Doctor Who 7x02 knee-jerk reaction post

[karenor]

With any and all spoilers, safely concealed

Okay. First of all. YAY. I actually sort of loved this episode. Chibnall haters to the left. This was a very sort of formula ep, yes, but it was great fun. Bickering robots, freakin dinosaurs, old aliens we were familiar with (in a story that MADE SENSE, OMG), but didn't have to actually BE there. All three Ponds being awesome. New companions(ish) ripe for the ficcing (I won't, but someone will, they were interesting! Yay interesting!).

And I don't know, maybe it's my big crush on Karen Gillan, but I'm really liking Amy more and more. I was indifferent at first, and almost leaning towards not loving so much (not too far) early on, came firmly onto the like side a while ago, but I think I love her. Obvs. I love Rory. And unexpected Rory's dad ftw!

(okay, not exactly unexpected, I did see the whole pre-titles sequence of this episode a few months ago)

Okay, so, speaking of... my only critiques...

1. As I just said, we saw the opening scenes to this at Comic Con. And then, I wasn't sure if it was actually the sequence that was going to air or if it was clips from the episode. It was that disjointed. It still felt that way upon seeing it again. As such, I think THIS would have made a really good 'drop us right back into wacky action' first episode of the series. As it happened, it felt a little too all over the place. I mostly got over it, though.

2. I'm not sure when their on again/off again companions thing became official, but it doesn't really work for me. In my brain, I mean. It doesn't really make sense. It's a year here, and month here, a bunch of time there. We have no concept of Earth's time line anymore. There was always a sort of Earth!current going on, and now there isn't. (When did this episode even take place on Earth, I mean the earth the spaceship was heading towards?) If the Doctor is all over the place, how and why did/does he choose WHEN to pick up the Ponds? How does that work with all the stuff we learned in Pond Life? Eh, I don't even know. That's not my big critique, just my general 'this is confusing and keeps me from attaching to stuff' sort of gripe.

3. The big thing is... um, the Doctor killed Solomon. Totally on purpose. I know he needed to get the signal onto his ship and away from Earth, but... I mean, he's offered worse criminals reprieve before. Or, you know, always. Why not pop him on the TARDIS, drop him off somewhere he can't do much harm? Or even send him somewhere where he can pay for his crimes (some justice from his own place/time?). I mean... it seemed like a REALLY odd decision for the Doctor to make that is just glossed over. I really expected Solomon to somehow get away. I'm scratching my head over this one. It's a big one.

Eensy bonus gripe. Doesn't taking Neffie out of history cause some... problems?

Bonus thing I loved. Tricey! Poor Tricey.

Thing I'm not sure of. Did Brian go a'travelin with the Doctor? Is that what that postcard meant?

Karen G. is so pretty.

I still do not have an Amy icon. What is this madness?

That is all.

Comments

[nonelvis]

I loved Amy in this episode. I pretty much always love her anyway, but the line about being a queen, and the one about being worth two men? Flawless.

The big thing is... um, the Doctor killed Solomon. Totally on purpose.

I'm not sure he has offered worse criminals reprieves, except maybe the Master and they're in looooooove anyway. And he *did* offer Solomon several chances during the course of the episode to stop being an unrepentant dickwad, all of which were rejected.

[karenor.livejournal.com]

I guess he did, but it still felt extremely cold to me. I would have expected at least... I don't know, an apology, even if he didn't really mean it. Some mention of it, a flicker of doubt about doing it? He seemed a touch too gleeful to have it wrapped up so neatly, when neatly meant killing someone.

Amy is pretty amazeballs. I do so wish we could for reals have a Pond Life spinoff. Sigh...

[wickedgillie.livejournal.com]

Hated the beginning. Hated the killing of Solomon at the end. LOVED LOVED LOVED Tricey, and Eleven's "Oh, bless." Also? Brian Williams was made of Awesome. And Amy made me like her much of this episode. Rory, of course, is ALWAYS AWESOME.

I may start shipping Neffie/Lestrade.

[karenor.livejournal.com]

I may start shipping Neffie/Lestrade.

Heh. I had to think about for a second. Because though I knew exactly who he was, I immediately disconnected him from Sherlock. I don't like to think about Sherlock when I'm not watching Sherlock, so...

I wish he could have used his healing skillz on Tricey! We hardly ever get to see the Doctor be a doctor, which was nice. As was the fakeout. Thinking he was wanted for being WHO he was, not what he was.

And has everyone forgotten about the Doctor along with the Daleks? Is that the whole them of remember of this season? Who can say?

[wickedgillie.livejournal.com]

You know, I was thinking the reason the computer didn't recognize him was because he was supposedly dead/the time lords no longer exist. BUT it recognized Neffi VERY specifically, even though she was out of time. Maybe Oswin BadWolfed him like Rose did Captain Jack. But even that would make no sense because at the very least, he should have been recognized as a Gallifreyan, but maybe that's one of those details that the writer was sloppy and forgot?

Amy & Rory remember, obvs. But who else has forgotten?

Also, sorry about the Lestrade thing. I can't look at him and not see Lestrade. I have probably read entirely too much fic about him (the character) and Mycroft this summer, lol.

Oh--one other thought--why would Eleven know to bring a big game hunter with him without knowing that there are dinosaurs on the ship?

[karenor.livejournal.com]

You know, I was thinking the reason the computer didn't recognize him was because he was supposedly dead/the time lords no longer exist.

Eh, this has always gone back and forth in Doctor Who. Sometimes people know who he is and OMG THE DOCTOR AND THE TIME LORDS yadi yadi, and sometimes they have no clue who he is. But as no other big ass theme has really presented itself yet, I'm wondering if this has something to do with it.

I've read exactly one Sherlock fic. Just... DNW.

why would Eleven know to bring a big game hunter with him without knowing that there are dinosaurs on the ship?

He was trying out having a gang? *shrug*

[wickedgillie.livejournal.com]

Except that the Doctor said he had *something* to show him and told him in a way that seemed like Not!Lestrade would find pretty damned relevant to his interests.

Eh. Trying not to think about the nitpicky stuff, because unlike last week, I actually enjoyed most of what was on offer this week. Time to watch BBCA's presentation (time shifted) now that the bairns are in bed.

[karenor.livejournal.com]

Maybe just the spaceship? And it was just a coincidence that he was useful as a hunter? I dunno, but it'd be interesting to see how they met. I'd think the Doctor would have a distaste for big game hunters.

And yeah, the little stuff didn't bother me much. I was so happy about that, and just having fun. :)

[wickedgillie.livejournal.com]

I will say that this, in the course of all Who canon, was my favourite-ever Silurian episode. They typically annoy the hell out of me, but I actually felt bad about their genocide! I hope some of them survive and realize they owe the Doctor a debt of gratitude for rescuing their ark. Plus, now we have, in canon, a whole PLANET of dinosaurs. This is AWESOME.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Apparently--and I haven't verified this for myself, just seen other people bringing it up--Nefertiti does kind of disappear from recorded history, so maybe the Doctor knew it was safe because it had already happened. Or something.

I felt like there's always been this feeling in Doctor Who that sometimes the Doctor gets pushed too far and snaps, and that's what happened with him and Solomon. He can be cold sometimes, the Doctor, I think, and I think it's probably more a matter of Matt Smith being able to fully convey that. Ten was downright terrifying a lot of the time, I think. I'm thinking specifically of Family of Blood.