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morganminstrelWell.
While I'm wondering how to begin, I'll ask: have you seen the prequel for this episode? Or Strax's pre-episode field report? Because hey, although neither of them are essential, you going and watching them gives me time to figure out how I'm going to start this review.
...
Back so soon? Damn.
Well, traditionally, I start these things out with a non-spoilery summary of how I felt about the story/episode. As I've mentioned over the course of this half-series, the show has felt...inconsistent, to say the least. Clara's "mystery" has felt underdeveloped, and her character has also been a little inconsistent. My explanation--that each writer was only given a very limited amount of information and kind of had to decide what they wanted the character to be for their script--was basically confirmed by Neil Gaiman in an interview a short while ago. Which doesn't answer the question of: where was Steven Moffat, arguably the producer-script editor-showrunner, who's supposed to smooth those rough edges out?
To be frank, it didn't feel like he really had a handle on this 33B series. It felt a bit like he'd checked out, writing a light-weight script ("The Bells of St. John") and then going off to work on his own scripts and leaving things in other hands. I don't know how true that is, nor do I know how true the rumors of his departure might be. (Matt Smith has, thankfully, confirmed he'll be in series 34/8.) [EDIT: Steven Moffat has also apparently been confirmed to be returning for series 34/8.]
At any rate, after the non-build-up of the "mystery" of Clara Oswald, I wouldn't have expected the climax of this series to have been all that satisfying. I was wrong. If I were a bit more uncharitable, I'd have said that Moffat specifically made the first few episodes of 33B feel off and less than great, just so the last three weeks could get progressively better...but I don't think that's at all fair to Gatiss, Cross, and Thompson. What would be fair to all of you, though, would be a spoiler space...right....about....Now.
All right, I knew about the digital inserts/recycled footage before going in, I'm afraid. A few pictures leaked last week and I was stupid enough to click on a link. Even so, it was pretty grand to see just about everyone--Paul McGann was not represented because the rights to the TV movie footage are different than the rights to the old series (it's why it took so long for the thing to be released on DVD). But there are rumors that he's recorded something new (presumably in his new costume) for a webisode that'll be released before the anniversary. Regardless, I thought the idea of Clara being there for them all was pretty fantastic (and a hell of a lot better than the stupid rumor that went around that she'd be regenerating into River Song, which never made any sense to me).
But something that was not fantastic, going behind the scenes to BBC politics for the moment, were the creator credits. It was great that Malcolm Hulke got a credit for creating the Silurians and Bob Holmes got a credit for the Sontarans. But, yet again, there was no mention of the men who created the Great Intelligence (in the story, "The Abominable Snowmen" and then again in "The Web of Fear", Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. And why not? Because they had a disagreement over the Quarks, of all things, back in 1969, and got screwed by the Corporation. So now, the BBC seems to believe that no one created the GI--after all, it wasn't using the Yeti, was it? So, allude all you want to the previous stories, as long as there are no Yeti, they don't have to get the credit--and their estates don't have to get any money. I'm sorry, that just ticked me off.
Right. Back to content. I'm not entirely sure what to say, honestly. The Trenzalore (though I thought it was originally "Tranzelore") thing had been seeded quite a while ago, but this was not at all what I was expecting. And yes, ok, we have seen Time Lords die before and leave something a lot more corporeal, but...a) this was the Doctor, not someone like Azmael and b) who said there wasn't a body somewhere? I actually love the idea that what the Doctor leaves behind is Time's record of his journeys. It's poetic. The fact that it's also a wound in the fabric of Time tells us a lot about the Doctor and his choices too.
And, ok, the colorization of the Hartnell footage (taken from "The Aztecs," if you're curious, which is why it was pretty clearly Barbara, not Susan, with the Doctor in the early longshot) was terrible. Bad enough that they should have simply done those scenes in black and white. Thankfully, they didn't have that issue with any of the others (the Troughton bit was taken from "The Five Doctors," as, I'm pretty sure, was the Pertwee clip).
