When you have to pick the man of your dreams and the love of your life, who do you pick? And when your life is made up of a dream, how do you know what’s real and what isn’t?
These are the questions posed by the latest Doctor Who episode. While traveling in the TARDIS, the crew is taken captive by the Dream Lord (played by Toby Jones). Trapping the crew in between two different realities, he challenges them to decide which reality is real and which is fake – and which one they will stay in. Is it the one where Amy and Rory are happily married and living in a quiet and peaceful time? Or do they stay in the reality where the TARDIS slowly floats into a star, which “feels more real?”
Find out what I pick after the cut.
I won’t beat around the bush here: since the preview from last week, I’ve been anticipating the crap out of this episode. The premise seemed amazing, and Toby freaking Jones, people!* The entire idea of a Dream Lord manipulating the crew of the TARDIS just sounded great – and it was. It would appear that for the most part this season, I give thumbs up to the episodes Moffat writes and then snub the ones he doesn’t. Well, Simon Nye, congrats – you’re the first to pass the test in this new reign of Doctor Who.
So why was it good? Well, this was the first episode of non-Moffat written Doctor Who to have an engaging plot that was enduring to follow. Where Daleks and Vampires failed, the Dream Master and his army of the elderly succeed. It seemed fairly obvious to the viewer which reality was real and which was a dream, but the show managed to keep enough unreal that we could still be guessing up until the end. The Dream Master was also a great “new” villain who referred to himself as a very “old” foe, and the Doctor’s refusal to explain who he was added a whole new level of excitement to me, the viewer, because I spent the majority of the episode trying to figure it out (and ultimately, I was wrong). So we have three threats, and all feel perfect to that Doctor Who style we’ve all grown to know and love.
And that’s another thing – the elderly. One of the realities is inhabited by a large group of elderly people, all of whom are more deadly then they initially let on. As it turns out, they’re actually aliens hiding in the bodies of the elderly, using the bodies as suits to hide in and be ignored. I can’t lie and say I didn’t laugh at the show when the old people turned out to be the villains. But the thing about Doctor Who that I mention every episode is that they take untraditional villains and figure out ways to make it work. This is definitely one of those cases. As oddly hilarious and hilariously odd as it is to have the Doctor running from a group of old people, it never feels too incredibly out of the norm that I can’t get into it. The elderly villains make up for a seemingly creepy foe, and definitely more threatening ultimately than a star floating in space.
Let’s take a minute to praise Toby Jones, shall we? A good villain has to be an endearing character that you almost would want to root for, not in a sense that you want him to win but in that you want to see him more. You want to see what he has planned next for your favorite characters. Toby Jones was a great example of this. He was creepy, he was funny, and he was that right kind of sinister that made me wish he was in the episode much more. Whether he was appearing in the back of the Doctor’s car in a space suit or simply dressing up as the Doctor and taunting everyone, Toby Jones was the best part of the episode. And that should go without saying! I mean, he’s Toby freaking Jones!* And the nice thing about the episode is it leaves JUST enough room for him to come back as Toby Jones in a future episode to continue his torment – even after we see his true form.
Continued belowAll in all, this episode is a good example of what I like about Doctor Who. We have a fair mix of comedy and sassy dialogue (“If we’re gonna die, let’s die looking like a Peruvian flute band!”), an unrealistic threat becoming fairly realistic, and a good cast and crew performing the story. Matt Smith continues to be a great Doctor, and while this episode does generally downplay the crazy Smith for the one who could be the hero and save the day, which is new. There’s also a great scene in this episode where Amy finally begins to doubt the Doctor and his infallible nature (“If you can’t save everyone, then what good are you?”), which helps to turn the tide of the show a bit from Amy’s fawning over the Doctor on a regular basis to gaining a sense of normalcy to her life.
I’ve said that this season of the Doctor is a bit wishy washy when it comes to quality. Some episodes are flat out amazing, and others sizzle and fail. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground, and this episode reinforces that. Chalk this one up to one of the great episodes of this season.
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*If you, for whatever reason, don’t know who Toby Jones is, then please start here and then work your way through here.
