Mummy On The Orient Express, The Good, The Bad and The Funny.

The Doctor and Clara enjoy the ambience.

One of the kindest things I can say about this series is that the quality of stories have been uneven at best. When a story tends to hit all the right buttons it becomes a joy to watch, Mummy on the Orient Express was one such story.

Finally Peter Capaldi's Doctor was given an opportunity to shine. He did what he did best, solve a mystery. The Doctor has been prone to ranting, insulting those around him and generally blustering his way to a successful conclusion (shut up, shut up, shut up.) but in Mummy we get a glimpse of what the new Doctor is truly capable of and should be like all the time

Nice one centurion...like it.

There is a lovely scene where the Doctor is talking to Professor Emile Moorhouse, expert on the Fortold, better known as the Mummy. In one fluid motion the Doctor whips out an elegant silver cigarette case. Anyone even remotely familiar with Agatha Christie's television and movie adaptations will know that many of her characters smoke. We just know that the Doctor won't offer Moorhouse a ciggie (apart from not being PC, it wouldn't do to show the Doctor even owning a cigarette.).

In one beautiful moment, the Doctor opens the cigarette case to reveal two lines of perfectly arranged jelly babies. This was a nice reference to the Fourth Doctor's favourite snack and a gently humourous moment.

The Doctor points out to Clara that this Orient Express (there have been a few with that name.) is a perfect facsimile of its era (Earth 1930s), that is, until he hears the lounge singer performing her version of a Queen song. I'm sure Freddy Mercury would've approved.

I Don't Do Nice.

I have to admit I'm not a fan of the Clara Oswald character, don't get me wrong, Jenna Coleman is a fine actress, but her character simply does not work well with the new Doctor. Matt Smith's Doctor was demonstrative but Peter Capaldi's Doctor barely shakes hands. This Doctor doesn't do social niceties. When the Mummy is about to kill its victims he doesn't console them over their imminent passing, he asks them to describe exactly what they see. Clara is very much a woman of social etiquette and moral outrages and as such she is almost the polar opposite of the Doctor.

Five minutes more please Mum.

My only real complaint about Mummy was the way it seemed to be compacted to fit the running time. This is one story I felt could've easily been made as a two parter. The first episode could have concentrated on the murders with the second part revolving around the Doctor solving the mystery.
Mummy was certainly not a perfect story (in my opinion there is no such thing everything has flaws no matter how minor if you look hard enough.) but it was a brave attempt to create a tongue in cheek homage to murder mysteries and the queen of crime fiction, Agatha Christie.
Mummy has rightly earned its spot as my second favourite story after the series opener, Deep Breath.