So. Wow, I keep dancing around things, don't I? It's not that I have nothing to say, it's that I've no idea how to properly begin. The "conference call" idea was certainly interesting...it was a nice idea that I hope they don't do much again. I'm still not entirely sure how it worked, or how it was able to pull a River that only existed as electronic data. I'll get back to River in a moment or six. I loved the waking up as well--it showed me how much I felt for the Paternoster Gang that Jenny's supposed death hit me. So yeah, interesting idea, certainly accomplished what it needed to, story-wise, but they probably shouldn't do it or refer to it again anytime soon.
All right, I'll say it: Of course, the moment the Doctor said what the pretty white thing floating in the middle of the room was, everyone knew that Clara would step into it and that it was the explanation for everything. Even without the beginning of the episode, I think most of us would have figured that out. Still, to me, it didn't feel like a cheat at all--especially since they had Simeon step into it first, so Clara was (apparently) sacrificing herself. At the beginning of the episode, you hear her say she's always there to save the Doctor and you think, "yeah, yeah, sure." But by the time we get to that sequence again (and boy, do they like reusing footage in this series or what? Sheesh people, stop showing us stuff we've already seen! Once or twice is fine, but it's becoming a bit of a tic here! Ahem, where was I? Oh yes), it feels like a pay-off and we can think, "Yes, it makes sense. She's there to stop the Intelligence. She is there to save him."
The weakest thing about the episode? The "Whisper Men." Moffat clearly felt he needed a monster...so we got another creature with a blank face and mouth in formal dress. (Admittedly, based on Simeon's attire.) Meh. They're apparently connected to the Intelligence, but is it using/controlling them? Do they serve it? Are they an extension of it? Do we know? Do we care? No, of course not. Because it's not important to the story, because they aren't important to the story. They're just there to take up the necessary "henchmen" space and are quite generic, despite Moffat's talking about whispers and whatnot in interviews about them. And the annoying thing is that the script starts out with interesting references to them, with the rhyme and all, and then...nothing. Steven! Give us two-parters! Give stories room to breathe!
In actual fact, though, the plot itself moved pretty briskly, so (menace of the baddies aside) there's some question whether there would have been enough plot to have covered two full episodes. In actual fact, the story was pretty simple, though camouflaged with a lot of drapery to make it look complex. Really, there's not a lot that happens in it (Doctor's friends are kidnapped, he goes to save them, bad guy almost succeeds, stopped by companion--really, boiled down, that's it), certainly not compared to a lot of other series finales, and yet it still kept both my attention and my very active interest and I still liked it a lot.
Another small disappointment was how...petty and small the Intelligence seemed. Its first three stories (stories two and three separated by a gap of some 44 years, of course) were all pretty grand. But then, in "Bells," it just felt unfocused. The Intelligence seemed an afterthought and we never actually had any idea what the hell it was doing. Surely, we'd find it was part of some grand plan in its next appearance, Moffat must be building up to something! Uh, no, there's no reference to it whatsoever. And now, it's only scheme, the only thing it lives for, is to hurt (no odd pun intended) and destroy the Doctor...which would, of course, create a significant paradox, since the Doctor defeated it four times. (In fact, he defeated it out of sequence! Which Moffat has explained through time travel which, no, still doesn't make sense, but we're talking Doctor Who continuity, so I should probably really just relax. Yes?) And why it looks like Simeon instead of, say, [REDACTED SO TARDIS PROJECT MEMBERS AREN'T SPOILED], is anyone's guess in-story. Out of story, of course, it's because Simeon is played by the always wonderful Richard E. Grant, who is now also part of the answer to a Doctor Who trivia question. He makes an excellent baddie, and I do fully endorse the decision to use him as the face of the Intelligence from an acting standpoint. But, getting back to my original point, it just felt so...small of the Intelligence to just lure the Doctor there to destroy him. I don't know, that could be me.
River. River, River, River. Astoundingly, this is the first time she and the Doctor have met "in sequence," and I think it might very well be the last time we see her. (How does one follow up this goodbye?) As I said above, I'm just not sure how data in a library could be sent and receive an invitation to a psychic conference call. I can understand why Vastra would ask that River--she's past the end of her life, she knows all she needs to know about anything they could ask--but...how? On the other hand, knowing that she's data made me have no problems with the idea that she'd be able to "keep the line open" with Clara--she's attached her, um, data packet to Clara's consciousness. I have absolutely no idea how the Doctor would be able to see or touch her though. And, just as the Doctor does acknowledge her, I did think, "But wait, if Clara's gone, then River..." and then Moffat gave her that line, about that very thing and I felt smart. Which, of course, we're clearly supposed to feel. But the Doctor implies that, even though he gave her "life" in the Library, it's time for her to "fade." Does he mean fade into data, relax into death, or does he mean fade into memory for him? It's not clear, but it is why I think we might not be seeing her again...and why it might feel a bit cheap if we do.
