Chord’, which I found disappointing. This is why I prefer ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’ as a Beatles-like story, as the Common Men are the focus in that story whereas as the Beatles aren’t in this tale.
I also would’ve had the Doctor and Ruby talking to two Beatles each, rather than just one each in the story. The Doctor just talked to Paul and Ruby just talked to John. Surely, the Doctor could’ve talked to Paul and George and Ruby could’ve talked to John and Ringo.
When the Doctor and Ruby watch the Beatles recording one of their songs in a recording session, they’re quickly confused when the song they perform is tone-deaf. The song is also in lacklustre taste, as it happens to be about Paul McCartney’s dog who’s ‘not dead’.
Paul McCartney: ♪ I’ve got a dog. He’s called Fred. My dog is alive. He’s not dead. I love my dog. He loves me too. I haven’t got a cat. Only a dog. ♫
Paul, John, George and Ringo: (in unison) ♪ My dog, my dog. My dog, my dog. I’ve got a dog. I love my dog. He’s my dog. He’s not your dog. If you want a dog, get your own. ♫
Cuddles: (disapprovingly) I don’t think much of this song. Not at all. Even when it’s about a dog. No. No.
I don’t blame you, Cuddles. 😀 And that’s not all. The Doctor and Ruby also come across a separate session with Cilla Black, played by Josie Sedgwick-Davies. For those who don’t know, Cilla used to be a popular singer in the 1960s before becoming a TV presenter.
From 1985 to 2003, she presented the entertainment show ‘Blind Date’, which I became aware of when growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s. Like the Beatles, Cilla Black is also tone-deaf when she’s singing, “I love you, you love me. We are two, we are not three”.
This confuses the Doctor and Ruby even more. To add to the confusion, the Doctor and Ruby witness an entire orchestra in EMI Studios performing ‘Three Blind Men’ very badly as well as being tone-deaf. Now, to be fair, this forms a really good concept in the episode.
You see, I think I know what this episode is trying to go for. As it turns out, Maestro has stolen a lot of great music in the years between 1925 to 1963. The Doctor and Ruby work this out before they confront Maestro and they must thwart their efforts in stealing music.
Now, ideally, the way the episode could have played out is for the Doctor and Ruby to go back in time to when this began in 1925 and perhaps stop Maestro from killing Timothy Drake and ensure that good music survives. That would’ve been a reasonable thing to do.
It’s not what happens, of course, and it confuses things as the plot progresses, but I’ll get to that later on when we come to the episode’s end. I will say this though, Maybe the episode should have started in 1963 and not in 1925 to avoid confusion in the episode. 😐
I know Russell T. Davies wanted to start the episode in 1925 to carry on from where things left off with the Toymaker and connect it to ‘The Giggle’. But frankly, with Timothy Drake finding the Devil’s chord in 1925, you could’ve easily set the story’s opening scene in 1963.
Not in 1925 at all. I mean, we don’t spend enough time in 1925 anyway, and there doesn’t seem to be much point in setting the first scene in 1925 when a lot of the main action takes place in 1963. Again, I’ll readdress what I mean by that when we get to end of this story.
After discovering a headline that says the Soviet Union are threatening Finland, the Doctor and Ruby deduce the absence of music is leading humanity to a dark future. They try to talk to Paul McCartney and John Lennon on music’s importance, but it’s no good. 😐
The Doctor later has a piano lifted to the studio’s roof and Ruby notes about the mysterious dark smog overtaking London’s skies. The Doctor also talks about his granddaughter Susan, who is with him as the First Doctor in 76 Totter’s Lane, Shoreditch.
Now, considering that Russell T. Davies probably wrote this episode in 2023 when the 60th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’ were happening at the time, it’s nice that he ties things back to where it all began by mentioning the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan.
You’d think that this is the beginning of a grand return for Susan in ‘Doctor Who’, especially when Ruby asks the Doctor on her whereabouts and he tells her he doesn’t know, following the genocide that happened with the Time Lords by the Master in ‘Spyfall’.
And in some sense, it is. We’ll get a return of Susan in the form of Carole Ann Ford making cameos as the character in Series 15. But it’s not exactly as you’d expect and I think many of us were expecting her to return in the season finale of Series 14 of the new TV show.
But that’s something for us to discuss another time for when we get to end of Series 14 and 15. Once the piano is up on the roof, the Doctor encourages Ruby to play a song. He witnessed her ability to play the piano whilst observing her in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’.
