This episode had all the things that have made me love Doctor Who. It had humour, wit, drama, and emotion. And even though it was Matt Smith's last, I still managed a big smile on my face at the end of it.The story followed the Doctor and Clara on Christmas day to Trenzalore where the Doctor's enemies were massing. The Doctor pledged to protect Christmas Town, ended up dying there.
A fabulously written episode, it brought together lots of past stories. The crack in the "fabric of reality" (wall crack) from season 5, River Song from season 6 and the "impossible girl- Clara herself from season 7. It even included an appearance by Amy (Karen Gillian) at the very end. It even brought threads in from the "Day of the Doctor (50th anniversary)- references to Gallifrey, the "war doctor" (John Hurt).
Some thought Clara's (Jenna Louise Coleman) Christmas cheerfulness a bit over the top. I thought it was to cover up the fact she was worried about the Doctor. I felt sorry for her too as her family tried to keep setting her up. She ended up bringing the Christmas magic by convincing the Time Lords to give him another regeneration. As usual she believed in him.
It was an emotional ending. Clara standing there in the Tardis helpless to do anything, watching it happen. "I will not forget one line of this, not one day I swear," he promised her. It was simple, and sweet, making her feel like she mattered to him. Amy's appearance: "Raggedy man, good night." It was as memorable as Peter Capaldi's first line as the Doctor: "Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"
Predictions
1. Peter Capaldi's Doctor will come in somewhere between Mad Hatter, and absent-minded professor.
2. We will see River Song again. Tasha: "We sent a psychopath to kill you." The Doctor: "I totally married her."
3. Maybe Tasha Lem is a Time Lord? (would explain her ability to fly the Tardis)
That actually wasn't revealed to the audience in Saturday's episode. It was revealed in a whispered aside by River Song, so we still don't know the Doctor's name. Wouldn't it be funny if it's John, or Fred or Henry? Something surprisingly ordinary.
But we did solve the riddle of the "impossible girl," but not until the last few minutes of the episode. "I was born to save the doctor," Clara starts. She's born, lives, and dies over, and over again. And she gets to save "Doctor," something that's a little bit mind-blowing of itself; the Doctor needs saving?! Who knew. This time was no different.
This episode started off with Clara psychically consulting with Trax, Madame Vastra, River Song, and Jenny through a communal dream. Madame Vastra had just met with a prisoner who told her that the Doctor's greatest secret has been revealed. The conference didn't get very far before the whisper men interrupted to tell River and Clara, 'killed' Jenny, and awakened Madame Vastra: "Tell the Doctor his friends are lost forever more unless he goes to Trenzalore."
When Clara tells the Doctor his reaction is unexpected. He sits on the sofa, and cries. Then he goes off to the Tardis' underbelly eventually programming the coordinates to Trenzalore. Trenzalore is... the location of the Doctor's grave site. The Doctor must never go there because he's crossing his own timeline- a big no-no for time travelers. Remember the first half's finale when Amy dies- she reveals her own grave stone and the doctor couldn't save her.
The TARDIS knows this and initially refuses to land of its own accord. The Doctor forced it to fall to the ground. The scene reminded me of something out of a Christmas Carol- the part where Ebeneezer Scrooge is with the ghost of Christmas future walking through a cemetery. The Doctor meanwhile sees the graves of his friends; River Song- ("River's not buried here," he says). River appears to Clara, and they have a little conversation; her grave is actually a tunnel to the Doctor's grave. Of course, The Doctor and Clara follow it. Clara remembers the "forgotten day (Journey to the Centre of the Tardis), and starts asking him about it. The Doctor lets slip the little detail River is his wife.
A vine-wrapped TARDIS interior is the stage for the final battle. Everyone's there looking at the Doctor's corpse; a blinding blue light made of frayed threads. Dr. Simeon (aka The Great Intelligence) announces: "The doctor's life is an open wound, and an open wound can be entered." There's nothing left to do following that statement but enter it, which, is exactly what he does. The Doctor falls to the ground writhing in pain; all of his good work is undone.
The stars begin going out, Jenny dies again;"The silence will fall, and darkness will reign..." I digress. Enter Clara who comes up with the idea of jumping into the time stream to save him. "The time winds will tear you apart," warns River. That explains why the Doctor keeps running into her; each version of her life will be lived to save him. Clara doesn't heed the warning of course, and jumps into the time stream anyway, and everything is set to rights. It's kind of the ultimate expression of love; living your life unconditionally to save just one person. "Run you clever boy, and remember.." were her last words.
