Showing posts with label Jenna-Louise Coleman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jenna-Louise Coleman. Show all posts

Sunday, 26 May 2013

FEATURE: Doctor Who - Jen, Becky and the Seventh Series

And here it is, our final instalment of our Bank Holiday Doctor Who special, a discussion of our favourite bits of this series. We've brought you a review of each episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who, complete with Christmas special (you can find them all here) but we thought that, seeing as its a while until the 50th Anniversary and even longer until the eighth, Jen and Becky are going to be looking back at the series as a whole; the highs, the lows, the Rory...


If you're new to our little discussion articles, you can follow who is saying what at the left hand side with our initials. Of course, one day, we're going to confuse you all by changing the system. But that is not this day.

B: I'll kick things off shall I? In the broadest sense, I really liked the seventh series; it had some great individual episodes (as well as some not-so-good ones), but I'm enjoying Matt Smith as the Doctor and he seems to carry me through the worse instalments. His performance has been routinely excellent throughout and I'm loving the smaller moments he has with his companions. There was a really nice chemistry between him, Rory and Amy that had developed in the first half of the series before Christmas, which just made The Angels Take in Manhattan even more tragic.

J: Agreed. I cried for about a week after what I now refer to as 'The Manhattan Incident'. For me, this series has been the one in which I've finally accepted Matt Smith as the Doctor, and stopped wondering how David Tennant would perform in a particular scene. He's really made the role his own, as they say. And he seems to have done it one tear at a time, which is rather unusual for the show and indeed the character. That said, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't beside myself with excitment at the prospect of DT's return in the 50th special. Shame they can't somehow resurrect Rory though...

B: Well you know how I feel about Rory. But I do think Jenna-Louise Coleman has been a fine addition to the TARDIS control room even if I am getting a little annoyed with everyone describing her as feisty as if that is somehow revelatory in a female character. But I digress. I think she has been a great foil for Smith and has a way with Moffat and the other writers' dialogue that completely humanises even the more ridiculous things she has to say in the line of science fiction.

J: I think we all know how you feel about Rory. It's the nose. And ah yes. Feisty Clara. Blackpool's own. I don't know whether it' just because her accent reminds me of home, but I've found her a lot more easy to like than Amy Pond. Who, come to think of it, wasn't exactly a wallflower herself so I'm also clueless as to why fesity seems to have become Clara's personal epithet. I think it's her common sense, to the point nature (you can take the girl out of Lancashire...) which helps with the more baffling bits of dialogue. Ironic really, giving how grand her destiny has turned out to be. 

B: Exactly. And I LOVED how they handled her many appearances through time in The Name of the Doctor. Whilst it hasn't exactly been explained why she was born to save the Doctor (something for the eighth series maybe?), the many Claras actually made logical, coherent sense, which I think we can all agree is remarkably refreshing for a Who finale. It also gave us many a welcome glimpse at Doctors long and not-so-long past. One of the higher points for the series don't you agree?

J: Certainly. I almost thought I'd missed something, it made so much sense. I kept waiting for it twist around and reveal that she was actually The Doctor's long lost Auntie Mildred. I would have liked to have seen her weaved into a few more moments from recent series I think, but it was still very well executed. Do we think her and The Doctor's relationship might develop into something a little more than professional in Series 8? I've heard a few rumours. Especially now that River-Spoliers-Song has now departed back into the confusing web of time from whence she came.


B: I've long thought that there might be something more with the Doctor and Clara. He's very affectionate with her, lots of kisses to the forehead and a lot of hugging. There has been an overabundance with kissing companions since Who returned, but the Ponds were a noticeable shift - I always thought that the Doctor and Amy had chemistry more akin to siblings, but there is definitely another vibe with Clara. I like Coleman and Smith together so I'm not wholly opposed to it, but I do hope that it is something a little more equal, not another Martha-gazing-adoringly-forever at the Doctor. Because that really sucked. So what did we think of the various episodes of Series Seven?

J: Yes the forehead kisses have been very noticeable, along with all the 'my Clara's'. I also half wondered if that's why the TARDIS rejected her a bit. Jealousy? Episodes wise, my personal favourite was The Crimson Horror. Along with Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS. Hide was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't think The Name of the Doctor was as good as The Angels Take Manhattan, in the fullness of honesty, and I also think that all the series breaks we have these days take something of the sense of occasion out of end of series episodes. There'll be a few Doctor Who parties come November, mind.

