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Tag: Missy

The Doctor Stands

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Review of The Doctor Falls
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

The fact that I came out of this episode without a bad taste in my mouth pretty much makes it the best Moffat finale ever, as far as I’m concerned. Not to say that it was an over-the-top awesome episode—it was very good, though not great—but it didn’t have the characteristic “tripped at the finish line” feeling I usually get from a Moffat two-part finale.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2017 BBC

Coming off last week’s gut-punch, I was truly worried about how Bill’s story would be resolved. I honestly expected either full-on tragedy (as implied by the end of World Enough and Time) or something out of left field that left me squinting in puzzlement at the screen.

Frankly, I found a combination thereof most likely, e.g., a Frankenstein’s monster replacement body in the same style that Nardole seems to have accumulated parts over his adventures (h/t to Verity! podcast for that thought). You can imagine my unease, then, when the first character we follow in the pre-credits sequence is a young Black girl; my first, disturbing thought was that she would end up providing the body that Bill’s mind would eventually occupy. I cannot fully express my relief that such was not the case.

Given how focused I initially was on Bill, it’s a testament to the execution of this plot that I didn’t feel that everything else—and there was so much else!—was a mere distraction. With five main cast members, there was a lot to cover to keep them all relevant, and damned if Moffat didn’t manage it.

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Science Enough and Horror

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Review of World Enough and Time
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

I have got to learn to stop watching the “Next Time” trailers.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2017 BBC

I don’t know who is in charge of deciding what parts of any given episode get put into those trailers, but they come across as if the party responsible has become drunk with power. “Look at all the cool shit that happens this time ’round,” I imagine this person crowing. “Put a little of THAT in there, and watch them come running!”

The trouble is, all that cool shit is the stuff that brings tension to the story—specifically, not knowing that it’s coming is the source of tension. So despite having had publicity about both appearances well before the series started, reminding us in that trailer that we had yet to see either the promised Mondasian Cybermen or Simm Master really ruined the mystery of the episode.

That said, there was a different, truly horrifying sense of tension if one remembered even only the former was involved. And, to be fair, the script telegraphed it pretty hard for anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Cybermen of any era. (I’ll be interested to see what my daughters make of it, when they see it. I refuse to subject them to this without its conclusion at the ready, though.)

For those with a deeper familiarity, other things stand out. All series long we’ve seen parallels to old episodes. This time, I was strongly reminded of Earthshock—not for the plot, but for the fact that the Cybermen are indirectly responsible for the death of someone close to the Doctor (of course, this time the death is a bit more drawn out…). Given that the Fifth Doctor rather glossed over that death, it will be interesting to see how he copes with this one.

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Something Familiar

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Review of The Witch’s Familiar
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

Well, it wasn’t godawful.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2015 BBC

In fact, it may well be the best second half of a Moffat two-parter I’ve yet seen (though the bar isn’t set very high, in my opinion). That’s not to say it was anywhere near flawless, but I did find plenty to enjoy.

The episode begins by resolving the we-didn’t-believe-it-anyway deaths of Missy and Clara and giving an actual explanation for the method of their escape (and Missy’s in Death in Heaven). It struck me as odd that Missy would need Clara to suss out why the Doctor always survives. Does Missy already know the answer or not? If she does, why walk Clara through it just to ask the follow-up question (“What happens if the Doctor assumes he’s going to die?”)? The only reason to do so is to bring the audience along (which is not good storytelling).

If Missy doesn’t know why the Doctor survives, then she was dead wrong when she told Clara “you’re the dog” in the relationship. Despite knowing him for millennia, Missy still needs a human who’s only traveled with him recently, on and off for a couple of years, to figure out the Doctor for her? Neither of those interpretations makes much sense, and the scene thus left me vaguely dissatisfied.

