Time Heist

This episode is essentially a bank heist story on another planet. It has a mystery element and a time travel element. I find it rather quintessential Doctor Who in a number of ways. It has aspects of what makes the show what it is and what the Doctor stands for.

Time travel is used well in this plot without becoming totally illogical. Steven Moffatt's era far too often took time travel aspects too far so that they weren't logical or convincing for me whereas this plot basically makes sense. I love that it makes time travel central to the story because that is part of the essence of Doctor Who - it isn't just space travel it is time travel. The way the mystery is tied in with the time aspect is fun too.

The Doctor using his brains to solve a problem is a feature of this story and that is always a great thing, I think, as that is a key part of the essence of what makes the Doctor a special type of hero. Also the Doctor's compassion in trying to appreciate and help an alien 'monster' is a basic Doctor Who feature which is used well here.

The 'villain' being a banker is a great idea and should be used again in future as banking greed is something which makes perfect sense and relates to real life as well as making sense in alien or future worlds. Keeley Hawes is a very good actress and she plays her part as well as possible adding some class. The other guest acting is all of a good standard as well.

The only real flaw for me is that the supposedly impregnable bank is not all that convincingly portrayed. It hardly seems deserving of its immense reputation.

The adventure is not the most exciting or outstanding one ever but is good solid Doctor Who. The deeper themes of how people behave and how people are treated are thoughtfully presented making this a fairly strong episode overall.

My Rating: 8/10.

My Series 8 Episode Ranking: 6th out of 12.

This episode hooked me right from the get-go and I was invested for the rest of the ride. "Time Heist" is an interesting, exciting episode with a few nice twists up its sleeve and an excellent monster to protect them.

As is usual by this point, the Doctor and Clara were incredibly entertaining and fun to watch. Their banter never fails to make me smile.

The episode's supporting cast were very good too. Psi, Saibra, and Ms. Delphox all proved to be very interesting characters with enough depth to keep me invested in their respective dilemmas.

The Teller, for me anyway, will go down as one of the best monsters introduced in Series 8. Its introduction scene is easily the best monster introduction in recent years.

The production design was excellent and the world of the Bank of Karabraxos was wonderfully vibrant. For the most part, the episode is well paced but it's definitely an episode that could have used a few more extra minutes at the end.

Overall, "Time Heist" was a highly enjoyable episode with good supporting characters and a few interesting twists.

"The Doctor robs a bank". The idea sells itself, really. But Time Heist was never going to be that straight forward. The result is an episode that remains action packed and fun throughout, but all feels a bit too familiar. Doctor Who is infamous for its use of running, especially down corridors; Time Heist is essentially a corridor running montage for its entire middle act. But the idea keeps it interesting. The episode is also boosted by, yet again, great performances from Capaldi and Coleman. Here, we were also taken away from all the story arcs and serious questions posed so far; a necessary break, which allowed the episode some breathing room. Without this, Time Heist could have been the biggest misfire of the series. But, thankfully, we were left with an episode that, whilst overstuffed and repetitive, was consistently fun and engaging enough to act as a solid piece of TV drama.

The 45 minute time restraint is sometimes Doctor Who's biggest burden, but never more so than here. Time Heist has so many ideas and so much to tell, it struggles to fit everything in, which results in the first half of the episode feeling cluttered and choppily edited. It wouldn't surprise me if the rough draft of this episode was well into an hour long. I actually think Time Heist would have worked as a two-parter. This first half could have acted as a set up (which is, inevitably, needed; they are robbing a bank, after all) and only just delved into the action towards the end, with the resolving part acting as an extended version of the episode's final half. By the time the episode ends, and with so much thrown at you in the final ten minutes, the previous 35 all felt so rushed that it doesn't really make sense. This might improve upon repeated viewings, but even then, the ending felt a bit familiar. Did the whole Alien Love Story thing remind anyone else of last year's Hide?

But, Time Heist probably winds up as the series' most overall enjoyable episode thus far. This was a perfect example of how to have fun without resorting to silliness, which is where Robot of Sherwood faulted. It was also nice to have some side characters that were a bit more fleshed out. Both Psi and Saibra were well developed and welcome additions to the cast; I only feel they could have been even stronger has this story been split over two episodes. This also applies to the episode's antagonist; Ms Delphox, played brilliantly by Keeley Hawes. Whilst she was certainly a creepy villain, she wound up too formulaic in the Female Villain role, and her motives weren't explored enough. Whilst there does seem to be a lot of criticism here, I still really enjoyed Time Heist. It was no match for last week's masterpiece, but it wasn't the show's weakest episode this series, either. Its ideas were too big for its runtime, and there were minor character issues, but it was entertaining, funny and action packed enough to remain interesting throughout. It just won't top any fan favourite lists.

I feel like i'm watching a lower budget version of the film 'Now you see me,' it aimed really high, and for the best part it delivers, a few little flaws, the biggest one being the under use of Keeley Hawes. They did the same with the amazing Helen McCrory back in Vampires of Venice, for someone of Hawes talent I felt the character of Ms Delphox didn't hit the mark.

More positively Jonathan Bailey is awesome as Psi, please producers bring the guy back!! Also, Pippa Bennett-Warner is excellent as Saibra, I'd be interested to learn more of her story too. I liked the pace of the story too, it moves along very quickly.

It's different in some ways, and in others it feels a little repetitive, use of Androids, the Monster at the end (more then a little reminiscent of the end of Hide,) but all in all for me the pros outweigh the cons more so it gets a 7/10.

Stand and deliver, your psyche and your life, if you cross stalks with The Teller and intend to pull a heist. Stand and deliver, show us what you've got, then once The Teller's probed you you'll be left with not a lot. Stand and deliver, there's nowhere you can get, but just to spice things up a bit we'll make sure you forget. Stand and deliver, says the banker not the thief, just who is the bank robber, with the ransom and the grief.