Another good Doctor Who! Yes, the intricacies of the ‘mystery’ of the episode weren’t actually explained… but do they have to be? The emotional beats hit and the first twenty minutes were a great blend of folk horror that we haven’t seen since Torchwood, so I’m ok about them not giving us a big explanation about time loops and what exactly caused the whole episode to take place and such. Brave to have a Doctor-lite episode so early in the series as well, (probably cause of Sex Education commitments) and Millie Gibson absolutely smashed it, proving she has the chops to compete with previous companions. The more I think about it, the fact I thought the first two episodes were a bit rubbish actually tracks with other Davies series, New Earth and Tooth And Claw aren’t brilliant (camp and fun though) and Smith and Jones and The Shakespeare Code aren’t the best episodes either. I’m just glad that the quality’s jumped up this soon!
Great Doctor Who this week. Really quite dark actually, despite the bubblegum aesthetic.
Lindy Pepper-Bean is truly despicable in a way that feels realistic. You feel for her because she’s literally in a bubble and doesn’t understand how to do basic things, but shows a very human attitude when she screws over Ricky September and leaves him to die. And then when you realise that the entire colony is white rich kids who literally have blue blood, it makes sense that they refuse the Doctor’s help since he’s black. It’s good that they’ve given Ncuti this moment, the racism within the fandom and the wider country has been dreadful and all he wants to do is deliver good Doctor Who. It’s like The Doctor just wanting to save those people but they’d rather die than accept help because he ‘doesn’t fit Finetime values’. Great episode, but maybe another slightly experimental episode where we could definitely do with just a traditional ‘fly the TARDIS, land in time period and fight monster’ week. Thankfully next week is the Regency episode!
@nessisonettFor me, this is a great episode in terms of how it illustrates how you can explore socially relevant themes without being obnoxious about it. So much progressive media wants to tackle subjects like racism, bigotry, etc. but does so in a didactic way that ends up being miserable to watch (certain Whittaker era episodes come to mind).
This ENTIRE episode is about bigotry, but is written in such a way that it shows the problem instead of telling you what it is and how to feel about it. A brilliant way of getting white viewers, especially, into a headspace that allows them to experience some inkling of the frustration and anger that must go along with being considered less of a person because of your skin color. Looking back, the episode is chock full of racist micro-aggressions, but, not having the life experience to interpret them for what they were, I wrote them off as products of an out-of-touch influencer-esque cultural bubble. I'd LOVE to know if non-white audiences pick up on what's going on there more quickly in general. The way this is written is really, really good.
And the acting is pretty solid. Ncuti's anguish at the end is communicated so effectively and believably. IMO he hasn't had much occasion so far to show off his acting chops this season, but he did an AMAZING job throughout. And yeah, Lindy's actress did a great job giving us a believable and nuanced portrayal, of, yes, a genuinely terrible person.
I also adore when shows are willing to put us in the headspace of terrible people without excusing them, but also without stereotyping them. It's fantastic writing. Most shows wouldn't have the nerve to go this route.
Tightly written. Great premise. Solid acting. Explicitly sci-fi with a horror element to it (when it first started, I remarked that it all felt a bit Black Mirror-ish to me). This is the sort of peak Doctor Who I've missed for years. The season has been very mixed for me (that one with the babies was almost unwatchable at times), but the last few episodes have been extremely solid and thought-provoking story-telling.
I almost never rewatch old TV show episodes, but I'm absolutely going to with this one.
@Ralizah Yep, I was the same in that I felt incredibly deflated after the first two episodes of the season. But these last three weeks have been terrific, properly back to its best. I definitely would like some classic Who scenarios though, let us see them in the TARDIS more often!
@nessisonett Ncuti is fabulous, but I couldn't survive an entire season of discount Baby Geniuses getting picked off by snot monsters and drag queen Bette Midler stealing music LOL. These last three episodes feel like they're from a different (and much better) show! The sort of adult writing and fascinating premises that made me fall in love with Nu Who in the first place.
@Ralizah I feel like I’m personally doing something wrong for not enjoying The Devil’s Chord, people seem to have loved it and I want to like it, but it was rubbish. Space Babies though… yeah nobody’s defending that.
Anyone try Star Wars: The Acolyte yet? The promos have looked good but I haven’t had the time. I might give it a go this weekend, but I’m far behind on the other Star Wars shows and don’t know if this is related narratively to any other shows.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I watched the two first episodes the other day. They are set in The High Republic era, so there should be very limited connective tissue to other series (I'm also a bit behind).
That being said, I'm undecided on this. The two episodes weren't really bad, but they were a bit wonky and I can't say I properly liked them either. I will continue to watch, but for how long remains uncertain
@FuriousMachine Thanks for the early impressions. I was hoping for something along the quality of Andor, but I guess we’ll have to see. I might wait until a few episodes stack up so I can binge them if things pick up and improve in the later episodes.
Somehow, after years of Star Wars fandom, I can’t be bothered to watch all these shows 😅. I’ve not watched Boba Fett, season 3 of Mandalorian, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, all the mountains of animated shows… it’s a lot. But it is good to hear that this new series appears to be an independent jumping in point.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I've actually watched all of the live action shows except Andor, which is only due to the timing of its release and me being thoroughly burnt out on SW at the time. And then time passes and I never got around to it, but I understand that it is one of the best of the live action series, so it is high on my list (plan to get it done in time for S2 coming out).
Saw Rebels, but I'm stuck at the beginning of S3 of Clone Wars and didn't catch The Bad Batch either.
Boba Fett was "meh" until it morphed into season 2.5 of the Mandalorian; felt it got better there. S3 of Mando was fine as well, and I enjoyed Ahsoka, mainly due to seeing so many of the Rebels characters in live action format (as well as Rosario Dawson... I'll watch pretty much anything with her... same with Ming-Na Wen in Boba Fett/Mando). Obi-Wan was... well, I didn't hate it like others did (the girl who played young Leia was awesome), but it wasn't very good either.
The missus and I just finished Dark, which was phenomenal. We watched season 1 back when it originally released back in 2017. I remember us liking it but by the time season 2 released we watched episode 1 and was just so lost we jacked it in.
Real glad we returned to it once it was complete though and started over from season 1 again. Probably the darkest and most complicated time-travel story I’ve ever seen and possibly/probably the best. Fantastic show.
Possibly the best Doctor Who of the series so far! I’ve loved the experimental nature of the last few weeks but this was a classic nu-Who episode and it’s all the better for it. Jonathan Groff was exactly as fun as I thought he’d be, even if they could have easily made this an extra 20 minutes to make his arc with the Doctor slightly more fleshed out.
The Doctor kissing a man isn’t even anything new technically, with Captain Jack planting one on him, but this one definitely meant more as a genuine kiss rather than being written off jokingly. Eight being my favourite (thanks to Big Finish) means I do love the romantic adventurer Doctor archetype and Ncuti absolutely nails that aspect of the Doctor’s character in this episode. Also, what the f**k, Richard E Grant being canonised? The real question is if it’s the Scream of the Shalka or Curse of Fatal Death version!
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