2 more episodes before the 2-part finale!
Synopsis: From ancient Syria to present day Sheffield, and out into the wilds of space, something is stalking the Doctor and infecting people’s nightmares.
Very intrigued by this one! Episodes involving dreams have a strong track record (see Amy's Choice, and SJA episode The Nightmare Man)
I hope the dream master is back!
Both are amazing!
The only bits I hate in Last Christmas are the bit where rhey have some man slobber over a turkey leg to make a point and Danta slurping his tea over and over.
oh no they’ve used the same location as Orphan 55, I’m having nightmarish flashbacks!!
The Doctor‘s reaction to Graham at the end is a big mood.
Loved the episode, a nice character piece for a change but still very atmospheric and spooky! Although the usual problem of the villains being defeated too quickly! Definitely seems to be paving the way for at least a Yaz/Ryan exit. This episode of course leads directly into next week but I’ve seen rumours that episode 8 also leads directly into the finale.
Not the Dregs actually being in this episode though, omg I howled !!
Overall though I thought that was fantastic!! Such an improvement on last week, however its only downfall was that it was literally resolved in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment...
Jodie in that scene with Graham at the end though was genuinely hilarious - that characterisation was perfect and we need more of that!!
It was great to see it touch on mental health too
Now that was the character development we wanted! I’m dead excited to get next week’s out of the way though so we can have the finale
That episode had some really great moments and was a refreshing change of pace, but I can't help thinking it could've been so much better! The concept of using fears of characters is always such a great idea for any series, but there were some issues here.
Namely, too quick of a defeat of the bad guys and one I didn't entirely understand either as it was wrapped up so quick I couldn't even follow (were their fears turned against them? Did they go back into the sphere? That part moved too fast). The God plot was a bit so-so for me, I don't think whoever the woman was was necessary as he had much more presence and was scary on his own (the fingers were a little phallic but anyway) and the King Kong/Alien hybrids seemed a bit superfluous as well. We did get a timeless child mention (yay arcs) but I really wanted to see more of the Doctor's fears, it was over so quick and could've given us an insight into her fears as she's been a closed book ever since Ruth.
But anyway, the good parts...was fantastic to finally see some development for the companions, they felt like real, fleshed out characters and the dream sequences were all extremely captivating if brief, the scene with the Doctor and the companions at the end was amusing but it was powerful as it did speak volumes of how distant she is and how little she can emphasise with them and its clearly starting to affect them, similar to Capaldi's incarnation and Clara. I hope this comes into play in the finale and has some major impact on the team as its an arc that's been built up well over the last few weeks. Had some gorgeous animation and production design throughout as well with a real creepy feel and no preachiness and a focus on mental health and humans overcoming barriers which was really great.
So while it wasn't perfect, it was still really good and I'd say this was the second best after the Judoon episode. My gosh this series has been all over the place quality wise, I hope next week's is a little less filler-y than it seems.
Definitely an improvement this week and it definitely feels like we're gearing up to Yaz and Ryan leaving after this series. As others have pointed out, my main qualm was that it was resolved too quickly, but I appreciated the episode as a whole and particularly after how awful last week's episode was!
Apart from that literally 30 second resolution I thought that was pretty good! Some really interesting ideas, even if they weren’t dealt with too amazingly. Could imagine this being a really good 2 parter tbh. The character development was FINALLy really nice to see, but it didn’t feel a bit disjointed and tacked on, appreciated none the less though.
Sp basically, this episode answered why the Doctor takes these random people with her: loneliness and someone to talk to/ impress? It even tackled the fact that she is very distant from them.
I liked the scene because it shows that she is NOT connected to the companions. She just has three random people for company only. They're not friends.
I think the scene was true to the character though. Graham obviously chose her as she’s the ‘leader’, older figure and so thought he could relate with her but actually the Doctor isn’t good in those moments when there’s no threat that means she has to quickly inspire someone to move/take action. It’s the same Doctor that was completely oblivious to Martha’s crush, Amy/Rory’s relationship and Clara’s feeling of invincibility post-Danny’s death. Another example is S10 where his blindness for turning Missy into a good person puts Bill in danger, and he ignores her concerns.
Despite spending all her time with humans and despite all her inspirational speeches, she’s not actually good in those more personable moments. She’s excellent when there’s danger or a threat but, if you remove that, she really falters!
tbh it seems that it was used to possibly also foreshadow Graham’s exit. I think the Doctor’s behaviour is to kind of re-emphasise to the companions that the Doctor possibly isn’t as close to them as they may have thought and reinforces that alien nature that they possibly haven’t fully felt.
I definitely think all three of them will be gone come the end of the special (whenever that airs). As much as it'll feel like wasted development and that we were just starting to see a flicker of how excellent they could be (well, Yaz anyway), changing things up and hopefully reverting back to a smaller TARDIS team of the Doctor and one other is for the best.
Indeed, this series has done much better in showing that there is a definite rift between The Doctor and her companions and that scene emphasised it the best. I'm really interested to see what part it plays in the final, at least one of them surely will leave.
I thought it was a really good episode! Agree that the resolution was way too fast but otherwise I thought there were some brilliant ideas that were well executed. The companions felt VERY well utilised and I really liked the Graham scene at the end - it didn't feel comedic at all to me, it actually felt very relatable. Sometimes it's difficult to know what to say in the moment, so it's best and more considerate to be honest and say nothing.
I quite liked the episode but I still feel that the number of companions let's the show down. It was good that we got some development for them but it would have been even better if the development didn't have to be split 3 ways - plus have yet even more characters added into the tardis mix yet again!
Also - has anyone noticed this year that Jodie seems to be regularly using the sonic screwdriver and then concluding there is no trace of anything?
Powered by Invision Power Board
© Invision Power Services