The Doctor wakes up, has a little exchange with River which ends with her saying enigmatically: "Spoilers," when he asks her why she hasn't faded yet. Maybe season 8's mystery??
The Doctor enters his own time stream to save Clara. They meet up in a post-apocalyptic type of place, where John Hurt. "I didn't say he was "The Doctor," I said he was me," The Doctor informs Clara. And that's where it ends. I can just hear Clara asking John Hurt the next question: "What am I to call you?" Which is probably going to reveal to the audience The Doctor's name.
I think John Hurt's going to be some version of the Doctor. Perhaps the one who destroyed Gallifrey? It would fit with his seemingly world-weary attitude; lonely bitter, resigned to his fate. And Clara- still a mystery; is this the real Clara? and what happens when she crosses her own timelines?
I can't wait for November.
While we're waiting below is the trailer for the 50th anniversary special from BBC One.
Doctor Who took us to the centre of the TARDIS this week, as it got pulled on to a salvage vessel. The Doctor had to trick the three salvage workers into helping him look for, and eventually find Clara. The episode was very Clara-centric following her on a journey through a parallel TARDIS, including a stop at the library where she poked through a book, and may have seen the answer to "The Question." The Doctor saved the TARDIS by throwing them back in time to re-live the day and fix the tear.
The Doctor let her in on part of a secret; that she was the girl who died twice. He didn't know how that happened; he didn't know who she was. It's still this question hanging out there; the one that guides this season. And the Doctor is for once as clueless as we are, and figuring it out as we are. My money's still on her being some kind of family; a daughter or grand-daughter maybe. A little sound advice from the Doctor: "Don't get into a space ship with a mad man, didn't anyone ever tell you that?" Does anyone think Clara might end up remembering what she read?
Orphan Black focused on Paul this week. Did he have anything to do with the clones? Did his place of work? Sarah ended up spying on Paul putting listening devices in his offices and overheard him meeting one of his co-workers. Sarah also got time with her daughter walking her home and spending time with her. She tried to get some answers on her past from Mrs. S. I still haven't figured out if she had anything to do with it; if she's good or bad.
The part that left me cursing was the ending. Paul confronted Sarah; admitting he was there when doctors told Beth she couldn't have children. And if she couldn't have kids then who was Sarah? Before she answered the ending credits played. It was the ultimate cliffhanger. Will Sarah talk her way out of this one? Or will she tell the truth, playing on their growing relationship?
In other Orphan Black news: it's been renewed for a second season.
This week's episode found Doctor Who and Clara in 1974 at a haunted castle with a former W.W. II spy- Alec Palmer (Dougray Scott) and an empathic psychic Emma Grayling (Jessica Raine). "Help me," the ghost cried. The Doctor gleefully took to ghost hunting sneaking off with Clara to catch sight of her. The ghost however turned out to be a time traveller trapped in a pocket universe; Doctor Who and the TARDIS to the rescue!
The Doctor continuously tried to push Palmer and Emma together. "Blood calls to blood," he says explaining the connection between Emma and the time traveller a woman who ends up being revealed as the couple's multiple great granddaughter. "Am I a ghost to you?" Clara asks the Doctor. "You are the only mystery worth solving," he answers her. Maybe there's a familial relationship between the Doctor and Clara? She's his great... etc. granddaughter. It would explain the "twice dead" idea, and the fact he always seems to find her. The Doctor as a father... hilarious.
Orphan Black was sinister. It put Sarah/Beth firmly in a killer's sights this as she and her partner raced to solve a murder. The killer; a religious zealot was sent to kill the orphans viewing them as abominations. It took another turn as the innocent Beth was accused of killed turned out to be attached to the killer.
The episode put Sarah's relationship with her daughter Kira in jeopardy as she missed another chance at spending time with her daughter. However, Alison stepped in, complete with a fake British accent. Kira saw right through it saying right out, but Mrs. "S" didn't.
This show continues to puzzle me, and I have no theories yet as to who might be involved. But I love it that way, and it makes me want tune in every week and unravel the mystery.
I found last week's episode of Dr. Who boring. Clara and the Doctor trapped on a Russian sub in the middle of the cold war; trying to stop a martian ice warrior from detonating a nuclear missile. This is after one of the Russian sailors shot him of course, so the warrior had a good reason to be ticked off.