This leads to Ruby playing what is famously known as ‘The Life of Sunday – Ruby’s Theme’, written by Murray Gold, ‘Doctor Who’s music composer. I heard this music theme before when checking out ‘Doctor Who at 60: A Musical Celebration’ on TV in November 2023. 🙂
In story terms, Ruby wrote the tune for a friend named Trudy when a girl broke her heart. Ruby wanted to cheer her up. I believe Trudy appeared in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ and was played by Mary Malone. I also think she’s transgender, according to script notes.
Script notes for ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, apparently. I actually find ‘The Life of Sunday – Ruby’s Theme’ composed by Murray Gold to be very good. I certainly enjoyed the theme when I heard it in ‘Doctor Who at 60: A Musical Celebration’ as well as ‘Fifteen’s theme. 🙂
I was hoping for a recurrence of ‘The Life of Sunday’ in most of the episodes Ruby’s in. Unless I missed hearing it by a mile, I don’t think ‘The Life of Sunday’ theme comes up often in most of Ruby’s episodes. I think ‘The Devil’s Chord’ and ’73 Yards’ are the only ones to have it.
In full, anyway. 😐 It’s also saddening when you find that Millie Gibson didn’t actually play the piano when performing ‘The Life of Sunday’ theme. It was actually a professional stand-in, according to the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode for ‘The Devil’s Chord’. (sighs)
Anyway, the music seems to attract the attention of most Londoners, who emotionally react. This leads to an issue I have regarding what the episode is trying to go for, as the Doctor and Ruby aim to put music back into everyone’s lives again, but more on that later.
Ruby’s piano-playing is interrupted, as the piano violently shifts. The Doctor and Ruby see hands pushing up the lid of the piano as well as a laugh that the Doctor recalls recently. The laugh from ‘The Giggle’. 😮 The Doctor and Ruby run away just as Maestro emerges. 😐
As you saw in the video, the Doctor and Ruby hide in a cellar whilst Maestro hunts them down after hearing the music. It’s clear that Maestro is a being that feeds on music, which leads to a thought I have regarding them appearing in 1925 before reappearing in 1963. 😐
How come the Beatles and Cilla Black are in 1963 recording at EMI Studios? I mean, did the Beatles and Cilla Black start their musical career in 1963? Didn’t they start earlier? Surely the Beatles were active in being a song group in 1960, if Wikipedia is to be believed.
Same goes for Cilla Black when her version of ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’ was the UK’s biggest-selling single by a female artist in the 1960s. I’m not an expert on these musical celebrities, but surely Maestro would have got to them a bit earlier before 1963 started. 😐
The point I’m getting at is, if the Doctor and Ruby went to see the Beatles in 1963, they would have been shocked to find they weren’t there as all their music talent would have been drained and they wouldn’t have got the motivation to be a song group to begin with.
This is especially when you consider Maestro started stealing humanity’s music in 1925. This supports my argument that the episode should have taken place mainly in 1963 and not start in 1925 at all. It would’ve tightened the logic of music disappearing in 1963. 😐
Maybe there’s more to this than I know and probably there’ll be a day when a Target novelization will be released to explain any historical misgivings I have about this episode. But it’s a shame that it’s never fully explored for us to understand the story’s mechanics.
Anyway, I’m digressing. When Maestro is searching for the Doctor and Ruby, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to silence the environment around them. To be fair, this is a very effective scene, especially when everything goes silent and Maestro loses their voice.
But then Maestro gets the sound back by reverberating a puddle of water. You have to bear in mind that Maestro is one of the Toymaker’s legions called the Pantheon, and these Higher Power beings can be clever if you’re trying to outwit them in a dangerous situation.
Fortunately, the Doctor and Ruby are saved when Maestro is distracted by an elderly lady playing ‘Clair de Lune’, a movement by Claude Debussy. Unfortunately, the elderly lady gets killed, as Maestro comes up out from the lid of the piano, surprising and shocking her.
And yes, for your information, that is June Hudson playing the elderly lady in the episode. Or Laura June Hudson, as she’s credited in the episode. For those who don’t know, June Hudson was the costume designer for many ‘Doctor Who’ adventures in Tom Baker’s era.
This includes ‘The Ribos Operation’, ‘Destiny of the Daleks’, ‘The Creature from the Pit’, ‘The Horns of Nimon’, ‘The Leisure Hive’, ‘Meglos’, ‘Warriors’ Gate’ and ‘Logopolis’. It was nice to see June Hudson make a guest appearance in one of the recent ‘Doctor Who’ episodes.
