When a fearsome and ancient species emerges from the ocean, dramatically revealing themselves to humanity, an international crisis is triggered. With the entire population at risk, UNIT step into action as the land and sea wage war.

Look, it’s nowhere near the quality of something like Torchwood: Children of Earth—a show it’s clearly trying to emulate. But The War Beneath the Land and the Sea is a tense, mostly competent political thriller—when it focuses on its bigger ideas instead of its Shape of Water-esque love story.

Jemma Redgrave carries much of the show on her shoulders now that Kate’s actually been given a fairly meaty storyline. And this is perhaps the most threatening and fully realized the Sea Devils/“Homo Aqua” have ever been. But the pacing is a little bit too all over the place; the focus is never quite on the right parts of the story for the show to fully come together. It’s a lot more competent and confident than the last few Doctor Who finales have been, but there’s still something that’s missing, even if the show as a whole proves quite compelling and enjoyable. 

It’s not that things are rushed, per se. It’s more that the show doesn’t quite commit to the darkness of its premise (in a way that Children of Earth absolutely does) and can’t quite decide if it wants to be a dark, biting political thriller or a hopeful romance. So, it tries to be both and, in the process, never gives either side of its story quite enough juice to really come together. A lot of interesting things happen, but since the show splits its attention so poorly between them, you don’t necessarily care about what’s happening. It’s all very easy even with the nuanced topics at play. 

Still, it’s a great proof of concept for what a Doctor Who spinoff could be, and I’d be eager to see more stories in that vein in the future.

3.5 out of 5 wands.