The storyline sounds exciting, but I just wasn't feeling it. I don't know if it was the lack of characters- there are always a few more colourful characters on this show than just the Doctor and his companion. Or the fact they were confined to the "one space" and "one time," but it was a real yawn for me. I'll give them this one, after all they can't all be as exciting. And it probably added something to the season's overall story- there was a tie in with the Christmas special in the ice warrior. That Christmas special is going to play a lot more into this season than they usually do.
Meanwhile Orphan Black took a few more turns but at the same time the pace slowed down a lot as they developed the characters. Sarah continued settling into "Beth's" life, and continued developing a relationship with her partner. Alison taught Sarah/Beth how to shoot a gun, and laid down some ground rules with regards to her family.
The funny part was Felix and the kids. Felix had to babysit Alison's kids while she went with Sarah to the gun range. By the time they got home he had them playing around cross-dressing. Alison was not impressed. The episode ended with Beth/ Sarah chasing a suspect who eventually is revealed to be yet another clone with potentially some kind of powers maybe? You'd have to quickly heal from those scratches.
In Doctor Who we followed Clara on her first adventure with the Doctor to the rings of Akhaten. She met what we took to be a six-year old girl named Mary who was known as "The Queen of Years complete with her people's myths and legends. Mary's role was to sing a song that would put a God back to sleep- instead it ended up awakening the God. She was transported to the temple, and kept there. Cue the rescue: "We do not walk away," the Doctor told Clara. They managed to get to the Temple, and rescue the girl from having her soul eaten. The Doctor had Clara back home in time for dinner.
The mystery behind Clara's identity continues unfolding. "You can't be real," The Doctor said in the opening moments of the episode. At this point my theory is that she's The Doctor and River Song's daughter. What other person could die twice in two different times and still live? The way she looked at the world so full of awe, and curiosity very similar to Matt Smith's version of the Doctor. Or maybe she could in some alternate universe be The Doctor in some sense?; Maybe at some point she absorbs bits of the Doctor's essence? What's your theory?
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Orphan Black slowed down a lot over last week's episode. I guess the sense was 'we've established the characters, and premise now let's play it out a little bit. It started just moments after the shooting that ended the previous week's episode. Sarah/Beth desperately called someone wanting to know what to do with the body. Why she didn't burn it/ drown it; get rid of it in some way that would erase any sign she'd touched it? Anyway. This episode centred around a suitcase at the dead woman's hotel; Sarah had to get the case and take it to suburban soccer mom clone.
I get the sense Sarah hates soccer moms. She was desperate to know more about how this was even possible that three (including Katia) other women looked like her that existed. "I just want some answers," she said at least once during the episode Sarah also was desperate for her daughter to know she was still alive, a fact that didn't seem to surprise the mysterious Mrs. S very much. Could she be involved as someone who was in on the cloning operation? At this point I don't think she's a "bad guy," but I could be proven wrong.
Saturday Night I spent watching Space. They showed the second half season Premiere of Doctor Who and premiered a new show: Orphan Black. The Doctor was up to his old tricks; searching for the answer to the "twice dead girl," in a monastery in 1207 he gets a call from Clara trying to figure out what happened to her Internet connection. The premise for this one was really interesting; a computer virus swept the world, and when people clicked the link they would be uploaded. This reminded me of a few earlier episodes where the Doctor, and Rose spent time on this space station where people pretty much lived in reality shows. From the first episode it has a clear overarching storyline this season, if you were watching there were a couple of ties to the Christmas episode.
Quote from the night: "3 hours ago you knew nothing about computers, and now you just made a joke about twitter." The Doctor to Clara.
Orphan Black I found kind of jarring. I tuned in thinking; great another British Sci-fi series. I'll give it a try. Little did I know it opened with a scene that ends on top of a very familiar train platform at Union Station- one that I've crossed a few times as well on my way out of the station, and the train that hit a main character looked just like a GO Train. And that's just the start. In one part of the episode, the character Sarah pulls out Canadian $20 bills, and an Ontario drivers license from the dead girl's wallet. More scenery- the glass tower condos towering over Downtown Toronto; alleyways that look suspiciously like the ones Rick Mercer delivers his famous rants in. Added to that the two main characters Felix and Sarah both have British accents (both incidentally are Canadian actors).
Maybe the 'jarring' feeling is on purpose. Maybe it, is meant so the audience get a feeling for these two characters who have fallen into a situation they have absolutely no idea what to do in. I'm going to give this another couple of episodes because I'm a sucker for a good mystery.
Doctor Who airs Saturdays at 8pm on Space, and Orphan Black airs at 9pm. Catch up on both right now by visiting Space
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