"Orphan 55" Season 12 Episode 3 'Doctor Who' Review & Recap

The Doctor, Graham, Ryan, and Yaz are taken to Tranquility Spa via a transport cube for an all-inclusive stay. They are welcomed by their customer host, Hyph3n. As Ryan retrieves a snack from a vending machine, he is infected by a Hopper virus. which the Doctor is able to extract from him. While recovering, he meets fellow guest, Bella. Meanwhile, there is a physical breach and guests are asked to assemble for a muster drill. The Doctor convinces Hyph3n to give her access to the "linen cupboard" which is actually a deadlock security room with an armory where they meet Kane. The Doctor becomes suspicious upon discovering that there is an ionic membrane needed to protect a holiday spa. The creatures that broke into the spa start killing guests. The Hopper virus had also gotten into the spa's systems disabling the transporter and security cameras.

The remaining survivors—the spa's mechanic Nevi, his son Sylas, and an elderly couple, Vilma and Benni—meet at the "linen cupboard", but Velma notices Benni has gone missing. The Doctor builds a new ionic membrane from scratch which banishes the creatures. Now safe, Kane identifies the creatures as the local Dregs. It is revealed that the spa is a "fakation", a place designed to look like a vacation in a fabricated environment. The spa's system which tracks all the guests shows Benni outside the spa; the survivors go out to rescue him. From the vehicle, the group sees the unhabitable desolation of this orphan planet, Orphan 55. The vehicle is caught in a Dreg trap and the Dregs surround it, keeping Benni as a hostage. The group makes a run for a nearby service tunnel, but the Dregs kill Benni and Hyph3n.

Once in the tunnel, Bella reveals herself to be Kane's daughter whom Kane neglected in order to build the spa. Bella escapes with Ryan via the transport while the others are forced to continue further along to the stairs as Dregs swarm into the tunnel. The Doctor, Yaz, and Graham discover a rusted Russian sign meaning that Orphan 55 is actually Earth, devastated by global climate change and nuclear war. Vilma sacrifices herself to give the group more time to escape. Going through a Dreg nest, the Doctor learns that the Dregs are mutated humans that survived the fallout. Kane stays behind to give the group more time to escape. Bella resumes with her plan to destroy the spa out of anger toward her mother. As the Dregs surround the spa to attack, the group fixes the transporter and safely evacuate, leaving behind Bella and Kane to fight the Dregs. Back in the TARDIS, the group despairs of Earth's future, but the Doctor reminds them it is only a possibility, but humanity can make a positive change or accept their fate like the Dregs.

*Credit Wikipedia for this Recap.

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