Another week, another Doctor Who! Shall we?
1. Doctor Who Needs Him?
You know what’s always pretty great? In the years for which Doctor Who has been on air, we do not get enough episodes in which the Doctor is largely background noise. When we do, though, it’s always some of the best; just look at “Blink.” Granted, this aspect only really lasts for about half of the episode, but it is never the less a reminder of how welcome this change of pace can be. The Whoniverse is so vast, there is so much that can be done with it, that sometimes its best to put the Doctor in the back seat and let other characters take charge for a little while. If the opening thirty of this episode don’t prove that to you, then I don’t know what will.
2. Dianna Rigg!!
I don’t watch the “NEXT TIME” previews to see what’s coming, so Emma Peel showing up as the villain was a nice surprise.
I don’t have too much to say on that, though. Honestly, I just like seeing Dianna Rigg on my television. She’s incredibly talented. Seriously — watch the opening scenes with her, and watch the last few. TOTALLY different performances in both, totally great as a villain.
3. Vastra Investigations
Introduced in the Christmas Special of this season, Vastra, Jenny and Strax’s return is definitely the best part of this episode, bar none. They were great in “The Snowmen” and they’re equally great here. All three characters are so varied in how they’re portrayed — the bumbling and comical Strax, the headstrong and kick-ass Jenny, the calm and intelligent Vastra — that bringing all three out at once creates a wonderful rhythm for the episode to fall into. In fact, as mentioned in the first bit of this five thought segment, if we got an episode of just them I wouldn’t complaint. Or a spin-off. I’d accept a spin-off.
4. Welcome Back, Mark Gatiss
Gatiss’ first episode of this half-season, set in a sub during the Cold War, was a bit underwhelming in my opinion. Gatiss a smart writer and a very clever one at that, but that episode was about as subtle as a brick and just about as entertaining as well. Ok, well, it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t up to what I’d expect from Gatiss.
This episode was a lot better, though. There was a better dynamic, better dialogue, better use of a large cast. Each character felt like they were being developed in a much better way, to the extent that the varied types of characters we’re given don’t seem like we’re given one larger character split between five. No, here everyone has a purpose, everyone has a voice and it all comes together pretty nicely within the hour.
Plus, that little old-timey segment was incredibly well put together.
That said? It still fell apart in the end. It seemed like Gatiss wrote himself into a corner and didn’t know what to do, so he pushed himself over a ledge — figuratively and literally. And then it went splat.
5. But what’s the point of having a Companion?
When Amy Pond was the Doctor’s companion, you never had an episode that didn’t have her coming in to save the Doctor’s butt in one way or another. In this way, the show became more about Pond than the Doctor, which was an interesting dynamic to establish. Some liked this more than others, sure, but it was definitely a strong change of pace for the show.
However, with Clara, there seems to be this weird thing with the episodes where some use her really well (“Rings”) and others don’t seem to grasp what the point of having a companion is, like this one. In fact, Clara seems more of an object or a distraction to the Doctor than anything else, not truly offering up a strong female character to assist the Doctor in his travels but rather instead existing as something for him to follow after to rescue. Clara has no grand point in this episode beyond that she’s pretty (no, seriously — it’s a plot element), and it seems like a gross misuse of a clearly capable actress.
Sure, a large part of that was to give the kick-ass female role to Jenny and Vastra, but still.
