Written by Gareth Roberts
Directed by Graeme Harper
“It’s a murder, a mystery…and Agatha Christie!”
“So? Happens to me all the time.”
“I know, but isn’t that a bit weird? Agatha Christie didn’t walk around surrounded by murders…not really. That’s like meeting Dickens surrounded by ghosts at Christmas!”
The Unicorn and the Wasp can best be described as delightful. It doesn’t exactly turn my crank in the same way Mr. Robert’s previous season effort managed to do (and if you haven’t seen the sublime The Shakespeare Code, then you should get your hands on it immediately)…but as Donna herself says, “I like the colour of your jib! Chin Chin!”
It’s classic drawing room comedy, with a cast of characters straight out of the Clue board game, mixed in with dozens and dozens of Agatha Christie titles, innuendos, cliches, and plots…and a giant alien wasp! It’s a smorgasbord of 1920s delight, although it does pile everything on a bit too much at times, in a way that Black Orchid managed to avoid during its own visit to the 1920s some two decades ago.
The actors are what really sell this episode, with Felicity (Lady Edison) Kendall and Fenella (Agatha Christie) Woolgar, both pitching their performances perfectly. That said, the sublime double act of David Tennant and Catherine Tate once again manages to steal the show, with another smooth-as-cream outing for their wonderful banter, and even more wonderful friendship. This is even more incredible than it sounds, considering that this was the first filmed episode of the season.
Frankly, I don’t have much else to say about the episode. It’s witty, gorgeously filmed (showing that Graeme Harper can do historical comedy with the same skill he brings to epic alien destruction), and there was a smile on my face from start to finish. The CGI wasp was superbly realized, the toxic shock scene was a comedy classic, and the quiet, happy ending in the TARDIS makes for a really nice note on which to momentarily pause the season…as it takes a one week break for Eurovision (shudder).
But in the end, The Unicorn and the Wasp is a bit too fluffy and inconsequential for my taste. If anything, I’d lump it into the same category as the season opener, Partners in Crime…which certainly isn’t a bad thing. But it seems my historical taste leans more towards the dark corners explored by The Shakespeare Code and The Unquiet Dead (which gets a hilarious mention in the episode). So let’s just say we reach the halfway point of the season with a quiet but confident rating of…
7.5
