Series 2 Episode 7/8: The impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit

Action sequences featuring masses of mindless zombies and their variants seem to a Doctor Who series stable. In this episode, a continuation of the previous "The Impossible Planet", the fairly innocuous tentacle-lipped slave race known as the Ood are possessed by a satanic force, and are driven to destroy their human masters. In order to stop it from happening, Rose steps up and takes command of the likeable space station crew.

The only way to stop the Ood from overrunning the humans is to "flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, and disrupt their telepathy." Meaningless technobabble aside, what this entails from a story standpoint is that the crew has to make their way to Ood Habitation via a network of cramped crawlspace tunnels that have no atmosphere. It's up to the Captain, who's stuck on the bridge, to provide moving packets of oxygen in the tunnel network as the crew makes their way. Sacrifices are made, the security officer dies, but they ultimately prevail and manage to bring down the Ood thanks to their camaraderie and teamwork.
Of course, it isn't as simple as that. There's the matter of the possessed archaeologist who seems to be the new host for the satanic creature that inhabits the planet. The Devil's mind wants to escape, and wants to use the crew to help him.

Meanwhile the Doctor and Ida disobey the Captain's orders and pursue the devilish creature that supposedly lives down the large pit that opened up at the end of the previous episode. Once down there, the Doctor is confronted by the satanic monstrosity, which is brought to life with an impressive display of CGI graphic artistry.
 
Intentionally ambiguous about the creature's origins, the TARDIS crew and the other humans part ways, but there was one ominous prediction that is emphasized at the end of the episode. During the devil's preliminary monologue earlier in the episode, he had the following to say about Rose: "The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon". Now we know that Billie Piper is leaving the show at the end of the year, so it's going to be interesting to see how she ends up departing. The Doctor comforts Rose by saying that the creature was lying, but there was a slight air of uncertainty in his voice. In any event, with only a few episodes left to go, we'll know Rose's fate for sure by the end of this season.
 
Rating: 9/10