What did you think of this episode?
Sonic!
Good!
Bumpy-wumpy!
Exterminate!
I don't know what to make of this one!!
I have adored this series, it has been so different, so fresh, but it is 100% missing some good villains. The stakes never seem very high, despite us being told so a fair bit. I have just not got much vibes from any of the villains - and we all love the monsters don’t we?!
Thinking about it now, a lot of the monsters are cast to the side a little. They aren’t the be all and end all of the stories. That is fine of course, but maybe not every week?
I need some threat in my Doctor Who! I need some monsters to make me jump, make me worried, and most importantly, I need the Doctor to take the fuckers down.
Let us recap quickly:
Bogeyman - looked good, barely used though and was actual bogeys so there's that. Wasn’t beaten, was saved by the Doctor.
Maestro - very good, bonkers, however a music battle and some campness may have taken the edge off them. Beaten by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Ambulances - sharp scratches aside they weren't going to live on as all time classic villains. Slow, cumbersome, very much like the wire. Beaten by an annoying girls Dad.
The woman - now this one was creepy, but can you actually count it as a monster as it was Ruby all along? The Doctor wasn’t there and nobody defeated her technically.
Giant slugs - not the main threat of the story I grant you, but then neither were the Silence…! Didn’t need defeating as they were actually doing a good job. The Doctor also didn’t change the people of Finetime. Yes, yes, yes, I know that was the point, but that isn't quite as relevant to this list.
Chuldur - cosplaying birds cosplaying the World to death - I don't even know where to start on that! Who defeated them? Partly the Doctor and partly Rogue I guess. However I really didn’t buy that they were going to destroy the World by cosplaying Bridgerton throughout it. At no point did I think they were any danger.
"Oh my Bridgerton!"
There is something about this series, a paradox of sorts, I have really enjoyed it, I have enjoyed every episode, or parts of every episode at the very least, I cannot get enough of Ncuti as the Doctor and yet I am left wanting a bit more, I really feel this is close, but not quite close enough. I think there are higher heights to hit. Is it the episode times that are an issue? Is it me being an old stick in the mud and not keeping up with the pacing of modern TV? Is it scenes in the TARDIS that are missing? Is it the monsters don't seem all that menacing? I have no idea, I do feel an extra 5 or 10 minutes each episode wouldn't go amiss though, mostly to build on the Doctor and Ruby's relationship.
Ruby has been very willing to throw her life away a few times already for the Doctor, but from what I have seen on my TV screen I am not sure this has been earnt. It really does seem like they have known each other for all of five minutes, and therefore I feel like I have known them both for all of five minutes. Seven episodes in and at least three of those the Doctor and Ruby have barely been together - and in some cases weren't together at all.
So when we get to the high emotional bits between them it doesn’t hit me where it should. Someone help me here, is it me being an autistic wanker or is it not hitting for other people? The paradox that is forming though is that I adore Ncuti and Millie and I know for a fact that when their time comes to leave the show I will be an emotional wreck. But how can I feel both of these things? What is happening here!!!!!
"Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of pure imagination."
Anyway, this episode in particular brought my issues with the series to a head. Which leads me to put on my suit of armour for the next thing I am going to say. I will say it then run to the hills and hide away.
I worry about saying things like this, however I do feel certain episodes get elevated by the subject rather than the actual content. I for one never got the hype about Rosa. I thought it was average at best. This one I feel has a similar issue, and again a paradox forms for me as the subject, namely the Doctor and Rogue's romance, being the best bit by far of the episode. I thought the episode was average apart from the scenes with the Doctor and Rogue.
Ncuti Gatwa and Jonathan Groff were spellbinding. However, I feel like this papered over a lot of cracks in the episode. The flirting between the pair, the dick swinging about ships and gadgets, the loneliness they shared, were all brilliantly done. But I cannot get a blue bird with a moustache out of my head, it is there, and it will stay there, forever in the back of my head. The Chuldur didn't look good did they? Especially that bloody blue one!!
"Find me."
At no point in this episode did I think bloody hell the Doctor and Ruby are in a right old pickle. We knew Ruby would get out of it, and her saying just to let her die for the sake of saving the world just didn't work for me. If it was thousands of Daleks, yeah, get down that hole, but six birds wanting to play at Bridgerton? Nah!!
As you can tell the monsters did not hit the right spot for me. What did hit the spot was Ncuti and Kristoff from Frozen flirting and falling for each other. You could tell that these guys must of enjoyed this, as it really showed on screen. I wonder if we will see Rogue again? It would be a bit of an ask to get Jonathan Groff to be a regular wouldn't it? Maybe the odd cameo perhaps, but this is just as likely to be a one off, which would be a shame.
In a nutshell I guess I would of liked this romance set against a better foe.
On another note I didn't even notice Richard E Grant at the time, however things like that go over my head, lore changes, that is to be expected in a 60 plus year old show, it is not something that I worry about. I'm just here for the stories.
So the only thing I really liked in this episode was their romance and the build up to it. Everything else just wasn't for me. Even Ruby grated on me this week and I bloody love Ruby!!
Fingers crossed we get some epic next week. Please give me an all timer monster Russell!!
RATING: Bumpy-wumpy!
BEST LINE: "We travelled together, we had fun, then a day came along and at the end of that day...I lost them."
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