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discotreque · 4 years

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LwD 1.10, “No Small Parts”

Well, that was the most fun I've had watching Star Trek in literally a quarter of a century.

I had high hopes for this series. I love TAS, largely because of its wacky outsized concepts that could only have worked in animation—not that they all did work, but the potential was so apparent to me, even as a kid reading the Alan Dean Foster novelizations—and as an adult, there's something about the imagination of Lower Decks's FX setpieces that transcends even the glorious CGI bonanzas of Discovery.

Pause for a confession. I've long pushed back against criticism of serialization in new Trek. That's just how TV is now, okay? Might as well complain about it being in widescreen. But I'm backing down a little, because I've realized there is something about Star Trek that's inextricable from at least a partially-episodic format. And while Picard was telling a different kind of story, I can't deny that my favourite episodes of Disco have been the ones with a mostly self-contained A-plot. After 10 delightfully episodic instalments of LwD, its focus on long-term development of characters instead of a season-spanning puzzle-plot (okay, mostly just Mariner, but we only have 10 × 22 minutes and she is the star) has been downright refreshing.

So here we are, at the end of the most consistent and well-executed Season 1 of a Star Trek series since, arguably, Those Old Scientists. And sure, if they'd had to produce another... yikes, 42 episodes? Then sure, they probably would have dropped a clunker or two—but they didn't, and winning on a technicality is still winning. I'm practically vibrating with excitement for Disco to come back next week, but damn, I'm going to miss this little show while it's on hiatus.

Spoilers below:

Something I've been keeping track of finally paid off this week! (Which never happens to me, lol.) The destruction of the USS Solvang marked the first present-day death(s) of any Starfleet officer on Lower Decks, the only other on-screen killing at all being a flashback in "Cupid's Errant Arrow". Which makes sense, being (a) a comedy, and (b) about typically "expendable" characters: it hasn't been afraid to flirt with a little darkness here and there, but killing people off at Star Trek's usual pace wouldn't just be wrong for the tone, it would be downright bizarre.

But... people die on Star Trek. That's one of the core themes of the show, really: space is full of knowledge and beauty, but also danger and terror, and believing that the former is worth the risk of the latter is (according to Trek) one of humanity's most noble traits. I'm the least bloodthirsty TV watcher I know, but the longer we went with a body count of nil—ships completely evacuated before they were destroyed, main characters hilariously maimed without permanent consequences, etc.—well, I didn't mind per se, but the absence of truly deadly stakes was definitely getting conspicuous.

Turns out they were saving it up for maximum impact. And holy fuck, I've never felt such a pit in my stomach watching a ship get destroyed that wasn't named Enterprise. It felt grim and brutal and somehow both much too quick and dreadfully inevitable—and yeah, it looked extremely fucking cool—and I'd like every other Star Trek property for the rest of time to take notes under a large bold heading labeled RESTRAINT.

Comedy doesn't need to do this, but my favourite comedy does, and in a way that few other art forms can even approach: lower my emotional defences by making me laugh, endear character(s) to me with goofy-but-relatable antics—then BAM, sucker-punch me in the motherfucking feels. M*A*S*H is probably the classic example on TV, Futurama was notorious for it, and even Archer has pulled it off a few times; it's also a staple of some of my favourite standup. I wasn't sure if Lower Decks was going to go there in Season 1—and wasn't sure if they'd earn it—but I knew if they did, that they'd nail it, and damn. Feels good to be right.

Last batch of notes for the season!!! I rambled enough already, so let's do it liveblog-style:

I fucking KNEW they were going to use "archive" visuals from TAS at some point, I KNEW IT :D

"THOSE OLD SCIENTISTS" ahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I like chill and confident Boimler a lot? You can really see—

oh bRADWARD NOOOOO

That opening shot of the Solvang tracking down to the red giant was extremely Discovery-esque... minus the motion sickness, that is

A lady captain AND a lady first officer? That's—oh hey, it's Captain Dayton's brand-new ship. Hahaha, that means they're totally fucked, right?.

Yep! They sure a—umm, wh—shit, okay, but—oh no—no, you can't—wait DON'T

...fuck

FUCK.

Narrator: "And then Amy needed a five-hour break."

[live-action Star Trek showrunner voice] "Gee, Mike! Why does CBS let you have two cold opens?"

Okay, yes, the bit with Rutherford cycling through all the different attitudes in his implant was transparently an excuse for Eugene Cardero to vamp while waiting for something to do in the story, but as far as I'm concerned they can contrive a reason for him to do a bunch of different silly Rutherfords in a row any time they damn well want, because that was classic!!!

EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP

AND THE EXOCOMP IS PAINTED LIKE THE EXOCOMP IS WEARING A LITTLE EXOCOMP-SIZED STARFLEET UNIFORM

EXOCOMP!!!!!

The slow burn and now the payoff of the Mariner-is-Freeman's-secret-daughter plot has been executed so well. I'm beyond impressed with this writer's room, y'all—they are threading a hell of a needle here

"Wolf 359 was an inside job" would have been a spit-take if I'd had anything in my mouth

...how many memos do you think Starfleet Command has had to issue asking people to stop calling the USS Sacramento "the Sac"?

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'VE DECORATED THE SHUTTLECRAFT SEQUOIA THOUGH

Is, uh, is it weird if I'm starting to ship Tendi and Peanut Hamper a little? It is weird, isn't it. I knew it was weird...

Coital barbs??? I take back everything I said about wanting to know more about Shaxs/T'Ana.

The "good officer" version of Mariner is... kind of hot, tbh! But Tawny Newsome has done such a great job of building this character all season that her voice getting uncharacteristically clipped and martial and "sir! yes, sir!" is also deeply, deeply weird

Ah, so this is literally exactly like when TNG (and DS9) would bring in, and then blow up, a never-before-seen Galaxy-class ship, just to underscore that we're facing a real threat this week, baby. And hey, it fucking worked—my heart was in my throat, omg, for the reveal of the—

PAKLEDS?????????

The fucking PAKLEDS have been gluing weapons to their ships for the last 15 years. GREAT.

(We interrupt the SHIP BEING SLICED INTO SCRAP for an interesting bit of world-building: on Earth, the traditional First Contact Day meal is salmon!)

"I need a dangerous, half-baked solution that breaks Starfleet codes and totally pisses me off! That's an order." I'm starting to think Captain Freeman might actually be overqualified for the Cerritos, y'all—she's REALLY awesome

OH SHIT IT'S BADGEY, this is a TERRIBLE IDEA

"How much contraband have you hidden on my ship?" "I don't know! A lot!"

Awwww, Boims!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA, FUCK THIS, PEANUT HAMPER OUT

BADGEY NOOOOO

AUGHHHHH WHAT THE CHRIST DID HE JUST—BUT—RUTHERFORD'S IMPLANT????

RUTHERFORD!!!!!!!!!!

SHAXS!!!!!!

F U C K ! ! ! ! !

ahaIOPugdfhagntpgjrq90e5mgu90qe5;oigoqgw4ouegrw5SP;IAEHURVa IT’S THE TITAN???????????

IT'S CAPTAIN WILLIAM T. RIKER ON THE MOTHERFUCKING TITAN??????????

i'm screaming I'M SCREAMINGGGGGGTGGGTGQER;LBHAOIBVNV;OAPBIJNVagr;h;oagruipuwtnaetbaetgq35ghqet

I'M SO GLAD THIS WASN'T SPOILED FOR ME WTF

I AM WEEPING LIKE A CHILD

...

