Doctor Who Just Pulled Off A Time Travel Plot That Shouldn't Have Worked

This post contains spoilers for the latest episodes of "Doctor Who."

It turns out love really is all you need. Well, love and a Time Lord willing to fight off the spirit of music through a delightfully campy song battle that sees literal musical notes fill the air. The showdown between the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), Ruby (Millie Gibson), and the chaotic being known as Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon) in the new season's second episode might be one of the goofiest things that's happened on "Doctor Who" recently — and it's not even the most over-the-top part of the episode. "The Devil's Chord" takes some deliciously weird risks, the biggest of which is centering its drama on "characters" who aren't exactly historical figures yet: The Beatles.

Of course, the long-running BBC sci-fi series (which recently made the move to Disney+) is known for crafting plotlines that see its central heroes mucking around in history and coming face to face with some of Earth's most influential figures in the process. The show has featured everyone from William Shakespeare to Abraham Lincoln to Francis Bacon, but its timey-wimey plots rarely splash around in the zeitgeisty parts of real recent history. "The Devil's Chord" went for it, though, breaking with tradition to include an influential real-life person who's still alive today — Paul McCartney — in the episode's main plot.

The closest the modern iteration of the show has gotten to doing something like this before was most likely in "The End of Time," a two-part episode from 2009-2010 that included an actor playing then-president Barack Obama. That time around, the political leader's face was obscured, perhaps because it would seem a bit too on the nose to actually try to portray the sitting President on "Doctor Who." Both episodes could certainly be accused of jumping the shark, but "The Devil's Chord" pulls its tricky portrayal off thanks to its strong lead performances and a clever script by Russell T. Davies (who coincidentally also wrote "The End of Time").

As for The Beatles themselves, they're initially not used as much as expected (the show clearly didn't actually license any of their songs, as we just hear them talk, play a funny fake tune, and tinker at the piano), but they get the chance to let the music flow during the episode's climax. When demon-like Maestro says the world can only be saved by the discovery of a secret chord that can bind them, there's much made of the fact that only a musical genius can get it right. Fifteen and Ruby can't, and it seems like Paul can't on his own either, but when John Lennon takes a spot beside him at the keyboard, the two make magic together.

The Abbey Road-set episode doesn't get overly creative with its portrayal of The Beatles, but its bold flashback to a not-that-distant pop cultural moment works in part because it ultimately reveals a sincere understanding of the band's talents. They may seem like restless, borderline boring boys here as they record their first album, but there's something inside them that knows how to make music that can change the world — and it only works when they're together. It's a sentiment that goes hand in hand with the loving, complex portrait of McCartney and Lennon that emerged from Peter Jackson's "Get Back" documentary in 2021. 

That's another reason "The Devil's Chord" shouldn't have worked: its reference to a relationship that's highlighted most clearly in another Disney+ property (in addition to "Get Back," the streamer is also home to Mary McCartney's doc about Abbey Road Studios) should feel like overt cross-promotion. Yet the whole thing is earnest and fun enough that by the end, any inkling that we might be being sold something has fallen away. The Beatles are as acclaimed as the 17th, 18th, and 19th century artists the show has visited before, so it makes sense for them to appear, even if the show's streamer also feels like the unofficial streaming home to the band. It's clear that these episodes are meant to sell something, though: "Doctor Who." The series' jump to Disney+ has opened it up to a new audience, and these intro episodes very purposely feature both a kid-friendly zaniness and intrigue and drama that would appeal to new adult viewers, too.

Where "The Devil's Chord" should have been corny, it instead delivers high camp, wacky humor, and another gorgeous performance from Gatwa, whose warmth and just-below-the-surface sadness as The Doctor is complemented perfectly by Ruby's selfless friendliness. The episode also taps into something universal and emotional, imagining music as a form of expression that makes the world go 'round and positioning fear of new forms of art as antithetical to how humans naturally feel. The Beatles cameo may feel more out there than the show's usual antics, but like most of its history plots, it's grounded in a whole lot of love and empathy.

The show's decision to visit a still-living historical figure is just one of several in-universe rules the new series, which features a Pantheon of fantastical beings and has even introduced a concept by which the Doctor can regenerate into two bodies, has already enthusiastically broken. "Doctor Who" is getting a makeover, and while it might be a risky one in a series known for its constants, it's also been a whole lot of fun so far.