B: Agreed. I've not liked the way this series has been split up; it felt like it had to pick up momentum all over again after the heartbreaking The Angels Take Manhattan, which was probably one of the best episodes. And I did love The Crimson Horror, it was a great episode, but I think my personal favourite was Hide actually. Although I did have a problem with the ending, I loved the atmosphere it created as it felt like a proper ghost story. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS had the most wasted potential I think; whilst it was nice to see the library, the swimming pool and a quick glance at the Eye of Harmony, I absolutely hated the ending. Why work on all that character development with Clara if you're not actually going to take it anywhere? Reset buttons are the bane of science fiction and it really, really frustrated me. As you can probably tell.

J: Er yes I can rather. And yes it was the ending of Hide that ruined it for me. Far too much going on, a story within a story within a bizarre heartbroken alien. I'm certainly intrigued to see where we go from here. I notice the two-parters have ceased now, apparently after feedback from Moffat's young children. There's also the potential for several brand new character arcs now we've left a few beyond. Which I'm rather pleased about, as I couldn't stand River. I love the new Scooby Gang though, Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax are all brilliant characters. Any wild predictions or theories for Series 8? Oh and can we please stop mentioning Manhattan? I've only just come out of therapy.

B: Apologies - consider the Manhattan file closed! I think two-parters need to make a return personally, if only to give some of the stories a little more room to breathe. We've both observed the habit to wrap up things a little too quickly in certain episodes. As for wild predictions and theories, I'm thinking that, post-50th Anniversary episode, we're going to see some interesting developments for The Doctor who will no doubt be dealing with the fallout from it. And perhaps we'll find out who created Clara. Was it River? Was it the Daleks? I personally think they should go for something completely bonkers and have a previous Doctor see the future, realise what the Great Intelligence was going to do, create Clara in a weird timey-wimey sort of way and drop her off in the future for Matt Smith's Doctor to find. And maybe throw in Madame Vestra, Jenny and Strax for good measure. That probably doesn't make any sense. But then again, it probably won't in the show either. How about you? Madder the better.

J: I think the 50th Anniversary Episode will delve a little further into The Doctor's character, which I don't think we've had too much of lately. I actually think Smith's Doctor is more understated than Tennant's, and is often upstaged by his own companions. Fan as I am of Clara, this series has really all been about her, and I'd like more of a Doctor-centric focus, especially as his character has developed so much since the departure of the Ponds. If I could make requests, I'd like to see an episode on the wedding of Vastra and Jenny, a two-parter in which Straz becomnes an unlikely romantic hero and more of The Doctor's pathetic attempts at babysitting. More than that though, after this fairly substantial knock to his invincibility, I'd like Series Eight to involve The Doctor re-writing himself into history after systematically erasing himself in Seven, saving the universe all over again and generally being The Doctor. Which, let's face it, is why we watch it.

B: Definitely. To bring this full circle, Matt Smith has proven time and again that he has the acting chops to handle the weightier dramatic aspects with his curious balance of youth and maturity. I can't wait to see what Moffat has in store for us...

Whatever Series Eight has to offer, you can guarantee we here at Assorted Buffery will be there to watch it. So what do you all think of Series Seven? Agree, disagree, we would both love to know.

- Becky and Jen

You can find Jen's review of The Name of the Doctor here and Becky's retrospective look at Doctor Who (1996) here.

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Monday, 13 May 2013

TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - Nightmare in Silver


When it comes to Doctor Who, it is not that often that an episode by an individual writer attracts a whole lot of attention in its own right, unless of course, it has been written by Neil Gaiman, one of the most imaginative and brilliant writers around at the moment. His first episode for Moffat's run, The Doctor's Wife, was extremely well received and so anticipation naturally grew for his return to the Eleventh Doctor with Nightmare in Silver. Especially since it came with the promise that it would also see a return of the Cybermen, retooled by Gaiman to terrorise the Doctor once again.

Speaking of the Cybermen, they have been one of a few Doctor Who Big Bads to have suffered from over-exposure in recent years, beginning with The Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel a few years back. There's also the problem that they don't quite carry the fear factor that, say, the Daleks still have or the Weeping Angels precisely because they are so clunky; signalling your arrival with a clank and a thud does tend to lessen the impact somewhat. Therefore, they were primed for a revival and with a dash of Iron Man and a pinch of the Borg, Nightmare in Silver brings back the metallic menace and makes them a worthy enemy once more.

The episode as a whole was one of the better instalments this series, though not quite reaching the heights of Hide, balancing an action-packed story with some excellent performances. Matt Smith is given a huge amount to do this time around, not only portraying the noble Doctor but also the Cyber-Planner or Mr Clever as he prefers to be called, a cyberman keen to take control of the biggest and best brain in the universe. The scenes in which we entered the Doctor's head were beautifully presented (and with welcome images of his previous incarnations) whilst Smith did well to maintain a separation between the two identities, despite the odd slip into pantomime dramatics. I also enjoyed the directional choices here; the warm oranges of the Doctor's half of the brain, contrasted with the cold blue hues of the Cyber-Planner and the profile shots to determine which side of the brain was in control.