I will admit it, my eyes did widen a bit when the Intelligence mentions the Doctor's other names--the Storm was, I think, what the Daleks called him ("the Oncoming Storm")--specifically the Valeyard. I have always loved the idea of the Valeyard (just had a discussion about him with a friend on Friday, actually)--that even the Doctor could be desperate enough to grasp at life, holding on, knuckles white, and damn everything and everyone else. The execution of the idea, of course, was less than idea. But all of this brings me to...
John Hurt. Honestly one of the finest actors of his generation (and it's a very fine generation he's in!). There are all kinds of rumors as to who he is, exactly...I will speculate. (I'd put a spoiler space in my spoiler space if I could, but let me say that this isn't a spoiler, it's my logical extrapolation.) The Eleventh Doctor knows who he is. Therefore, he cannot be a future incarnation, unless he is the Valeyard. That's certainly possible, and it might even track with what the Eleventh Doctor says about him...but we know the John Hurt Doctor probably isn't the Valeyard. As I said, rumors are spreading around, mostly speculation, but some very good speculation, so I'm not sure what I should say. If you haven't heard the rumors (which, I must hasten to add, may be false) and you want to know...ask me. To spare those who don't want to know, I'll say no more here.
So, now we know the secret of the Impossible Girl. Here's the big question: did it work? Yeah, it kind of did. It would have worked better if there had been a lot less "kind of allude to telling" and a lot more "sort of developmental showing" over the course of 33B, but it did work. (Let's be honest here, this series could have cut out two to three episodes and Clara probably would have had a stronger story arc--even though some of the episodes I'd think you could cut were ones I kind of liked.) Why did it work? Well, as I said, the idea of her saving the Doctor definitely helped--though she only seemed to directly confront the Intelligence once. On the other hand, the Doctor only confronted it twice without her, so maybe she ran interference really, really well? If so, and if she can remember any of the adventures of her various selves, she'll either be a hell of a companion...or irretrievably broken. Of course, if she can't remember most of it, if she's still just Clara, she might be perfectly ok. And now we're going to get to find out. All series, I've been complaining that the "mystery" has hamstrung her as a character...and now it's gone. So, we know why she is...maybe we'll finally settle in with her and fine out who she is as a person, instead of a plot device.
Let's see, what else. Honestly, not a lot to say about the acting. Everyone was fine. Oh, I did love the scene with Vastra having to deal with the Doctor's removal from history...though one wonders why it never reached her. And Strax was a lot more fun than in "The Crimson Horror." As I said above, I really felt sadness and shock when Jenny "died." Matt Smith was good--actually, better here than in some of the other episodes this year. Jenna was really, really good...she's a very strong actress playing a character that needs to be stronger, and now hopefully will be. (The next two episodes will be written by Moffat, so we should have consistency...and, if Clara is around next year, new writers will know who she is, instead of writing a generic companion.) And the ending, even with the body doubles, was really, really strong. And yes, there was the call-back to "Bells" with Clara saying, "I don't know where I am" a lot, but I'm willing to let that go.
And I was thrilled, full-stop, that the name of the episode was a fake-out. Absolutely thrilled.
So yes, I liked it. I found it satisfying in a way that a lot of 33B hasn't been. This didn't feel weird or different. This felt like Doctor Who, proper Doctor Who. I hope you all liked it too, because we have a long wait ahead of us...
COMING ON 23RD NOVEMBER, 2013: We know who and what the Impossible Girl is. And now we will discover the Doctor's darkest secret--the Doctor! It's the big one, folks, the as-yet-unnamed 50th Anniversary Special, by Steven Moffat! It's going to be a long six months...!
Click here for my previous Doctor Who reviews.
