I forgot to say something about last week’s.
In some ways it felt like it should have been a two-parter. There was a lot going on in there. But I’m glad it wasn’t because otherwise I’d be complaining that the cool ideas (the final collapse of capitalism!) would have been overshadowed by yet another scary space suit monster.
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The who’s-in-the-vault quasi reveal was so anti-climatic that I figure it has to be a misdirection.
The cats expecting the Rani or Sutekh or the Myrkka were setting themselves up for disappointment. But I figured they wouldn’t spend four episodes beating around the bush only to put the most obvious character in there.
A joke about The Matrix and the Deadly Assassin surely landed on a cutting room floor somewhere.
The Monks are gaslighting fascist false-saviour villians in an unsubtly liberal season, which makes it all the more bewildering and frustrating that an episode featured an extended period of some of the same tactics in The Doctor fucking with Bill’s beliefs for the sake of trust. Like, the writing has always been a rollercoaster of effectiveness, and Smile + Deep Breath both dropped the ball right at the end, but this trilogy clunker is just astonishingly wasteful- Extremis wasn’t ever connected to the other two and The Pyramid at the End of the World was horrendously contrived.
The new showrunner was behind this one, right? We’re doomed.
Nah, Toby Whithouse (Being Human) wrote it. Chris Chibnall (Broadchurch , “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”) is the new showrunner.
So, still doomed I’m afraid.
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship had a cool supporting character but also had the Doctor spelling out when he’s cool with killing.
Season 1 of Broadchurch was alright. 2 kind of undermined the first by providing ulterior motives for a major character’s actions just for the sake of a shaking things up and justifying a second season.
I’d have liked the dinosaur one a whole lot better if the bad guy hadn’t threatened to rape Nefertiti.
I mean, seriously.
Yow! I forgot about that.
Aw man tonight’s episode is a Mark Gatiss-written one, so my expectations are pretty low. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Ok probably not.
Btw I have to admit I like Matt Lucas’s character and feel bad now for thinking he’d be terrible.
Yeah, Little Britian guy is alright. Glad they got over the Doctor being a jerk to him. Hoping the Moffatt-era asshole Doctor thing doesn’t get carried over by the new writer.
Just caught up on the last two episodes. The Ice Warriors one was alright, but that Roman/Pict one was pretty bad. There was a bunch of character beats that were super forced. The monster was barely developed. There was some fun dialog about Roman sexuality but everything else kind of sucked.
Between that and the monk three-parter, this season isn’t very good, eh?
Bummer since it started strong.
Again, I can’t wait until the next regeneration.
Basically a good take down of everything Moffat. But the Dr Who part is in the front and not the back half…
I agree with his take on Moffat reframing everything around the Doctor, but House MD was totally not a good show!
the next doctor should be played by Dwayne The Rock Johnson, and I have at least eight bullet points I can use to make you agree with me
If they absolutely have to cast a dude (and they don’t), it should be Idris Elba.
I’ve been saying that for like almost a decade though.
Of the rumored front runners I’d be ok with Sacha Dhawan I guess.
you know i realized recently that ive fallen off Who despite previously being a huge fan and this does a good job of articulating why. I got into it via the new series and i was pretty into (or at least tolerant of) Moffat’s Moffatisms – in fact, when i got to the start of 11th i was excited because of how much i loved Blink, Empty Child, etc.
And there is some genuinely good stuff in the Grand Moff era. But i got sick of him reusing the same tricks that this video points out, and watching the old series made me realize how much i preferred a version of the Doctor who wasn’t spelled out as mythical and powerful and brilliant so much. Like, i can see how that was fresh and interesting for awhile when the new series came out, but using it as lazy shorthand too often cheapened it.
Tbf i think the Capaldi years dialed it back a bit (i don’t mind bits like “where’d he get the tea?” – it comes off like the show riffing on itself) so my current disinterest might have been exacerbated by the hiatus-- but Capaldi is so good and the next show runner is so uninspiring and i just can’t gin up excitement for the show’s future.
For the record i have no expectation whatsoever that the next Doc will be anyone other than another white dude 
though I’d be thrilled to be proven wrong, of course
Cartmell Masterplan Bill into the Doctor.
Welp, another season gone and as usual, a very promising initial run of episodes gave way to mid-season doldrums and then a bafflingly traumatic finale. Every season of Capaldi’s tenure has followed this template, which is really too bad given the actor’s talent. He deserved better. And despite the agency Bill had early on, it was disheartening to see her treatment in the last couple of episodes. (The missus was even more pissed off about this than me and threatened to punch Moffat if she ever sees him:))
Oh well, I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for multi-Doctor stories so there’s that to look forward to at least.