And it’s not like June Hudson hasn’t gone into acting before. Apparently, she played Mrs. Linderhof in the ‘Class’ TV episode ‘For Tonight We Might Die’, which I’ve yet to see. She’s also been in films as well as been on TV. She was in ‘Johnny English Strikes Again’ in 2018.
Whilst it’s nice to see June Hudson in ‘The Devil’s Chord’, I wouldn’t have given her a brief appearance where she gets killed off by Maestro. I mean, we don’t see her return from the grave by the episode’s end. Though, I’m sure June Hudson enjoyed being in the episode.
As the Doctor becomes worried about Maestro being in London 1963 and fears their power, Ruby tries to reassure him that everything will be alright, as she stresses the world didn’t end in 1963. She argues she’s living proof of that, since she comes from the year 2024.
Despite Ruby telling him that ‘music exists’ where she comes from, the Doctor takes her in the TARDIS to the year 2024 to prove his point that if Maestro isn’t stopped, London will be devastated. Say, I don’t know about you, but this scene sounds very familiar, doesn’t it?
Ruby: Have we done it? Are we back?
Doctor: 2024. I’ve brought you home.
Doctor: 1980, Sarah, if you want to get off.
Yeah, believe it or not, this is a repeat of an eerie similar scene from ‘Pyramids of Mars’ where the Fourth Doctor showed Sarah Jane Smith what her world would look like if Sutekh isn’t stopped in Earth’s past. Intentional foreshadowing for later on this season? 😐
Maybe. To be fair, the scene of Ruby seeing London devasted by war in nuclear winter is pretty emotional, especially when she shares her grief with the Doctor who comes out to join her. It’s very effective in terms of emotion compared to how ‘Pyramids of Mars’ did it.
For one thing, Ruby and the Doctor actually went out of the TARDIS to see what was happening as opposed to Sarah Jane, Laurence Scarman and the Fourth Doctor not going out of the TARDIS to see the destruction for themselves. I guess the budget’s got bigger. 😀
We also see Ruby and the Doctor share a hug with each other when seeing the destruction before them, and this clearly shows in the chemistry between Millie Gibson and Ncuti Gatwa. Quite honestly, it’s a very good scene, standing out well in the episode.
They’re then interrupted by Maestro, who happens to find them in the alternative 2024. They summon a piano and they transport the Doctor and Ruby elsewhere. Also, Maestro has a change in costume compared to the piano lapel one that they were wearing in 1963.
The costume Maestro wears in the alternative 2024 is more lady-like and is purple in contrast to the piano they play, which is white. Maestro reveals that they grow stronger by consuming music until they’re able to steal the ‘music of the spheres’. Bit of a tall order. 😐
In the confrontation the Doctor has with Maestro, he deduces they could be banished via a different combination of notes once he hears from them that someone found a lost chord to release them into our reality. Maestro though declares they can drain any sound.
When Maestro plays the piano, it affects the TARDIS, which makes the Doctor panic, as they could drain power from the space-time machine. The Doctor and Ruby go back inside the TARDIS and escape Maestro’s control by returning to 1963, which is a success.
As the Doctor and Ruby leave the TARDIS to continue sorting out Maestro in 1963, the TARDIS makes a mysterious groaning sound. Again, this is another form of foreshadowing that’s to happen in the two-part finale of Series 14, but we’ll get to that story another time.
On their return to EMI Studios, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver and plugs it into the control booth of the recording booth where the Beatles did their song about a dog. The Doctor utilises John Lennon’s guitar whilst Ruby watches him from the control booth itself.
This is so he can find the Notes of Banishment to send Maestro out of our reality. Unfortunately, Maestro uses physical music notes (Again, not a fan of this in the episode) to kidnap Ruby, disable the sonic screwdriver, and threaten to consume her music within.
And again, Maestro has changed costume for this final confrontation with the Doctor, and it has an eerie similar design to what the Toymaker wore in ‘The Giggle’ with being like a ringmaster and such. Interesting that Maestro has three costume designs in this episode.
Maestro has Ruby sing, and she ends up singing ‘Carol of the Bells’, which was the song featured in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ as well as in certain Christmas movies I love so much, including ‘Home Alone’ and ‘The Santa Clause’. Seriously, I love those lovely films.