(Just a brief 20-minute pause this time)

And oh wow, seeing Will and Deanna hits different after Picard too, in a few different ways, which I may even get into later now that my heartrate is back to normal, lmao

Oh, I am always here for some jokes at the expense of the Sovereign class. The Enterprise-E sucked. They should have built a new bigger model of the D and new Galaxy-class interiors for the TNG movies, and I will die on that hill

OKAY, FINE, YOU GOT ME, RUTHERFORD × TENDI WOULD BE ADORABLE AND THIS IS ACTUALLY A PRETTY GOOD SETUP FOR IT

Awwww, Shaxs though :( Congrats on the single most badass death in Star Trek history, dude. The Prophets would—well, the actual Prophets would probably be slightly confused about most of it, but Kira Nerys would be proud of you and I feel like that probably counts for more. RIP, Papa Bear

I am here all damn DAY for the Mariner–Riker parallels, ahahahahaha

Pausing it to record my prediction that Boimler's commitment to not caring about rank anymore is going to last 3... 2...

Yep.

Bradward, how DARE YOU.

"Those guys had a long road, getting from there to here." OH FOR THE LOVE OF—

What a brilliant way to resolve and renew the various character arcs and relationships moving into Season 2! The writers could easily have brought everything back to status quo—chaotic Mariner fighting with her mom and being a bad influence on Boimler, etc.—and done another 10 just like these, but I suspect that wouldn't have been ambitious enough for these writers. What a blast. I cannot wait for more.

Thanks for following along, friends! Stay tuned for my (similarly patchy and amateur) coverage of Discovery, starting next week!

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lwd spoilers #lower decks spoilers #lower decks #amy's episode notes

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greennct · 5 years

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you in chenle’s camera lens

part 2 for the ‘chenle in your camera lens’ fansite!au, as requested by a lovely anon!! you can find part 1 here!! i actually really enjoyed writing this, even though I didn't originally plan for this to have a part two I'm actually super happy with it yay! hope you enjoy 💞💖💘

(warning!! sm is portrayed as a super nice/chill company in this au which we all know is not the case lmao so just to let everyone know before y’all get triggered this is a work of fiction!! hee hee)

3.4k words, angst-y i guess ??? but mostly just fluff!!

song rec: stop thinking (about me) by alfie templeman

it had been about a week since chenle had given you his number and surprise surprise, you still hadn’t worked up the courage to text him

to be honest, you were way too pressured to try and find something extremely witty to text him for your opening line, so it was taking you ages to actually work up the guts to send him a message

it was only after seeing a not-so-cryptic tweet from the nct dream twitter account (ah~ waiting for a text is hard, czennies! 💚), that you felt comfortable enough to actually send anything, knowing that chenle was waiting for you to break the silence

deciding against trying to be overly funny or flirtatious, just in case you managed to embarrass yourself as usual, you instead decided to send a picture of chenle doing one of his famous meme faces. it was one you had never posted online before, and were sure he would recognise to be taken by you. you followed it with a short hi!

for all your week of deliberating over how to start the conversation, you received a reply pretty much instantaneously

it was a whole stream of compliments on your photography skills,,,, and on you in general,,,,,

highlights included: “this belongs on the cover of time magazine,” and, “you put every other photographer throughout history to shame,” and even, “i’m making one of the ugliest faces known to humanity, but somehow you’ve made me look almost as cute as you do”

the banter between the two of you struck up easily, as you replied with a series of keyboard smashes, and soon enough, the two of you were pretty much texting constantly

each day, you woke up and went to sleep with a good morning and goodnight text from chenle. he was constantly asking how your day was, and sending memes at all hours of the night. it got to the point where you had to chide the boy to go to sleep, knowing he had to wake up at a ridiculous time the next day

chenle showed such a genuine and wholehearted interest in your life, always pressing you for the tiniest details about your day, simply because he wanted to know how you were

for example, the summer flew by, and you eventually started college, texting chenle all the while. to your utter delight, he turned out to be a godsend at helping to make sure that you could properly balance your education with your duties as a fansite

there were simple yet infinitely thoughtful things he did to try and help you organise everything, such as sending a quick message telling you it wasn’t worth skipping your afternoon lecture to attend a certain schedule, because they were already running a few hours, made your life so much easier, and made you appreciate him even more

and of course throughout this time, your crush on him grew and grew: how could it not?

however, you felt incredibly awkward with your emotions. you knew that chenle must reciprocate your feelings, at least to a certain extent, but you were extremely hesitant to confess

primarily, because of how awkward it would be to do so over text, but mostly because you were incredibly conscious of both yours and his reputation. after all, you had barely escaped been skinned alive the last time chenle had expressed a mild fondness towards your photos by certain fans

the sad but straightforward truth of the matter was, that a relationship with chenle was completely hopeless. nevertheless, that didn’t stop you from letting yourself indulge in daydreams where the two of you went on an endless stream cute coffee dates, uninterrupted by any of the drama that was your reality

and so, as autumn turned to winter, you found yourself stuck in a limbo, dutifully attending nct dream events as a fansite, vying for chenle’s attention like everyone else in the crowd, but then returning home to exchange flirty text messages with him all evening

and that’s how things stayed, for a while, until suddenly you received an incredibly unusual text from him

“this is a little last minute, but the photographer for our next comeback’s jacket photoshoot just cancelled on us, but we’ve got this whole warehouse rented out for tomorrow, so i recommended you to fill in!! can you make it? x”

you kind of blinked for a few seconds, just staring at the text, disbelieving of what chenle had just asked you do to

you then came to your senses, and quickly sent back a gushing paragraph, full of typos, to confirm that yes, you would love to take photos for nct dream’s new album

chenle immediately sent back a few details of the concept, some photos of the set and even a demo of the title track, in order to give you an idea of what was expected from you

you realised, with a small shiver down your spine, how much the boy must truly trust you, in order for him to expose so much about the comeback, knowing full well you could post it anywhere, but somehow confident that you weren’t going to

something about that small, get significant fact,,,, made your heart melt a little more for chenle

the next day you turn up at the address chenle gave you, pretty much scared shitless as you’re driven on a golf cart past countless grey warehouses until you reach the one labelled to be owned by sm

as soon as you walk in, you’re met with the title track blaring from every. corner, and a mixture of either sleepy of hyper boys wriggling around in makeup chairs

too shy to actually go up to the members before the formal shoot, you take a quick tour around the locations that you were about to be shooting in

you were incredibly nervous to get the photos right, as you were terrified of criticism from not only the company, but also all the nctzens you knew would scrutinise every photo for any indication of you somehow damaging the dreamies’ image

you heard your name being called behind you. spinning around, you were met with a beam so bright you felt it was ridiculous that chenle was so happy so early in the morning. you tried to keep up with the bright and amiable conversation he was attempting to initiate with you, however your nerves made sure you kept spacing out and glancing around nervously

however, you were suddenly shocked back into the present when chenle placed his hands on either side of your face, cupping your cheeks gently, and leaning his head down slightly to bring himself to eye level with you, lowering his voice

