Did anyone notice the tv store in the first couple minutes of the ep was called Magpie Electrical? That was a cute touch.

 

That episode... was actually pretty entertaining. Self-contained and full of nods to the classic series. (But not actually requiring the continuity knowledge to follow).

 

Yeah, nothing special but a perfectly solid, entertaining episode. Not Gatiss' best, but far from his worst. Nice little touch with the portrait of Queen Victoria using the actress from 'Tooth and Claw' back in series 2.

 

I've written up a review for that episode- not that bad, but not that good either:

So, I’ll just start this off by saying that the episode surpassed my expectations. That’s not to say that I thought it’d be one of the worst of all time, but when the writer of an episode is responsible for their last one giving someone a crisis of faith (in this case Mark Gatiss’ Sleep No More making me question my now once-more strong faith) one tends to be rather pessimistic. In all honesty, if this season had been mediocre instead of 7-8+ I would’ve probably skipped it.

Thankfully, my fears did not come to fruition. With some rather on the nose but subtle enough parallels and messages, Empress of Mars was a fun, really enjoyable episode. It wasn’t perfect of course, but the positives do out-weigh the negatives.

Last episode, The Lie of the Land, had Bill saving the entire world; whilst this could be considered as the character taking over Amy’s and Clara’s role as ‘most important person in the universe’ -especially seeing as how it was an achievement not even the Doctor himself could mirror-, I don’t see it that way. For one thing, what good is a companion if they don’t get to beat the big bad every now and again? Also, you have to consider that Bill was the reason that the world was in the state it was in, and it is as such her responsibility to fix it. She had a purpose besides offering commentary and being our eyes in this world. Here however, she’s not as important.

Actually, let me rephrase that: she didn’t have to be as important as she was. To be honest, it felt like she was just there for the sake of it, and it seemed as though she was crammed in. There was a theme in this episode of two societies having differences, and being able to work together in peace despite that; this was done amazingly, and even subtly. It was almost as though Bill was only here to promote gender equality, which was a theme that felt a bit out of place and even, in a way, detrimental at times.
I’m not saying that the idea of gender equality damaged the episode, of course not. However, an interaction in this episode called out the misogyny of the Victorian era, and it just felt awkward. Such scenes don’t make the episode bad, but it definitely detracts from the rewatchability of the episode.

I’d much rather we experienced more of the brilliant Capaldi’s Doctor, striving to maintain peace between two sides of a conflict that doesn’t have a clear hero and villain. Aspects of the plot such as these could have made a complex, intriguing story that, with such potential, could have been truly epic. As it is, I’d say that it’s OK.
There’s also the redemption arc that was good enough for a one-off episode, and the decision made by the character in question concluded his arc nicely. As well as this, other themes -which I’ll keep ambiguous for sake of not spoiling the plot- were handled nicely, even if they were a bit one-dimensional at times.

On a technical level, the episode passes. Nothing special by any means, but enough to sell this as a competently made episode with effort put into it. At some points though, two specifically, the music ques didn’t make any sense. They seemed to be building up to this awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping twist and climax that just never came. It was… the definition of anti-climactic.

So, final thoughts:

This wasn’t a bad episode. It was actually pretty enjoyable. The acting was enjoyable, and some scenes stood out but, at the end of the day, the episode was lacklustre. Characters felt forced, some technical aspects were out of place, and at the end of the day the Empress of Mars earns itself a 6/10.

 

Well, that happened. The set up was interesting enough, but the resolution was the weakest all series.

Spoiler

The Eaters are always going to be there, someone needs to guard the gate and humans won't survive long enough one way or another...oh. We'll just send in half a dozen teenagers, that'll be fine. I half thought they were going to get Missy to do it, which would have made a bit more sense.

 

So, I never watched Torchwood when it originally aired, but there was a marathon last week and I decided to record it as I recently returned to watching Doctor Who after a couple years and I always appreciated Jack Harkness.

I've watched the first few episodes now and I'm not particularly enthused. Leaving aside the horrid Welsh accents, I've yet to find many of the characters compelling (Owen the cheeky, date rapist scientist; Suzie the idiot, murderous scientist with the worst planning skills imaginable; Gwen the moralizing, self-righteous and judgmental police officer who simultaneously commonly insults/ignores her - admittedly dull - boyfriend) and mediocre at best plot lines.

Really, I'm asking whether it's worth continuing from those who've seen more of later episodes.

 

Not really. Some individual episodes are good - the first episode of series 2, for instance - but overall its not worth it. The specials were apparently an improvement, but I didn't see them

 

The finale special was abysmal in my opinion. A gritty depressing drama doesn't feel like it belongs in the Doctor Who world.

Edit: Watched today's episode.

Spoiler

Yeah, pretty weak. I assume the point was that the portal collapsed when they all went through and it was just a sacrifice that was necessary to close it completely, but still not the best resolution.

 

Haven't watch Doctor Who in years. Is it as good as the previous seasons or better?

 

It's had more consistent quality than any series in ages, in that although it hasn't necessarily had the outright classics other series have, there haven't been any awful ones either, even in the last couple of weeks, were the quality has taken a bit of a hit. When did you stop watching?

 

Fairly boring episode, though I did immensely enjoy the bit with the Romans in the cave. "How very... modern." Lol.

That said, I do hope they start developing Bill beyond the fact that she's gay. Like... can she have some other defining characteriatics? Please? Every companion of nuwho save Martha has had some semblance of a backstory / home life.

 

(spoiler for future rumors just in case)

Spoiler

Two episodes left.

There are a lot of rumors that after Moffat leaves it will be a clean sweep of the production crew and cast to give the new showrunner a fresh start.

