History Recap / DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseOfTheBlackSpot

** Captain Avery is a former navyman who became a tough and ruthless, cutthroat pirate after he mutinied, abandoning his wife and son for a life of lawlessness on the seas. Avery's arc over the course of the episode is regaining some of his former nobility, [[PapaWolf tapping into his paternal instincts]] and wrestling with his guilt and greed so he can become the father his son deserves; seemingly forced to choose between his life as a pirate and Toby, when he's already burned too bridges to ever be a normal father. He ultimately gets to have both, as he, his son and his crew take to the stars in the end to explore the great unknown onboard the Siren's ship. He also grows from treating the Doctor with extreme hostility to viewing him as a trusted friend and a fellow captain, softening towards the time lord over the course of their adventure.
** Toby starts the episode having a naive, one-dimensional world-view, typical of a young boy who's been sheltered from the world before now by his mother. He believes his father (who he hasn't seen in years) is a great, honorable navyman and that pirates are evil monsters. Learning his father is a criminal who abandoned his family for gold pretty much destroys Toby's view of the former and complicates his beliefs about the latter. When Avery's leftover greed gets him nabbed by the Siren, Toby is about ready to write his father off as a lost cause, but Avery risking his life to rescue him and choosing to accompany him into space for the rest of his life convinces Toby to give him another chance. By the end of the episode, Toby's hero worship of his father has been broken down and rebuilt into something more realistic, and he seems to have accepted that while pirates are outlaws, they're also still people, since he seems to have intregrated into Avery's crew and even helps them help the Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]".

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Captain Avery ignores the Doctor's warning to toss out the last of his stolen bounty, which allows the Siren to manifest and capture Toby. As far as anyway knows at the time, she seemingly kills him. The man is horrified and incredibly guilt-ridden afterwards.

* HeelFaceTurn: Captain Avery starts as a minor antagonist early in the episode, threatening to make the Doctor and his fellow stowaways walk the plank and continually threatening the Doctor with his flintlock. But with the implacable threat of the Siren looming over Avery's crew and son, as well as the Doctor's companions, the two captains put aside their differences and join forces for the rest of the adventure. By the end of the episode, they've become friends, to the point where the Doctor calls upon Avery's help later in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]".

** Captain Avery is a former navyman who became a tough and ruthless pirate after he mutinied, abandoning his wife and son for a life of lawlessness on the seas. Avery's arc over the course of the episode is regaining some of his former nobility, [[PapaWolf tapping into his paternal instincts]] and wrestling with his guilt and greed so he can become the father his son deserves; seemingly forced to choose between his life as a pirate and Toby, when he's already burned too bridges to ever be a normal father. He ultimately gets to have both, as he, his son and his crew take to the stars in the end to explore the great unknown onboard the Siren's ship. He also grows from treating the Doctor with extreme hostility to viewing him as a trusted friend and a fellow captain, softening towards the time lord over the course of their adventure.
** His son, Toby, starts the episode having a naive, one-dimensional world-view, typical of a young boy who's been sheltered from the world before now by his mother. He believes his father (who he hasn't seen in years) is a great, honorable navyman and that pirates are evil monsters. Learning his father is a criminal who abandoned his family for gold pretty much destroys Toby's view of the former and complicates his beliefs about the latter. When Avery's leftover greed gets him nabbed by the Siren, Toby is about ready to write his father off as a lost cause, but Avery risking his life to rescue him and choosing to accompany him into space for the rest of his life convinces Toby to give him another chance. By the end of the episode, Toby's hero worship of his father has been broken down and rebuilt into something more realistic, and he seems to have accepted that while pirates are outlaws, they're also still people, since he seems to have intregrated into Avery's crew and even helps them help the Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]".

* TheAtoner: Played with. When faced with the disdain and feelings of betrayal from his young son, Captain Avery is not exactly proud of his decision to abandon and his wife son for a life of lawlessness, thievery and mutiny as a pirate, espicially when his greed and reluctance to give up the last of his bounty unwittingly gets Toby captured by the Siren. Ultimately, Avery decides to give up his career as a pirate and his old life on Earth, so he can remain with Toby in space and his raise his son while the Siren attempts to heal him of his Typhoid fever. Of course, the fact that Avery's crew accompanies him on the journey into the stars, and Toby seems to have accepted by the son of a pirate, [[ReformedButNotTamed implies that he might not be entirely done with his roguish ways]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Toby's hero worship of his father figure is steadily broken down over the course of the episode, as he becomes aware of the man's uglier faults and is eventually almost killed because of them. However, with Avery resolving to change his ways, the boy's relationship with his distant father is eventually rebuilt into some far more realistic and genuine. The Doctor and Amy will have their own ugly period of [[TraumaCongaLine Trauma Conga Lines]] and disillusionment later in the season ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E10TheGirlWhoWaited The Girl Who Waited]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E11TheGodComplex The God Complex]]"), where the Doctor is confronted with the worst parts of himself and Amy's starry-eyed view of her Raggedy Doctor is chipped away and eventually replaced with a far healthy and realistic view of her best friend / father figure / imaginary friend, allowing their relationship to noticeably improve in the future.