“you’re going to do great, you know. i didn’t recommend you just because you were cute, you’re insanely talented as well!” after the heart-stopping compliment, chenle immediately bounced off to go and touch up his makeup, whilst you were left, standing stock still with a goofy smile on your face, feeling as though every single one of your fears had suddenly been dissolved

before you knew it the shoot had started, and you slowly became more and more comfortable with directing the dreamies, as you realised that you were completely in your element. shouting a mixture of cues, jokes, and sly digs at the boys, you made sure to have nct dream in stitches of laughter in order to create the bright concept that their unit was known for

solo shots with the boys had you glad that the camera lens hid how flushed you were at the close proximity and casual conversation with each of the members. you were still surprised that they recognised you, some even greeting you by name before striking up an easygoing banter as you snapped away

of course, chenle seemed even more ethereal than any of the other boys to you, however you had to keep asking him to be serious, as he stuck firmly to his habit of making silly faces at the camera lens, meaning that his shoot was much longer than any of the other members’

before you knew it, you had collected all of the shots that sm wanted. they were going to edit and master them privately, but thanked you for your hard work with a large amount of praise from the staff members, and a cheque that had your eyes watering slightly as you left

“we’ll keep an eye on you, from now on.” a production manager had informed you on your way out, “you’re on our call list.”

and, to your surprise,,,,,,, you actually were

you ended becoming nct dream’s official unofficial press photographer whenever sm’s other employees were unable to make it

instead of chasing behind company cars for 1 good photo out of 100 blurry ones, you found yourself being allowed to roam freely backstage, capturing the nct members however you wished, so long as you flashed your sm employee ID

though you always made sure you were careful to stay as quiet and respectful as possible, however it wasn’t long before people started to notice your name being credited on official photos, and you were quickly seen to be legendary within the fansite community

when sm didn’t need you, and you followed nct unofficially, your friends would always tease you by oohing and aahing when you turned up, creating a space for you right at the front, as they claimed you were ‘nct dream’s favourite fansite’

it was embarrassing, but honestly,,, not nearly as bad as you thought the backlash was going to be. people commended you for your success, rather than being jealous of it, and therefore you allowed yourself to not only get used to,,,,, but also start to enjoy spending time as a press photographer

that was,,,,,,,,,,,,,, until one fateful inkigayo pre-recording

you see, spending so much more time with nct dream obviously meant that you spent so much more time with chenle

and boy, if you thought you liked him before, you were sure you were pretty much in love with him by now

effortlessly sweet, buying you an endless stream of drinks and snacks and always somehow full of energy, and up for a chat, the two of you grew closer and closer

you found yourself slipping into your daydreams much more often, as it was much easier to do whilst staring into chenle’s eyes

what’s more, chenle never stopped being flirty. admittedly, at times he was awkward and embarrassed by his bold words, however never enough to stop from showering you in compliments, and offering you his jacket at any and every opportunity

that day, you had been called in to shoot some candids of the pre-recording, and dutifully showed up at 3 in the morning, yawning as you waved your press badge at the security guard before being waved through

the hour or so you spent taking shots went by quickly, as it usually did, and you returned to the empty green room to start to pack up your camera equipment

suddenly, you heard heavy footsteps bolting into the room behind you. you turned to greet whoever had entered, when you found yourself barely inches from chenle’s face

he was ecsatic, blurting out something about how happy he was that the recording had gone so well, shimmering slightly from sweat, sunlight pouring out of his eyes

and you tried to focus on what he was saying,, but you couldn’t help yourself,,,, you leaned in, and pressed a kiss to his lips

the kiss itself only lasted a few seconds, more of a chaste peck than anything else, and you drew away quickly, shocked at your own actions

chenle started to follow your lips with his own instinctively, eye half-closed as he leaned in for a second kiss, before you let out a shocked gasp, and he opened his eyes wide in response

you had realised what you had done

not only was this probably the most unprofessional thing you had ever done, you were pretty sure that it was illegal, since you were certain he must have signed a contract that made him swear off dating

he started into your panicked eyes, confused as he saw tears well up in them

“i'm so sorry” you whispered, hardly daring to speak. you didn’t even let him finish the “why-” that started to escape from his mouth before grabbing your camera bag and basically sprinting out of the building

once confident that you were out of reach of chenle, you sunk against a back wall, head in your hands and heart racing as you realised what you had done

not only had you kissed chenle without asking if he wanted to, a detail you didn’t even think about at the time, but gnawed at your conscience now, you had completely violated the company’s unspoken trust that you would keep everything completely platonic between yourself and the members

your stomach sinking,,,, you realised this was probably the end of you working for sm

however chenle surprised you again by not speaking a word of your kiss to anyone at the company

though you never directly asked him, ignoring all of his increasingly frantic texts, you were called by sm multiple times in the upcoming months to fill in for various photographers

however, you could not bring yourself to face chenle after the incident, and turned each and every offer down

it took a few weeks for sm to realise that you suddenly weren’t photographing nct dream anymore, as you longer turned up as a fansite either, however they never asked you for an explanation as to why

eventually, the calls from sm,,,,, and the texts from chenle,,,, just stopped

after just over a month of this radio silence, you received a call from sm, asking you to photograph red velvet instead of nct during their final practice before their comeback

though you didn’t know the group very well, you admired red velvet, and had always liked listening to their songs. therefore, you convinced yourself that since it was very unlikely that you would actually have to bump into chenle since the appointment was scheduled so late, it would be okay to take the job

besides, you were a broke college student who needed that coin to live lmao

and so, the next week you snuck into the main company building at around 11:30, following signs to open the door the practice room you had been told you were needed in,,,, but upon entering you froze in shock. this was not what you had been prepared for at all

the room did not have any members of red velvet in it, instead, it was completely empty,,,,, apart from the one person you had been trying so hard to avoid these past few months

chenle stood in the centre of the room, immediately walking over to you when he saw your figure in the doorframe

the lights were slightly dimmed, and a lone scented candle was lit next to the stereo in what looked like an attempt to set a romantic mood, along with some kind of slow, 60s love song

in other words, you were in trouble

“chenle, i-” you started to protest, to apologise, to do something to at least to try and salvage the situation, and not let your heart get broken, however you were silenced by the boy stepping forwards slightly, and taking your hand

speechless, you simply let chenle gently tug you into his chest, snaking his left arm around your waist as he swayed you gently to the rhythm

,,,,,you were incredibly confused, to say the least

after weeks of you determinedly and successfully avoiding chenle, here you were, lured into a room with the very person you were sure sm would want to keep you away from, and, without any kind of explantation,,,,, he had started to slow dance with you

eventually, chenle murmured “why did you run away?” and you stayed silent, wondering what you were going to say. you were in such a state of shock at such a dramatic turn of events that you weren't exactly sure what you were supposed to say

“you know we can't do this, chenle,,,” you trailed off, unsure of how to handle the situation

“why not? i really like you, and i'm pretty sure you like me to, what with the whole kiss n’ all, so what’s stopping you?”

“your company, chenle!” you protested, voice still small and scared, looking up at him with watery eyes “they won’t allow it!”

chenle stopped swaying and looked into your eyes with a face filled with disbelief “you’re an idiot.”

“excuse me?!” you frowned, bewildered by his sudden change in attitude

“the company don't give a monkey’s ass, so long as i'm working!”

