BWW Recap: DOCTOR WHO Boards the Orient Express, But Watch Out for Mummies

Get ready to board the Orient Express and solve the mystery of the mummy on this week's episode of DOCTOR WHO! Clara and The Doctor, on their last hurrah, find themselves aboard a train with an invisible mummy that is killing passengers. Can they figure out the cause? Read on to find out, but beware of SPOILERS!

The episode starts off on the Orient Express-the version of the train that travels through space, of course-and there is an old woman, named Mrs. Pitt, who claims to see a mummy, but no one else can see it. She gets hysterical as it inches towards her, and when it touches her she slumps over, presumably dead.

Meanwhile, The Doctor and Clara are going on their LAST (yes, I said it) last trip together. But since The Doctor can never just have a simple trip with Clara, they find themselves on the Orient Express not long after the old woman died.

Because neither the Doctor nor Clara can let a death go as just that, they both go on their way to look around. The Doctor goes and investigates the chair the Mrs. Pitt died in and runs into Perkins, the chief engineer. Clara runs into Maisie Pitt, the old woman's granddaughter, who breaks the lock to the room where they are keeping her mother's body.

The Doctor goes and talks to Professor Moorhouse about the Foretold, a mythical mummy that if you see you die. Moorhouse tells him the most interesting thing about the Foretold is that when someone sees it, they only have 66 seconds to live. When The Doctor says that's not the right answer, Moorhouse tells him that it's that you can't run from the Foretold. As he's telling him this, a chef sees the mummy and ends up dying. The Doctor says that the most interesting thing is that Moorhouse was there to witness Mrs. Pitt's death.

Clara and Maisie are trapped in the carriage and they see a sarcophagus. The Doctor finds the Captain, and uses the psychic paper to tell him he's a Mystery Shopper. The Doctor questions the Captain about the deaths, and he calls Clara to tell her that their last hurrah is going to be solving this case, but she tells him that she's trapped. The Doctor finds the door that she's trapped behind, and he asks the computer to open the door. The computer, called Gus, answers and tells him that only executive order can open the door. A suppression field is making the sonic screwdriver not work, so The Doctor can't use it to open the door, either. Clara tells him the sarcophagus is in there with them, and after she tells him it starts to open. The clock starts to count down from 66, and with 29 seconds left, the Captain comes and takes The Doctor away, because he checked and there is no Mystery Shopper on board. When the clock runs out, one of the Captain's men, who sees the mummy, dies.

The Doctor realizes that someone has orchestrated this entire thing and made sure that the train was filled with passengers who were expert scientists. At that moment, the train's engines stop, and the Orient Express' façade disappears and the train interior now looks like a lab. Gus, the computer voice, is revealed to be the one who put this entire thing on. He tells them all that an ancient scroll is what brings the Foretold, and he wants them to reverse engineer whatever power the Foretold has.

The lights flicker and the countdown starts again, and this time it is Professor Moorhouse who sees the mummy. With his remaining 66 seconds he describes to The Doctor what the mummy looks like. Moorhouse dies, and The Doctor has all the remaining scientists start studying the past three deaths. Clara calls The Doctor and tells him that the sarcophagus is actually a stasis unit and that this isn't the first time this has happened to a ship, telling him about past ships and crews that have been lost. Gus tells The Doctor to terminate his phone call. Gus decompresses the entire kitchen crew killing them and tells them that if they are disobedient again he will kill less valuable passengers. This spurs The Doctor to wonder how the Foretold chooses how to kill. They realize that it is picking off all of the weakest passengers first, sensing the illness and psychological issues of those on board. The Captain tells The Doctor that he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, and The Doctor says he's most likely the next victim. The lights flicker yet again, and with 66 seconds on the clock, the Captain is the next victim.

After the Captain dies, The Doctor asks what needs exactly 66 seconds, stating that's a very specific number. He realizes that it's been around for centuries using tech that drains from the living. Perkins tells the doctor that phase shifting is about 60 seconds, and they finally find out why only the victim can see the mummy, because it takes them out of phase in order to suck their energy. The Doctor calls Clara, telling her that Maisie, due to her trauma, is most likely the next victim. Clara asks if they can save her, and he tells her no, but they can observe the mummy one more time, which angers Clara. He tells her to do what she can/lie to get Maisie to the lab. As they are walking to the lab, Clara notices that the TARDIS has a force field around it. Clara asks how Gus could know what the TARDIS was, which prompts The Doctor to tell her that he has been asked to the Orient Express before. This angers Clara, because it means that The Doctor knew the trip would be dangerous, and tells her that his lying is why she's leaving him.

Maisie sees the mummy, but The Doctor absorbs some of her memories and tricks the mummy into thinking he's her. They start the clock, and The Doctor notices markings on the mummy that are similar to the scroll. He realizes its not a scroll, but a flag, and that the mummy is a soldier from centuries ago. The Doctor surrenders to the mummy, and it doesn't kill. Now everyone can see the mummy, and it salutes The Doctor before disintegrating. Left in the dust is the malfunctioning piece of tech that was controlling it.

Gus congratulates The Doctor for solving it, but tells them that survivors are not necessary. Gus removes the air from the train. The Doctor manipulates the tech's teleporter, and the train blows up, but not before the teleporter beams everyone into the TARDIS. Clara, who passed out from lack of oxygen, wakes up and The Doctor tells her what happened. Clara realizes that The Doctor was pretending to be heartless when he had her lie to Maisie, because he had the plan to save her all along, he just couldn't risk it being found out by the Foretold. Clara asks him if he loves "being the man making the impossible choice," and asks if it's like an addiction. He says you can't tell if it's an addiction until you try giving it up, which he never has, and then tells Clara to "let me know how it goes." Clara gets a phone call from Danny, and he asks her if it's finished, and she says yes.

However, Clara tells The Doctor that Danny is fine with them traveling, and that she had a "big wobble" but she's fine and to "shut up and give me some planets." And with that, they're off on their next adventure!

Oh, thank goodness, Clara has come to her senses and is staying with The Doctor. Honestly, I don't know what he would have done without her. The entire episode they were acting like a couple who was breaking up because it is "what's best," but they both seemed miserable at the idea. So, when Clara sees that The Doctor wasn't heartless, and in fact saves Maisie and everyone else on the ship from Gus, she realizes that she does in fact want to stay with him. Which, I am so glad for, because their chemistry is incredible, and I did not want The Doctor to be alone for the rest of the season.

However, Clara did lie to Danny, which is not going to turn out well in the future, I can already tell you. I understand her changing her mind to stay with The Doctor, but what does that say of her relationship with Danny if she isn't willing to tell him the truth? Tough times are ahead for those two.

No overarching storyline in this episode, in relation to Missy at least, so hopefully in the next episode we get a glimpse at what's to come for our last few episodes of the season. Tonight's episode was definitely interesting, but the resolution of the Foretold did seem a little rushed, and since Gus' identity wasn't revealed, I wonder if he will play a part in The Doctor's future?

Leave your comments on tonight's episode below, or tweet me at @k8linmilligan! Make sure to come back here next week as I recap another episode of DOCTOR WHO! 'Til next time, fellow Whovians!

Photos Courtesy of The Doctor Who Facebook Page and BBC America

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