I did have one facepalm moment at the end. Clara has been on a bit of a character progression on the subject of honesty, and at the end she totally blew it. She doesn’t trust the Doctor, resents him for lying to her, resents him for encouraging her to lie to others, and then she goes and lies to both him and Danny.

*sigh*

I don’t mind romantic arcs. I really don’t. But Amy did not deserve Rory, and Clara does not deserve Danny. Though of the two, I have to say Clara is way more unreliable towards her boyfriend. I hope that’s building towards something, where all the lies are going to blow up in her face, or it will all just completely undercut everything they’ve built up about how much it hurts people to lie to them. Yeah I know, the Doctor lies. And it hurts people. Sometimes it saves their lives, but it also hurts them, and they’ve been making a point of exploring that. So if she gets a “get out of consequences free” card from that, I’ll be quite disappointed.

Unlike in most of the previous episodes, the Mummy was actually threatening and the countdown to the inevitable highlighted the threat.

I mentioned before this episode aired about the 11th Doctor receiving a phone call about an Egyptian Goddess on the Orient Express in space and it was nice that this was addressed with the 12th Doctor mentioning that it had been one of a number of attempts to lure him to the train, but obviously means the 11th Doctor never actually went.

Although we didn’t see Missy again, the Mummy feels like it may be connected. She purports to be part of the afterlife and the Mummy was manipulated into taking people with physical weaknesses, although targeting people with mental health problems doesn’t equate as well. It kind of reminds me of Final Destination, where Death pursues people who survived situations when they shouldn’t have. Could the Mummy be a sort of debt collector for Missy?

Mummy On The Orient Express felt like Doctor Who to me and that’s the first time this series. I liked the special effects of the train traveling through space and I liked the countdown clock displaying on the screen every time the Mummy arrived for its target.

I also really liked how the episode had two bad guys, in a way. We had the Mummy that was being manipulated into doing what he did, and we had the person or people controlling Gus, who sacrificed person after person in an attempt to capture and learn the secrets of the Mummy, likely as a weapon.

The Mummy itself was interesting. The fact that he was an old soldier from an ancient war creates intrigue into who he was, what war he was a part of and who was controlling him.

It is funny though. As Tractator said, Steven Moffat didn’t co-write this episode as he has most of this series and it was actually a decent episode. Unlike the rest of this series so far, I didn’t come away from this episode feeling like I’d been cheated or feeling like the episode had been rushed or that the monster had been completely pointless.

Frank Skinner had a decent part in the show and he did a good job, considering how he was convinced he hadn’t done enough, but Foxes just had a cameo that we’ll all forget, not that it mattered to me as I barely know who she is anyway.

The only negative I can say is that this makes this series one for eight out of twelve so far. Hardly amazing stats.

Unfortunately it also had its down points. Again I question the inclusion of Danny Pointless. I think this episode shows how there is no real on-screen chemistry between The Doctor and Clara. Clara was just a whinging misery throughout the story. Oh, I know there have been other whingers throughout Doctor Who history – Tegan being a prime example but at least Tegan was believable! Clara just does not hold up to the Doctor. I know that Steven Moffatt wants us all to believe that Clara is the most important companion ever and that she has “Saved” every Doctor at some point but the reality is, she is just not that companion!

Perkins was brilliantly realised and like Donna before him, I wanted him to stay on. There was a real connection between the Doctor and Perkins, you could almost see the disappointment flicker across the Doctors face at the end.

The mummy/Soldier was so well done and the 66 second was perfectly explained but not who this mysterious “all powerful person” was. I would imagine it is going to be the same as when the Silence appeared, carbon copies of the Angels, they were as scary as Angel Delight at tea time! I hope this mysterious person will be something that bind a very lacklustre season together!

There still seems to be a lack of PC actual running around the console, pressing buttons and moving levers! Despite that this is the second time the console does not have a central column, I miss the rise and fall!

It has a great plot and Great characterisation which is something we haven’t seen for a long time!
This episode has such a classic Doctor Who vibe to it, it’s like an episode from the Philip Hinchliffe era. I can just really see this as an episode that can star the 4th Doctor, Sarah and maybe Harry!

Seriously I just want to keep going on and on about how good this episode is!

Thing is though, this episode was filled with such rich atmosphere, and Capaldi and Jenna Coleman were so fantastic, that not understanding a lot of what was going on is alright with me. I know it will all come into focus on repeat viewing.

After the debacle which was “Kill The Moon”, this episode was exactly what I needed to patch things up with my good friend, “Doctor Who”!