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| Poster (c) Stuart Manning |
This review will contain some spoilers.
The Doctor has come home, the long way around.
Someone will answer for his ordeal.
Someone will suffer.
It's probably us.
The Doctor has come home, the long way around.
Someone will answer for his ordeal.
Someone will suffer.
It's probably us.
The Good
- The first ten minutes, with the Doctor in the barn and just eyeballing down Rassilon, was kinda awesome. I especially liked all the soldiers disarming; it felt like the Doctor saying 'the war is over; Gallifrey doesn't need an army anymore.'
The Bad
- Is it no longer possible to have a dramatic arc episode that doesn't belittle the Doctor and everyone around him by making them out to be petty-minded tossers? The Doctor kicks off by being amazing, then throws that away by being a selfish, needy tosser prepared to imperil the universe for the sake of a Companion who was ready to die.
- So, we're going to need to talk about the fact that the Doctor shot a Time Lord with a high powered staser blast and consequently no idea, whatever he says, of whether the General would regenerate.
- Apparently you can get away with just about anything if you're a perky brunette. Karma doesn't apply.
- This episode basically does nothing that Big Finish hasn't done better.
The Ugly
- What is this show's problem with the idea of letting go? According to nuWho, the Doctor can't leave a companion without them being dead, broken or irretrievably lost in time. Honestly, Clara's perfect departure was in last year's Christmas special, before they reversed it. 'Face the Raven' was a decent out, but once again they couldn't let go and she's back because... Well, because the Doctor is a clingy douchebag.
Was the town motto 'No matter where you go, there you are' a reference to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, or even to the theme song to Waxwork II: Lost in Time? For that matter, was the Doctor swaggering out of the desert with a black suit and guitar a reference to Six String Samurai? Or do I just have an absurdly eclectic reference section?
Top Quotes
- "Tomorrow's promised to no one, but I insist upon my past! I am entitled to that!" Yeah, no shit. At least they didn't actually go Donna on us.
- "Why? Why does everyone think I'm so scared? We all face the raven in the end."
Honestly, Clara, the fact that pretty much your next words are to declare your intent to punk the fuck out and delay your death for as long as possible while the universe goes foom probably explain a lot of that. I'm not saying it's an unnatural wish, just... shut the fuck up with this 'I'm not scared to die' if you're going to endanger all of time for the sake of a few more adventures.
Argh! What the fuck was that? Gallifrey was supposed to be gone, but I'd rather that than have it just turn up every so often so the Doctor can get on his hypocritical high horse and snap at them. And Clara... It's monstrous to want to preserve the Web of Time now? Man, fuck the Doctor's monstrous eleven and a bit regenerations of looking after the Web of Time then. Or is it being pissed off that the Doctor shot someone? Or that no-one else thought that mind-wiping another companion was a good idea?
After a pretty good season, the finale once more reduces the Doctor and his companion to stroppy teenagers raging against anyone who disagrees with them or feels that just bending all the rules there are to get what they want is a bit much.
I wish the show could just let go. Accept that sometimes people are lost - fatally or otherwise - and that the survivors might actually mourn and move on, instead of raging against the dying of the light again. Even after it stopped being an educational programme, Doctor Who always seemed to strive on some level to present a good example. NuWho revels in telling us that the Doctor is a worthless arsehole and we'd be mental to consider him a good example. He has no sense of responsibility, no courage, no values worth writing home about. He's a child who only cares about his friend, and only because she is his friend, rather than for her own sake. He is, in fact, exactly the irresponsible dick that people accuse him of being so that Clara can defend him. The best chance of getting out alive? Sure; if you're Clara Oswald or Rose Tyler. If you're anyone else, frankly it's still a crap shoot.
A disappointing end to a season that started pretty well.
After a pretty good season, the finale once more reduces the Doctor and his companion to stroppy teenagers raging against anyone who disagrees with them or feels that just bending all the rules there are to get what they want is a bit much.
I wish the show could just let go. Accept that sometimes people are lost - fatally or otherwise - and that the survivors might actually mourn and move on, instead of raging against the dying of the light again. Even after it stopped being an educational programme, Doctor Who always seemed to strive on some level to present a good example. NuWho revels in telling us that the Doctor is a worthless arsehole and we'd be mental to consider him a good example. He has no sense of responsibility, no courage, no values worth writing home about. He's a child who only cares about his friend, and only because she is his friend, rather than for her own sake. He is, in fact, exactly the irresponsible dick that people accuse him of being so that Clara can defend him. The best chance of getting out alive? Sure; if you're Clara Oswald or Rose Tyler. If you're anyone else, frankly it's still a crap shoot.
A disappointing end to a season that started pretty well.
Score - 3/10
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