Ruby’s singing confuses Maestro due to the power from deep within her soul. They state that the music was present on the night of her birth and that the power is of ‘the Oldest One’. Who’s ‘the Oldest One’, you may ask? Again, something we’ll discuss another time.
Also, it snows when Ruby is forced to sing and the ‘Carol of the Bells’ song is being played. This is part of the ongoing mystery concerning why Ruby was left at the doorstep of the Church on Ruby Road on Christmas Eve in 2004, but again, we’ll get back to that another time.
After the Doctor saves Ruby from falling once Maestro releases her, he uncovers a piano. Not just any piano though. A ‘Mrs. Mills Piano’, apparently. A famous Abbey Road piano. A piano that the Beatles would play their greatest hits on as well as other famous singers.
This includes Penny Lane and Lady Madonna. The Doctor makes it clear that he intends to use the Mrs. Mills Piano to fight Maestro and send them back to hell. Thus, we have the ‘music battle’ between the Doctor and Maestro, with Ruby pitching in to assist the Doctor.
Now the idea of the Doctor and Ruby fighting against Maestro with music isn’t a bad one. I actually quite like that. There are so many ways you can illustrate how the Doctor and Ruby use their wits to fight against Maestro, as they use a piano whilst Maestro uses a violin. 🙂
Unfortunately, it’s ruined when the physical music notes appear during the ‘music battle’. Frankly, I would have done without those. There’s no need to show those physical music notes in the battle. Again, there’s a thing called subtlety when it comes to depicting music.
The ‘music battle’ lasts for quite a bit, up to a point where Maestro breaks their violin. In the process, the Doctor discovers the Notes of Banishment whilst playing the piano. There’s tension, as the Doctor is on his way to succeeding in banishing Maestro forever. 🙂
But catastrophe ensues when the Doctor plays a wrong note, and Maestro regains full power, flinging the piano down the hallway. They also trap the Doctor and Ruby inside instruments, as the Doctor ends up in a timpani whilst Ruby ends up in a double bass. 😮
Seeing the Doctor and Ruby trapped in musical instruments whilst Maestro has the upper hand is quite frightening. I mean, I know our heroes survive this adventure, but I wonder for how young kids they saw this. They must have been terrified when seeing this happen.
Fortunately, the Doctor and Ruby don’t stay trapped in musical instruments for long, as salvation comes in the form of Paul McCartney and John Lennon. They come across the piano in the hallway and they play the final note of the Notes of Banishment the Doctor played.
This of course defeats Maestro and the Doctor and Ruby are freed from their prisons. As the Doctor and Ruby watch Maestro being swallowed up in the Mrs. Mills piano which comes back from the hallway, our episode’s villain has one last thing to say to the Doctor. 😐
Maestro: The One who Waits… is almost here!
Doctor: Cryptic. I hate that.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. 😀 Actually, now I think about, ‘The One who Waits’ was mentioned by the Toymaker when the Doctor confronted him in ‘The Giggle’. So, this season is going to follow up on who or what this ‘One who Waits’ is going to be. Will this be pretty exciting? 😐
As music returns to the world, the Doctor and Ruby return to the rooftop of EMI Studios to rejoice, hearing the music once again. However, I must point out the issue of starting this story in 1925 and not have it just set in 1963, as most of the action happens in that year.
You see, it seems to me, everything that was musical in the years between 1925 to 1963 has been restored – miraculously so. Does this mean that time has been restored entirely as soon as Maestro got banished? I don’t know. It’s not explained properly in the episode.
Well, to be fair, there is a deleted scene featuring the Doctor and Ruby going back up to the rooftop where he tells her that ‘time is going to go crazy’ because of music being restored in Earth’s timeline. But since it’s absent in the episode, the explanation is too. 😦
I mean, the scene is like only 10 seconds in the Series 14/Season One Deleted Scenes video on YouTube via the official ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel. Would it have really hurt to include that scene for the explanation to sit in audiences’ minds watching the episode?
This is another reoccurring thing in the neo-RTD era where the showrunner doesn’t go to the effort of explaining how things are resolved in an episode. There are clearly plotholes that aren’t addressed in a certain neo-RTD story, as you’re being left to speculate on it. 😐
I know endings in ‘Doctor Who’ tend to be rather rushed, especially in the new TV series. And maybe it’s because I’m older and maybe when you’re young, you don’t notice the plotholes if you’re seeing this story for the first time on BBC iPlayer, BBC One or Disney+.
