Do I need to explain to the Whites here Anansi/Ananse? Directed by Apple Tree House and Queenie director, Makalla McPherson, this is the first of her episodes helming Doctor Who. It’s also the first episode for Nigerian-born British poet and writer, Inua Ellams. Ellams previously did some National Theatre at Home writing and wrote the 2nd episode of the 2021 series, We Are Lady Parts. All I will say here is that I’m so glad these two roles aren’t White at all, because it ain’t your folklore and ain’t none of your business.

A long time ago, in a Nigerian village, The Doctor saves a young man and a whole forest surrounding the village, scattering seeds and creating a friend. As seen in such documentaries from Tim Story, starring Ice Cube, the barbershop (calm down, it’s a joke) in particularly Black areas are seen as a place (for men) to talk. First off, I think it needs to be noted that, well, I’m Whiter than milk straight out of the cow. So, in terms of living the Black experience, I’m the worst person to be talking about that, but I do try to listen and empathize to better understand a lot of that experience.

All of which is to say, “The Story & The Engine” is very focused on not only the barbershop and that experience, but also uses Black and particularly African culture throughout. Stopping off in Lagos to Vindicate as a result of Earth’s destruction by May 24th (fingers crossed, but if you’re seeing this boo!), The Doctor tells Belinda why something like this is important to him. Which thankfully skips us past this drawn-out “I need to get home” business more than it needs to. Basically, The Doctor wants to go see his mate at Omo’s Palace, the barbershop.

Thankfully, not part of The Pantheon, the story of “The Story & The Engine” avoids using Anansi (the spelling I’ll use from now on) as a god here to fight in that regard. I’ve already said it these last couple of weeks, I’m really not a fan of this Pantheon nonsense Russell is on. Instead, Omo’s Palace is kind of locked between two places at once: Anyone can enter in Lagos, but only certain people (we’ll talk about her) can leave as she pleases, otherwise the barbershop is traveling through Space on the Nexus/World Wide Web.

In Omo’s Palace, there are three men (plus Omo), three men who have gone missing recently. All three are telling stories when the light on the far wall turns red, stories that satisfy The Barber, as played by Ariyon Bakare in his second role in the show. Of course, The Doctor notices these are the three missing men straight away. Asking immediately about the empty street outside, as he’s left Belinda back in the TARDIS, while he enjoys being in a place where he feels accepted and safe, normally.

Straight away, that’s the bit of the episode that I quite like. His vulnerability to say, effectively, he goes everywhere in the universe and he speaks with aliens of several different kinds, but in this body, this Black cis male body, he’s treated differently just about everywhere. Everywhere but Nigeria, everywhere but Lagos, and everywhere but Omo’s Palace. I don’t care that it annoys, to quote Prime Minister Jack Hacker, “the wives of the people that run the country.” It gives greater depth to the character, and it does what I said last time out: it puts an analogous idea into the sci-fi world.

Nonetheless, he does the usual Doctor thing of walking in like he owns the place, asking questions, and has to deal with a villain face-to-face by giving them a great big telling-off. Very typical Doctor Who stuff, even down to the CGI and general story beats. I know, this week I’ll disappoint without the massive rant about Conrad, display of disabled people, or otherwise. “The Story & The Engine” is a good episode with little to massively complain about or herald as the great second coming of the show’s run.

Sitting on “The Story & The Engine” for a couple of weeks, I’ve been able to think about a comparison, and the only episode that comes to mind straight away is “Midnight.” Not so much of a bottle episode, but similar. Something slightly unknown, realizing the danger, and having to figure out a way to outsmart the big bad of the week. I don’t even want to say villain because not only is this an almost self-contained story, but the way it resolves is very Doctor Who.

Locked in the barbershop, The Doctor’s place that makes him feel safe in this body, he’s forced to sit in the chair and tell a story. Not one of great adventure by him, not of aliens and monsters, but one of Belinda and the beautiful, unwavering compassion of the NHS nurses. Why am I being a bit “poetic” about some nurses? Because they are depressingly underpaid, overworked, and put in so much of their lives, something the story of Belinda highlights. It’s her gran’s birthday, and as anyone in their 20s/30s knows, grandparents aren’t having many more birthdays with you.

