 |
| Meet the new boss... |
"Well, I am that mysterious
adventurer in all of time and space known only as Doctor Who. These are my
disposables, Exposition and… Comic Relief."
This review will contain
spoilers
We open with the Doctor apparently about to regenerate on a plain of
ice, and having a bit of a 'Ten moment' about it.
Sometime before, on a spaceship caught on the edge of a black hole's
event horizon, the Doctor tasks Missy with leading a rescue mission.
Unfortunately, it is a mission that will prove costly indeed for Bill. Torn
from her friends by the tides of time, she faces a fate worse than death. The
Doctor's attempts to save her may bring him nothing but heartache, and bring
Missy literally face to face with her past crimes.
The Good
Two-parter!
Lots of fun business and genuine feels with the time differential.
The Master's disguised role, Razor, was genuinely hilarious, if
slightly reminiscent of Babylon 5's family
Zathras.
The build-up was, thanks to that two-parter, properly creepy. It's easy
to forget how fucking eerie those cloth-faced bastards are with all the tin
suit, air grabbing, 'excellent' saying silliness that has followed.
Bill's cyber conversion was easy enough to see coming, but the fact
that they went through with it still had some punch to it. Also, I liked the
nod to classic Man in the Iron Mask/El Santo teardrop design.
The Bad
Once again, we're echoing audio adventures here, especially the
heartbreaking 'Spare Parts', with CyberBill very reminiscent of ... You know what, I'm clipping this bit out. Spoilers.(1) This is especially true of the aesthetic of
the sunless city, which is kind of left field for a spaceship.
The Ugly
Oh, I am so torn right now. On the one hand, I don't want to see another
Companion death played for effect and then reversed. On the other, if the gay
companion is permanently cyberconverted, that would also suck. Especially with
the oh-so wondrous Clara allowed to roam time and space regardless of being a
potentially apocalyptic paradox.
Theorising
I strongly suspect that Missy is either playing a long game with her
past self, or else will have a last minute change of heart leading either to
her death and regeneration into a less reformed incarnation, or to some sort of
revocation of the past thousand years of her existence. I guess we’ll have some
sort of explanation of PastMaster's appearance, since his timeline is pretty
locked down. Actually... While Missy's lack of memory of events could be due to
the same effect referenced in 'Day of the Doctor', it's also possible that this
isn't the real Master at all. Mister Razor is an anagram of Master or iz... R.
Okay, that might need some work.
In terms of the Doctor, I wonder if he's not going to do something
messianic with his regeneration in order to avert the catastrophe that led to
the Mondasian colonists undergoing cyber-conversion in the first place. That
would be a shame; he's been agreeably non-messianic so far in this
regeneration.
Top Quotes
Razor: Do you want the good tea
or the bad tea?
Bill: What’s the difference?
Razor: I call one “good” and the
other “bad.”
Bill: ...I’ll take the good one.
Razor: Excellent. A positive attitude
will help with the horror to come!
Bill: What horror?!
Razor: Mainly the tea.
Verdict
Right now, this is a red letter episode. Sadly, in the nature of
two-parters - and as was show with the 'Heaven Sent'/'Hell Bent' finale - there
is every chance that the follow up with so egregiously cock up that this part
looks duff by association. Right now, however, we have a very strong set up for
Capaldi's last hurrah, so in the words of Ru Paul(2), 'don't fuck it up.'
Please.
9/10
(1) The main problem with this comparison being that the harsh emotional punch of
'Spare Parts' is going to be hard to match. You can check it out for
about £3 if you doubt me (price accurate as of 26/06/17.)
(2) My partner has been mainlining Drag
Race lately.
No comments:
Post a Comment