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Same Old Tricks

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Review of The Magician’s Apprentice
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

I think most fans can agree by now that, like him or not, Moffat has a pretty distinctive style. When you go into a Moffat episode, you have certain expectations. No one should be surprised, then, to discover that in the Series Nine opener, he’s up to his same old tricks.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2015 BBC

The first, and perhaps most notable, of these tricks is giving us an (at least mostly) enjoyable Part One in a two-part story. Moffat excels at set-up, giving rich scenes and hints at things to come that get our fannish hearts pumping with that lifeblood of our breed, speculation. Time will tell how it all pans out, but experience suggests that the conclusion of the tale is unlikely to live up to the promise of its beginnings.

One thing we know Moffat can do well, though, is creating creepy “monsters” (at least the first time he uses them). The opening scene on the unknown battlefield provides that in spades with the “hand mines,” even though I’m still trying to decide whether I think they’re more or less frightening after finally seeing one tripped. The mix of this advanced weaponry with more archaic kinds (biplanes, bow and arrow) gives us—in retrospect—visual clues to go with the spoken ones about which war it is (especially for those viewers familiar with Tom Baker’s run). Yet, it’s still a bombshell when the boy’s identity is revealed and the opening credits roll.

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Fandom in Purgatory

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Review of Death in Heaven
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

I’m always wary going into a Moffat finale. His tendency toward emotional manipulation and complex story arcs concluded without full closure generally grate on me. Death in Heaven delivered as expected, with plot holes and saccharine scenes galore, and though it had enough enjoyable content to keep me from hating it entirely, I’m not in a rush to watch it again.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2014 BBC

Having resolved one of the major questions of the series at the end of last week’s episode (“who is Missy?”), the story’s focus shifted to ferreting out her Master plan (sorry; couldn’t help myself). I have to admit, it turns out less rubbish than her track record would suggest, but I have problems with the whole “Cyber-pollen” thing on several levels.

To begin, since when has “every tiny particle of a Cyberman contain[ed] the plans to make another Cyberman”? (I believe, Mr. Moffat, you’re thinking of Borg nanoprobes…) Now granted, the idea that they can now assimilate convert dead bodies into new Cybermen is super creepy—kudos on that one—but I’m still scratching my head over some of the logistics.

I mean, we’re told every dead person around the world is undergoing Cyber-conversion, but we’ve also heard that cremation is “pretty much the default these days,” at least in the UK. [Content advisory: if you found Cyber-conversion of the dead personally troubling for any reason, you may want to skip the next four paragraphs.] At what point is there not enough identifiably once-sentient organic matter left? If, for example, someone was cremated and then their ashes scattered, would the Cyberpollen still activate any of that material? Would each speck become another Cyberman, or would the pollen somehow “know” only to activate a single Cyberman per former individual?

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Masterpiece

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Review of Dark Water
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

I’ll say this much for Dark Water: it’s certainly getting a reaction from fandom.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2014 BBC

Although the story itself had a fair number of twists, I think it’s fair to say that the main thrust of the first part of the Series Eight finale was giving the audience an answer to the most obvious question posed by the series arc: who is Missy?

In addition to the boring way Missy conforms to Moffat’s archetype of one-note “bad gals,” her character has not interested me until now. I’ve become so jaded by Moffat’s convoluted (and often unsatisfactorily resolved) plot arcs, that I’ve stopped even trying to figure out what he’s up to. Missy’s identity was the only puzzle I felt up to taking a stab at, and I have to say I’m pleased that what seemed to me the most likely possibility turned out to be it.

But that reveal… Well, I’ll get to the reveal later. Let’s back up and look at the storyline.

Given the melodramatic feel of the first ten minutes, I can’t help but wonder if poor Danny was added to the cast this year just to provide the setup for this episode. I suppose I should’ve seen it coming, what with all the deaths leading to Missy’s realm all series. Regardless, I have no expectation that he’ll remain completely and irretrievably deceased, given Moffat’s inability to kill anyone, or let anyone suffer real, character-developing consequences.

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