Yet after highlighting a patient’s symptoms at the end of her shift to the Doctor (not our Doctor), he tells Belinda that it is her case, deal with it. Staying the whole night, saving the old (for lack of a better term) woman, she misses her own grandmother’s birthday. You can take your flag-waving, Farage-hugging, jingoistic nonsense and shove it up yourself, because that story of Belinda, of nurses (and some Doctors), is the reason to be proud of a place. Not some frog-faced nonce gulping down pints, telling you it’s all the brown people’s fault your life is in ruin.

Sorry, I did say I wouldn’t go on a rant, but NHS nurses (of course not all) are the reason many people are alive. That’s the point of The Doctor’s story (yes, our Doctor), that even the “small” people that gods and folklore sometimes ignore are the most important ones in our lives. That’s the other highlight of the episode: The use of the animated artwork on the wall depicting the stories being told in the barber’s chair, stories that are feeding the engine.

The idea of Anansi is “similar” to Loki, Saga, Dionysus, and other sorts of trickster/storyteller folklore, at least for the purposes of “The Story & The Engine.” With the beautiful budget Aslan here claiming to be not only the spider-inspired trickster, but all the storytelling tricksters at once. The Barber is just as important as all of them. It’s a story about him feeling like he matters. More importantly, that he could facilitate the revenge of a former companion, Abby or Abena, Anansi’s daughter.

“And Anansi purposely lost a bet to make me Marry one of his daughters,” The Doctor says, crumbling The Barber’s claim to be The Man-Spider himself, saying it with his full chest. However, it wasn’t him. It wasn’t Tennant, Smith, or the ones you’re thinking of. It was the other time this Doctor was Black, the other time she was hiding, and one of the few times a Chibnall episode was pretty good, it was Jo Martin from “Fugitive of the Judoon.” Best still, she returned to do some work here.

Maybe I’m also willing, if I’m generous enough, to say that Russell was maybe suggested one of the best lines of the episode too: “And, frankly, darling. I was busy in a different story, that might be finished one day.” Yes, I love a bit of shade being thrown at Chibnall like an open bottle of cold urine. I promise, I don’t just enjoy the episode because of that line, but dear god it is good to see at least someone knows that is unresolved. That and, “I used to call it The World Wide Web. Until the humans named something far uglier after that.”

Not only is “The Story & The Engine” worth quoting now and then, it’s just a simply told story. Sure, it’s about gods and such, but these aren’t the wider story arc of this Doctor, it isn’t The Pantheon, and it isn’t about the series. There is something wider connecting the episode to this series itself, but we’ll get back to the captain later, and quite frankly we could have gone an episode without Anita Dobson and lost nothing. That isn’t something against her, it’s more to do with the lovely gay Welsh bloke that made me fall in love with Doctor Who in the first place.

Less mysterious than “Midnight,” thank Anansi, I think “The Story & The Engine” does a lot of work to practically be a standalone episode in what is quickly becoming as annoying as Flux was. It isn’t big, and it isn’t promising big Wiki edits; it is just a simple story told well enough with only a handful of characters and a bit of folklore. Last I checked, that alongside historical characters is kind of the whole point of Doctor Who.

Ultimately, “The Story & The Engine” is a really good bit of classic style New-Who, or what is typically referred to as 2005 to whenever Chibnall defecated such unmitigated piles of tripe like “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos” and “The Timeless Children.” It’s also a bit removed, largely, from whatever Russell is trying to do. I don’t want to say he failing, but certainly stumbling at it. Of course, the standouts of the episode, beyond production, have to be Ariyon Bakare and Ncuti. With part of me really wanting to see more from Ellams, too.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Doctor Who "The Story & The Engine"

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• The wall-animated art style thing, telling stories.
• Non-Western, non-White centric folklore for once.
• Ariyon Bakare and Ncuti.
• The Doctor's backstory about why Omo's Palace means so much.
• Up the NHS nurses!

Cons

• I could have done without Mrs Flood.