This article contains full spoilers for Doctor Who season 14 episode 2, "The Devil's Chord". Doctor Who has entered a new era, one starring the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), and he's headed off on a fresh series of adventures across space and time on the BBC and Disney Plus.
In the second part of the series' two-episode premiere, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) asks the Doctor to take her back in time to watch The Beatles work on their very first album. What should be an exciting trip ends up being a brush with a truly terrifying foe: Maestro, one of The Toymaker's children.
Having been summoned by a composer in 1927, Maestro set about stealing the music of the world, meaning this particular incarnation of The Beatles is a far cry from the band we all know and love. And when Maestro reappears in 1963, Abbey Road Studios becomes a battleground between the Doctor and his most powerful foe yet. Here's a full recap of everything that happened in Doctor Who season 14 episode 2
Arrival at Abbey Road
Episode 2 begins in 1925, with a music teacher sitting at a piano beside a young lad, Henry Arbinger. Disinterested, Henry asks him to play something more interesting: he plays “The Devil’s Chord” and then a piece of music using the chord in context, and the piano lid falls closed. Drake investigates, and Maestro emerges. They explain Henry is their “prelude”, and Maestro promptly removes him from existence, explaining they are music themself. Maestro labels Drake a genius composer… and promptly steals the music from inside him, gobbling it up with delight.
After the titles, we’re inside the TARDIS. The Doctor asks Ruby where she wants to go next, and she leaps straight to visiting Abbey Road to watch the Beatles record their first album. After a dashing outfit change (and a dance on the infamous street crossing), the pair dash down to the EMI Recording Studios (as it was known in 1963). They sneak in by pretending to be tea workers and walk into the recording booth… but the Beatles they’re watching are a far cry from the Beatles we all know. To check what’s going on, the pair drop in on Cilla Black and then an entire orchestra. It’s safe to say, all the performances are pretty dire.
In the canteen, the duo discuss the distinct absence of music in the world, and after a peek at the newspaper, the Doctor realizes that music’s disappearance from the world has changed the course of history. From some one-to-one chats between John and Ruby and the Doctor and Paul McCartney, the pair learn that music started going wrong in the 20s or 30s, and these Beatles don’t really see music as anything but a waste of time, really. McCartney does admit that there is a moving collection of notes lingering in the back of his mind, but that’s all that he thinks about. And when he puts words to it, the duo sees Maestro’s face reflected in all the surfaces around the room, and the Doctor knows something's seriously wrong.
Maestro's plot
The Doctor has some workmen install a piano on the roof to experiment with music and what it might do. Remembering seeing Ruby play the piano in the past, he invites her to play again, as he wants to see what happens when they bring music back. People throw open their windows to listen to Ruby play and are clearly happy to hear some music once more, but the piano jerks away from her mid-song. Before long, an irate Maestro clambers out of the piano. And hearing that distinctive laugh (which you might remember from the third special, helpfully titled “The Giggle”), the Doctor grabs Ruby’s hand and the pair flee Maestro as fast as they can.
The Doctor takes Ruby down to a nearby cellar to hide. Maestro strikes a tuning fork and uses it to search for the mystery pianist. The Doctor tries to waylay Maestro by using his sonic device to temporarily silence the area, but Maestro dips their vibrating tuning fork into a nearby puddle, overriding the effect. But just as they’re about to find our time travelers, an elderly citizen sits down at her piano and plays the opening bars of “Claire de Lune”. Maestro follows the music and silences the poor woman, and our duo leaves their hiding spot.
The Doctor explains why he's so frightened about this new presence: he doesn’t think he could survive another encounter with a being that is on the same power scale as The Toymaker, and he simply does not know how to fight Maestro. Ruby tries to assuage his fears of the world falling to pieces; after all, she’s living proof that the world didn’t end in 1963, as she was born to a world full of music in 2004. But after taking the TARDIS on a quick jaunt to London in 2024, things look decidedly bleak. A nuclear winter has descended on the city. Without music, the Doctor believes the human race went to war as they couldn’t express themselves in any meaningful way.
Whilst they grapple with the situation they’re ambushed by Maestro and transported to a black void, where the being sits down at a piano. Maestro recognizes the Doctor’s power as that of the same person who trapped their father, the Toymaker, not long ago. Maestro is the essence of music itself, apparently, but Ruby asks how Maestro can call this a win, seeing as the world’s gone and there’s no music left. Maestro counters: music’s not gone, the purest music of all, that of wind passing over or through stuff (known as aeolian tones”), is still there. Every song unsung feeds Maestro’s power, and they aim to steal those few last sounds until there’s no life left.
According to the laws of fair play established by the Toymaker, the Doctor is entitled to know how Maestro arrived. They explain that a genius composer found the lost chord to summon them to his world, leading the Doctor to reason that a different combination of notes could be used to banish Maestro once more. Maestro knows that only a genius composer could find this, and promptly uses their powers over sound and resonance to take control of the TARDIS. The pair run inside and the Doctor manages to send the TARDIS back to 1963.
Everything ends with a twist
The pair head back into the studio, determined to record the right frequency, but Maestro’s musical notes grab Ruby and start dragging her through the corridors. Trapped, the Doctor’s forced to smash the recording booth window and chase after Ruby into the orchestra hall. Maestro wants Ruby as she’s the last human with music still in her heart. Unfortunately, when Ruby’s compelled to sing, both the Doctor and Maestro are very confused by the “hidden song” deep in her soul. With a flick of Maestro’s tuning fork, the new song plays: it’s “Carol of the Bells”, the song playing the night Ruby was born.
Snow begins to fall once more, and Maestro starts to fret about how she can possess so much power, mentioning it’s power like “him, the oldest one” (whoever that might be), a mystery figure who could’ve been there near Ruby. Maestro lets Ruby go and tells the Doctor she is “very wrong”. Annoyed, he runs over to the Abbey Road piano, the one the Beatles play on their greatest hits, and he reasons it has the power to send Maestro packing. Cue a musical duel, with the Doctor on the piano and Maestro playing a violin.
Partway through, Ruby joins him on the keys, and Maestro’s violin falls to pieces. At that, the Doctor starts playing some notes, finding the beginnings of the lost chord needed to banish Maestro. The Doctor manages to think up most of the sequence but hits a bum note. This allows Maestro to bounce back and send the piano rolling out of the room with their musical powers, before trapping our time travelers inside some of the studio's instruments.
Maestro might have the upper hand in the studio, but they forgot to account for the presence of some other nearby musical geniuses: John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Outside, the pair wander past the piano and play the chord that’s magically written out and hovering in mid-air above the instrument. At that, the piano surges back into the room, Maestro is dragged inside it, and Ruby and the Doctor are freed from their homes. As Maestro’s banished, they cryptically proclaim ‘the one who waits is almost here’. Who might that be?
Before they go home, The Doctor and Ruby celebrate the return of music to the world with a big song-and-dance number throughout the studio, stopping for a quick dance on the iconic Abbey Road crosswalk that leads them back into the TARDIS.
Doctor Who is now airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and on Disney Plus elsewhere.
