rambling on S6b episodes so far
Sep. 18th, 2011 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dbskylerAs I haven't gotten around to doing any episode-specific review posts, I thought I'd do several of them in one shot:
Let's Kill Hitler
I thought this was a wonderful episode. The title turned out to be a huge red herring, but to me, that was part of what made the whole thing so clever: among other things, it turned out that Hitler was completely irrelevant. (And he's still in that cupboard!) The regeneration of Mels into River Song took me completely by surprise (yay for not being spoiled!) but I thought the actress who played Mels did a great job, and of course Alex Kingston was in top-notch form as always.
Things I especially liked:
-- the Doctor's interaction with the TARDIS voice interface (guilt! more guilt! fish custard!)
-- the slipped-in continuity with "Carnival of Monsters" (compression field!)
-- the Doctor struggling to save Amy and Rory even while he's dying
Things I don't understand:
-- If this is supposed to take place after River kills the Doctor in her timeline -- which apparently it is, as otherwise those time cops got the timing wrong (although I suppose that's possible given their screw-up with Hitler's dates), then why is River trying to kill the Doctor again? It's hard to tell whether she remembers killing him before or not.
-- If it's young!River in the spacesuit, and that's when she kills the Doctor, then why is later!River surprised, and why does she shoot at herself?
I've seen people speculate that The Silence made her forget, which works as an explanation, but I think there might be something more complicated going on.
Night Terrors
Yawn. The episode managed to generate some creepiness at the beginning, but there was no follow-through. I figured out they were in a dollhouse right away, but it turned out that it didn't even really matter -- they could've been transported to an alien planet, or some weird dimension, or the house down the street, and there would have been no difference as long as they couldn't get out. There was no consequence to Amy getting turned into a doll, and no one seemed to be in any real danger at all by the end, especially as it was all magicked away by the little boy as soon as he felt loved. I saw someone's review that said that this would have made a good SJA episode, and I think that's true, except that SJA would have done it better because there would have been a lot more emphasis on the characters as opposed to the creepiness of the not-too-dangerous-after-all setting. (At least, I hope they would have done it that way.)
The Girl Who Waited
Brilliant episode. Clever, and emotionally wrenching, and thought-provoking, and a great vehicle for Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. Shows how strong writing and acting are much more important than special effects. As far as I'm concerned, they can make as many "cheap" episodes as they want when they do things like this.
The God Complex
Interesting. I liked it overall, although I had trouble understanding a lot of the dialogue, which I've been told is because BBCA sped up the broadcast to make it fit into their timeslot. (Boo, BBCA!) The premise was interesting, although I don't think I quite got all of it -- why was that beast there again? Especially since he didn't seem to want to be there? But yes, mysterious hotel with rooms that hold your greatest fear, causing you to turn to your faith and get eaten. It was interesting that Rory has no faith in anything, but I have to agree that Amy has faith in the Doctor, and it was sad to see him deliberately break it. Her room was a little confusing to me, because how can her greatest fear be that the Doctor won't come back for her when he has? Unless she's just waiting to be abandoned by him again? Which is exactly what he does at the end . . .
I love that they didn't show us the Doctor's room. Our imaginations are far better than anything they could have put in there. I know what was in that room, and so do you, although we might not agree on it. And that's okay. I hope we never "officially" find out.
What does the Doctor have faith in, though? He must have faith in something, or he wouldn't have had a room. Someone on one of the comms suggested that he has faith in his companions, which makes a lot of sense to me. It also harks back to "Curse of Fenric," I'm told, which I'll have to take people's word for. (I remember the bit where he was chanting his companions' names, but I don't quite remember why, if I ever even understood why. I found that episode really confusing, actually.)
Anyway, mostly strong episodes, some nice Classic Who continuity, and now the Doctor has dumped off his companions again! We're back to the way he was after "Journey's End" where he'd decided it was too dangerous to travel with people. Plus, he knows he's going to die! Yes, this is looking very familiar, all in all. Poor Doctor. Can't wait to see what's going to happen next!
Let's Kill Hitler
I thought this was a wonderful episode. The title turned out to be a huge red herring, but to me, that was part of what made the whole thing so clever: among other things, it turned out that Hitler was completely irrelevant. (And he's still in that cupboard!) The regeneration of Mels into River Song took me completely by surprise (yay for not being spoiled!) but I thought the actress who played Mels did a great job, and of course Alex Kingston was in top-notch form as always.
Things I especially liked:
-- the Doctor's interaction with the TARDIS voice interface (guilt! more guilt! fish custard!)
-- the slipped-in continuity with "Carnival of Monsters" (compression field!)
-- the Doctor struggling to save Amy and Rory even while he's dying
Things I don't understand:
-- If this is supposed to take place after River kills the Doctor in her timeline -- which apparently it is, as otherwise those time cops got the timing wrong (although I suppose that's possible given their screw-up with Hitler's dates), then why is River trying to kill the Doctor again? It's hard to tell whether she remembers killing him before or not.
-- If it's young!River in the spacesuit, and that's when she kills the Doctor, then why is later!River surprised, and why does she shoot at herself?
I've seen people speculate that The Silence made her forget, which works as an explanation, but I think there might be something more complicated going on.
