Last week the Doctor helped save a test time traveler from a pocket universe whilst at the same time bringing two lovers together.... Or is that four lovers?
Not only that but the Doctor found out that the TARDIS and Clara doesn't get on....
What will happen this week when Clara gets to know the TARDIS a bit too personally?
***SPOILERS***
Whilst the Doctor tries to get Clara and the TARDIS to like each other a salvage crew grab the TARDIS making the TARDIS go haywire.
The Doctor ends up outside the TARDIS with the salvage crew, made up of two brothers and an android, but where is Clara? Well she's still inside the TARDIS that is where she is!
As soon as the Doctor figures this out he's into the malfunctioning (well not really malfunctioning, more like angry) TARDIS to save her with the help of the three salvage men at the promise of all the scrap metal they can get. He forces their hand by putting the TARDIS on self destruct but gets protective of the TARDIS when they go to take some of their pay.
"Don't get into a spaceship with a madman, did no one ever teach you that", this whole exchange with the salvage crew is testimont to how wonderful Matt Smith can be at times. Dark and brooding but at the same time strangely manipulative and scary.
Clara on the other hand is lost, running around the TARDIS trying to find the console room. On her travels she finds Melody Ponds cot, Amy's TARDIS both tucked away in a storeroom she is then chased into a magnificent library with the book every Doctor Who fan wants to get their hands on. "The History of the Time War" not only that but inside the pages of the book it seems Clara finds out the Doctors name (or at least who he is) before being chased away again by the monster. Oh and she knocks over a encycloped gallifreya which basically has a load of memories in it. Nice touch.
Turning a corner it seems that Clara has found the console room only to find that the doors have been sealed shut (or disappeared completely really). Whilst we see the eldest brother get eaten(?) by one of these monsters, one of the burnt up monsters, one of the smokey monsters... and also whilst the Doctor and the remaining brother/android get attacked by a conjoined monster thing, Clara is trying to escape the console room but no matter where she goes she always ends up back in the same place. What is the TARDIS playing at?
It turns out that because the console is the safest place on the ship the TARDIS is creating echo rooms so whilst the Doctor is in one console room Clara is in another. Clara can see things that the Doctor is doing and the Doctor can hear her breathing. With a flash of the sonic screwdriver (whilst Clara is attacked by scary monster thingy) the Doctor brings Clara to his side, and gets a punch for his efforts. Clara is rightfully angry, "Good guys do not have zombie creatures" nice logical thinking Clara.
The Doctor admits that there is no self destruct and goes back to his normal eccentric self, but as the Doctor turns off his fake self destruct the TARDIS tells him that actually... the engine is going to explode. So off we go to the centre of the TARDIS.
Whilst making her way to the centre of the TARDIS Clara comes across echos of herself and the Doctor, there is a rupture in time (oh..oh... OHHHHH...) and they have to be careful. They then get chased by another one of the monster things....... But the Doctor basically gives away that he knows what it is when he calls it a "she".
A runny action scene commenses as the Doctor and Clara try to run away from rods breaking through the corridor they are in. The android is trapped by one demanding to be cut free but the other guy won't. And why won't he? Because he is a real human being not a android, in fact he is the younger brother of the two brothers. The other brother says it was a joke, it turns out it was because the other brother had been in an accident and lost his voice, sight and his memory.
We visit the Eye of Harmony (fan girl YAY) and we find out why the Doctor knew that the monster was a she. It turns out the monsters are them, the conjoined ones are the two brothers, and one of them is Clara (I'm guessing the other is the Doctor himself?) It is a future of them were they all got burned by the Eye of Harmony. As the brothers fullfill their role and get turned into the burnt monster thing the Doctor and Clara escape. This whole thing has meant that the Doctor has to explain to Clara about the two other Clara's, Clara the Dalek and Clara from Snowmen (well the one from Asylum was Oswin but never mind).
They walk into the engine room and there is a heartbreaking scene as the Doctor doesn't know how to save the TARDIS. I will talk about how great an actor Matt is later but he had me in tears, you can see just how much his Doctor totally adores his TARDIS. Moreso in the old console where he'd be swinging underneath fiddling all the time. Wonderful Doctor.
But finally he looks at Claras hand, when she picked up (whatever it was) earlier in the episode a message was burnt into her hand "The big friendly button" the Doctor goes back to the console room and finds THE CRACK! Oh and Clara tells the Doctor she knows he had a name before hand.
