Review: Doctor Who Season 8, Episode 5: Time Heist

What would you do if you woke up in a room with two people you didn’t know, and listened to a recording telling you to rob a bank?

This is what happens to the Doctor and Clara. Along with two criminals, they have been chosen to rob a bank on a planet in the future. This episode is wonderfully fast paced, and seems to include elements from certain films, for example a hacker (Hackers) and a shape shifter (X-Men).

The Doctor (of course) makes himself the leader as they follow the instructions left for them. The special effects were great in this episode, and some images were pretty gruesome. There were some morals learnt, and we experienced some good twists.

We can see why some people may have thought the episode was weak, as the ending may not have pleased everyone. Clara is seeing different sides to the Doctor in each episode. The villain of the episode was convincing; the character was played by the actress Keeley Hawes, with just enough loftiness about her. The whole episode was an exciting race against time to complete the tasks.

The Doctor can’t ignore a mystery, and sometimes he doesn’t recognise his own hand in creating the mysteries too. Peter Capaldi’s Doctor and Jenna Coleman’s Clara bounce off each other very well. Finally, no romance at all between with the Doctor and his companion; all the flirting of the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras really needed ending (it was getting a bit tedious). This series has more dark comedic bits to it, and more scary drama. We hope this continues…