“b-but,, your contract,,?” you questioned

“there’s never been anything about dating in there, that’s just a stupid rumour. i'm pretty sure half the staff members have been taking bets on how long it would take us to get together, since it’s so damn obvious how much i like you!”

you literally almost slapped yourself. from all of your hours and hours spent arguing with yourself about how wrong it was to like chenle, the sudden realisation that not only were your feelings completely accepted, but also reciprocated, was almost too much for you to handle

you found yourself giggling hysterically, leaning into chenle’s chest for support as you buried your face in his t-shirt

“i'm so stupid!” you practically wheezed, finally looking back at chenle, the laughter dying in your throat as you caught him looking at you with such tenderness, and a fondness behind his eyes that you couldn’t quite describe

“can i kiss you?” he murmured, tilting your chin upwards with his fingertips

you closed the gap between the two of you instantly, feeling chenle smile through the kiss at your eagerness

as you sighed slightly into his lips, something told you,,,, you were going to enjoy your photography gigs at sm a lot more from now on

and now,,, here you were, about a month after that eventful evening, clicking, with shaking hands, on the latest upload to the nct dream youtube channel

it was a short video, only about three minutes long, and depicted a compilation of clips set to music

you couldn’t help but gasp as your name popped up in the first few seconds, crediting you as the person who had filmed the entire video, and barely let your breath go as the video continued

the shots showed chenle going on a series of adventures all around seoul: walking along the han river, trying on increasingly goofy outfits in a thrift shop, mucking around in convenience stores,

then, chenle eating a plethora of different meals, feeding a bite of his food multiple times to the camera jokingly

chenle holding out a bunch of flowers to the lens, with a blush that matched the bright pink roses

chenle turning his phone around, face full of laughter, to show the camera a barely blurred out photo of renjun

and finally,,,, chenle taking the camera and turning it around, so that every single person watching the video could see, that the whole time that the video had been filmed,,,,,, he had been on dates with you

a tiny handwritten note popped up at the end “please support us!! i love them a lot, & i know my czennies will as well! get ready for lots more couple content soon hehehe :) love, chenle 💚💚”

you sighed contentedly, finally loosening your tight grip on chenle’s hand as you scrolled through the comment section

there was nothing but well-wishers, shipping accounts already started, fans boasting about their predictions of the fact you two were in relationship months before the video was released

“i knew they’d love you” chenle beamed, resting his head on your shoulder as he yawned sleepily - the two of you had curled up on your dorm room couch to wait for the video to be released

you didn’t say anything, softly running your fingers through his hair instead. you didn’t need to, you knew he understood how happy you were, purely from your contented silence

after all, you had a camera, an adorable boyfriend, and a small army of people incredibly invested in your relationship - what more could you need?

#chenle #zhong chenle #nct dream chenle #nct chenle #chenle fluff #nct #nct dream #nct dream fluff #nct dream au #nct dream fic #chenle au #chenle fic #nct fic recs #writings #nct fluff

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the-desolated-quill · 7 years

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Closing Time - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Today is a double whammy for me. Not only did I have to sit through another episode written by transmisogynist and arsehole Gareth Roberts, but the obnoxious James Corden is back too. Dear God, where’s the cyanide when you need it?

You may recall I wasn’t very fond of The Lodger (and it had nothing to do with the fact that Gareth Roberts is a bigoted fuckhead, though I admit that did give me added incentive to rip his piece of shit episode apart), so you can imagine I wasn’t looking forward to Closing Time.

So how was Closing Time? Was it as bad as The Lodger? Well it may surprise you to learn that I didn’t think this was as bad as The Lodger at all. No. It was actually WORSE than The Lodger.

Yes, not only did Closing Time contain all the things I hated about the previous instalment, but it also dragged my all time favourite Who baddies the Cybermen down with them as an added insult. I’ve always loved the Cybermen. Granted not every story featuring them are good, but they’ll always hold a special place in my heart due to their huge potential. They’re infinitely more interesting than the Daleks in my opinion, who often come across as a bit one note, and they’re arguably Doctor Who’s most socially relevant and timeless monsters. (In fact I once wrote a whole post explaining why the Cybermen are the best monsters in the whole of Doctor Who and why you should think that too. I’ll put a link here if you’re interested in reading it. It’s one of the first ‘Scribbles’ I’d ever written, so it’s a bit rough around the edges and a little soppy looking back, but I think it gets my point across). So it really hurts when I see them get horribly mistreated like this. They’re pretty much confined to the background while Matt Smith and James Corden are faffing around being unfunny, and they’re painfully ineffectual here. It’s one thing to have the Cybermen be beaten by the power of love, but having the power of love be so powerful that a crying baby can reverse a Cyber conversion? Are you taking the fucking piss?!

What’s worse is that Gareth Roberts decides to resurrect one of the more embarrassing parts of the Cyber mythos:

The Cybermats.

Yeah, I’ve never liked them. And just for the benefit of @captainivyb and others who have never watched the classic series, here’s what the original Cybermats looked like:

Sigh.

I mean I love the Cybermen, but even I can’t defend these. They’re just so silly. And honestly, I think the Doctor Who production team were just as embarrassed by them as I was, hence why they seemed to overcompensate in the Doctor Who spinoff books and audio dramas by implying that these cute and adorable looking Cybermats are actually composed of the body parts and internal organs of rodents, babies and small children.

The words ‘tonally confused’ leap to mind.

The main problem I’ve always had with the Cybermats is that, no matter how hard you try, these ‘silver rat things’ aren’t scary. Not even remotely. They’re at best cute and at worst unintentionally hilarious. Either way, they’re not very threatening, and these new Cybermats are definitely not threatening. In fact Roberts undermines them even further by giving them chattering teeth. That whole sequence with Craig wrestling a Cybermat on the kitchen floor was just utterly cringeworthy. I despair at the number of people who’s only experience of the Cybermen is this. I swear they’re a lot better than this. You’ve just caught them on an off day. Look, let me recommend some good, classic series Cyber stories for you. There’s The Tenth Planet, the first ever Cyber story. That’s very frightening. There’s The Invasion, which explores the impact of capitalism and technological advancement on modern society. Bit camp and OTT, but really entertaining. Finally I’d recommend the Big Finish audio drama Spare Parts, which explores the origins of the Cybermen and is in my opinion the best Cyber story ever written.

Outside of the Cybermen, I don’t really have much else to say about Closing Time. As I said, all the problems with The Lodger are here too. Just as The Lodger contains all the tired old jokes and cliches you’d often find in a really bad romcom, Closing Time contains all the tired old jokes and cliches you’d often find in a really bad sequel of a really bad romcom. Namely the clueless everyman trying to cope with unexpected fatherhood. It’s boring, not remotely funny and James Corden is an utter tit. Please stop trying to convince me he’s likeable or charming. It’s not working.

I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies. At least the story doesn’t focus too much on Craig. Part of the reason i found The Lodger so insufferable (apart from the James Corden factor) was because Craig was a childish little prick that represented the very embodiment of male entitlement. By the time I got to the end of that episode and Craig’s shitty little love story, I was praying my spleen would burst. Here Craig is just tagging along for the ride, so he’s slightly more tolerable. Although it does mean you could replace him with a mop and it wouldn’t make any difference. In fact one could argue the episode would improve dramatically if Craig had been replaced with a mop. That way we would be spared of James Corden’s gurning and shrieking.

Craig: “Metal rat, real mouth! Metal rat, real mouth! Metal rat, real...”

