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patentdragonExpect spoilers...
Okay...?
Right, let's go.
Doctor Who 610 - The Girl Who Waited... Now, this is more like it. After last week's dose of "errrr, seen it all before", we come to one of those hallmarks of "New Who", namely a good meaty, character-driven piece of drama. True, it does rely on the old "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey", but not in such a way that it's going to lose the attention of the more casual viewer. For an arc-free episode, it doesn't get much better than this...
The idea of characters in different time-streams has been done before - remember
Blink - but rather than leave clues in DVD easter eggs, this story not only challenges those barriers, but bangs its head repeated against them until one or other has to yield. This tale requires that trickiest of things; a character meeting a future self, but rather than coming across as a brave effort, this succeeds beyond all expectations. But we're getting ahead of ourselves...
Separated from Rory and The Doctor, Amy Pond follows two paths - as a newly isolated victim of an alien quarantine system, and as the Amy who has spent decades waiting to be rescued. Karen Gillan plays both parts, helped by the best ageing makeup seen on the show to date, and she knocks it out of the park as "Survivor Amy", with more than half a life's bitterness built up inside. You hear her say things you'd never expect "our" Amy to say, and the venom comes across as so very genuine. Karen is not just a pretty face, delivering a performance more intense than any other we've seen in the new incarnation of this show.
Big respect is also due to Arthur Darvill, as Rory. This is where he casts off the "light relief" tag once and for all, confronted as he is by a most painful choice that leads him to glare angrily into The Doctor's eyes and spit "You're turning me into you". I'd always thought a married couple would make good companions, and last night, I was proved right.
This is an episode light on Doctor, and apparently arc-free, but you don't miss the big story. You're too caught up in the very human drama unfolding on the screen, a small story in terms of the universal scope of the show, but a very important episode - a story that had to be told to help the characters grow. Brilliant stuff.
My only criticism is as a result of this episode's placing in the season as a whole. We're getting closer and closer to the finale, and that fateful meeting with that astronaut, but there seems to be a lack of urgency in the whole arc - a bit like recent episodes of Torchwood - Miracle Day. We could be in for a bit of a rush come episodes 12 and 13...
The Final Verdict... Karen Gillan shines. The make-up beats all previous ageing attempts. The story makes the Doctor's companions face up to themselves, and him. Splendid stuff. Score: 8.5/10
Next week - is this a "monster of the week" episode, or is there something more? I'm guessing the latter!
Okay...?
Right, let's go.
Doctor Who 610 - The Girl Who Waited... Now, this is more like it. After last week's dose of "errrr, seen it all before", we come to one of those hallmarks of "New Who", namely a good meaty, character-driven piece of drama. True, it does rely on the old "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey", but not in such a way that it's going to lose the attention of the more casual viewer. For an arc-free episode, it doesn't get much better than this...
The idea of characters in different time-streams has been done before - remember
Blink - but rather than leave clues in DVD easter eggs, this story not only challenges those barriers, but bangs its head repeated against them until one or other has to yield. This tale requires that trickiest of things; a character meeting a future self, but rather than coming across as a brave effort, this succeeds beyond all expectations. But we're getting ahead of ourselves...
Separated from Rory and The Doctor, Amy Pond follows two paths - as a newly isolated victim of an alien quarantine system, and as the Amy who has spent decades waiting to be rescued. Karen Gillan plays both parts, helped by the best ageing makeup seen on the show to date, and she knocks it out of the park as "Survivor Amy", with more than half a life's bitterness built up inside. You hear her say things you'd never expect "our" Amy to say, and the venom comes across as so very genuine. Karen is not just a pretty face, delivering a performance more intense than any other we've seen in the new incarnation of this show.
Big respect is also due to Arthur Darvill, as Rory. This is where he casts off the "light relief" tag once and for all, confronted as he is by a most painful choice that leads him to glare angrily into The Doctor's eyes and spit "You're turning me into you". I'd always thought a married couple would make good companions, and last night, I was proved right.
This is an episode light on Doctor, and apparently arc-free, but you don't miss the big story. You're too caught up in the very human drama unfolding on the screen, a small story in terms of the universal scope of the show, but a very important episode - a story that had to be told to help the characters grow. Brilliant stuff.
My only criticism is as a result of this episode's placing in the season as a whole. We're getting closer and closer to the finale, and that fateful meeting with that astronaut, but there seems to be a lack of urgency in the whole arc - a bit like recent episodes of Torchwood - Miracle Day. We could be in for a bit of a rush come episodes 12 and 13...
The Final Verdict... Karen Gillan shines. The make-up beats all previous ageing attempts. The story makes the Doctor's companions face up to themselves, and him. Splendid stuff. Score: 8.5/10
Next week - is this a "monster of the week" episode, or is there something more? I'm guessing the latter!