But it’s easy to notice these things when you’re watching the episode for a second, third or fourth time, as you’re paying more attention to how a story is progressing compared to your first viewing. ’73 Yards’ is another example of that, which we’ll get to another time.
If this episode was just set in 1963, left out the 1925 opening scene and we have the story start in 1960 instead, maybe I’d be okay with music being restored to everyone, as you wouldn’t have to wonder what happened in the intervening years between 1925 and 1963.
Whilst Ruby is rather positive about their victory, the Doctor has this to say to her:
Doctor: But there is one thing that I should warn you about, Ruby, and this is…really very serious. With all of my adventures throughout Time and Space, I have to tell you…there is always a twist at the end.
Okay, um, are you going to explain that to us, Doctor? I mean, with that wink you made to us – breaking the fourth wall, no doubt – I assume you’re going to reveal an interesting revelation. Is it to do with Susan Twist’s cameo in the story where she played a tea lady…?
Doctor: ♪ There’s always a twist. There’s always a twist. [There’s always a twist at the end.… ♫]
(baffled; slightly annoyed) Oh, you’re doing a musical number, now? Okay, that makes sense.
Dancers do the Twist whilst the Doctor sings…
Doctor: ♪ There’s always a twist. There’s always a twist. There’s always a twist at the end. [My friend… ♫]
And this what lets the episode down for me! The musical dance number called ‘There’s Always a Twist at the End’. (Pause) This musical dance number ruins the episode for me! I’m sorry if there’s people who really like this musical number, but I’m not very keen on it.
Why? Because it’s out of place in the episode! Is…is this what everything was building up to? A musical number where the Doctor and Ruby are singing with the Beatles, Cilla Black and everybody else throughout EMI Studios? Was this really worth all the time and effort?
Why is it out of place for me in the episode? Because ‘The Devil’s Chord’ is not a musical! It’s an episode about music, but it’s clearly not an episode featuring musical numbers throughout it. There’s a difference between music and musicals when you think about it.
And I’m not someone who objects to musicals in ‘Doctor Who’. Far from it! I’m currently in the process of sharing a musical ‘Doctor Who’ story on my blog called ‘Swing Time’. It’s based upon Judy Garland, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical films that I enjoy.
I honestly feel ‘The Devil’s Chord’ should have been a musical, especially as it would’ve helped the Doctor and Ruby’s efforts in thwarting Maestro. They could’ve utilised the help of everybody to ignite music in their souls if they got to perform song and dance numbers.
What this story should’ve been about is the Doctor and Ruby finding that music is absent in 1963 because of Maestro, and they seek the help of the Beatles and Cilla Black to get everybody to remember the importance of music and overthrow the deadly foe they face.
Granted, you’d have to consider Maestro being a powerful entity like the Toymaker, but you could’ve had a game of music where the Doctor had to earn his victory to overpower Maestro, and it would match to how Fourteen and Fifteen won their victory in ‘The Giggle’.
By doing the story as a musical, you would get more than one musical number – maybe one with the Doctor and Ruby as a duo and then a couple with an ensemble featuring the Doctor, Ruby, the Beatles, etc, before we get to the final ‘Twist at the End’ musical number.
At least it would justify why the ‘Twist at the End’ musical number is happening because it just comes out of nowhere. On its own, the musical number is rather senseless, especially when you’re having people dancing in the corridors and the…sprinklers go off?
To make it seem it’s raining, which is weird. 😐 Narratively, the reason why the ‘Twist at the End’ music number could be happening in the episode is because some of Maestro’s influence is remaining, permitting the Doctor, Ruby and party to get into that musical mood.
Again, I’m speculating on that, because it’s not explained in the episode. It’s all rush-rush to get through the musical number before we get to the end of the episode, the next-time trailer and the end credits roll up. It just makes the whole thing nonsensical when viewing it.
If Russell T. Davies really wanted to have this musical number at the end of the episode, which he clearly says so in the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode for ‘The Devil’s Chord’, he should’ve made the entire episode itself a musical story in order to justify its existence.
By making the episode a musical through and through, it would allow the ‘Twist at the End’ musical number to be credible. Though maybe RTD isn’t a guy who believes in making things make sense anymore, but that’s the way you need to do it for a sci-fi series.