While I'm wondering how to begin, I'll ask: have you seen the prequel for this episode? Or Strax's pre-episode field report? Because hey, although neither of them are essential, you going and watching them gives me time to figure out how I'm going to start this review.
...
Back so soon? Damn.
Well, traditionally, I start these things out with a non-spoilery summary of how I felt about the story/episode. As I've mentioned over the course of this half-series, the show has felt...inconsistent, to say the least. Clara's "mystery" has felt underdeveloped, and her character has also been a little inconsistent. My explanation--that each writer was only given a very limited amount of information and kind of had to decide what they wanted the character to be for their script--was basically confirmed by Neil Gaiman in an interview a short while ago. Which doesn't answer the question of: where was Steven Moffat, arguably the producer-script editor-showrunner, who's supposed to smooth those rough edges out?
To be frank, it didn't feel like he really had a handle on this 33B series. It felt a bit like he'd checked out, writing a light-weight script ("The Bells of St. John") and then going off to work on his own scripts and leaving things in other hands. I don't know how true that is, nor do I know how true the rumors of his departure might be. (Matt Smith has, thankfully, confirmed he'll be in series 34/8.) [EDIT: Steven Moffat has also apparently been confirmed to be returning for series 34/8.]
At any rate, after the non-build-up of the "mystery" of Clara Oswald, I wouldn't have expected the climax of this series to have been all that satisfying. I was wrong. If I were a bit more uncharitable, I'd have said that Moffat specifically made the first few episodes of 33B feel off and less than great, just so the last three weeks could get progressively better...but I don't think that's at all fair to Gatiss, Cross, and Thompson. What would be fair to all of you, though, would be a spoiler space...right....about....Now.
All right, I knew about the digital inserts/recycled footage before going in, I'm afraid. A few pictures leaked last week and I was stupid enough to click on a link. Even so, it was pretty grand to see just about everyone--Paul McGann was not represented because the rights to the TV movie footage are different than the rights to the old series (it's why it took so long for the thing to be released on DVD). But there are rumors that he's recorded something new (presumably in his new costume) for a webisode that'll be released before the anniversary. Regardless, I thought the idea of Clara being there for them all was pretty fantastic (and a hell of a lot better than the stupid rumor that went around that she'd be regenerating into River Song, which never made any sense to me).
But something that was not fantastic, going behind the scenes to BBC politics for the moment, were the creator credits. It was great that Malcolm Hulke got a credit for creating the Silurians and Bob Holmes got a credit for the Sontarans. But, yet again, there was no mention of the men who created the Great Intelligence (in the story, "The Abominable Snowmen" and then again in "The Web of Fear", Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. And why not? Because they had a disagreement over the Quarks, of all things, back in 1969, and got screwed by the Corporation. So now, the BBC seems to believe that no one created the GI--after all, it wasn't using the Yeti, was it? So, allude all you want to the previous stories, as long as there are no Yeti, they don't have to get the credit--and their estates don't have to get any money. I'm sorry, that just ticked me off.
Right. Back to content. I'm not entirely sure what to say, honestly. The Trenzalore (though I thought it was originally "Tranzelore") thing had been seeded quite a while ago, but this was not at all what I was expecting. And yes, ok, we have seen Time Lords die before and leave something a lot more corporeal, but...a) this was the Doctor, not someone like Azmael and b) who said there wasn't a body somewhere? I actually love the idea that what the Doctor leaves behind is Time's record of his journeys. It's poetic. The fact that it's also a wound in the fabric of Time tells us a lot about the Doctor and his choices too.
And, ok, the colorization of the Hartnell footage (taken from "The Aztecs," if you're curious, which is why it was pretty clearly Barbara, not Susan, with the Doctor in the early longshot) was terrible. Bad enough that they should have simply done those scenes in black and white. Thankfully, they didn't have that issue with any of the others (the Troughton bit was taken from "The Five Doctors," as, I'm pretty sure, was the Pertwee clip).