Oh yeah. Matt Smith is annoying too. Just like last time, he’s been forced to ramp up the goofiness for no other than reason than just for the sake of being goofy. Why does the Doctor sprinkle pepper on Craig randomly? Why is he so obsessed with his name tag? How can he talk to babies or shush people with the power of his mind? How can he be confused by the idea of someone moving house? He’s alien, but he’s not that alien. What’s worse is that Roberts takes it one step further and turns the Doctor into this really patronising nobhead. He talks to Craig and everyone like they’re fucking children, even down to the whole shushing thing, and at one point says that the reason he takes humans with him on his adventures is so other aliens will be more inclined to talk to him like when a parent takes their baby out for a walk. What kind of condescending bullshit is this?!

But as much as I despise Closing Time, I always like to give credit where it’s due. Admittedly there’s one scene I liked and that’s when the Doctor talks to the baby. Oh no, I don’t mean all the Stormageddon crap. I wouldn’t even wipe my arse with those scenes. I’m talking about the scene where the Doctor describes all the wonders of the universe and the things you have to look forward to in life before showing the baby what real stars look like. It’s a very touching scene that stands out in the sea of dross, perfectly demonstrating the Doctor’s view of life and the universe around him. In fact had they have toned the obnoxious goofiness down a notch and focused more on this bittersweet nostalgia trip the Doctor goes on before his impending death, I’m confident I would have enjoyed Closing Time a lot more. His final scene where he says goodbye to those children outside of the TARDIS packed more of an emotional wallop than the rest of Series 6 combined.

Sadly this is all somewhat undermined by the fact that we know the Doctor isn’t really going to die. And I’m not just saying that with the benefit of hindsight. Did anyone at the time truly suspect the Doctor was going die? Really?

Anyway, the episode ends with Moffat’s series arc shuffling into view. River Song gets bundled into the spacesuit while Eye Patch Lady sings that shitty nursery rhyme from Night Terrors. Poor Alex Kingston. Nobody could make a scene as awkwardly dreadful and as dreadfully awkward as this work. It’s all so utterly, fucking...

No. No Quill. Save your anger for the next review. You’re going to need all your energy for that one.

#closing time #gareth roberts #doctor who #eleventh doctor #matt smith #cybermen #steven moffat #bbc #review #spoilers

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timeflies1007-blog · 5 years

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Doctor Who Reviews by a Female Doctor, Season 4, p. 1

Please note: these reviews contain spoilers about this and other seasons of the reboot, and occasional references to the classic series.

Previously on Doctor Who: The Doctor did plenty of likeable things, including saving the world, reacting joyfully to the wonders of the universe, and having David Tennant’s face. He also had some problematic tendencies toward treating other people’s thoughts and feelings with smugness or oblivion, which sometimes made the show difficult to enjoy.

This season makes a considerable effort—for a while, at least—to resolve some of the problems with the Doctor’s characterization. It’s easily Tennant’s best season, thanks in large part to the decision to move away from the unspoken or unrequited love stories that were central to the last couple of seasons in favor of an absolutely beautiful friendship. Donna Noble is the perfect companion for the Tenth Doctor, and watching the two of them enjoy time and space together makes for really delightful television. There are moments when the stories told about the character don’t quite live up to Tate’s performance, or even to the splendid writing that she gets at the start of the season, but Donna herself is basically the pinnacle of likability.

The quality of the season sort of rises and declines in waves—after the weak Christmas special, there’s a wave of several brilliant episodes, then a decline for a while, then it climbs back up again, and then it falls back by the end of the season. It’s this last contention that I imagine would be the most controversial out of my thoughts on this season—plenty of fans don’t like “Journey’s End,” but I’m also uncertain about “Turn Left” and “The Stolen Earth.” I’m not really a huge fan of this season’s arc, but it does have quite a few brilliant episodes, and the friendship between Donna and the Doctor makes the season well worth watching.

Voyage of the Damned: You wouldn’t think that an episode with Kylie Minogue, Geoffrey Palmer, Clive Swift, and Russell Tovey as guest stars could possibly be terrible, but this Christmas special pretty much manages it. We do get to watch Tennant yell “Allons-y, Alonzo!” but that is really the only moment of joy in a weirdly harsh, borderline cruel episode. (Who would want to watch this on Christmas?) I think maybe the intention here involved some sort of self-deprecating humor, but the result is a story that looks like what you would get if someone who hated Doctor Who was forced to write an episode for the show. (I know that Davies wrote this, and obviously he doesn’t hate Doctor Who. It’s still how this episode comes across to me.) We have a nice, blonde young woman in a thankless job who has never gotten to see much of the universe until she meets the Doctor, whom she immediately falls in love with—but who lacks everything that makes Rose Tyler unique and interesting. Her two main functions in the episode are to be the “pretty lady” for Bannakafalatta to gaze at in his final moments and to fall to her death while destroying the bad guy so that the Doctor can feel guilty. We have quirky humor, but instead of jokes that are actually funny we get Mr. Copper getting Christmas traditions wrong; the first couple of instances are pretty amusing, but then it happens about sixty more times and gets really tiresome. We have an attempt to give some attention to class issues, but instead of putting people like Rose, Jackie, and Mickey into the center and letting their background inform the story, we get some obnoxious rich guy yelling fat-phobic things at some nice poor people, who die very quickly. We get some non-human life forms, but instead of monsters that are either fun or scary, we get an annoying red cyborg and a far more annoying evil cyborg in a tank. It basically takes a collection of major elements of the show and twists them until they become dull and irritating, and even if the idea was for the show to poke fun at itself, I don’t think it actually landed on the fun part.

In addition to being a bad spoof of the show, it’s also just an unimpressive plot. Evil Cyborg in a Tank is so bad at being evil that once he has the Doctor in his power, he waits while the Doctor slowly and painstakingly figures out what his evil plan is and explains it to him while he kindly confirms everything. He then tells the Host to kill the Doctor, after which he and the Host wait around long enough for Astrid to quip at them from across the room, drive toward them, have trouble moving for a while, and then develop a new plan for getting him to fall down a hole while making goofy faces. Then there’s a montage of everyone else making goofy faces while the Doctor slowly struts in front of some fire, which apparently wasn’t stupid enough because then he gets the Host to hold on to him so he can fly. This, too, seems to be calling back to various pieces of the show in an unpleasant way. (Remember the Weeping Angels? What if, instead of terrifying statues, they were totally forgettable angel-shaped robots? Remember when the Doctor floated around in the air at the end of Season Three, and it was really stupid? What if we did it again in literally the very next episode?) The whole thing just reads as forced, effortful silliness, and so there’s no joy or humor in it.

After that, it gets a little bit better; the near-miss of Buckingham Palace is entertaining, the Doctor sending Astrid’s atoms out among the stars is sweet (although, like most of this episode, weirdly directed), and Mr. Copper’s discovery of his own wealth is a nice ending. There’s an odd lack of concern about Alonzo, though, who was shot quite early in the episode and hasn’t gotten proper medical attention at any point. Christmas specials are generally sillier than regular season episodes, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the idea of doing a little bit of self-parody. The problem is that the episode comes across as making fun of itself in an oddly mean-spirited way, as if to say, “Look! A lot of the premises of this show are fundamentally terrible!” Merry Christmas? C-

Partners in Crime: Donna!!! Her return to the show, after her slightly uneven appearance in “The Runaway Bride,” almost immediately sets the show back to the level of quality that had eluded it since Season One. This isn’t a terrific storyline; the use of miracle diets to facilitate an Evil Plan is entertaining enough, and the tiny Adipose creatures are surprisingly endearing, but the depiction of dieters wriggling about as fat escapes from their bodies comes across as slightly demeaning. As a reintroduction to Donna Noble, though, it’s a splendid episode that’s bursting with warmth and energy.

