Christmas Gift Ideas

In the spirit of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, I'm including gift ideas for all three of my shows in one post. Sherlock represents the Spirit of Christmas Past (because of its Victorian origins), Misfits the Spirit of Christmas Present (because it's presently airing on E4), and Doctor Who the Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come (because the Christmas episode is yet to air).

Of course, the real reason I'm grouping them together, is that I didn't quite grasp the concept of "one show at a time." Which makes the above explanation nothing more than a ruse designed to hide my shame. I made a mistake, okay? I just hope nobody noticed.

Wait! I'm saying this in my head, right?

Misfits: Episode Four

Ollie: 'Has anyone got one of these weird powers?'

Ollie didn't last long. No sooner had we learned of his ability to teleport (and marvelled at his cool sandals), and he was dead. I half expected Curtis to turn back time and save him, but not this time. Which is a pity because I liked Ollie. It's just a shame he was never anything more than an organ donor. Still, at least Nikki got her new heart. Unfortunately, she's also inherited Ollie's terrible superpower: the ability to teleport just a few feet. I guess you take the rough with the smooth.

Misfits: Episode Three

Superhoodie: 'It's going to be all right. I should know. I'm from the future.'

Tonight's was an event filled episode. Nathan turned gay and fell in love with Simon; Curtis got stabbed with a knife made from ink; Simon almost choked to death; Kelly fell in love with Vince the tattoo artist; and Alisha fell in love with Superhoodie. So much shit was happening, it was hard to keep track. Alisha and Curtis' relationship also looks to be on the rocks. Presumably, this will free Curtis up to start seeing Nikki. Which means Curtis' flash-forward could come true sooner than we thought.

Misfits - Episode Two

Nathan: 'I see dead people.'

This episode started off slowly. Nathan's back-story, whilst not entirely surprising, offered an intriguing glimpse into his personal life. Greeting your Father with a punch in the face is pretty dysfunctional, and getting one back is downright abusive. Where this episode really caught fire (pun intended) was at the club. Curtis' altered power gifted us a fascinating peek into the future. How far into the future is anyone’s guess, but if that last minute reveal was anything to go by, it could be sooner than we think.

Misfits - Episode One

Kelly: 'Ah, you fucker!'

Tasteful dialogue with which to start a season, eh? This episode pretty much followed on from the season one finale: with Kelly mourning Nathan's death, Nathan indulging in a spot of onanism (whilst lying in his own shit), and Simon with a dead probation worker in the deep freeze. Only, now there's a new hero in town, and he seems to know all about the misfits. Who is Superhoodie? Does he have superpowers? Questions they'll hopefully address as the season progresses.

Let Me In

Let Me In is a 2010 remake of the 2008 Swedish cult classic, Let The Right One In. The film revolves around Abby and Owen, two twelve year olds, living in Los Alamos, New Mexico. As you might have guessed from the title, this is a vampire flick -- but it's definitely not your standard vampire fare. Whereas a traditional vampire movie typically has its vampire protagonist fighting against its own murderous nature to win the heart of its human companion, Let Me In contains no such clichés. Rather than being the story of good triumphing over evil through the rediscovery of what it is to be human, this is a story of survival, adolescent torment, and the things we do for love.

Sherlock: The Great Game

Moriarty: “Twelve hours to solve my puzzle, Sherlock. Or I'm going to be so naughty.”

If last week's episode had a weakness, it was the puzzling absence of some of the show's major characters. Lestrade was inexplicably AWOL, Moriarty was reduced to a faceless cameo, and even Mycroft was conspicuous by his absence. So it was only fitting that tonight's episode attempt to redress the balance by bringing them all together in one story. Well, in reality it was five stories—but tonight saw Holmes' unique talents stretched to the limit. And, finally, we got to see Moriarty step out of the shadows and face his arch-nemesis.

Sherlock: The Blind Banker

Watson: “Me, Sherlock. In court. On Tuesday. They're giving me an ASBO.”

Tonight's episode was a loose adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Dancing Men'—and when I say 'loose' I mean pants falling down, baring your arse loose. If Steven Moffat hadn't mentioned it on Twitter, I probably wouldn't have noticed. The only similarity I picked up on was that both stories have a secret code as their central theme. In 'The Dancing Men' it was a code based upon a system of hand-drawn stick men, in 'The Blind Banker' it was a system of graffiti style Hangzhou numerals. Apart from that, and a couple of possible references to 'The Sign of Four' and 'The Valley of Fear,' I caught nothing.

Sherlock: A Study in Pink

Sherlock: 'The game, Mrs Hudson, is on!'

Sherlock is a reboot of the Sherlock Holmes franchise and is the brain child of Doctor Who head-writer Steven Moffat and The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss. It's also set in modern day London. Sounds awful? That's what I thought. In fact, I was completely prepared to hate this programme. How can anything good come of moving an iconic 19th century detective to the 21st century? Is the character of Sherlock Holmes even relevant these days? More importantly, can his unique brand of deductive reasoning cut the mustard in this modern age of GPS, computers and forensics?

Doctor Who: The Big Bang (2)

Amy: 'Okay, kid. This is where it gets complicated.'

Good grief, she wasn't kidding. This was an episode which broke all the rules. There was no clashing of alien hardware, no Doctor v arch-nemesis fight to the death—all we got is one fossilised Dalek, and even it looked fit to drop. But what this episode failed to deliver in terms of dazzling, high-octane spectacle, it more than made up for in brain scrambling complexity. We went back and forth through time more times tonight than we've done all season. We were also treated to a wedding, two Amy Ponds, the return of Aunt Sharon, and dancing so freakishly disturbing that it should never have been shown before the water shed.

Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens (1)

Unknown voice: 'Silence will fall.'

This was a massive episode. Not only were the stakes enormous and the cliff-hanger whopping, we were treated to perhaps the biggest assembly of Doctor Who baddies the show has ever seen. Not just fifth season villains, either—we got to see Autons, Cybermen, Sycorax, Daleks, Judoon, Sontarans, and a whole host of other nasties too numerous to mention (except I do mention them later). It was like fanfic times 10 to the power of 23 (I did the math). I also totally had several nerdgasma.

Doctor Who: The Lodger

Craig: 'Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit weird?'
Doctor: 'They never really stop.'

A brilliant beginning, an embarrassing middle, and a disappointing ending. But enough about the England game—what about Doctor Who? (Boom tish!) Tonight's episode was a serviceable, if companion-lite, story about the joys of normal life, the intricacies of making an omelette, and how not to blow up the solar system. At times, it felt a little light on plot—but it was so full of humour that I didn't give a monkey's.

Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor

Van Gogh: 'I know how it will end... and it will not end well.'

I really didn't think I'd like this one. I'm not usually a fan of historical episodes. Despite being vaguely enjoyable, there's a sameness about them which irks me. The historical figures are often portrayed as caricatures, which is fine for comedic purposes, but it's hard to get emotionally involved when the characters don't feel like real people. You smile at the familiar references, you chuckle at the Doctor somehow being responsible for their most famous works or sayings, but ultimately, it all feels a little contrived. Well, not tonight. 'Vincent and the Doctor' was an absolute gem. It was funny, charming, exciting—yet had a poignancy and depth we seldom get to see in Doctor Who.