Night Terrors
Yawn. The episode managed to generate some creepiness at the beginning, but there was no follow-through. I figured out they were in a dollhouse right away, but it turned out that it didn't even really matter -- they could've been transported to an alien planet, or some weird dimension, or the house down the street, and there would have been no difference as long as they couldn't get out. There was no consequence to Amy getting turned into a doll, and no one seemed to be in any real danger at all by the end, especially as it was all magicked away by the little boy as soon as he felt loved. I saw someone's review that said that this would have made a good SJA episode, and I think that's true, except that SJA would have done it better because there would have been a lot more emphasis on the characters as opposed to the creepiness of the not-too-dangerous-after-all setting. (At least, I hope they would have done it that way.)
The Girl Who Waited
Brilliant episode. Clever, and emotionally wrenching, and thought-provoking, and a great vehicle for Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. Shows how strong writing and acting are much more important than special effects. As far as I'm concerned, they can make as many "cheap" episodes as they want when they do things like this.
The God Complex
Interesting. I liked it overall, although I had trouble understanding a lot of the dialogue, which I've been told is because BBCA sped up the broadcast to make it fit into their timeslot. (Boo, BBCA!) The premise was interesting, although I don't think I quite got all of it -- why was that beast there again? Especially since he didn't seem to want to be there? But yes, mysterious hotel with rooms that hold your greatest fear, causing you to turn to your faith and get eaten. It was interesting that Rory has no faith in anything, but I have to agree that Amy has faith in the Doctor, and it was sad to see him deliberately break it. Her room was a little confusing to me, because how can her greatest fear be that the Doctor won't come back for her when he has? Unless she's just waiting to be abandoned by him again? Which is exactly what he does at the end . . .
I love that they didn't show us the Doctor's room. Our imaginations are far better than anything they could have put in there. I know what was in that room, and so do you, although we might not agree on it. And that's okay. I hope we never "officially" find out.
What does the Doctor have faith in, though? He must have faith in something, or he wouldn't have had a room. Someone on one of the comms suggested that he has faith in his companions, which makes a lot of sense to me. It also harks back to "Curse of Fenric," I'm told, which I'll have to take people's word for. (I remember the bit where he was chanting his companions' names, but I don't quite remember why, if I ever even understood why. I found that episode really confusing, actually.)
Anyway, mostly strong episodes, some nice Classic Who continuity, and now the Doctor has dumped off his companions again! We're back to the way he was after "Journey's End" where he'd decided it was too dangerous to travel with people. Plus, he knows he's going to die! Yes, this is looking very familiar, all in all. Poor Doctor. Can't wait to see what's going to happen next!
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-19 06:21 am (UTC)(Curse of Fenric *is* a tad confusing, but well worth watching...)
-- If this is supposed to take place after River kills the Doctor in her timeline -- which apparently it is, as otherwise those time cops got the timing wrong (although I suppose that's possible given their screw-up with Hitler's dates), then why is River trying to kill the Doctor again? It's hard to tell whether she remembers killing him before or not.
I don't see how it can take place afte River kills the Doctor - when she's only just regenerated into River!
-- If it's young!River in the spacesuit, and that's when she kills the Doctor, then why is later!River surprised, and why does she shoot at herself?
Who knows? Well, presumably Moffat does...
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-19 07:41 am (UTC)Well, the time cops say the Doctor was killed by Melody Pond, and she's definitely Melody by then.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-19 09:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-20 01:34 am (UTC)Re: River killing the Doctor twice. Some are theorizing that we are seeing parts of 2 different timelines. *Shrugs* unlike the RTD era I'm content to sit back and wait for it to unfold - knowing Moff, we don't have all the pieces yet.
Night Terrors. Yep. Yawn.
The Girl Who Waited. This is the first Eleven-era that has made me cry. Absolutely brilliant. It amazes me that there are actually people who found things to bitch about. (What WILL make these people happy?)
The God Complex. Everybody seems to be irritated with BBCA. I couldn't understand a word so afterwards I, um, acquired a BBC copy and rewatched it. There os some serious dialogue in there when the minotaur is dying that you don't really want to miss.
Re: Rory not having faith in anything. To me that is too big a thing to be missing for no reason, especially since the Doctor specifically asked him about it. I hope that gets revisited somehow. Until then, my personal canon is that his ability to compartmentalize memories (2000 yrs.) is why the minotaur didn't get him.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-20 07:35 am (UTC)Two different timelines? I don't know, that sounds overly complicated to me. How would that even get explained in the end? Would we get taken back through the whole season, with a "this was this timeline, this was that one" tour guide? I just don't see that happening somehow. Well, as you say, I guess we'll find out!
I guess people will always find things to bitch about if they want. After "The Girl Who Waited," I hope no one's still saying there's no emotion in Moffat's Who, though. Although probably there's someone somewhere . . .
"God Complex" got uploaded to my cable company's "on demand" service, and I did understand more dialogue, but I"m not sure if that's because the speed was better, or just because it was my second time through. I kind of want to compare it with my videotape of the broadcast just to see if the tape is really quicker. I *think* I caught the dialogue you're talking about, but I'm not sure. There are still some words I'm missing here and there throughout the whole thing.
Maybe Rory just doesn't have strong, unswerving faith? The episode did imply that the people there were outliers in the faith department. Which actually just makes the presence of the Doctor's room that much more interesting.