a minority opinion

[dbskyler]

I seem to be in the minority, but I really didn't like "The Madwoman in the Attic" at all.



It was supposed to be Rani's episode, but we didn't find out anything new about Rani that was interesting or relevant. She wants to be a journalist -- yeah, knew that already, and there was nothing about why she wants to be one, let alone what her time with Sarah has done to that ambition. We got introduced to Sam, an old friend from her old neighborhood, but there was a curious lack of connection between the two of them and no development of exactly what their friendship is all about. We found out that Rani has been telling Sam about Sarah and aliens, but there appeared to be no motivation behind her doing so other than a lack of discretion. Compare this to the moment when Clyde told the truth to his father -- his motivations were completely spelled out, and we in the audience were yelling "no!!!" at the screen even as we understood why he was breaking Sarah's trust. This time around, there was no emotion behind the revelation and it was never explained in terms of either Rani's character or her relationship to Sam. It also didn't seem to matter very much, not even to Sarah.

As for Eve, she was mildly interesting, and I liked that she was a refugee from the Time War, but the whole business with the ship didn't really make sense and I didn't like the super-powers that Eve and especially her ship seemed to be endowed with. I get that they're time-sensitive, but how exactly does that allow the ship to remove Sarah, Luke and Clyde from Rani's life? And what did that "removal" mean, anyway? Did they disappear -- cease to exist? Or did they just never allow Rani to come around and visit anymore? The revelation of this, its consequences and its resolution should have been the focus of the episode, but instead it was given backseat status in favor of the "Eve+Sam+caretaker go off and jaunt through space and have time-baby" plotline.

Finally, the ship just wanting a black hole all along and the solution with K-9 felt like a stupid and obvious plot device to bring back K-9 for the next episode.

However, there were a few moments in the episode that I liked. As many others have noted, Clyde and Sarah had great banter. The glimpse of the future with the TARDIS materializing was wonderful. And then there were the scenes that induced major, major squee: Time Warrior, Planet of the Spiders and Hand of Fear. Oh, Hand of Fear, you were best of all. All this time I've been fantasizing that Tom Baker would show up on SJA, and there he was!!!! I'll forgive a lot for having that moment.

Unfortunately, "Madwoman" had an awful lot that needed forgiving.

On the other hand, if this week's episode is half as good as it appears it will be, I'm going to be in an extremely forgiving mood.

*bounces with anticipation*

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy it. :(


(PS I confess to getting excited, thinking you were posting the next chapter of your Turn Left fic...)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy it.

Not your fault, and as I said, I realize that everyone else seems to have loved the episode. I really don't know why my reaction was so different, but since it was, I finally felt moved to express it.

I confess to getting excited, thinking you were posting the next chapter of your Turn Left fic

Aww, that's so nice to hear -- I keep thinking that everyone's lost interest in the fic or even forgotten it completely given that it's taking me so %^&*(*&^ long to finish it! Anyway, the chapter is not yet ready to be posted, but I promise it will get done and I will post it even if it's completely jossed by the time I get it out there ; )

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Not your fault, and as I said, I realize that everyone else seems to have loved the episode. I really don't know why my reaction was so different, but since it was, I finally felt moved to express it.

No, but I feel guilty for having enjoyed it so much.

Aww, that's so nice to hear -- I keep thinking that everyone's lost interest in the fic or even forgotten it completely given that it's taking me so %^&*(*&^ long to finish it! Anyway, the chapter is not yet ready to be posted, but I promise it will get done and I will post it even if it's completely jossed by the time I get it out there ; )

Nope, not forgotten or lost interest... In fact, I'll have to go back and re-read the earlier chapters soon...

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

No need to feel guilty -- I'm glad that others enjoyed it. : )

[bookblather.livejournal.com]

Here from sarahjane_fic. I sort of agree with you, especially on the Rani bits. I wish we'd gotten more of HER rather than just more of what we'd already known. However, I actually really loved Eve. It was nice to see an alien who wasn't evil, and who got to go off in space with her father-figure and her friend and have fun and spacebabies and adventures. Plus, she was just so adorable. I thought she was one of the stronger parts of the episode.

Definitely not fond of the frame story, though. It felt tacked-on.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

You know, if they had dumped the frame story and just gone with Eve, I think I would have liked the episode a whole lot better and been able to properly enjoy her and her happy going-off-into-space story. Maybe that's why my reaction is so different to everyone else's -- I got too distracted by the Rani/attic part to enjoy the Eve part.