So. Wow, I keep dancing around things, don't I? It's not that I have nothing to say, it's that I've no idea how to properly begin. The "conference call" idea was certainly interesting...it was a nice idea that I hope they don't do much again. I'm still not entirely sure how it worked, or how it was able to pull a River that only existed as electronic data. I'll get back to River in a moment or six. I loved the waking up as well--it showed me how much I felt for the Paternoster Gang that Jenny's supposed death hit me. So yeah, interesting idea, certainly accomplished what it needed to, story-wise, but they probably shouldn't do it or refer to it again anytime soon.
All right, I'll say it: Of course, the moment the Doctor said what the pretty white thing floating in the middle of the room was, everyone knew that Clara would step into it and that it was the explanation for everything. Even without the beginning of the episode, I think most of us would have figured that out. Still, to me, it didn't feel like a cheat at all--especially since they had Simeon step into it first, so Clara was (apparently) sacrificing herself. At the beginning of the episode, you hear her say she's always there to save the Doctor and you think, "yeah, yeah, sure." But by the time we get to that sequence again (and boy, do they like reusing footage in this series or what? Sheesh people, stop showing us stuff we've already seen! Once or twice is fine, but it's becoming a bit of a tic here! Ahem, where was I? Oh yes), it feels like a pay-off and we can think, "Yes, it makes sense. She's there to stop the Intelligence. She is there to save him."
The weakest thing about the episode? The "Whisper Men." Moffat clearly felt he needed a monster...so we got another creature with a blank face and mouth in formal dress. (Admittedly, based on Simeon's attire.) Meh. They're apparently connected to the Intelligence, but is it using/controlling them? Do they serve it? Are they an extension of it? Do we know? Do we care? No, of course not. Because it's not important to the story, because they aren't important to the story. They're just there to take up the necessary "henchmen" space and are quite generic, despite Moffat's talking about whispers and whatnot in interviews about them. And the annoying thing is that the script starts out with interesting references to them, with the rhyme and all, and then...nothing. Steven! Give us two-parters! Give stories room to breathe!
In actual fact, though, the plot itself moved pretty briskly, so (menace of the baddies aside) there's some question whether there would have been enough plot to have covered two full episodes. In actual fact, the story was pretty simple, though camouflaged with a lot of drapery to make it look complex. Really, there's not a lot that happens in it (Doctor's friends are kidnapped, he goes to save them, bad guy almost succeeds, stopped by companion--really, boiled down, that's it), certainly not compared to a lot of other series finales, and yet it still kept both my attention and my very active interest and I still liked it a lot.
Another small disappointment was how...petty and small the Intelligence seemed. Its first three stories (stories two and three separated by a gap of some 44 years, of course) were all pretty grand. But then, in "Bells," it just felt unfocused. The Intelligence seemed an afterthought and we never actually had any idea what the hell it was doing. Surely, we'd find it was part of some grand plan in its next appearance, Moffat must be building up to something! Uh, no, there's no reference to it whatsoever. And now, it's only scheme, the only thing it lives for, is to hurt (no odd pun intended) and destroy the Doctor...which would, of course, create a significant paradox, since the Doctor defeated it four times. (In fact, he defeated it out of sequence! Which Moffat has explained through time travel which, no, still doesn't make sense, but we're talking Doctor Who continuity, so I should probably really just relax. Yes?) And why it looks like Simeon instead of, say, [REDACTED SO TARDIS PROJECT MEMBERS AREN'T SPOILED], is anyone's guess in-story. Out of story, of course, it's because Simeon is played by the always wonderful Richard E. Grant, who is now also part of the answer to a Doctor Who trivia question. He makes an excellent baddie, and I do fully endorse the decision to use him as the face of the Intelligence from an acting standpoint. But, getting back to my original point, it just felt so...small of the Intelligence to just lure the Doctor there to destroy him. I don't know, that could be me.
River. River, River, River. Astoundingly, this is the first time she and the Doctor have met "in sequence," and I think it might very well be the last time we see her. (How does one follow up this goodbye?) As I said above, I'm just not sure how data in a library could be sent and receive an invitation to a psychic conference call. I can understand why Vastra would ask that River--she's past the end of her life, she knows all she needs to know about anything they could ask--but...how? On the other hand, knowing that she's data made me have no problems with the idea that she'd be able to "keep the line open" with Clara--she's attached her, um, data packet to Clara's consciousness. I have absolutely no idea how the Doctor would be able to see or touch her though. And, just as the Doctor does acknowledge her, I did think, "But wait, if Clara's gone, then River..." and then Moffat gave her that line, about that very thing and I felt smart. Which, of course, we're clearly supposed to feel. But the Doctor implies that, even though he gave her "life" in the Library, it's time for her to "fade." Does he mean fade into data, relax into death, or does he mean fade into memory for him? It's not clear, but it is why I think we might not be seeing her again...and why it might feel a bit cheap if we do.
