But I thought, despite her inability to save Prem, Yaz would still look back, if nothing else to bear witness to what caused her grandmother so much pain. I actually have the same feelings as @jimthefish (and I wonder if I need to say more about that as he did it far better). I’m worried that they might veer away from the Graham-Ryan-Grace emotional story because it’s potentially so strong — and this Doctor has, so far, no emotional ballast to pitch against/with it. In this episode, it was a pair of aliens known as the Thijarians. What they literally meant was ‘if you don’t get out of here you’ll probably die, and we’ll act as witnesses to you’. Traditionally, Hindu weddings are performed by a priest (pundit) or what the Hindus might call a ‘learned man’ and who, really, could be more learned than the Doctor? I don’t go on Twitter or Facebook but I do go on other forums following each new episode and it seems to me that posters are being slightly less vitriolic than before. This seems to be a central theme in Chibnall’s Who. Another small-scale, personal story (I recognise that the actual partition of India was very large scale, but the story that was told was a personal one). ! And that’s part of why comments are dwindling: there’s little or nothing to comment on about the Doctor herself. Perhaps Prem’s sacrifice and her newfound understanding of love might act as inspiration for her somewhere down the line as she travels with the Doctor. How weird — Walsh’s character is looking more to me like an experienced  Doctor than Whittaker does. What do a Punjabi have in common with a Tamil? Now the Aryan mythology is debunked and scientifically Indian subcontinent is one hundred percent indigenous which is proved genetically. And she has to do this while knowing that this marriage is going to be destroyed in a few hours. I am certain she feels responsible not just for the success of the gender change. I think it’s Doctorey enough. Perhaps she was waiting for Yaz to say something first so they can talk about what happened? If we want an arch, though – who was it who destroyed their planet? They were not created by Prajapati (God). @jimthefish  I like a grandstanding, speechifying Doctor but this incarnation of the Doctor seems to be somehow more sentimentally naive than passionate with it. The Doctor is forced to walk away again. And the focus of this series is the importance of people. Especially the idea of a race of aliens who aren’t monsters, who are trying to honour the forgotten fallen. Exactly! ! It’s almost as if they don’t like brown people and, well, females. I know this is a fresh start and all that, but I did think their could have been some extra poignancy from the fact that the Doctor’s wife died still quite recently in her timeline, especially with the hand binding. However when I look at the mess the world is in I let it pass because maybe subtle isn’t getting through any more. Thanks to NeoText Publishing, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive look at... BATMAN: THREE JOKERS #2 comes out this week, but thanks to DC Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has a three-page preview for our readers. (I’m currently reading Arundhati Roy’s The Secret of Utmost Happiness, so of course this is foremost on my mind right now). He’s hearing them speak in the local language, we’re hearing the locals speak English. Which sounded understandably like a threat, I think their language and vocabulary was after all built up as a culture of assassins, and takes a while to evolve. by Amit Roy SOME mean-spirited commentators are still carping about the current series of Doctor Who, mainly on the grounds that the Time Lady’s assistants, Yasmin (Yaz) Khan (Mandip Gill) and Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), are not Caucasian. Demons of the Punjab, in that sense, has an even deeper meaning behind its title than most will see. Evil names list with demonic names for research. That the Doctor would not have looked back. That sense of wanting the Doctor and Yaz to look back, wanting them indeed, to rush and save Prem, is created there deliberately (furthered by the fact they don’t, indeed, look back). There are little hints, or at least things that can be interpreted as signs of this. Welcome! Only time will tell (sorry!). They were not created by Prajapati (God). Lucifer is the name of various mythological and religious figures associated with the planet Venus.Due to the unique movements and discontinuous appearances of Venus in the sky, mythology surrounding these figures often involved a fall from the heavens to earth or the underworld. It feels like that probably should be been in an episode, as that was potentially a defining moment in the relationship of Graham and Ryan with the Doctor. It tackled a horrific historical “episode” with tact and managed to convey the human tragedy without showing the horror of it which would not have been appropriate and is perhaps less effective as the horror only shocks, the human touches us. While I’m enjoying individual episodes, I’m getting impatient for something with a little more scale to it. Greek armies led by Alexander invaded Punjab in the 4th century. I think intense is the word you could use of both of them. But matters become complicated when the group see two aliens, that the Doctor had visions of during brief head pains, over the body of the wedding's overseer sadhu Bhakti. I know. Their descendents are called Vahik. The “real” monsters have been human in Arachnids in the UK, Rosa and now in this episode, when they have followed paths of intolerance and chosen a desecration of the ethic of care (for one another, for the planet/s). Her air of loneliness when she drops the companions off. Only Umbreen isn’t getting married to Yaz’s Muslim grandfather, but a Hindu man – Prem, that she has never told her granddaughter about before. @sontaran2589 To be fair she’s got an Indian accent when she’s speaking English, but she wasn’t speaking English in India/Pakistan. She