BWW Recap: Commit a 'Time Heist' on This Week's Episode of DOCTOR WHO

Join The Doctor and Clara and they complete a "Time Heist" in this week's episode of DOCTOR WHO. Be warned, however, because below are major SPOILERS, so don't continue if you haven't watched this week's episode!

The episode starts with Clara heading out to meet Danny, but just before she leaves there is a call on the TARDIS phone. When the Doctor goes to answer it the phone turns into a memory worm and Clara and The Doctor are transported to a room with two others, Psi, an augmented human hacker and bank robber, and Saibra, a mutant human. They receive a briefing about the Bank of Karabraxos from an unknown voice, called The Architect. It tells them that to survive the Bank, which they are currently trespassing on, they will have to follow The Architect's instructions. They are told they are going to rob the Bank of Karabraxos..

Saibra takes the form of an employee to get them into the Bank. The bank floor is locked down and Ms. Delphox, head of bank security, comes out with a strange alien creature that even The Doctor is unsure of what it is. (Which he hates not knowing, of course). Ms. Delphox finds another intruder and uses the alien creature, called The Teller, to scan him using telepathy for his guilt. The Teller then wipes the memory of the criminal, deflating his head (gross).

Our heist team then enters a safety deposit box with a case containing a dimensional shift bomb. The Doctor then does a little tap dance to find the spot on the floor they have to blow up. "Team Not Dead" then goes through the hole they made and they find another case left by the mysterious Architect that contains "shredders." As the team runs away from security, they find the room where The Teller is kept. It locks on to Clara and The Doctor tells her to keep her mind blank so that it won't wake up. The Doctor, Clara, and Psi escape, but The Teller traps Saibra in its telepathic field. Instead of being reduced to "soup" she uses one of the shredders from the case to kill herself. Psi then hacks the system to open the vault, while Clara and The Doctor try to sidetrack The Teller. The Teller traps Clara, but Psi saves her by calling The Teller on him and uses the shredder to kill himself, too.

A solar storm interferes with the Bank's systems, allowing the Doctor to realize that The Architect is planning this from the future, because the during the storm is the only time the Bank is vulnerable, allowing for the vault to be opened. The Doctor and Clara go into the vault and use the card from the last case to find Psi and Saibra's payments for the heist-a neophyte circuit, which can reboot any system, and a gene suppressant respectively. On their way to find what they were to receive, The Doctor and Clara are captured. They are taken to Ms. Delphox's office and she commands her guards to dispose of them. However, the end up being Saibra and Psi, who aren't actually dead! (Which really confuses The Doctor, again). They head to the Private Vault to find out what The Doctor and Clara are to be paid with. When they arrive they find Director Karabraxos, who Ms. Delphox is a clone of.

The Doctor, in one of his moments of realization, figures out that The Architect is actually him. He allows The Teller to take him into the telepathic field, so that he can regain his memory. He goes back to the moment where he answers the TARDIS phone and we find out that Madam Karabraxos is who called him at the beginning of the episode. We find out it was The Doctor who enlists Psi and Saibra and plans out the whole heist. The Teller sees the truth, and now that the link with Kalabraxos is broken, it opens the vault and finds the last of The Tellers species trapped. It wasn't a bank heist at all, but a rescue mission.

The Doctor returns The Teller and it's mate to their planet to be free, and after some Chinese food in the TARDIS, The Doctor drops Psi and Saibra off. As Clara goes off to meet Danny for their date, The Doctor stays behind in the TARDIS and says to himself, "Robbing an whole bank, beat that for a date," shedding some light into his slight jealously towards Danny getting to spend time with Clara, taking her away from him.

Capaldi's Doctor continues to shine as a non-hero/ hero. His coldness when Saibra "died" was a little unsettling-and reminiscent to past episodes this season-until we realize that she didn't actually die, and that it was The Doctor who set up the whole heist to rescue an entire species, which is true Doctor fashion. There were many little nods to old Doctor's in this episode, like the "Don't Think" line that is a clear play off of the famous "Don't Blink" episode from Tennant's era and Twelve saying "Big scarf, bowtie-embarrassing," when The Teller was going through his memory. They also poke fun at Capaldi's eyebrows again, which always guarantees a chuckle. I also greatly enjoyed the "Shutity up-up-up" line that is much like Capaldi's The Thick of It character, Malcolm Tucker.

I liked the supporting characters in this episode, and felt they had interesting and succinct storylines. Psi's journey to retrieve the memories of family and friends, that he deleted to protect them, and Saibra completing the heist for a gene suppressant that will allow her to be free were both very touching stories. They added to the plot greatly and easily mixed into the flow of the episode. This season has had many strong supporting characters, and I'm hoping that this isn't the last we see of them!

Though an enjoyable episode, there was very little on the subject of overall plot. We get no mention of Missy or "The Promised Land" and we only get a glimpse of Danny Pink. However, we are continuing to see the recurring trend of the half-human/half-robot characters, which begs me to think there could be something more to it than just a sci-fi coincidence. I hope in the coming episodes we find out the direction this season is going in, becuase there are still many unknowns floating around. (I mean, if I don't find out who Missy is soon, I might go crazy! The anticipation is killing me!)

On next week's episode, The Caretaker, we are promised a lot of Danny/Clara scenes, and maybe The Doctor and Danny's first meeting?? Let's hope so! Come back next week, and in the meantime, leave your comments on "Time Heist" below!

Photos Courtesy of BBC America

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