Russell T. Davies and Ncuti Gatwa dip into the Doctor’s history for what, in my opinion, is the best bottle episode the show has ever done. They do this by revisiting the previous best bottle episode Doctor Who has done, “Midnight,” from the fourth series with David Tennant. Both of these episodes are tense and terrifying in similar ways. They both have much to say about human nature in a crisis, even when the people involved have never even heard of humans.

For those who might have forgotten about “Midnight,” as I had until I watched this episode, the Doctor encounters a terrifying life form that enhances people’s paranoia and feeds on death. The Doctor narrowly escaped with their life thanks to the sacrifice of an unnamed stewardess. Now, the Doctor and Belinda return to the planet called Midnight 400,000 years later to discover that the life form is still alive.

And it has evolved.

The terror of “something behind you” that no one can quite see throws us off the trail of the Midnight entity until about halfway through the episode, when we learn that this desolate carbon 46 mining colony was once the home of the Pleasure Palace. That’s when we realize just what the Doctor is facing.

What I find most interesting about this scenario is that we’ve seen the Doctor deal with the consequences of his actions many times in the past. But this? “Midnight” was a failure for the Doctor. He was unable to communicate with the entity. He was unable to stop the passengers of Crusader 50 from trying to kill him. And he was unable to save the poor stewardess and lonely Mrs. Sky Sylvestri. It was a griping tale of how easily the hearts and minds of people can be corrupted when they’re afraid.

“The Well” is an excellent sequel that lets the Doctor mostly redeem himself from that failure. Here, he communicates with a young cook who is hearing impaired. He puts together the clues about the planet before asking its name. He can’t save everyone, but he saves many. Yet salvation here once again comes down to the sacrifice of an innocent, the commander of the expeditionary force the Doctor and Belinda accompany.

All the while, threads of the bigger season arc with Mrs. Flood and the destruction of Earth are woven masterfully through this episode. Davies is much more subtle in his writing this time around. Where his first run was clever, the last two seasons, so far, have been brilliant. I am convinced that Series 15/Season 2 has the potential to be the best season of Doctor Who ever.

This has replaced “Blink” for creepiest episode of New Who in my book, and it’s not even close. “Blink” was about what the monsters do to us. “Midnight” and “The Well” are about what the monsters make us do to each other. And that’s much more terrifying to me.