* Foreshadowing: Toby's hero worship of his father figure is steadily broken down over the course of the episode, as he becomes aware of the man's uglier faults and is eventually almost killed because of them. However, with Avery resolving to change his ways, the boy's relationship with his distant father is eventually rebuilt into some far more realistic and genuine. The Doctor and Amy will have their own ugly period of [[TraumaCongaLine Trauma Conga Lines]] and disillusionment later in the season ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E10TheGirlWhoWaited The Girl Who Waited]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E11TheGodComplex The God Complex]]"), where the Doctor is confronted with the worst parts of himself and Amy's starry-eyed view of her Raggedy Doctor is chipped away and eventually replaced with a far healthy and realistic view of her best friend / father figure / imaginary friend, allowing their relationship to noticeably improve in the future.

* LoveRedeems: Captain Avery's persistent love and concern for Toby, as well as the Doctor's friendship and encouragement, gradually make him a better man and pirate than he was before.

* CharacterDevelopment: Captain Avery is a former navyman who became a tough and ruthless pirate after he mutinied, abandoning his wife and son for a life of lawlessness on the seas. Avery's arc over the course of the episode is regaining some of his former nobility, [[PapaWolf tapping into his paternal instincts]] and wrestling with his guilt and greed so he can become the father his son deserves; seemingly forced to choose between his life as a pirate and Toby, when he's already burned too bridges to ever be a normal father. He ultimately gets to have both, as he, his son and his crew take to the stars in the end to explore the great unknown onboard the Siren's ship. He also grows from treating the Doctor with extreme hostility to viewing him as a trusted friend and a fellow captain, softening towards the time lord over the course of their adventure.

* CharacterDevelopment: Captain Avery is a former navyman who became a tough and ruthless pirate after he mutinied, abandoning his wife and son for a life of lawlessness on the seas. Avery's arc over the course of the episode is regaining some of his former nobility, [[PapaWolf tapping into his paternal instincts]] and wrestling with his guilr and greed so he can become the father his son deserves, seemingly forced to choose between his life as a pirate and Toby, when he's already burned too bridges to ever be a normal father. He ultimately gets to have both, as he, his son and his crew take to the stars in the end to explore the great unknown onboard the Siren's ship. He also grows from treating the Doctor with extreme hostility to viewing him as a friend and a fellow captain, softening towards the time lord over the course of their adventure.

* CharacterDevelopment: Captain Avery is a former navyman who became a tough and ruthless pirate after he mutinied, abandoning his wife and son for a life of lawlessness on the seas. Avery's arc over the course of the episode is regaining some of his former nobility, [[PapaWolf tapping into his paternal instincts]] and wrestling with his guilr and greed so he can become the father his son deserves, seemingly forced to choose between his life as a pirate and Toby, when he's already burned too bridges to ever be a normal father. He ultimately gets to have both, as he, his son and his crew take to the stars in the end to explore the great unknown onboard the Siren's ship.

* MyGodWhatIHaveDone: Captain Avery ignores the Doctor's warning to toss out the last of his stolen bounty, which allows the Siren to manifest and capture Toby. As far as anyway knows at the time, she seemingly kills him. The man is horrified and incredibly guilt-ridden afterwards.

* BadassBeard: Rory, while stupefied by the Siren, says he wants to grow his own "brilliant" beard like the pirates.

* UniversalDriversLicence: A particularly [[TVTropesWikiDrinkingGame egregious]] example, where a captain from the Age of Sail goes on to pilot an alien space vessel. A ship's a ship, after all.

* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: CPR is used to save Rory's life after he's removed from the sick bay. Rory, who was otherwise occupied and unable to assist the patient himself, said he would talk Amy through it before and pointed out that she's seen [=CPR=] performed in films. Worst nurse ever, or GenreSavvy? As for "clean", there isn't actually any water in his lungs so no vomit.