The performance of the episode though belonged to Warwick Davis. This series has done well with giving the guest characters proper arcs across the episode (referring once again back to Hide, but also to last week's The Crimson Horror) and Nightmare in Silver continued the tradition with Davis' Porridge. Beginning the episode as a con-artist manipulating a chess game and ending it back in his rightful place as emperor, Davis filled the role with a world weariness that made him a compelling figure in the midst of the action. 

The action itself, of which there is plenty, is as fast-paced and as frenetic as we've all come to expect from Doctor Who of late, but thankfully it isn't enough to complete alienate you. The refit of the Cybermen gives them an added menace and with some natty upgrades that stop them being defeated quite so easily. It also takes Who into some quite dark areas, particularly Porridge's speech about the destroyed galaxy and how he doesn't feel sorry for those who died, but for the man who pushed the button. Later, he faces the decision of blowing up an entire planet. In a time where most Who baddies are actually just misunderstood, it's refreshing to see an episode acknowledge that some are irredeemably evil and drastic measures must be taken to put a stop to it.

It wasn't all great though; the addition of the kids to the usual roster of TARDIS residents was not ideal and even though they proved to be little more than a plot point, they irritated me enough that I didn't care too much about their upgrades. We also didn't get to see as much of Clara this week and after the Victorian photograph revelation in the previous episode, it felt like a bit of a step back in her progression. 

Next week promises it be packed full of stuff, with a glimpse of Richard E. Grant in the trailer for the finale, The Name of the Doctor. Watch out for Jen's review.

- Becky

You can read Jen's review of the previous episode, The Crimson Horror, here.

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Tuesday, 30 April 2013

TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS


Despite the Jules Verne-y title, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS was actually more of an Alien type affair, much like the earlier episode Cold War, albeit in a place much cooler than a Russian submarine (sorry about the terrible pun... again). Long have we been teased about the swimming pool and the library and we finally got to see them in all their wonderful eccentricity though the swimming pool was glimpsed but briefly. The production design team worked a treat with the TARDIS sets, giving off a real sense of enormity with just a small budget. Clara's run through the corridors and discovering everything was easily the most fun part of the episode.

The episode built the tension well through the use of the creepy, smouldering zombie things and succeeded for a large part where the Ice Warrior did not. Through the simple technique of blurring their appearances, or only showing glimpses of them, they become a really quite creepy foes with added juddery movement that I found unsettling. Of course, the eventual truth of who they actually are dampened the matter somewhat though the fate of the Van Baalen brothers was most satisfying. Quite what they were doing there other than as a plot device for a fake countdown, I'm not entirely sure.

For this episode belonged, as most of them tend to do, to the central partnership of Clara and the Doctor. Jenna-Louise Coleman has now settled into the role so completely that it feels like she's been there forever. Her scene where she is forced to defend herself and yell at the Doctor was emotional stuff and proved that she is just as capable of the drama as she is dropping a one-liner. I've been a Matt Smith advocate from the moment his casting was announced (based solely on his performance in under-seen, underrated drama Party Animals - also starring Andrew Buchan of Broadchurch), but he really has excelled as everyone's favourite Gallifreyan. Capable of being young and giddy whilst at the same time feeling every bit of the Doctor's 900 years, he's proven himself to be a solid centre at the heart of the TARDIS.
And so we get to the ending. Now Doctor Who, as we have observed on many occasion (especially this series), has always had an issue wrapping everything up with a neat bow. The first two acts are generally great build-ups to what always seems to be a momentous finale. And then the third act amounts to five minutes of concluding before a brief epilogue that just feels unsatisfactory. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS was one such episode in which a nice handy 'big friendly' reset button to restore normality and give each of our principle players a nice happy-ish ending. Time is rewritten and the events of the previous forty minutes happened only for the audience and the Doctor.

Now I have a problem with such endings in a variety of contexts because it nearly always means that any character development that took place outside of the main character no longer happened. I find that incredibly frustrating, especially with a character like Clara who is currently vying with Rory for the title of Favourite Companion in the new Who. This episode gave her a chance to strike out on her own and to learn things about herself and her past, before it all gets erased and we're back where the episode started.
Clara found it within herself to stand up to the Doctor and get out of him the truth that he had been hiding whilst realising that he is definitely the scariest thing that had ever happened to her. 

It was great to see one of the more recent companions actually realise this and not just gaze at the Doctor in a bubble of admiration like Rose and Martha used to. Here was someone who openly declared the Doctor saved her and learned that she was a very special kind of mystery, one which is yet to be solved, only to have that moment taken away from her again. Of course, I am not writing this with the benefit of knowing the future (sadly all of my attempts at psychic ability have so far failed) and Clara may actually remember these events or come to remember them in the future. By declaring that she felt safe with the Doctor when pressed at the end of the episode certainly hints strongly that she cannot recall these important events.