There are elements of Donna’s characterization that could have gone badly awry here, but the show handles the challenges of the character with a great deal of nuance and creativity. I think the criticisms that Donna was played as a joke in “The Runaway Bride” tend to get a bit overstated, but there are definitely moments in which the episode seemed to be laughing at her. This episode retains the character’s humor, but is pretty clearly asking us to laugh with her—she’s funny, but she’s never a punchline. She’s also basically devoted her life to finding the Doctor; I had initially remembered her time in Adipose Industries as her actual job, but she is in fact using an old ID to sneak in and investigate because she thinks it’s the kind of thing that would interest the Doctor. She has apparently been doing this for months, going around and looking into strange happenings because she wants to change her mind and take the Doctor up on his offer to travel with him. As she tells Wilf, she’s waiting for a man, and even in a non-romantic context it could have come across as annoying to have Donna build her entire life around the Doctor, no longer really caring about her life on Earth or trying to improve it in any way as she tries desperately to find a man who might possibly have never returned. Wisely, though, the episode emphasizes the ways in which Donna has become more focused and driven through her efforts to find the Doctor—she’s pursuing the Adipose issue with a great deal of resourcefulness and courage throughout the episode, even before she finds the Doctor. As a result, her efforts to track down the Doctor look more like a tale of Donna’s self-improvement than like a passive story of her waiting for the hero to sweep her away in his time machine, and that makes this element of the story work quite well.

The depiction of Donna’s financial status is a bit more complicated, and I have a little trouble figuring out exactly what the show’s intentions are in this regard. I do tend to get a bit annoyed when shows use a character’s poverty as a way of creating sympathy for them but then give them the resources of a much wealthier person, and the show comes close to that with Donna. Her approaches to things like travel and personal property have a casualness that suggests the possession of a small trust fund—I’ve lost car keys before, and I don’t buy anyone who’s had to worry about money being so nonchalant about leaving them in a public place, even if they were about to run off. She’s so convincingly frustrated with her life and disappointed with where it has led her, though, that the uneven depiction of what it’s like to be nearly broke doesn’t really do any harm. I have no idea what her actual financial state is, and I don’t get the impression that she’s in anywhere near as hopeless a state as Rose was, but Tate just does such a marvelous job of selling the character’s restlessness that the ambiguous depiction of her actual circumstances doesn’t wind up mattering.

There’s plenty of beautifully-done comedy here, including the scene in which the Doctor and Donna keep just missing each other as they move around the office, but the highlight of the episode is definitely their actual meeting. Their mimed conversation starts off funny, gets even funnier as Donna tries to go into a level of detail that perhaps exceeds the possibilities of gesture, and ends even funnier still, as Donna and the Doctor realize that they are being watched. It’s difficult to put into words just how hilarious Tate is in this scene; every time I watch it, her gesticulations somehow manage to get even funnier. The Doctor has had plenty of moments of physical humor, but it’s rare for companions to get this kind of material, and the whole scene is just sublime.

In spite of the comedic focus here, we get a fair amount of seriousness that works wonderfully well, including Donna’s very sweet conversation with Wilf early in the episode. After the main plot is resolved, we get several great scenes, including one which sees the Doctor actually admitting to the destructive impact that he had on Martha. After being irritatingly oblivious for most of the previous season, it’s nice to see that he’s spent the interim actually thinking about the effect that he has on other people. He’s absolutely right that what he needs is a “mate,” and Donna is just perfect for him. The brief appearance of Rose Tyler is also brilliantly done—I didn’t see it coming, and its understated tone really enhances its impact. The final moments, in which an exuberant Wilf sees Donna in the TARDIS, make for an endearing close to the episode, and a fantastic start to Donna’s adventures as a major companion. A/A-

The Fires of Pompeii: Any suggestion that Donna’s not serious enough to function as a full-time companion vanishes by the end of this episode, as her tearful plea for the Doctor to “just save someone” gives us arguably the strongest scene of Season Four. Tate is absolutely marvelous in this scene—clearly shaken by what’s happening, but still determined to get what she wants. The music is also wonderful here; the da-da da-da dahhh theme that’s often associated with the Tenth Doctor is easily one of the best musical sequences the show has ever done, and it’s rarely been used to better effect than in support of the Doctor’s outstretched hand toward the terrified Roman family. Looking at the season as a whole, I think it might be a bit early for this scene; it comes across as a climactic moment in Donna’s arc, and so it should perhaps be a bit later on. It’s such a gorgeous scene, though, that I’m just happy that it happens at all.

In general, this is one of the show’s most emotionally effective explorations of the dangers of messing with time, in large part because of Donna’s complicated reaction to the risks of interfering. She’s obviously distressed by the thought of thousands of people, including many children, perishing in the volcano’s eruption, but there is also a consistent sense here that the passivity of being a time traveler fundamentally bothers her. When the Doctor shuts down her initial plans for an evacuation by stating that the deaths on Pompeii are a fixed point in time, her reaction suggests that she’s not just unhappy about the lack of solution to the problem, but also about the Doctor’s refusal to listen to her. Donna is pretty clearly a person who has had to deal with a lot of people telling her to stop talking/complaining, and the idea that time travel entails a certain amount of shutting up and letting things happen strikes a clearly unpleasant chord with her to a greater extent than has occurred with previous companions.

I’m not quite sure of the position that the episode ultimately takes on the issue of interfering with time. Saving the family of four doesn’t seem to have any serious ramifications, and it’s easy enough to justify this by saying that this family was always supposed to escape from Pompeii, and that this wouldn’t have made it into historical records anyways and so doesn’t really contradict anything in the established timeline. This does raise questions about how much they could have done here; if it’s possible to save four people without wreaking havoc on history, could they have saved twenty? fifty? two hundred? So long as the volcano went off and destroyed the town, leaving a massive trail of deaths, the suggestion here seems to be that smaller departures from the “everybody dies” historical narrative are all right. The episode never really resolves these questions, but this leaves the conflict between the Doctor’s and Donna’s principles intriguingly open, so I think that the ambiguity works. This is also an interesting look at the nature of moral responsibility; we know that Pompeii has to be destroyed, but it still feels like a huge burden for the Doctor to have to be the technical cause. Donna placing her hand next to his so that he doesn’t have to be solely responsible is another stunningly beautiful moment, and solidifies just how good she and the Doctor are together.

Other than the dimension of interfering with time, the plot is all right but unspectacular. I found Lucius a little irritating, and the Priestesses (including a pre-Pond Karen Gillan!) are entertaining for a while but get pretty tiresome by the end of the episode. The Pyroviles have a cool name, but are utterly forgettable monsters. The Roman family are likeable enough, but the only thing that really stands out about them is seeing Peter Capaldi on the show in a role other than the Doctor. There’s some fun prophecy-related stuff (and the assertion that “she is returning” is another great piece of setup for Rose’s re-appearance later in the season) but for the most part, the plot only works especially well when we’re dealing with the Doctor’s and Donna’s feelings about the catastrophe that they can’t stop. Still, there are plenty of other good moments here, because the episode does a terrific job of blending a very serious story with lots of humor. I love Donna’s attempts to play with the TARDIS’s translation matrix by speaking actual Latin, which somehow comes out as Welsh; I’m pretty sure that if Donna had a Siri or something like that, she’d try to confuse it by asking it difficult questions. The “I’m Spartacus” “And so am I” line is a not the most original joke, but it really made me laugh.