And I think this is one of the reasons why not many people are keen on the neo-RTD era. Because the show has gone more into fantasy territory than sci-fi territory. And I know that’s the intention behind RTD’s neo-era, but there has to a balance of sci-fi and fantasy.
And it’s not like you can’t do a musical in a sci-fi show. So long as you have the mechanics laid out well to make it work and ensure that you’re not blinding people with too much fantasy, you can have a musical in a sci-fi show work well to be fascinatingly entertaining.
Want an example? There’s an episode of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ called ‘Subspace Rhapsody’. It’s an episode that relies upon it being a musical, as the Enterprise crew are being made to sing like characters in a musical film by an improbability field. 🙂
Honestly, I found that an enjoyable and thoroughly entertaining take on how to do a musical in a sci-fi show more than what ‘The Devil’s Chord’ tried to do with the ‘Twist at the End’ musical number. It isn’t perfect, but I found it a worthwhile episode to check out.
The idea of a ‘Doctor Who’ musical episode is quite appealing to me, and I’d welcome seeing that at some point in the future. ‘The Devil’s Chord’ however doesn’t do that for me, as it’s not a musical episode. It just had one musical number featured at the story’s end. 😐
Now, I appreciate people out there who really enjoyed the ‘Twist at the End’ musical number. If you did, then that’s fine. I won’t hold that against you. But why settle for one musical number, since there could’ve been more featured throughout ‘The Devil’s Chord’?
I could talk about the Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe cameos in the ‘Twist at the End’ musical number, but honestly, I don’t know who those two are. I don’t watch ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, and Russell T. Davies is expecting everyone to know who the two celebrities are.
And he’s expecting everyone to find their cameos funny. Honestly, I was baffled by the musical number at the episode’s end that I didn’t register Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe and who they were supposed to be. Thus, their cameos weren’t that funny to me.
I will admit, seeing Murray Gold make a cameo in the musical number is quite amusing, especially when you consider he’s responsible for most of the music featured in the neo-RTD era. But then, it’s also sad, as I find the music very loud and noisy in this latest era. 😐
Henry Arbinger, the little boy from the opening 1925 scene, appears, watching the musical dance number take place. How he’s alive, considering Maestro disposed of him earlier, isn’t explained. Then again, he might be connected to a character in a future story. 😐
After the dance number is finished, the episode ends with the Doctor and Ruby returning to the TARDIS and they dance along Abbey Road with umbrellas. The zebra crossing on Abbey Road reacts to the Doctor and Ruby’s footsteps as if they were playing a keyboard.
Bear in mind, this last scene was filmed whilst it was raining. Hence, why the Doctor and Ruby have umbrellas. It’s a very odd way for the episode to end. Presumably the atmosphere created by Maestro is still lingering following the ‘Twist at the End’ number. 😐
The Doctor and Ruby make their way to enter the TARDIS, and once inside, the TARDIS gives a thrum and a slam of its doors. And that’s it! That’s the end of the episode. Frankly, I think all sense of credibility has been lost by this point for this story to end on that note. 😐
The DVD/Blu-ray special features for ‘The Devil’s Chord’ are as follows. On Disc 2 of the Series 14/Season One DVD/Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’, there’s a behind-the-scenes featurette on ‘The Devil’s Chord’, a scene breakdown on ‘The Devil’s Chord’ with director Ben Chessell, ‘Jinkx Monsoon Tries ‘British’ Food’, ‘Millie Gibson’s Set Tour’ on ‘The Devil’s Chord’ and ‘Jinkx Monsoon – The Look of Maestro’. On Disc 6 of the Series 14/Season One DVD/Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’, there’s the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode for ‘The Devil’s Chord’.
So, yeah. As you can tell, I’m not really that keen on ‘The Devil’s Chord’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ episode. It’s certainly interesting, especially with introducing Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro and it was fun to have Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby visit London in 1963.
But for a story featuring the Beatles as well as Cilla Black, I’m leaning more towards ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ story involving a Beatles-like atmosphere and being set in 1963. At least it has more focus in doing a Beatles-like story.
The musical number featured at the episode’s end is bizarre, weird and very out of place. 😦 I believe the episode would have worked a lot better as full-on musical where the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby utilised the Beatles’ and Cilla Black’s assistance to overthrow Maestro.
It’s a shame Russell T. Davies didn’t think that through, as some of the ideas featured in the episode are very fascinating. But with two episodes of Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ out of the way, will things get better? Will the season’s next episode be a huge improvement?
‘The Devil’s Chord’ rating – 4/10
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