The War Between Land and Sea continues with The Deep. Or rather, the war hasn't really begun yet, aside from Salt's bluster last week. In fact, with tonight's double episode, which first deals with the team's round-the-world journey to meet with Homo Aqua, and then with further negotiations between Barclay and Salt, you'd be forgiven for wondering if The Deep will simply tread water. Only this time underwater, in the domain of Homo Aqua.
Fortunately, events both on land and at sea propel the plot forward significantly. Terrifying and shocking events, that will leave you breathless, much like Barclay's team's journey to the bottom of the ocean.
Creator: Russell T. Davies
Stars: Russell Tovey, Jemma Redgrave, Cat Gannon
McTighe's script possesses the same insightful intelligence that has become a hallmark of The War Between Land and Sea. Much of the first half of the episode is essentially a character study. We get a concise introduction to the diplomatic team sent to meet with Salt, and learn of their hopes and fears. Although it does raise the old Armageddon complaint: surely UNIT has someone better qualified without having to resort to crash courses for complete amateurs?
However, there's a subtle finesse in the way Barclay gently assumes a leadership role with the others. Similarly, the usually serene and philosophical Pierce, by bluntly telling Ted to "just shut up, please," reveals that even he has his limits and human anxieties.
Ted is another charming character. His radiant optimism and endless self-help quotes hint at a fragility that immediately primes the audience for him to become a problem later on. And while the episode initially moves in that direction, it's all a clever feint for something entirely different.
On land too, the episode focuses on revealing more about the humanity of the UNIT team. Kate, as Ibrahim observes, is "incredible, but not invulnerable." Peace with Homo Aqua is further away than ever, her team is miles beneath the waves where she can't help them, and she's increasingly marginalized by people who are politicizing the crisis. Recent events have pushed her to the breaking point. We also see her limitations in another way. She and Colonel Ibrahim may have a relationship, but she still struggles to fully open up to him. And time may be running out for them, as well as for the world. From the beginning, The World Between has proven adept at introducing a large number of new UNIT characters and getting viewers to care about them as quickly as the established characters, in just one or two episodes. In The Deep, this begins to pay off spectacularly.
Amidst all the major, dramatic events, the first two episodes subtly introduced several questions about the civilization beneath the waves. How are the three species—Homo Aqua, Homo Amphibia, and Piscimorpha Grandis—interconnected? What function does the pearl embedded in their throats serve? Why does Salt seem to have a fluid gender identity, and how does that work? And why has the underwater world lost patience with the human race now, when pollution has been a major problem for at least a century?
We get answers to at least some of these questions. The Aquakind's empathic connection extends to other life forms as well. That's apparently why they've so readily accepted dolphins and other marine mammals into their community, even though they must surely seem as alien to them as any land creature. But it also explains why Salt was immediately drawn to Barclay, driven by something far deeper than a simple act of kindness towards a deceased Homo Aqua.
Further exploration of the nomadic underwater civilization is one of the episode's highlights. Especially the cameo, which will undoubtedly please fans, of the classic Sea Devil design among the modern Homo Aqua in the assembly scene.
It's no secret that Russell T Davies has a rather cynical view of the world's politicians. British Prime Minister Harry Shaw is the latest to earn their contempt. However, unlike the arrogant, cunning, and self-serving Green from Children of Earth, Shaw is simply weak. He completely crumbles under pressure, abandoning any principles he might have had, caving to the right to embrace the prejudices and agendas of the loudest voice in the room. (Any resemblance to the ever-shifting landscape of British political careers, living or dead, is purely coincidental.)
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