Yaz convinces the Doctor to take her on a trip to her family's past, but things don't seem to resemble the stories her nani told her. Yaz is with her family celebrating her Nani Umbreen's (Leena Dhingra) birthday, learning she was apparently the first Muslim woman married in Pakistan; Nani also brings up working in a textile shop in South Yorkshire. Noting how she misses Yaz's grandfather, Nani gives her a picture of their wedding and passes out gifts: letters from her husband for Najia, a flower she can't remember the importance of for Sonya, and a broken wristwatch for Yaz, her "favorite granddaughter." Hakim offers to get it fixed, but Nani is adament that is must remain how it is, refusing to say more but promising Yaz she might share her stories when the young woman is older. Frustrated, Yaz asks the Doctor to take her back to when her grandma was young, begging for just an hour when the Doctor is reluctant about letting Yaz witness her own heritage. When Yaz admits she only knows Umbreen lived in Lahore in the 50s, the Doctor decides to put the watch into the TARDIS's telepathic navigation. She explains to Graham that every object amasses spatio-temporal particles over time which the TARDIS can read. Graham agrees, since unlike a previously mentioned adventure, there will be no killer turtles and he's never been to Pakistan, and the others agree to an hour with no meddling. They arrive confused in some wilderness, and as the Doctor notices the TARDIS's readings are going crazy but they seem to be in the right place, she painfully intercepts a psychic message. A man named Prem (Shane Zaza), rides up on a cart with flowers, saying they're obviously foreigners but noting their good Punjabi, a nice quick reference to the TARDIS's translating. He is surprised to hear they're looking for Umbreen, and they say they're simply family friends. He starts to mention some kind of agreement he had, but lets them climb in, with the Doctor telling Yaz what happened moments before and admitting she doesn't know if she's okay. Prem offers a ride to a sadhu named Bhakti, but he declines, saying his feet have served him his whole life, and they leave while two dark, armored figures watch from afar. The group arrives at Umbreen's house, with Yaz amazed at how good she looks, and leaving her grandmother-to-be confused about who she is. Surprised that Umbreen lives on a farm, Yaz comes up with an explanation for who she is, though Prem warns them to not tell people they're from England. Umbreen says she's getting married the next day, and to Yaz's continued surprise, Prem is the groom, despite her Nani having never mentioned him. The Doctor tries to leave saying they wanted to give their best wishes, but Yaz is further astonished when Prem, wrapping his arm around his brother Manish (Hamza Jeetooa), has the watch her Nani gave her. Everyone rushes inside for an announcement that Manish claims to have advanced info on, and Yaz tells the others about Prem not being her granddad, as he doesn't resemble the photos she's seen and he's Hindu while they're Muslim. The others understand the situation seems strange, but want to go, since their hour is up, so Yaz keeps them there by offering to help Manish with something. The Doctor complains that this happens because she's too nice, and they decide to go inside with the others, where a radio announcement causes her to realize they've dropped in India just in time for the Partition. Manish is busy putting up a small border to celebrate that India will be able to move forward, pointing out where each India and Pakistan are now officially located. The Doctor quickly explains to Yaz that tens of millions will be displaced and millions will die from riots; Graham and Ryan point out that Umbreen is about to marry someone who isn't Yaz's grandfather and that they should go. The others begin arguing with Manish, who claims to know the borders from a leaked source, claiming that Pakistan was made for Muslims and India for Hindus so they both feel safe when Umbreen's mother Hasna (Shaheen Khan) points out he house would now be in Pakistan. Prem urges him to see that the matter isn't simple, as they've lived together for years, but Manish says he disagrees despite loving his brother, who will have a difficult time since he's marrying a Muslim. The Doctor suddenly gets another psychic hit, and Hasna points out "demons" watching them. They disappear after the Doctor scans them, and the TARDIS crew chase them. They find the creatures huddled around Bhakti's dead body, and though they are kept at bay by a psychic attack, Prem arrives with a rifle and scares the creatures away. Prem is upset and confused about the creatures killing the holy man, but the Doctor more wonders why he saw things not of this world and didn't hesitate to chase them. Though he flashes back to his time as a soldier, he simply asks who the group is, as they're clearly not Umbreen's family and they too chased the "demons" like it was nothing. The Doctor explains they have experience with this sort of situation, which, along with asking the question of what strange substance is on Bhakti's body, make their ideas good to trust. The substance suddenly dissipates from his body, and to the Doctor's confusion, her scan doesn't find that he was poisoned, like Graham suggests. Prem suggests they not tell the others; Umbreen has enough to deal with, Hasna thinks the marriage is cursed, and Manish has been different since Prem had to leave for the war. Yaz points out that we all have to grow up sometime, but Prem counters that some need more guidance than others. Graham says they need to lay Bhakti to rest, and Yaz suggests they get the others to help but not tell them what happened. The Doctor's next scan reveals "Kordian waves" that could mean there's a dormant octonic engine nearby, which Prem offers to help find. As they leave, the Doctor urges Yaz to be careful about what she says, since she's now involved in her own history. On the way, Prem vents about the situation reminding him of the war, and how the British have just carved up his country, but