:: Turns out later that what he detected was one of the portals between the pirate ship and the alien ship.

* GenreSavvy: The Doctor, while walking the plank, wonders why the pirates aren't doing more evil laughing and why there are only five of them on such a big ship.

->''"Yo-ho-ho! . . . Or does nobody actually say that?"''

[=McGrath's=] not going down without a fight. He grabs a pistol and charges out on deck to try and escape, and the others take the precaution of locking the door behind him. There's a scream and then silence, and when the others come out onto the deck, there's no trace of [=McGrath=], just like all the others. This does nothing for the mental well-being of the remaining crew, but the captain holds hope that the wind will change and they'll be able to escape. Suddenly, there's a banging from below decks . . . It's the Doctor, Amy and Rory.

A melodic voice pipes up again, which really doesn't help the situation. Avery says to stop up their ears to block out the Siren's hypnotic song. Before Rory can finish being dismissive of that last statement, he falls under her spell. Then . . . starts acting like he's high. According to Avery, this is normal for the Siren's victims.

Green and glowing and beautiful, the Siren makes quick work of the enthralled pirate, who vanishes in a cloud of . . . something. Now it's Rory's turn, and he seems to be quite looking forward to it. Amy is ''not'', and makes it clear that Rory is taken already. The Siren responds by turning red and showing lots of teeth.

Once they're all "safely" in the hold, Amy proceeds to ask just what the hell that was. It's a Siren and she's been preying on these waters for years, and she's been picking off the wounded crew one by one, attracted to blood. She's like a shark . . . a green singing shark in an evening gown. Once again the Doctor babbles, once again Avery pulls out the gun. One of the pirates gets bitten by a leech in the water, which causes a mass shuffle to dry ground.

The boy is in fact Avery's son, Toby, whose mother has died. He's under the impression that Avery is a celebrated naval officer, and he stowed away on the ship so he can join his fabled dad's crew. Which Avery isn't too happy about, to say the least. The boy also has a nasty cough and . . . the black spot. He doesn't have any cuts, though. The theory about the Siren being attracted to blood is out the window; instead she focuses on the wounded and sick. Humans being as weak and fragile as they are, it's only a matter of time before they all damage themselves in some way and become her prey. All the more reason to get out of here. The Doctor and Avery have another little test of wills and the gun comes out again (Freud would say he's compensating). Toby, meanwhile, feels thirsty, and since there's a barrel of water, he lifts the lid to get a drink -- and the Siren's arm comes out. The Doctor forces the lid back down on it.

The answer is, quite literally, in Avery's hands. Reflections are the gateway, not just water. Where does one find lots of reflections but in the polished metal of a treasure horde . . . And in a shiny medallion Avery left around his son's neck.

* ArcWords: In the website prequel: "Marooned in a silent ocean . . ."

* ArtisticLicenceLinguistics: At one point, a pirate says that he's not going to mollycoddle the boy. Thing is, the word "mollycoddle" wasn't around in this time period. (Then again, [[TranslationConvention TARDIS translation circuit . . .]])
* {{Autodoc}}: The Siren turns out to be a medical program seeking out the injuried and the sick.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Feels like something's out there . . . staring straight at me.
** Turns out later that what he detected was one of the portals between the pirate ship and the alien ship.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were a quite a few pirates that just . . . vanish without explanation, such as the one Toby stabs. That particular pirate vanished from a tiny locked room, no less. Though as all the pirates are on the spaceship at the end of the episode, he was presumably zapped away off-screen at some point.

The other one with pirates.

Back on the TARDIS there are some navigational problems, as the ship can't lock onto the plane they're currently in for some reason. The ocean's involved in some way. Then the TARDIS starts having a tantrum, everything's acting up, and she's about to de-materialise. "ABANDON SHIP!"

* ActionGirl: Amy takes up a sword for some old fashion swashbuckling!

* BadassLongcoat: Amy acquires one early in the episode. Rory thinks she looks "brilliant" and Amy does as well.

* BrokenPedestal: Toby is devastated when he finds out his father is a pirate, although it is shown that he already has pre-existing resentment about his father never coming back to see his mother before she died.
* ChekhovsSkill: A ship is a ship; that's why Avery can pilot the spaceship at the end. Just point him at the Atom Accelerator/Steering Wheel.