just doesn’t convince me at all. Up to a point I have no problem in accepting Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, although so far she seems to lack that essential underlying sense of gravitas and age-long experience – more Peter Davison than any incarnation since. so I can see why a lot of people missed it. He clearly has an interest or at least a knowledge of South Asian themes and this was why he got to write this story for Doctor Who. The actual demons of partition were, of course, people, fuelled by sectarianism and the legacies of British colonialism. Curious over its origins, Yasmin convinces a hesitant Thirteenth Doctor to take her, Graham and Ryan to the Punjab in August 1947 where the watch was broken. The other is some action by the Doctor which to me doesn’t ‘fit’ (this time being the Doctor thinking ‘yeah – lets go and visit your nani’ and some bits of unnecessary gurning). For a while I was a little excited there, arch wise, it felt as though we had our third episode of people being targeted by aliens or people from the future. Segin Akinola’s closing piece was exquisite. The women in the family who are muslims don’t wear full head coverings. Secondly for reminding us that it wasn’t just European soldiers who died in the World Wars (clue is in the name, but some people need reminding). In typical Doctor Who style, Demons of the Punjab makes you wonder who the true villain is, and whether they might deserve at least a part of our compassion. The overall impression is still of an actor struggling to find their way into a role, not of a character tormented by self doubt. In Birmingham in the 1970s I often saw women wearing the salwar kameez , but very rarely with their heads covered, and never with the hijab. Yaz convinces The Doctor to go and visit her grandmother’s past in Pakistan and ends up in the country as Partition is about to happen. Devil Synonyms. There is no doubt that the Punjab of 1947 was populated with far more than its fair share of demons, and did not need any alien assassins to help with the bloodshed. Panini writes about the Madra Janapada as a part of Punjab with its capital at Sakala or Sangla, modern Sialkot. Was completely unfamiliar with the story of India>Pakistan partition….from the people’s perspective that is. This topic contains 94 replies, has 36 voices, and was last updated by  Robsie 1 month, 3 weeks ago. By painting a picture of the oncoming violence and rioting impartially yet solemnly, the show remains respectful of the suffering of countless victims and fills my heart, quite like the Thijarians, with empathy for all those who died without being properly remembered. (sorry, @juniperfish) I like a grandstanding, speechifying Doctor but this incarnation of the Doctor seems to be somehow more sentimentally naive than passionate with it. @kevinwho   Yeah, man. But maybe, for the newer, more youthful audience DW is hoping to capture, this is where you have to start to get there again later on. I feel at times as though I am being preached it and even though I agree with the message it irritates me. They were also stories set in specific historical contexts, which was a surprise, since those tend to rouse the nit-picking historian in me and are therefore generally not among my favourites *. And yes, I knew that the story couldn’t cover all possible angles. Then the aliens that she thinks are part of what you might call ‘comfort zone pattern’ – nasty aliens, here to assassinate some innocent human, leading to ‘The Doctor saves the day!’ – aren’t. Review: Jesus Saves in THE WALKING DEAD “Evolution”, Review: DOCTOR WHO Kerblam! You do not have access to this content. She really is the earliest template for a female Doctor and did it very effectively indeed (more convincingly, I’m afraid to say, than Whittaker is). it’s creating a negative space in the narrative arc screaming, “We MUST DO something to stand up to bigotry!! – The Doctor Rages Against the Machine, Review: THE WALKING DEAD “Stradivarius” Keeps Everyone In Tune, STAR WARS RESISTANCE Synara’s Score Episode 7 Review: Turning A Pirate. Partition was such a difficult subject for a show such as Doctor Who to address, in view of the millions who died in the needless and senseless bloodletting, that I was reluctant even to watch this episode for fear that it would be mishandled, and the title, suggesting the introduction of alien antagonists, was not reassuring. Maybe the solution is to have a little more diversity among the commentators. The fact the Tardis took so long to get them to the right place and time. In other words at the beginning of Moffat’s tenure as showrunner. I think it was probably the better choice. I’m still waiting for the dramatic resonance that I’m certain Jodie Whittaker can deliver. }, How Young Heroes Speak Up in CHAMPIONS #1, Review: SCARENTHOOD #1 Is This Halloween’s Must-Read Comic, Review: NOMOBOTS — Taking The Sides of Humanity In Strides, Review: STRANGE ACADEMY #3 — Getting Trippy With Magic Visions, Marvel Comics Exclusive Preview: BLACK WIDOW #2, Exclusive Boom! He’s the Tegan to her DavisonDoc. Punjabi translation of Devil. How to say demons in Turkish What's the Turkish word for demons? BTW, Sanskrit and Old Persian are closely related. This was the name of a demon in ancient Assyrian myths. After all, while aliens don’t turn up in Sheffield, and some people still doubt they exist, the Whoniverse has enough experience of them for the obviously very smart Umbreen to realise that such weird goings on can and do happen. Balhika is the name of the people and are generally abused as Vasatis, Sindhus, and Sauviras”. This season does have a completely different feel from prior seasons, for a multitude of reasons, but Thirteen is undoubtedly the Doctor in my opinion. If she is in fact nervous about who she is now, then that’s a terrific arc but it has to be shown, not merely implied. But, again, I know that you can’t capture every detail, and it can undermine storytelling to try to shoehorn it all in.