An Autist Reviews: Praxeus (NuWho Episode 12.6)

*This is an older review, it is not as detailed as my more modern reviews*

*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*

*This is a bare-bones/lite review made after only a single viewing. (Hence there not being any replay rating)*

Birds are acting weird, a woman has gone missing, a man is about to explode on a beach, and a cop is looking for his missing astronaut husband. All four odd situations must be linked, and the Doctor and her fam are looking into each case, but attacks from crazed birds and gasmask-wearing lunatics are making things harder than they need to be. A new virus has been unleashed on earth… and it’s humanity’s fault it’s as dangerous as it is.

Praxeus starts out in three stories that quickly merge into one. The writing is solid, and the story itself isn’t bad with a pretty decent twist halfway through a well-designed message about the dangers of microplastics. Things are well-paced for perhaps the first time this series, but I just can’t glean much enjoyment out of it. This was a decent watch, but for the first time this series, I can’t say much stood out other than the gruesome deaths and the awesome sets.

Oddly enough, the Doctor and her fam are not on their A-Game this episode. Even Orphan-55, which I admit sucked, had solid acting, but the side characters are the only ones with any really good, consistent, acting. The rest get better as they go, but still aren’t anything to shout home about. The feelings you get are real and the actors get their points across, including some interesting moments with Yaz and a look at the Doctor being a little more ‘alien’ than usual as she shirks responsibilities and ignores a woman’s grieving.

The effects of this episode were solid gold. The music though, like the rest of this story, is really not much to write home about. It does its just and enhances certain moments, but much like most music this series, sort of fades into the background and becomes unmemorable. The laser blasts were the worst effects of this, which is more than made up for by the teleporting, the exploding corpses, and the spaceships, all of which are amazing. On top of that, the costuming was really good and the makeup on the dying people is awesome as well, really giving Praxeus, and I don’t just mean the episode, some gruesome and visceral parts.

All in all, Praxeus is nothing to write home about. It’s an average showing by a pretty good writer. The effects are really well done, the writing is pretty good, but the acting of the main characters and the villain is not so great and the story feels like it needed more time… which is oddly a complaint I have with a lot of Doctor Who. The plot moves fast where it probably shouldn’t and slow where it really should be a little faster. Praxeus is far superior to Orphan-55 story-wise, but I can’t rate it higher than a 7 because of the basic acting and the fact that the story is hard to follow.

Total - 7 (It should by all means by 8, but I just didn't like it, and why be mean to myself?)

Plot - 7
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Story - 7
Writing - 8
Enjoyment - 6
Twists - 7

Acting - 8
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MCs - 7
SCs - 9
BGs - 7

Effects - 8
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Music - 7
Vocals - NR
Actions - 9
Costumes - 8

Replay - NR
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Re-Enjoyment - NR
New Details - NR

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