** This isn't the first time [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E1TheSmugglers a pirate called Avery has been mentioned.]]
** This isn't the first time that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet a pirate captain forced the Doctor to walk a plank.]]

* {{Troperiffic}}: According to WordOfGod, you simply ''can't'' do a pirate story without using every single pirate trope there is, such as WalkThePlank, PirateGirl, PirateBooty and so on. Although, [[TalkLikeAPirate no-one says "Yo-ho-ho" any more]].

->''"Yo-ho-ho!... Or does nobody actually say that?"''

The TARDIS is marooned on-board a 17th-century pirate ship, whose crew is being attacked by a shiny green Creator/LilyCole.

[=McGrath's=] not going down without a fight. He grabs a pistol and charges out on deck to try and escape, and the others take the precaution of locking the door behind him. There's a scream and then silence, and when the others come out onto the deck, there's no trace of [=McGrath=], just like all the others. This does nothing for the mental well-being of the remaining crew, but the captain holds hope that the wind will change and they'll be able to escape. Suddenly, there's a banging from below decks... It's the Doctor, Amy and Rory.

A melodic voice pipes up again, which really doesn't help the situation. Avery says to stop up their ears to block out the Siren's hypnotic song. Before Rory can finish being dismissive of that last statement, he falls under her spell. Then... starts acting like he's high. According to Avery, this is normal for the Siren's victims.

Green and glowing and beautiful, the Siren makes quick work of the enthralled pirate, who vanishes in a cloud of... something. Now it's Rory's turn, and he seems to be quite looking forward to it. Amy is ''not'', and makes it clear that Rory is taken already. The Siren responds by turning red and showing lots of teeth.

Amy sees the Eyepatch Lady again. It's through a hatch in a wall, but there's no hatch in the wall.

The boy is in fact Avery's son, Toby, whose mother has died. He's under the impression that Avery is a celebrated naval officer, and he stowed away on the ship so he can join his fabled dad's crew. Which Avery isn't too happy about, to say the least. The boy also has a nasty cough and... the black spot. He doesn't have any cuts, though. The theory about the Siren being attracted to blood is out the window; instead she focuses on the wounded and sick. Humans being as weak and fragile as they are, it's only a matter of time before they all damage themselves in some way and become her prey. All the more reason to get out of here. The Doctor and Avery have another little test of wills and the gun comes out again (Freud would say he's compensating). Toby, meanwhile, feels thirsty, and since there's a barrel of water, he lifts the lid to get a drink -- and the Siren's arm comes out. The Doctor forces the lid back down on it.

The answer is, quite literally, in Avery's hands. Reflections are the gateway, not just water. Where does one find lots of reflections but in the polished metal of a treasure horde... And in a shiny medallion Avery left around his son's neck.

* ArcWords: In the website prequel: "Marooned in a silent ocean..."
* ArtisticLicenceBiology: The Doctor refers to whatever contagion killed the spaceship's crew as bacteria and a virus in the same sentence. He doesn't exactly know ''what'' it was, so we can forgive him for just blindly guessing. Ignore all his theories.
* ArtisticLicenceLinguistics: At one point, a pirate says that he's not going to mollycoddle the boy. Thing is, the word "mollycoddle" wasn't around in this time period. (Then again, [[TranslationConvention TARDIS translation circuit...]])

* BlackSpot: The Siren leaves a black mark on the hands of those she "curses". Turns out it's a tissue sample, not a death note, and the "victims" are taken to the sick bay of a space craft, not killed.

* DisneyDeath: A twofer! Rory goes over board and drowns but the Siren puts him in stasis to save him. Then the Doctor and Amy unplug him so they can resuscitate him, and it looks like they've failed for a few seconds.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Feels like something's out there... staring straight at me.

* {{Flynning}}: Justified; Amy hasn't taken any sword-fighting classes, and it wouldn't matter if she did, since the Siren will "curse" those with the smallest of cuts anyway.
* GenreSavvy: The Doctor while walking the plank wonders why the pirates aren't doing more evil laughing and why there are only five of them on such a big ship.

* MasterSwordsman: Amy is shown as being pretty deft with a sword, enough to hold off four dedicated pirates. It's justified in that said pirates are actually more terrified of the Siren than her, as getting even so much as a nick puts you in her sights.

* PirateGirl: Amy dresses like one after she takes up a pirate sword

** The storyline of a son refusing to believe that his missing father was in fact a pirate and not a law-abiding man recalls Will Turner and his father Bootstrap Bill from ''Pirates of the Caribbean''.