the Doctor shrugs it off. She tells Raven she doesn't know what the creatures are, which he points out means Prem has the advantage of knowledge right now, and the sonic leads them to the ship they're looking for. The Doctor realizes they're looking at a transmat doorway just as they are sucked inside the ship, confusing and scaring Prem, and the Docto notices she can't get a scan of anything. She worriedly suggests where the aliens could be right now, and unlocks a center panel, which shows her they're in a Thijarian Hive. She explains that while she's never encountered them before, the Thijarians are an ancient race that evolved into the universe's deadliest assassins. She finds an image of Bhakti and is confused why they would target him; Ryan finally convinces Prem to reveal he saw an a Thijarian in Singapore during the war, as he searched for his older brother Kunal. He found his brother's body with the Thijarians standing over it, and after losing them in the haze, he retrieved his brother's necklace and left his body as everyone evacuated. The Doctor promises to save everyone, and as Prem asks what happens if she can't, a device suddenly rises from the panel. Ryan points out it has the same substance as they found on Bhakti's body, so the Doctor pulls the device out, which causes the room to light up red. The Thijasians suddenly teleport in, saying the Doctor has desecrated a holy place; she counters that they're desecrating Earth, and she's protecting its people. They say she can't stop what's happening, so she teleports herself, Ryan, and Prem back to the forest, only for Ryan and Prem to teleport again as they run away. She notices a transmat lock on a tree and takes it, running to take others awhile the Thijarians teleport elsewhere and Ryan and Prem try to get back to the others. Meanwhile back at the house, Yaz and Graham tell the others about Bhakti and that the Doctor, Prem, and Ryan are trying to find out more about what happened. Hasna says it's another omen about the wedding, and decides to help Manish prepare the burial after he retrieves Bhakti's body. Yaz says this means Umbreen can't marry Prem, but she says she won't give up that easily after having seen war take people and now facing men imposing borders they shouldn't. Graham finds Yaz outside later, upset that her Nani seemingly lied to her, so he suggests that she maybe just didn't share everything, as she's allowed to have secrets, even from her granddaughter. He also points out that, with Umbreen still young, she hasn't decided how she'll later tell her story, saying he thinks maybe no one knows the full truth about themselves, because they're too busy living their lives. With this in mind, he urges her to live for now and figure out the situation later, and though she points out this is easier said than done, he reminds her that they're doing amazing things by traveling with the Doctor. Ryan and Prem get back yelling about the Doctor being gone, and she then shows up yelling to get to the barn, where the Thijarians appear. They say the Doctor is disrupting their work, and when they tell her to stay out of the way, Prem tries to sacrifice himself to them. Umbreen protests, and the Doctor activates the transmat locks, causing the Thijarians to teleport away. She explains to the others that she made a temporary barrier she hopes will keep the Thijarians out of the farm for a few hours, so they can safely proceed with the wedding. Manish and Hasna are incredulous, but Umbreen agrees with the Doctor, and though Yaz is annoyed that the Doctor is meddling with things despite warning her against it, the Doctor counters that the Thijarians started it. The Doctor then inspects the device she stole, which overloads her sonic. Deciding to go analogue, she requests oil, water, tree bark, a saucepan, nine containers, an old newspaper, a touch of ox spit, a chicken poo, and because she likes them, a biscuit. Later that night, Graham is complaining about having to get the ox spit, and while the Doctor sets up her "demon" repellent, Umbreen comes to get the women for her group and to send Graham and Ryan to Prem's house. While the Thijarians try to break the lock, the Doctor, amazed at the marriage ceremony, confuses the women by mentioning how she never did things like it as a man. Hasna darkens the mood by bringing up Bhatka's death, and Yaz learns that Umbreen has always known Prem; their families have worked the land for generations. Umbreen is disheartened when Hasna brings up the new border, saying they'll be fine, but her mother reveals she heard gangs, vehicles, and guns earlier. Hasna angers her by offering to find a good Muslim man, and Umbreen realizes the Doctor could officiate the wedding for her, which the Doctor agrees to do despite Yaz's complaints. with love, Manish says he thinks his brother has lost his mind. Prem says he loves his brother despite sometimes not recognizing him, and Manish states that Kunal would've seen things his way; their older brother had said he was only fighting in the war to get rid of the English. Manish is certain that things changed when the lines were drawn, saying India is not Umbreen's home, then steps out for some air. After the preparations, Yaz vents about the Doctor officiating the wedding, but Graham points out that Manish is trying to stop it anyway, and Ryan reminds her the aliens are still an issue. The Doctor interrupts with news that the dust from the Thijarian device is made of everything imagine: it's got over a billion DNA particles in it. Just then, the Thijarians break through the transmat locks and teleport in just long enough to immediately take the Doctor back to their hive. Though I normally look further at what happens in episodes, this is a revelation moment for the characters, and I'd rather keep it a surprise for viewers. "Demons of Punjab" continues a trend I'm glad to be seeing again that we got back with the original Doctor and saw in this season's earlier episode Rosa, that of the TARDIS crew not just watching, but actually taking part in the way something is supposed to happen.
