immediate reaction to "Day of the Moon"

[dbskyler]

Okay, let me start out by looking at my predictions from yesterday. First off, I was right! There was no further information about the older Doctor's death on the beach. And, I was sort of right again! Amy isn't pregnant. Except maybe she is? Except if it's really been three months since finding that spacesuit in Florida, she would be showing, surely? Except the TARDIS thinks she both is and isn't pregnant. That was definitely a "what?" moment.

Actually, most of this episode had me saying "what??!!!" Okay, I confess, I was yelling it at the screen (I was alone this time *g*).

The beginning -- what the hell? I know that Moffat doesn't like to pick up after cliffhangers right where he left off, but three months later, with the Doctor captured and Amy, Rory and River running for their lives? Then there is almost no explanation for it. You get the feeling that there's some big government thing that Canton is secretly helping them with, but with Nixon on their side, why does it have to happen? Can't Nixon just waltz in and say, "Hey, don't capture these guys?" Which is pretty much what he does in this episode? Was Canton fooling the FBI, or was he fooling the Silent? Who was really in charge?

Then the rest felt a lot more like the beginning of a two-parter than the resolution of one. There was a lot of stuff that we discovered for the first time, and didn't quite understand, and most of it ended up unresolved by the end. All that business with Amy and the room and the girl. Who the girl is. Why the spacesuit is important. And oh yes, a little regeneration scene at the end there. Now that was unexpected.

Moffat seems to be almost playing with the fans. He wants us to start wondering if the girl is Amy's child by the Doctor. You can just see him giggling in his office, waiting for the discussion to start up on Gallifrey Base. But there's no way I'll believe that. I'm more likely to believe that the girl is actually the Twelfth Doctor. But I don't like that idea either, so instead I'm going with fake-out regeneration, not really a Time Lord.

Okay, those are all my thoughts at the moment. Except for damn, the Silent are really, really scary mosnters, aren't they? Maybe I was just talking to one right now, except I can't remember . . .

Comments

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I know - the opening chase scenes were very cool (am I a bad person if I admit to LOLing at the bit with the empty bodybag - "Imagine that"...? ;D) but didn't make a whole lot of sense on reflection. My best guess is that the Silence put the post-hypnotic whammy on Canton and told him to hunt down the Doctor and companions, and he was pretending to so that the Silence wouldn't know the Doctor was onto them and gathering information about them. But that's just my best guess.

I agree that Moffat is being mysterious for the sake of it. I mean, witness River - it seems she really was "just" the Doctor's future lover/wife all along, so why all the mystery? Unless that's what Moffat wants me to think... You could get paranoid this way. I agree that the whole Time Tot situation will probably not turn out to be as straightforward as it looks, because none of the major plot arcs in Moffat's Who are as straightforward as they look.

I think the really important thing that not many people have picked up on is - who was that woman whose face appeared in the door at the orphanage, and why was she talking about Amy dreaming? Hmm?

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I think you're right, and we're meant to assume there was some post-hypnotic whammy thing going on in the beginning. I felt that the whole post-hypnotic suggestion threat wasn't as well developed as it should have been, though. It was mostly tossed out there in conversation, and we should have seen more of it in action. Not that there was a lot of time for that, though. Maybe this should have been a three-parter? Although in some ways, it's going to be a six-parter . . . or more . . .

I confess that most of what happened at the orphanage has become one big muddle in my head. The woman said Amy was dreaming? I didn't catch that. (Or maybe the Silents have edited it out of my head!) I need to go back and watch it again.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that I would possibly have quite liked Moffat to be even bolder and forget about the "filler" stories like next week's pirate yarn and just have a six- or thirteen-part continuous story. I'm really into the mystery and wanting to know what happens next now, and I'm worrying that these random interjections are going to break up the momentum a bit.

Of course, a goodly chunk of the audience might well find that approach a bit offputting... Good job I'm not running Doctor Who! XD

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've re-watched the episode, and you're right, that was a very bizarre, out-of-place moment with the woman and her remark on how Amy is dreaming.

Which means it might just be the most important moment in the whole episode . . .

(I really, really hope we're not still back in "Amy's Choice," though. That would suck.)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I'd hope not too. But yes - I think she was the most important moment in the episode. You heard it here first. Watch out for random reappearances by her in future episodes!

If I'm wrong, you may point and laugh ;D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'll be able to point and laugh at you?? I kind of hope you're wrong, then. ; )

(But I suspect you're right. Uh-oh, maybe people will point and laugh at me now, too.)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

And then where will it all end, with all the mutual pointing and laughing and...? O.o