Well, before C2E2 2013 completely consumes my weekend, I figured I should get my thoughts on last week's Doctor Who up... spoiler full, of course, so be warned!
As we started the episode, my sister said "Oooh a one word title! Those are always the best!" We hunkered down in a darkened family room, along with my boyfriend, determined to weather an episode that threatened to be more creepy than DW's usual fare. We weren't disappointed, and my sister and I resorted to throwing sarcastic comments at the computer to keep from getting too drawn in and thus more creeped out.
Because it was a creepy episode, though not as delicious or coherent as "Blink", yet still good. The small cast meant that we got to see more fully developed characters in Emma and Professor Palmer. Although I am usually wary of the cliche 'seance' episode on such shows, I nonetheless appreciated the motive given Emma and the Prof for their endeavors. We haven't seen an empath before on New Who, and the Prof's guilt over his wartime mission casualties was, I felt, a nice set-up.
Once again we got to see Clara reacting to an adventure with a tinge (or more!) of fear. Jenna-Louise does a magnificent job of showing this very human emotion without making her character any less 'strong' or 'admirable.' If anything it makes her more relate able - more of an 'everywoman' than Moffat's women tend to be.
The Doctor was adorable, as always. Although some people see flirting in the episode, I still feel there is more of a grandfatherly vibe going on. Which I rather love.
The TARDIS definitely does not like Clara. Have we ever seen her take a dislike to someone before? I mean the Master waltzed in and took control in Series 3 without a bit of resistance. Of course, the TARDIS, existing everywhere at once, knows things we don't. She liked, accepted and taught River Song before either we or the Doctor learned she could be trusted. So if she doesn't like Clara... we should be warned. Alas, because I like Clara quite a bit!
Now one flaw that did glare at me was this - How did the Doctor know that the 'ghost' was Hila? I assume the answer is quite simple, he cross-checked some databases... still it would have been nice to see that play out on screen.
The bubble universe was creepy, although it did weird me out that the Doctor was afraid. I'd say the Doctor has been in freakier places without blinking an eye... why did it unnerve him so much here?
Still, I enjoyed the twist ending. "It's not a ghost story... it's a love story!" and while I, like most of you, would have liked a little more explanation about the aliens, I think it isn't too hard to fill in the gaps. Easier than the other anonymous monster episode, "Midnight."
1 comment:
But Midnight's monster was left unidentified to make it creepier. (Which sure as heck worked for me...) Since Hide's monster ended up not being so creepy, given the "love story" angle, it didn't need to remain anonymous.
I dunno, for some reason the unidentified monster thing really bugged me. :p And I'm usually pretty uncritical.
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