Now this is the only part of the episode I have to say I disliked, this version of the Doctor goes through the crack and .... Talks to his past self giving him the "big friendly button" to avoid this whole thing happening in the first place. Really hated this ending.
Yes OK this one time I'll give it to you they pushed a reset button and everyone lived, Clara forgot her adventure the brothers all are alive... Yeah. Bad ending.
Back in the TARDIS the Doctor asks Clara if she feels safe, not remembering her latest adventure she agrees that she feels safe. She feels safe enough to go on yet another adventure!
That is it for another week, how did I feel about this adventure. Like last weeks it was a really good idea, really brilliant story but a rather weak ending. This time the ending didn't feel tacked on but it did feel like it came from a totally different show, I don't like to think that the Doctor can now step through cracks to talk to his former self, I thought the whole point of multi-Doctor stories being special is that you had to have a special reason for him to cross his own time line. Now he isn't just crossing it he's jumping in and throwing buttons to save his life!
Anyway...
Now I want to have my fangirl moment and I think I can just before I explain how wonderful an actor Matt Smith is. Him in his waist coat, all smart, floppy hair (oh how I adore his floppy hair) and the face mask on at the beginning(ish) of the episode... Sexiest thing you'll see on TV for the year me thinks (unless Tom Hiddleston is planning on being on TV anytime soon in the same get up).
Having said that and brought the whole tone of the blog post down can we just talk about how wonderful Matt Smith is? His face can tell a million stories within seconds, yes he has a "baby" face but he portrays a 900 year old alien so well. One moment he has all the joys in the world shining through the next you can see that this face has seen death, destruction, hatred and heartbreak, you can see the weight of the universe on his shoulders and the strain it has put on him. He has such a wonderful range of emotions and can go from one to the other effortlessly. It is a joy just to sit and watch him and only him, such a beautiful actor (and I don't mean that in an attractive way I mean his acting is beautiful).
If a episode is poor it usually is made better purely on the strength of this man and his acting.
Jenna is really starting to get into the role, that is a weird thing to say as I don't know what order she recorded these episodes in anyway, but for me she is really starting to grow as a companion. Personally I still prefer Amy, for all the people saying that Amy was too sure of herself there is a whole mini-story of Clara telling people she's scared and only putting on a brave face for the Doctor, but I'm not sure Clara is getting the fact she's really scared across very well. She has moments like when she was with David Warners character (I will mention that every week!) but not very often. To be honest I always thought Amy was a better character than people gave her credit for, I'm sorry but it is true, at the moment Clara isn't being directed well (I don't think Jenna is a weaker actress so it has to be directing of her) but when she was standing in the middle of the very emotional story about the brother losing his sight etc and all that she stood there like she was watching TV. Karen would have been in the moment egging the story on, speaking it through to make herself understand. Clara wasn't needed in that scene, Amy would have joined the scene. Instead it was left for the Doctor to return and do the part of the scene I always think the companion should be part of, the understanding of the other characters turmoil.
Other than that I thought the three salvage brothers were pretty weak, I felt no emotional attachment to them, I was close with the youngest but there was too much going on for me to care. It was the polar opposite of last week that spent TOO much time telling you why you should care for the two supporting actors, this time we weren't given enough TO care for them. Good actors though, again another story that could have been easily spread over two episodes and felt a lot less rushed in the process.
The story was good, I loved the idea of it. Exploring the TARDIS needs to be done better though I feel, we keep getting glimpses of it but I'd love to actually see some of these rooms. In fact I'd have loved Clara to walk into a room with bunk beds! We have had a lot of TARDIS stories recently and this one I was hoping would delve deep into this wondrous machine, unfortunately it didn't have enough time. For a change this season has been full of episodes that could easily be two parters that feel rushed, usually in Moffat Who it is full of two parters that feel like they really should only have been one part. I really liked the idea of getting rid of two part episodes as they have been my least favorite episodes in recent years but trust it to be the year of single "blockbuster" episodes that feel like they need to be an extra 30 minutes longer to fulfill the promise!
It was an enjoyable episode though and was a masterclass for Matt and that is all that matters at times for me. If the acting is top rate (like in Cold War) I don't care if there is a soddy ending because the characters make the episode for me.
Though next week.... STRAX!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment