Doctor Who S2E4 Lucky Day ★★★☆☆
Quite enjoyed this one. The dodgy politics were mild enough to leave just a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth rather than send me into a bloody rage like with Kerblam!.
There is a very abrupt gear-shift half way through, but I enjoyed both Ruby trying to deal with her trauma and the conspiracy theory grifter shithead angle. I think the way that Conrad will immediately shift back into denial of reality rather than learn a lesson is astute. The worldview of a conspiracy theorist is one that justifies a desired conclusion more than anything else. He is not going to drop that over a little thing like his arm being bitten off.
That said, this episode falls into the trap of countering anti-vaxxers by uncritically aligning with the monstrosity that is the pharmaceutical industry. UNIT clearly is a nepotistic military hierarchy that operates opaquely and above the law. Kate Stewart is portrayed as going a bit too far here, but in a way that we are meant to take some naughty satisfaction in. The episode says that UNIT is necessary, and thus above any serious reproach. It is the quiet, acceptable authoritarianism of that free-floating quote that gets attributed to various famous, dead men: “We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”