Doctor Who’s new episode, “The Power of Three,” has just finished airing in the U.K. Millions of cubes fall to earth, U.N.I.T is back, and the Doctor moves in with the Ponds in the last episode before the midseason finale. SPOILERS FOR U.S. FANS LIE AHEAD.
One of the major points of the episode is the matter of the Doctor being in the Ponds’ lives on and off for 10 years. Constantly whisking away with the Doctor has caused them to miss events in friends’ lives, and Amy and Rory muse over wanting a sort of stability in their lives. To their surprise, they are actually starting to miss what they term “real life” vs. “Doctor life.”
An army of cubes descends upon the earth overnight with no explanation. They attract the attention of U.N.I.T., which is now being headed up by the late Brigadier’s daughter, Kate Stewart. Under her direction, U.N.I.T. is being transformed into more of a science investigation force than a military defense one, with a base located under the Tower of London. Despite their best attempts at investigation, no one learns anything about the cubes other than that they are indestructible.
For almost a year, the cubes are utterly dormant. During that year, people collect them and have them in their homes, as they assume the objects are benign. Initially, the Doctor stays to observe them. After four days, he grows bored and leaves U.N.I.T., the Ponds, and Rory’s dad, Brian, to do the daily observation. He departs in July and returns in June in time for the Ponds’ anniversary. In the middle of the anniversary party, he takes Rory and Amy on a seven-week adventure to Victorian England, the court of Henry VIII, and other unknown locations. He then returns them to their party only moments after they had left. Brian is the only one who notices, because they are wearing different clothes than when they departed. After a heart-to-heart conversation with Brian about what happened to his former companions, the Doctor decides to give staying around with the Ponds another try.
Suddenly, on day 361, the cubes activate, each doing something different. The cubes’ actions range from interacting with the Internet to playing loud music, to affecting emotions, to sampling blood type. Just as suddenly as they activate, they go dormant again. Amid reports of thousands of people being attacked by cubes, the Doctor and Amy head to U.N.I.T.’s headquarters, as Rory and Brian go to the hospital where Rory works.
Inexplicably, the cubes begin a countdown from the number seven. With all the cubes syncing up in such a manner, the Doctor suspects a transmitter is assisting them and runs a scan. When the cubes get to zero, shortly thereafter, anyone in close proximity to a cube dies of a heart attack as the cubes zap an electrical pulse. Since the Doctor, who has been near a cube, has two hearts, he is only injured and not killed. It is then revealed that there are in fact seven transmitter locations and the nearest is the hospital where Rory works.
At the hospital, Brian is kidnapped by alien creatures connected to the cubes and Rory pursues them via a porthole to their ship. The Doctor and Amy, tracking the signal, soon follow after Amy restarts the Doctor’s heart. The ship is owned by the Shakri race, who were thought to be essentially the boogeyman of Gallifrey legend, and the “pest controllers of the universe.” The Shakri have sent a drone ship to earth to eliminate the human race so that it won’t branch out into the stars. It has not yet been revealed exactly which part of this future space exploration was feared by the Shakri. They keep referring to an unexplained “Tally” that they answer to. In short order, the Doctor manages to return those on the Shakri’s ship to earth before blowing it up. The massive electrical pulse restores all those on earth who had suffered a heart attack earlier.
The episode concludes with Amy stating that what the Shakri didn’t realize was the cubes are actually “the power of three” and that the Doctor, Rory, and Amy as a trio were a force to be reckoned with.
The trailer for the 2012 Doctor Who finale and the Doctor Who finale photo gallery are now both online.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.