Monday 28 December 2015

Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song

Doctor: 'I think I'm going to need a bigger flowchart.'

This year's Christmas special was the dream team-up I've been fantasising about for years, yet never really believed would happen. There's always been something compelling about the prospect of seeing Capaldi and Kingston onscreen together. Seeing two old pros trading chops on your favourite show is as good as it gets in my book, and not only did Moffat make it happen, he managed to create one of the show's most emotionally complete episodes to date.

Sunday 6 December 2015

Doctor Who: Hell Bent (2)

Clara: 'My time is up, Doctor. Between one heartbeat and the last is all the time I have.'

Virtually everything about tonight's episode ran counter to expectation. I anticipated a reclamation of Clara's soul from the Quantum Shade, all-out war on Gallifrey, and an ultimately devastating denouement. In the end, Gallifrey turned out to be something of a red herring—the real focus of the story was the Doctor and Clara's relationship, and it was told and acted to perfection. I always wanted something better for Clara than death, and although she's still just a heartbeat away from facing the raven, this felt like the perfect send-off.

Sunday 29 November 2015

Doctor Who: Heaven Sent (1)

Doctor: 'I've just watched my best friend die in agony. My day can't get any worse. Let's see what we can do about yours!'

It's always something of a crap shoot when Doctor Who tries something different. If history has taught us anything, it's that experimental episodes either knock it out of the park ('Blink', 'Turn Left'), or make us wish that someone had knocked us out in a park ('Sleep No More', 'Love and Monsters'). What good could possibly come from an episode filmed in a single location, and with only one speaking character? Plenty, as it happens. With an extended running time of 55 minutes, this was a gripping tale of mystery, personal loss, and what happens when you punch an azbantium wall for over two billion years with your bare fists.

Sunday 22 November 2015

Doctor Who: Face the Raven

Clara: 'Let me be brave. Let me be brave.'

I was whispering the exact same thing towards the end. For a first time writer of Doctor Who, there's no way that Sarah Dollard should have been able to destroy us like that. Clara's final words were some of the finest, most emotive dialogue the show's ever produced—I can't tell you how difficult I found typing out the quotes. Even Moffat couldn't have surpassed those closing exchanges for their honestly, their pathos, and how beautifully they reflected the Doctor and Clara's relationship. They were perfect. Which is incidentally the exact opposite of how I feel at the moment.

Sunday 15 November 2015

Doctor Who: Sleep No More

Rassmusen: 'I do hope you've enjoyed the show. I did try to make it exciting. All those scary bits. All those death defying scrapes, monsters, and a proper climax with a really big one at the end! Compulsive viewing.'

Occasionally an episode of television comes along which takes you completely by surprise. The format is so clever, the storytelling so off the wall, that you spend the whole episode riding a delirious wave of confusion, until an ending arrives so brilliant that it surpasses all expectation. 

Saturday 7 November 2015

Doctor Who: The Zygon Inversion (2)

Doctor: 'I don't understand? Are you kidding? Me? Of course I understand. You mean, you call this a war? This funny little thing? This is not a war! I fought in a bigger war than you will ever know. I did worse things than you could ever imagine. And when I close my eyes... I hear more screams than anyone could ever be able to count! And you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight... till it burns your hand, and you say this... No one else will ever have to live like this! No one else will ever have to feel this pain! Not on my watch!'

Saturday 31 October 2015

Doctor Who: The Zygon Invasion (1)

Doctor: 'At ease. I'm the president of the world. I'm here to rescue people and generally establish happiness all over the place.'

It seems like only 357 days ago that I was bemoaning the loss of Osgood, in a scene so silly that you could have popped a red nose on it, draped it in a green wig, and called it Krusty. Let's face it: Osgood came to an uncharacteristically unintelligent end. Death by bananas! So I was overjoyed to hear that everyone's favourite Doctor fangirl would be returning. Pity they ruined the surprise by advertising it in virtually every press release from here to Timbuktu.

Sunday 25 October 2015

Doctor Who: The Woman Who Lived (2)

Me: 'Yes, it is me. What took you so long, old man?'

A Clara-less interlude with Arya Stark as Ashildr, Ashildr as Me, Me as the dandy highwayman, Scar from the Lion King as the villain, and Rufus Hound as Sam Swift, the womanising wobber (sic). Do they not know that panto season is still 5 weeks away?

Saturday 17 October 2015

Doctor Who: The Girl Who Died (1)

Doctor: 'No, no, not Vikings. I'm not in the mood for Vikings.'

This felt like the episode that 'Robot of Sherwood' should have been. It had the same vibe, with its medieval setting, its unrealistic village backdrop, its assortment of hats, and its humour quotient turned up several notches. Thankfully, it was lot less silly. The beards were less ridiculous, the dialogue wasn't as embarrassing, and the characterisation of both the Doctor and Clara was on point. After 'Mummy on the Orient Express' and 'Flatline', Jamie Mathieson is currently three for three.

Sunday 11 October 2015

Doctor Who: Before the Flood (2)

Doctor: 'I'll come back for you, I swear.'

When a cold open starts with the Doctor breaking the fourth wall and delivering a causal loop monologue, and ends with him jamming to his own theme music, you just know you're in for a treat. After last week's more linear story, tonight's offering deviated from the template in just about every way imaginable. It moved location, introduced a new villain, separated the Doctor and Clara, turned up the timey-wimey to ten, yet the result was exactly the same—another top class outing from the man touted by many as Moffat's natural successor.

Sunday 4 October 2015

Doctor Who: Under the Lake (1)

Doctor: 'My God, every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It's impossible, I hate it, it's evil. It's astonishing, I want to kiss it to death.'

Despite doing some excellent work on Being Human, Toby Whithouse's success rate on Doctor Who has been patchier than the sixth Doctor's jacket. Although getting off to an incredible start with 'School Reunion', his later offerings ('The Vampires of Venice', 'A Town Called Mercy', etc.) utterly failed to set the Whoniverse alight. Yet tonight's episode was a thoroughly absorbing mix of base-under-siege goodness, ghostly goings-on, and nautical caperings, sat atop an unfolding narrative which although at times felt slower than we're used to, never felt boring.

Sunday 27 September 2015

Doctor Who: The Witch's Familiar (2)

Doctor: 'Admit it, you've all had this exact nightmare.'

After last week's cliffhanger, it was always going to be an uphill struggle to dig the story out of its proverbial hole. Obviously Missy and Clara couldn't be dead, and whilst Missy's anecdote about the Doctor escaping android assassins brought out the best in Clara—as she picked through the clues, made the correct deductions whilst hanging upside down, threatened to kill Missy, before finally stomping off pointy-stickless to save the Doctor—I'm not sure the rest of the episode allowed her to shine so brightly.

Saturday 19 September 2015

Doctor Who: The Magician's Apprentice (1)

Doctor: 'Davros made the Daleks. But who made Davros?'

Now that's how you do a cold open! Not only did it follow on seamlessly from 'The Doctor Meditates', it complemented the opening ambience of 'Genesis of the Daleks' perfectly, and dropped a gasp-inducing D-bomb on our shuddering craniums. The mastermind behind the Daleks is back—looking as ill as ever. Who'd have thought he'd be such a handsome looking kid? That Skaro air must really mess with your complexion... not to mention your hair follicles.