I wouldn’t call this the best episode of the season, as it doesn’t have quite the imagination or the development of supporting characters that we see in later episodes like the Library two-parter and “Midnight.” I would probably say that this episode is my favorite, though; in spite of a few flaws, it’s got a huge heart and it shows just how perfect the Tenth Doctor and Donna are for each other. A/A-

Planet of the Ood: The planet itself isn’t very interesting—it’s cold, it’s snowy, and otherwise there’s not much to it. The Ood themselves, though, are among the most inventive monsters of the Davies era, and I really like the effort to take creatures who were mostly background players in “The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit” and make them central to this story. The human exploitation of these creatures, which was already unsettling in Season 2, is much more horrifying here, particularly in moments of dark, cruel humor like the demonstration of an Ood who has been programmed to imitate Homer Simpson.

While it deals with slavery, it’s not as politically focused as some other episodes of the show. The Doctor reminds Donna of the likelihood that her clothes have probably been made by exploited workers, but she calls it a cheap shot and they never really come back to the issue. It’s fine to treat the political ramifications of a storyline with subtlety, but this is perhaps a bit too brief a reference; the Ood are such unusual creatures that they make slavery look distant and exotic, and so it’s easy to disregard the idea that this isn’t actually that far away from what we can see in the world around us. The Doctor does acknowledge that he let the Ood die in “The Satan Pit,” but doesn’t acknowledge that, having had time for only one trip, he chose to save one human even though he probably could have saved multiple Ood. The Doctor and Donna are allowed to be the unequivocal heroes of the story, without really any question of their status as the perfect allies. This isn’t a narrative that is directly about race, and I don’t think that the Ood should be seen as the simple equivalent of any particular group of humans, but creating a story about slavery, having the Doctor and Donna be largely responsible for the ultimate liberation, minimizing references to their own complicity, and ending with a song of gratitude toward their heroism does resemble problematic white savior narratives in certain ways. As a result, the story doesn’t quite do what some Who scripts, particularly Malcolm Hulke’s in the Pertwee era, accomplished by making a monster plot hit close to home in a productive way.

Still, even if the complexities of exploitation get glossed over a bit, Donna’s reaction to the Ood is one of the highlights of the season. At the start of the episode, she is shocked by the frozen Ood’s appearance, but she quickly gets over her initial reaction and is furious with the way that they are treated. Her observation that the Ood would have to be trusting because they carry their brains in their hands is a nice depiction of her intelligence, but her reaction to the Ood’s song of captivity is just gorgeous. She is so palpably moved by it that we can see just how much her travels have already lifted her out of the apathy that she might once have felt, but she’s also still limited enough that she has to close herself off to the song. (The Doctor placing his hands on her hand to open her mind is a nice piece of foreshadowing for the season finale, too.) Her empathy and her refusal to accept mistreatment are very much on display here, but she’s not unrealistically perfect in her ability to deal with the suffering of others. The Doctor doesn’t register as much for me as Donna does here, but he is chased by a giant mechanical claw, which is fabulous.

When the episode shifts away from the Doctor and Donna reacting to the plight of the Ood, it sometimes gets a bit slow. I’m not really sure why, as I like many of the components of the plot. Solana is well-acted and I was fully expecting her to be redeemed eventually, so her refusal to join with the Doctor is a nice twist. Tim McInnerny is an actor that I’ve liked in many other things, and he does a decent job here of portraying the beleaguered executive who relies on the Ood’s exploitation for profit. It’s a solid story, but it for me it only lights up when the Doctor and Donna are on screen. Still, even if there are some problems with both the politics and the pacing of the story, it’s a tremendously moving depiction of Donna’s growing understanding of the universe. A-

The Sontaran Strategem: Well, it’s definitely better than Helen Raynor’s previous effort. There are some sizable flaws here, but there are enough great things in this episode to demonstrate that Raynor is a much more capable writer than last season’s Dalek mess would have suggested. Most importantly, after an entire season of being underwritten and underappreciated, Martha returns and finally lives up to her potential. Her first scene, in which the Doctor clearly expects there to be cattiness and jealousy between her and Donna but they immediately become friends, is especially lovely. (And it seems like specifically the kind of good scene you get when you actually bother to hire a woman once in a while; I think there’s a much greater likelihood that there would have been actual rivalry between them if this had been written by a man.) Almost immediately afterward, Martha strides off to take charge of things, and I’m just so pleased that she’s getting to make use of her scientific and medical skills in a place that seems to value her.

Other than Martha, UNIT is an absolute mess. I didn’t really mind this the first time I watched the episode, but after having watched the Third Doctor’s adventures with UNIT, it seems like an odd decision to take such an important part of the classic series and make it into something that is basically there to be laughed at. The individual members of UNIT don’t have much in the way of personality—we get Likes to Salute Guy, Swaggery Soldier Guy, and Less Swaggery Soldier Guy. Martha sort of starts to claim that the Doctor is underestimating them, but then she says that she’s trying to make them better from the inside, so even she doesn’t seem to think that they’re much good. UNIT’s status as an organization that does a lot of secret military work definitely puts it in a position to go awry, so I don’t have any problem with the idea that the organization might have taken on some unsavory characteristics in the post-Brigadier years. Everyone other than Martha just looks so brainless for most of the episode, though, that it just seems like UNIT’s stupidity is being used to make Martha, Donna, and the Doctor look good, and to give the latter two an opportunity to be snarky. The Doctor doesn’t look troubled by what the organization that was at the center of his life for a long time has become; he just looks like he wants to roll his eyes continuously for the entire time he is in contact with the soldiers. Donna is similarly dismissive of them, and in spite of Martha’s objections the episode just lets their disdain stand.

Luke Rattigan and his academy are similarly positioned to provoke humorous remarks from the Doctor. When the Doctor first arrives, he initially looks very excited about the science projects, and he even empathizes a bit with Luke’s status as the person cleverer than everyone else around him. If more of the episode had been like this, it could have been really interesting, but we quickly move on to Luke being a brat and the Doctor acting superior, at one point even correcting his grammar. The Doctor’s “I’m cleverer than you” side is much more tolerable in this season than it was in the previous ones because it is eventually going to have consequences in “Midnight,” but Tennant never really manages to figure out how to deliver dialogue like this in a way that isn’t massively annoying. The plot itself, featuring Luke’s collaboration with some underwhelming Sontarans, is pretty thin, and is about as interesting as the “technology is going to kill us all in the end!!” stories usually are. The opening scene, in which a sinister GPS system forces a woman to drive into a lake, is sort of creepy but also kind of reminds me of that episode of “The Office” in which Michael Scott drives into a lake because the GPS told him to and that kills it for me. I do like the idea that technology that reduces carbon emissions is potentially increasing gas usage and therefore contributing to environmental problems as much as it is combating them—I don’t know enough of the science to assess the plausibility of this claim, but it brings some nuance to the issue.

