Felicity Jones is in this!
The Unicorn and the Wasp is a pretty middle of the road episode. I can respect an episode that has minimal ambitious outside of being a silly romp and a christie pastiche. I will say the editing of this episode is the wackiest I've seen on Doctor Who. Like the cartoon flashback wiggles, the newspaper inserts. Very goofy, but I sense that's what they were going for. I especially like scenes like the Doctor getting poisoned and the subsequent back and forth with Donna.
As a historical figure centric ep it does alright. I enjoyed the character of Christie here more than I did some others. Fenella Woolgar definitely played Christie really well. But I found the idea that she didn't believe in the quality of her own work a bit contrived. Maybe its true that Agatha saw herself as inferior pulp fiction author but given her absolutely massive success in her own lifetime I doubt that was a strong one. The stuff about her husband did feel more rooted in reality though so it was a mixed bag.
The central antagonist really didn't work once the mystery was revealed. It was just too nonsensical even in an otherwise silly story. Like the more you think about it the less it makes sense. Stuff like like his mom reading a Christie book while wearing the amulet binding him to Agatha Christie herself. I could buy him being connected to her stories but their life forces literally being connected through this game of telephone amulet just doesn't make sense.
And other details make even less sense like the suggestion that the week prior was the first time a 40 year old man felt rage. Preposterous! Plus the lazy hand waving of why the guy was driven to kill at all. His dad was normal guy capable of falling in love so it can't be a biological imperative. An he wasn't like killing his mom and everyone who covered up her secret so the murders were functionally motiveless. Like why did he poison the Doctor at all. In the end the plotting of this story was supper weak. dispointing for a Christie inspired murder mystery.
7/10
A good old murder
Mystery
Who's done it.
Imagine how Awesome
It would be for
The Doctor to have
Agatha Cristi as
A show companion,
Every episode will be
About 10 minutes long
Before it's rapped up
And solved lol.
Shout by Milo123BlockedParentSpoilers2021-02-15T21:45:36Z
Same school of thought as the previous celebrity historical episodes, but with a surprise Felicity Jones appearance! of course she's the thief, tons of fun with its Cluedo-esque mystery "what are you doing with that lead piping?" and obviously, the CGI with the wasp hasn't aged brilliantly, but it's really fun overall and Agatha Christie and The Doctor teaming up to solve crimes never fails. Also the bit about The Doctor/companions bouncing off ideas about books that the famous authors haven't written to them yet from The Shakespeare Code never gets tiring.