* UniversalDriversLicence: A particularly [[TVTropesWikiDrinkingGame egregious]] example where a captain from the Age of Sail goes on to pilot an alien space vessel. A ship's a ship, after all.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were a quite a few pirates that just... vanish without explanation, such as the one Toby stabs. That particular pirate vanished from a tiny locked room, no less. Though as all the pirates are on the spaceship at the end of the episode, he was presumably zapped away off-screen at some point.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Amy's convinced she was a great pirate, despite the fact she was only a threat because a slight scratch would send the Siren after someone. She also gets pissed off when a hypnotised Rory says the Siren is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

The night is clear, the sea is calm, and one very nervous pirate, after slipping in the bilge water and cutting his finger, has a very black spot on his hand. His state of mind is worsened after captain himself says that he's a dead man. Then the singing starts. A certain someone is on her way.

Captain Avery is understandably sceptical that the TARDIS crew picked up a distress call from them, since the pirates sent no signal and none of them has the faintest idea what a "sensor" is. Avery quickly gets fed up of all the Doctor's technobabble in trying to explain how the three got there in a blue box. Instead, he pulls a gun on them. He settles on the more simple solution -- they're stowaways. What shall we do with them?

Once they're all "safely" in the hold, Amy proceeds to ask just what the hell that was. It's a Siren and she's been preying on these waters for years, and she's been picking off the wounded crew one by one, attracted to blood. She's like a shark....a green singing shark in an evening gown. Once again the Doctor babbles, once again Avery pulls out the gun. One of the pirates gets bitten by a leech in the water, which causes a mass shuffle to dry ground.

Amy sees the eye patch lady again. It's through a hatch in a wall, but there's no hatch in the wall.

They wake up on the bridge of an alien ship. Basically, the pirate ship and the alien ship exist on the same plane, but in two different universes, and all the reflective surfaces are where the barrier between the worlds is thin enough to slip through. [[EverybodyLives Everyone who "died" is lying in the sickbay]]. The Siren is a medical hologram left on autopilot; the black spots are tissue samples. However, since he is dying anyway, letting Toby escape would only harm him.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The Doctor refers to whatever contagion killed the spaceship's crew as bacteria and a virus in the same sentence. He doesn't exactly know ''what'' it was, so we can forgive him for just blindly guessing. Ignore all his theories.
* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: At one point, a pirate says that he's not going to mollycoddle the boy. Thing is, the word "mollycoddle" wasn't around in this time period. (Then again, [[TranslationConvention TARDIS translation circuit...]])

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The Siren. Green means everything's fine, nothing to worry about. [[TurnsRed Red means be very afraid,]] or be more hygienic.

** This isn't the first time that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild malfunctioning alien medical technology]] has caused problems.

-->'''Henry:''' This is the treasure of the Mogul of India.\\
'''Eleven:''' Oh good, for a moment there I thought it was yours.

* GoodColorsEvilColors: When the Siren is happy and doing her "job", she looks like a beautiful glowing young woman, lit in green. As soon as someone interferes, she turns red and demonic.

* MindScrew: Eye patch lady [[note]] Madame Kovarian [[/note]] shows up peeking through a non-existent window again.

* {{Pirates}}: Set on a pirate ship with pirate booty and the jolly rogger!

* UniversalDriversLicense: A particularly [[TVTropesWikiDrinkingGame egregious]] example where a captain from the age of sail goes on to pilot an alien space vessel. A ship's a ship, after all.

* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Amy is shown as being pretty deft with a sword, enough to hold off four dedicated pirates. It's justified in that said pirates are actually more terrified of the Siren than her, as getting even so much as a nick puts you in her sights.
* MagicMirror: The Siren can emerge from any sufficiently reflective surface, be it water or gold.

* {{Autodoc}}: The Siren turns out to be a medical program that seeking out the injuried and the sick.
* BadassBeard:Rory, while stupefied by the Siren, says he wants to grow his own "brilliant" beard like the pirates.
* BadassLongcoat: Amy acquires one early in the episode. Roy thinks she looks "brilliant" and Amy does as well.

* BreatherEpisode: After duo beginning the new series, and before the terror that follows.

* PhraseCatcher: The Doctor cuts Avery off when he's about to say "Bigger on the inside" because there's no time for htat right now.

* EverybodyLives: All the Siren's "victims" were actually teleported to a sick bay in a ship in another dimension. Even the boy with typhoid fever gets to live.