Throughout the episode, Yaz is confused to keep finding things happening differently from what she remembers he Nani telling her, and seems convinced that things are going wrong. We've definitely seen this happen before, as foes like the Daleks have tried to alter human history and in Rosa, the antagonist was trying to change what happens. While the crew did have to fix how things were happening then, they simultaneously discovered they were a part of the famous moment, even if they didn't want to be. If you go back to the early days of Doctor Who, you can see this happen to William Hartnell's first Doctor, as he takes the place of an important counsel to Emperor Nero in Rome, and unintentionally inspired the Great Fire of Rome. In "Demons of Punjab," we have a similar situation as the crew begins to fill in for other people and shape what will happen, with them interacting with Umbreen's family and the Doctor agreeing to officiate her wedding. Sometimes this can lead to a situation like 12th Doctor talked about previously: the Bootstrap Paradox, in which a time traveler's trip to meet Beethoven results in the composer's death, so the traveler takes his place and writes his famous music using what he has from the future. This loop then continues forever, as the time traveler is essentially in a loop as sharing Beethoven's music he'd read then inspires himself in the future to travel back and meet Beethoven. For this episode, the situation is similar but not quite the same: we do actually learn that the TARDIS crew had to take part in Yaz's past for it to go as planned. Whereas the Bootstrap Paradox could mean either there wasn't actually a Beethoven to begin with, but the time traveler just in an infinite loop, it could also be that Beethoven did exist, and the time traveler's actions started the loop. Here, the Doctor and crew are essentially in a loop that goes on forever for sure, as without the Doctor to officiate Umbreen's wedding, she wouldn't have gone through the life she did and ended up telling Yaz about the past that inspired her to go back in time, leading back to the wedding. A big point about the episode is also the idea of loving who you want despite what others might think and the issues that could come up. Viewers likely expected this to be the focus for Graham and Ryan's story, since Graham's skin color is different from the woman he married. This slightly shows up in the Rosa Parks episode, when he calsl Ryan his grandson, but thankfully the writers don't have it be the whole basic for their characters. Here we have a less-thought-of difference, with Umbreen, a Muslim woman, marrying the Hindu Prem, with parts of their families sure it can't work out. To Prem, the border situation seemed a kind of propaganda from angry men, and that the lines are dividing people who previously were fine. For Manish, WWII was also a factor in his feelings on the Partition, as being too young kept him at home, and he obviously has unresolved anger toward Prem regarding Kunal's death. Prem seems to still have some issues with the British, considering his words as they look for the Thijarians, but Manish has certainly taken a much more extreme dislike of the British and, seemingly, anyone who's different, as a result of the war. He was likely fearful when he was younger and without his brothers, and Prem mentions that he was away from Manish for a long time, which would mean his little brother has plenty of time to hear dark things on the radio and from others that would sour his outlook on things. A good thing about his character, though, is that he's not written as simply thinking Muslims are evil and Hindus are better. Manish obviously cares for his family, though Prem's inability to come back with their older brother obviously irks him, and his statement about the border being a way for both Hindus and Muslims to live in peace suggests an "equal but separate" mindset. Proud of what he has come from, Manish seems to simply think that the best option to keep peace is to separate people based on differences, though he obviously has more extreme methods. Yaz is conflicted during this episode, upset that she doesn't really know her Nani's history, though Graham makes an excellent point about people's histories. There are stories like Rashomon that look at the fact that people often give different versions of past events, and of course in general people don't remember ever little detail about everything. Pointing out that Umbreen doesn't necessarily have to tell her granddaughter everything is a good points about how we tend to think we know our loved ones a lot better than we really do. Along with that, his points about not worrying about it in favor of just living now and figuring things out later is a pretty good suggestion on how to worry a bit less, as well. The cast continues to work well with each other, with great interactions and timing on each others jokes; my favorite would be Graham and the Doctor taking cracks at each other about a previous adventure that involved killer turtles. So far I've also found a quirk for the 13th Doctor like we've seen with past ones: 11 had no eyebrows, 12 had owl-brows, and 13 has some face scrunches like when Yaz keeps them in the past. Along with enjoying how we look at issues of bigotry and love in this episode, I love that this series is continuing the trend of actually having human history involved. Obviously as a space/time-traveling sci-fi adventure, there are plenty of space adventures the group can take, but I'm glad the writers aren't forgetting there's plenty of Earth history that is interesting to check out, as well. Thinking again of people feeling like parts of this season are too "PC" bringing in stories like this and meeting Rosa Parks, I find that feeling odd when it comes to what the Doctor can do. A big point of the show is to be able to go anywhere at any time and experience things you couldn't imagine if you just lived a normal life. Yet people sometimes seem to just want to stick with the same stories of the Doctor running from a foe before finally figuring out their evil plan and defeating them. So why have a character who can best help people experience things outside what they know only go on certain adventures on other planets, when they could also experience what's different in their own world? Looking back through history can provide fun adventures as well, like having the Doctor stuck with Aztec warriors or in a part of the world that Daleks have taken over. With possibilities like that in the future (pun not intended but enjoyed) and the characters experiencing some good paradoxical fun, I'm excited to see where the TARDIS crew heads next.
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