Television: Doctor Who, "Time Heist"

. . . In which the Doctor, Clara, and two new friends rob a bank.

As ever, the story lacks a certain amount of internal logic. For one thing, why keep hiring a clone of yourself to do a job when your clones keep fucking up? At some point don't you have to say, "Geez, I am not suited for this," and find someone else?

That's only the smallest of the issues, but I won't nitpick. I like heist stories. It was pretty obvious from the start that [spoiler alert] the Doctor was the "Architect" (what is this, the Matrix?), but whatever. Clara was agreeably background noise, and the new characters Psi and Saibra were interesting and refreshing. I can't say the story itself was all that good, but if the job was to once again put the Doctor under a microscope—is he a good man?—then this episode fell in line.

For one thing, Saibra calls the Doctor a good man. And, after all, he does rescue the Teller and its mate. But then there was the whole "guilt" factor, which was a heavy theme in this episode. More than just guilt for robbing a bank, mind; the Teller was . . . a sin guilt eater? For whom the Doctor, with his centuries of regrets, might make a tasty morsel.

In short, a middling episode. The banter at the start as Clara gets ready for her date was cute. The characters were solid. The plot itself, however, was somewhat shaky. And after "Into the Dalek," I feel we've done a lot more inside than outside this season. Might be time for some actual space in that space-time thing.