I will admit it, my eyes did widen a bit when the Intelligence mentions the Doctor's other names--the Storm was, I think, what the Daleks called him ("the Oncoming Storm")--specifically the Valeyard. I have always loved the idea of the Valeyard (just had a discussion about him with a friend on Friday, actually)--that even the Doctor could be desperate enough to grasp at life, holding on, knuckles white, and damn everything and everyone else. The execution of the idea, of course, was less than idea. But all of this brings me to...
John Hurt. Honestly one of the finest actors of his generation (and it's a very fine generation he's in!). There are all kinds of rumors as to who he is, exactly...I will speculate. (I'd put a spoiler space in my spoiler space if I could, but let me say that this isn't a spoiler, it's my logical extrapolation.) The Eleventh Doctor knows who he is. Therefore, he cannot be a future incarnation, unless he is the Valeyard. That's certainly possible, and it might even track with what the Eleventh Doctor says about him...but we know the John Hurt Doctor probably isn't the Valeyard. As I said, rumors are spreading around, mostly speculation, but some very good speculation, so I'm not sure what I should say. If you haven't heard the rumors (which, I must hasten to add, may be false) and you want to know...ask me. To spare those who don't want to know, I'll say no more here.
So, now we know the secret of the Impossible Girl. Here's the big question: did it work? Yeah, it kind of did. It would have worked better if there had been a lot less "kind of allude to telling" and a lot more "sort of developmental showing" over the course of 33B, but it did work. (Let's be honest here, this series could have cut out two to three episodes and Clara probably would have had a stronger story arc--even though some of the episodes I'd think you could cut were ones I kind of liked.) Why did it work? Well, as I said, the idea of her saving the Doctor definitely helped--though she only seemed to directly confront the Intelligence once. On the other hand, the Doctor only confronted it twice without her, so maybe she ran interference really, really well? If so, and if she can remember any of the adventures of her various selves, she'll either be a hell of a companion...or irretrievably broken. Of course, if she can't remember most of it, if she's still just Clara, she might be perfectly ok. And now we're going to get to find out. All series, I've been complaining that the "mystery" has hamstrung her as a character...and now it's gone. So, we know why she is...maybe we'll finally settle in with her and fine out who she is as a person, instead of a plot device.
Let's see, what else. Honestly, not a lot to say about the acting. Everyone was fine. Oh, I did love the scene with Vastra having to deal with the Doctor's removal from history...though one wonders why it never reached her. And Strax was a lot more fun than in "The Crimson Horror." As I said above, I really felt sadness and shock when Jenny "died." Matt Smith was good--actually, better here than in some of the other episodes this year. Jenna was really, really good...she's a very strong actress playing a character that needs to be stronger, and now hopefully will be. (The next two episodes will be written by Moffat, so we should have consistency...and, if Clara is around next year, new writers will know who she is, instead of writing a generic companion.) And the ending, even with the body doubles, was really, really strong. And yes, there was the call-back to "Bells" with Clara saying, "I don't know where I am" a lot, but I'm willing to let that go.
And I was thrilled, full-stop, that the name of the episode was a fake-out. Absolutely thrilled.
So yes, I liked it. I found it satisfying in a way that a lot of 33B hasn't been. This didn't feel weird or different. This felt like Doctor Who, proper Doctor Who. I hope you all liked it too, because we have a long wait ahead of us...
COMING ON 23RD NOVEMBER, 2013: We know who and what the Impossible Girl is. And now we will discover the Doctor's darkest secret--the Doctor! It's the big one, folks, the as-yet-unnamed 50th Anniversary Special, by Steven Moffat! It's going to be a long six months...!
Click here for my previous Doctor Who reviews.