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Another vote here for "Nice alien; shame about the frame." =:o}

[evil_plotbunny]

And a third.

[mad_maudlin]

Here via soniclipstick, and I agree with most everything you said. I get the feeling either the frame story and the Eve story were smashed together at the last minute, or the original idea for the Eve story was a LOT darker, and somebody felt the need to pull back. Because there's next to no connection between the two until the last possible minute, and instead of showing Rani making an actual mistake with negative consequences, the thing with Ship granting wishes comes from two or three ZIP codes beyond left field.

I did bounce at all the Doctor clips, though. And Clyde.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

the thing with Ship granting wishes comes from two or three ZIP codes beyond left field

LOL, and yes, you've nailed it. They were indeed smashed-together stories.

instead of showing Rani making an actual mistake with negative consequences

That would have been a far better way to go, in my opinion.

[cannibalcake.livejournal.com]

I pretty much feel the exact same way about everything you said. Definitely not my favorite episode, but the Classic Who squee made up for it.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Good to know I'm not in as much of a minority as I thought! I kept reading all these reviews where people were saying how much they loved the episode, and, well, I just really didn't. But yes, the Classic Who squee was indeed squeeful.

[blueyeti.livejournal.com]

Here from... sarahjane_fic.

Complete agreement. I was being nicely tantalised the whole way through by Rani in the attic. I was hoping for something unresolved (I knew I wouldn't get it, I'm not unfamiliar with SJA's tropes) or at least properly self-destructive. Blah.

I also didn't like the Eve plot all that much. Possibly because of the future-telling, deus ex machina ship and the mind-control of both humans and complex machinery. (Also, powered by a black hole??? Even the *TARDIS* isn't powered by a complete black hole, thank you very much for making a race more powerful than the Time Lords.)

Sam and Rani's relationship I found actually distressing. Okay, friend from long ago who you've wanted to keep in contact with, that's a bit sad. Best friend who you can't keep secrets from running off into space and you don't give him a hug? ARGH! Also, "you're Eve's son?" She knew Eve for a day of alien hunting, and Sam as her best friend. I'd rather she concentrated on losing that friendship as well as the Magically Disappearing Luke, Sarah Jane and Clyde. It wasn't a stuck together plot at all, you could see it was all meant to be echoing lost friendship, but *ouch*.

Eve as refugee from the Time War was interesting. Unfortunately, she was far too 'last daughter of Krypton' style superpowers for my tastes.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

(Also, powered by a black hole??? Even the *TARDIS* isn't powered by a complete black hole, thank you very much for making a race more powerful than the Time Lords.)

It did come off that way, didn't it? The ship's magical wish-granting removal of Sarah, Luke and Clyde was especially annoying, because the TARDIS can't do that either. And Eve's mind-control superpowers bothered me too.

Also, "you're Eve's son?" She knew Eve for a day of alien hunting, and Sam as her best friend.

Really excellent point -- she should've cared more about him being Sam's son. They really did a horrible job with that supposed friendship -- they made it crucial to the plot set-up, then there was nothing in the script or the acting to support it other than a throwaway line or two.

[tempestas-inu.livejournal.com]

Since joining the Doctor Who fandom, I've pretty much watched all old episodes of it and it's spin-off shows out of order, including SJA. I just watched The Mad Woman in the Attic so I thought I'd comment on your reaction post to it.

Personally, I did enjoy the episode, quite a bit actually, but I must say that you make very valid points about it and I didn't actually think about some of the stuff you mentioned at all. Thinking over it, I also partially attribute the fact I enjoyed it to the fact that I am watching the episode out of order and context. To me it was "just another episode" and I really had no expectations for it, I'd probably forget what series it was in if it weren't for the references to the Doctor returning.

Sorry for the totally random post, but I just felt I needed to say something.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I'm still catching up on Classic Who myself (One, Two, Three and Seven are the eras I missed growing up), and I've been watching most of it out of order, partly because DVDs are released out of order and partly because I am sometimes in the mood for one era over another. So I totally understand watching out of order and reading reaction posts afterwards!

I'm glad you enjoyed the episode. I wasn't trying to argue that it's a bad episode; I just really didn't like it, and after seeing tons of posts squeeing about how great it was, I felt moved to articulate what bothered me about it. But I'm happy for people who enjoyed it. We don't all have to have the same taste, and in this case almost everyone else thought it was a great episode, so I'm the one in the minority.