(The show isn't as popular as it once was.)

 

I stop watching when Matt Smith left. Just couldn't be bothered with Clara.

And what do you mean about giving the show a "fresh start"?

 

Moffat is leaving after the Christmas special. So is Capaldi.

 

New episode today.

Spoiler

Despite knowing that Simm was in this episode I completely missed his disguise until he was talking to Missy.

Hoping this episode doesn't get reset. We've been having too many of those.

 

THAT was a quality Who episode. Creepy bits were properly creepy. Funny bits were proper funny. Some actual science.

Easily best of the season for me, and I imagine it would have been even better had I not watched the preview from last week.

Edit:

Spoiler

Also, I hope to fuck that the regeneration scene is not a red herring, and that this arc bleeds into the christmas special. For the 1st doctor of a new regen cycle to go out at the hands of the original Mondasian Cybermen is the greatest love letter to classic Who and William Hartnell that NuWho has ever conceived.

 

Yep. That was brilliant. I didn't see the twist until the scene it was revealed, which is impressive under the circumstances, and the whole thing was creepy, funny and smart. Really good episode. I need it to be next week now please.

 

Best episode in a long time, could see the reveal quite in advance but it had me on the litteral edge of my seat for the entire last 20 minutes.

Hope that they can carry it through to the end, they've really built up some fantastic story arches recently but failed a little in delivering endings.

 

That was, for my money, probably the best finale the show's had since series 5, with the Pandorica. One of Peter Capaldi's best performances in his entire run - that scene with the Master and Missy was outstanding - and the rest of the cast were on top form as well. Even Nardole managed to be more than (good) comic relief! Fantastic stuff, albeit with a few quibbles.

Spoiler

I'm sure the reappearance of the Pilot to save Bill with space magic will go down as one of the more controversial elements of the show, and not entirely unreasonably - it was a bit out of left field, and definitely had a hint of deus ex about it - but after my initial 'wait, what?', I thought it was a really lovely touch. Very sweet, and it made a certain sense as a bonus.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed every moment Simm and Gomez had on the screen, all in all the whole Missy/multi!Master plot-line doesn't really seem to have added up to much in the end. With lesser performances, it wouldn't have worked at all.

Christmas spoilers:

Spoiler

Holy shit, the benefits of avoiding rumours! I had no idea that the First Doctor was going to be involved, so when he showed up I genuinely applauded in geeky excitement. David Bradley was brilliant as Hartnell in 'An Adventure in Time and Space' for the 50th, so I'm sure this Christmas will be one to remember quite apart from the regeneration.

 

I've just written up a review of that fantastic episode- one of the best I've ever seen.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So that happened.

Before this season began I was dreading it; following ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’, I believed that season 10 was going to be terrible. In retrospect, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Call me hyped up for writing this sentence 13 minutes after ‘The Doctor Falls’ aired, but this was the best season of the modern era, and arguably the best episode of Who I’ve ever watched.

Let’s start off with the direction- for those of you who don’t know, Rachel Talalay is a veteran Doctor Who finale-writer, being brought in to do Dark Water, Death in Heaven, Heaven Sent, Hell Bent, the last episode and will direct this year’s Christmas Special. In my opinion, there’s definitely a reason for this: she’s superb. Every episode she does, especially this one, mirrors the tone and effect of a scene through the placement of the camera, though of course the music (especially delightful this episode) and the acting contribute towards this. Speaking of the acting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZy6lGgOcI

The above is my reaction to it.

· Peter Capaldi- he’s always great, but this week his performance rivalled -and might possibly be- his best. He is perfect for the role, and his regeneration will no doubt leave me in tears, just as Smith and Tennant before him. I won’t go into technical detail, but he managed to perfectly convey the emotions, magnitude, conflict, experience, challenge and righteous nature that the Doctor is at his core. The question for his first season has been answered: he’s not just a madman with a box, or hero, or idiot- he is a good man, and at the end of the day he will do what is the right thing to do.

· Pearl Mackie- to be honest, the conclusion of Bill’s arc, while watching it, left me surprised and disappointed. However, as the scene progressed to the Doctor as the focus, I began to have the opinion I have now (as of 54 minutes following the episode’s ending); it was fitting. We have to be fair: she’s gone through a lot this season, and unlike Clara this does feel like the ending her character deserves, in both an emotional and narrative viewpoint. Congratulations to both the character and the actress- you did fantastic, and have implanted yourself in the hearts of Whovians everywhere.

· Matt Lucas- I’d say he’s redeemed himself from ‘The Husbands of River Song’ by now, and I actually feel as though I’ll miss Nardole and his unique character. That aside, his contributions to the episode were limited to serving the plot, giving 1 or 2 heartfelt scenes and giving us a good performance.

· Michelle Gomez- truth be told, we all have to come together and –as a society- decide that we need an international holiday to celebrate the brilliance of Gomez and her Master. She was fantastic, and every scene she was in (especially her interactions between Capaldi and her predecessor) were glorious to behold.

· John Simm-… this guy made me question my sexuality. Seriously, Simm is impossibly charismatic, and he has a way of making us root for him no matter what side he’s on. The dynamic between him and Gomez is incredible, and their final scene together is one of the best scenes in who history. In fact, this episode is filled with them.

So, to summarise:

The direction was incredible, with great acting, music and fantastic characters. ‘The Doctor Falls’ is undoubtedly one of the greatest Doctor Who episodes of all time, and I have no doubt it will be remembered that way. This was the perfect season finale, rounding of arcs and setting up things to come with the best ending I’ve ever seen.

However, now we have to wait until December 25th for more Doctor Who, and I personally have never been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading an episode of my life.
9.5/10