Donna’s interaction with Martha continues to be terrific throughout the episode, especially in a brief but very effective scene in which Martha warns Donna about the dangers of abandoning her family to run off with the Doctor. Donna gets a couple of other great moments, including an opportunity to put her temp skills to good use by noticing the lack of sick days in the personnel files. She also lets the Doctor go through an entire sad goodbye before he realizes that she’s just leaving for an afternoon, because if there’s a way for Donna to enjoy herself, she’s pretty much going to find it. Her visit home—the only one for her until the very end of the season—falls really flat for me, though. Having a dramatic montage of her memories of fantastic adventures as she walks around her neighborhood is a pretty ridiculous thing to do one-third of the way into the season, but even her interactions with her family are weirdly unsatisfying. Bernard Cribbins is splendid as Wilf, and his love for his granddaughter is incredibly sweet, but until his reappearance in “The End of Time” he tends to get the same material on repeat. In spite of Donna’s massive change in circumstances, their talk here just feels like the same conversation that they had in “Partners in Crime,” and while Wilf’s belief in Donna and investment in her happiness continues to be endearing, there’s just so little range to the character that I’m already getting bored with him.

Beyond the feeling that Wilf tends to get fairly repetitive material, this approach to Donna’s home life prevents her from having the kind of detailed, developed world that Rose got in the first two seasons. The Powell Estate seemed like a thoroughly thought-through setting in its own right, and Jackie, Pete, and, eventually, Mickey had compelling narratives of their own. Sylvia and Wilf’s house looks nice and comfortable but sort of nondescript; you could take that neighborhood and put it in any first-world country and it wouldn’t really look out of place. Other than the information that Wilf is sneaking off to the gas station to eat pork pies in defiance of the diet that Sylvia tries to impose, there’s nothing distinctive about the corner of Earth that Donna hails from, and that’s especially disappointing after the first season made it clear that Davies is capable of making ordinary settings look very distinctive indeed. I would have loved to see something of Donna’s role in her community that wasn’t her nice relationship with her grandfather and her strained relationship with her mother. I get that her life on Earth didn’t have a lot of highlights until the Doctor turned up—her determined efforts to locate the Doctor in “Partners in Crime” definitely seem to stem from a need to escape from a relentlessly dull life. There must have been something that she did for enjoyment, though, even if that enjoyment was ultimately unfulfilling, and it would be nice to get a glimpse of that at some point this season. Her fiancé mentioned in “The Runaway Bride” that she was constantly talking about gossip and reality TV; she clearly took on a new sense of purpose after that, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s abandoned all of her former interests. If the episode had let us see her yelling at a TV show, or going to the pub, or really doing anything other than having meaningful conversations with Wilf, that would give us a much fuller understanding of her life than what we see here.

While I like the cute scene at the end, in which the Doctor turns up on Donna’s doorstep and recognizes Wilf, the scene goes to a clichéd place really quickly. Wilf seems like a reasonably intelligent human for the most part, but he responds to the information that ATMOS involves some sort of poisonous gas by getting into his car and turning it on like an absolute idiot so that we can have a big cliffhanger. (Moving your car 20 feet probably isn’t going to do much, Wilf, gas can travel.) The cliffhanger on Martha’s side of the story is better, although the Sontaran is awfully nice about telling Martha exactly what the evil plan is. Still, the idea of a Martha clone is really intriguing and builds up a good sense of excitement for the second part. It’s not a brilliant episode, because it really doesn’t serve the Doctor, UNIT, Wilf, Sylvia, or Luke well at all, but Donna gets some good material, and it’s one of Martha’s best-ever episodes, so overall I’m reasonably pleased with it. B/B-

The Poison Sky: The beginning of this episode is very promising. I still think it was stupid of Wilf to start driving his car at the end of the previous episode, but Sylvia finally gets a nice moment when she breaks a window to get him out. The Doctor gives Donna a TARDIS key and tries to make a big deal out of it, but she refuses to sentimentalize the occasion because there’s work to do. Evil Martha Clone looks like she has the potential to be amazing, and on the whole we have a great setup for this episode.

What follows is…decent, but it doesn’t really live up to the opening. The Doctor is still speaking to UNIT like they’re especially stupid small children, and they’re not doing a lot to prove him wrong. They’re completely ineffectual against the Sontarans for much of the episode, and they don’t even seem to be trying to come up with a plan that actually takes account of their enemies’ abilities instead of just randomly charging at them. I still think that the Doctor yelling at the Colonel who just lost a bunch of soldiers under his command for referring to one of them by his code name instead of his actual name is obnoxious, though. Toward the very end, UNIT magically gets much smarter and the Doctor does seem to notice, but throwing in a good scene for UNIT ninety percent of the way through the story doesn’t really undo the irritation of what’s come before them. The Sontarans themselves are not especially formidable; the classic series managed to make them at least a little bit frightening on occasion, but the reboot has only ever really succeeded with Sontarans as comic relief.

The approach to Luke is also pretty off-putting, although I do like the redemptive moment he gets at the end of the episode. The script at one point makes clear that he’s mostly doing this out of revenge toward people who used to pick on him, and then he draws a gun on his pupils when they refuse to go along with his plan. There’s a pretty blatant school shooter comparison being made here, and that makes the range of attitudes toward him in the episode come across as a bit distasteful. He’s a decent presentation of toxic masculinity combined with brilliance, and there are some really intriguing moments in which the episode looks carefully at his sense of loneliness. At times, though, his pouting and whininess are exaggerated to a point that makes it look like the episode is asking us to laugh at him; there’s an occasional tone of “look at this computer nerd, lols,” and playing a situation like this for comedy just strikes me as weirdly tasteless.

I still like new and improved Martha, but this episode isn’t as good a showcase for her as the last one was. The Doctor was oblivious to her feelings for much of last season, and never really seemed to get to know her as well as he did many other companions, and I was hoping that we’d see the clone make use of this. He pretty clearly figures out that something is wrong a few minutes into the episode, though, when she hasn’t called her family, so there’s no suspense here. The Martha clone mostly just gets to walk around looking slightly menacing, press a few buttons, and then have a breakdown about how many hopes and dreams Actual Martha has.

Because the Doctor, UNIT, Luke, and the Sontarans are all questionable here, and even Martha is not as good as the previous episode, it’s really just Donna who is holding things together. The highlight of the episode is the very convincing portrayal of the fear that she feels as she sneaks onto the Sontaran ship alone. In spite of the constant danger, there isn’t often a great deal of attention to the companions’ fears, and Tate really sells just how alarming it is to be alone and responsible for the fate of the Earth. Both of her phone calls, to Wilf and to the Doctor, are really beautifully done, and her terror provides a nice bit of setup for her more pronounced fears in “Turn Left.”

I don’t completely get what happens at the end; I can pretty much buy that setting the air on fire might take care of poisonous gas, but it would be nice to have a little bit more of an explanation of how this works or why everything is fine after the whole atmosphere has been set on fire. The method of fixing the gas isn’t really the point, I guess, so the rather unsatisfying explanation doesn’t make a big difference. On the whole, it’s not a bad story. This two-parter is really only memorable for the good work that it does with Martha and Donna, but the storyline as a whole definitely has moments of interest, including a split-second Rose Tyler sighting on a TV screen. It works best when it’s generous toward its characters, but this is an unfortunate rarity in a storyline that seems determined to treat lots of people—Luke, UNIT, even Sylvia—as punchlines in order to build up the likeability of its central figures. In a season that had spent three episodes in a row practically overflowing with kindness, this doesn’t really feel in line with the tone of the season, but it remains a solid step up from Raynor’s efforts last season. B-

#doctor who #female doctor #russell t davies #tenth doctor #donna noble #david tennant #catherine tate #reviews

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