It's a shame I disliked the ending so much because up until the last few scenes, it could have been a cracker of an episode, full of tension and impressive visuals. Especially the library, that looked fantastic. However, the final scenes left a bitter taste. Next week sees a return to Victorian London with Jenny and Madam Vestra returning along with Strax. It also boasts what is surely to be the most awesome mother-daughter team to grace the screens in a long while with Dame Diana Rigg appearing alongside Rachel Stirling. Find out what Jen thinks next week.

- Becky

You can read Jen's review of previous episode Hide here.

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Saturday, 27 April 2013

TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - Hide




On first look, it was easy to mistake this week’s episode of Doctor Who as something more in the way of supernatural than scientific. Whilst this isn’t necessarily a new theme for the show, it is the first of its kind in rather a while.

‘Hide’ told the story of the creepy Caliburn House, dwelled in by Professor Alec Palmer (Dougray Scott), his assistant Emma Grayling (Jessica Raine), oh and their friendly neighbourhood ghost. Only, it doesn’t seem quite so friendly. Naturally, The Doctor (Matt Smith) and plucky Clara (Jenna Louise Coleman) wade in to investigate, finding bits of the house that are colder than others, hearing odd voices and having their hands held by unseen beings. It’s worth mentioning at this point that Grayling is psychic, and is consequently picking up on a disembodied voice crying for help, in a rather nice twist on the usual scenario of The Doctor himself hearing said pleas before racing to anybody and everybody’s assistance. This being an episode of Doctor Who, however, naturally the ghost, or ‘ghast’ as everybody insisted upon calling it for reasons I never quite understood, was SPOILER ALERT not a ghost (or ghast) at all, but a time travelling lady caught in a shrinking ‘pocket universe’ whilst simultaneously being chased by what is quite possibly the ugliest alien in the show’s lengthy history.

The episode moved neatly from old school ghost story to quirky science fiction tale, a transition foreshadowed from the off by Clara introducing the two of them as ‘the Ghostbusters’ at the start of the show. There were also a couple of surprisingly touching stories of the ol’ romance genre running through ‘Hide’, the first, between Professor Palmer and his sweet yet talented assistant, and the second of a much more, er, ugly alien nature. Whilst heart-warming storylines in their own right, the romantic threads of the episode gave us all a well-earned break from our perpetual analysis and wonderment along the lines of WHO ON EARTH (nearly got through the review with that pun, then)  IS CLARA? WHAT is Clara? WHEN will we find out? Do you even KNOW, Moffat?  Which was nice, as all that shouting at your screen can become tiresome. Not least for your neighbours.

Performance of the week award goes to Jessica Raine as Emma Grayling, convincingly portraying both the doting assistant and tortured psychic elements of her character. Smith and Coleman were on form too, with the latter really settling into her sparky, quick witted role, and developing a charming relationship with the haughty TARDIS, despite this episode allegedly being the first one she actually filmed as the companion. Dougray Scott was also on hand to provide a brooding, almost Gothic sort of hero, initially appearing oblivious to both his own feelings and those of his assistant, but turning out to be something of a sweetie pie the second Grayling was in danger. 



If I have a criticism of the show, and what would an Assorted Buffery review be without a niggle of sorts, it’s that there was a little too much going on for me personally. Neil Cross’ plot had just a few too many lines, any one of which could have provided the crux of the episode. To name a few, we had the Professor’s role in WWII and The Doctor’s awareness of the two of them, the ghost-ghast, the time travelling lady, the pocket universe itself, the fact that it was shrinking, the monster, the second monster, the monster love story AND the family connections at the end. Phew. It all flowed nicely enough and didn’t feel jumpy, unlike several other Doctor Who episodes I could mention, but and call me boring if you will, the time traveller being stuck in a pocket universe which can only be accessed by a psychic was plot enough, thank you very much, especially with it shrinking. The presence of the monster as well felt a little overkill in places, even though the overall arc of the show did work very well.

All in all, however, a really rather nice, fun episode.  Particularly enjoyable as we suspect that it won’t be long until the questions start to be answered, and things all get a trifle serious again…

Doctor Who is next on tonight, 6.30pm. Look out for Becky’s review.


      Jen


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Thursday, 18 April 2013

TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - Cold War

After last week's philosophical and visual feast, the third episode of Doctor Who left me feeling, if you pardon the appalling pun, a little cold. The Doctor and Clara find themselves on a Russian submarine as everything starts to go wrong. Led by an impressively bearded Liam Cunningham as Captain Zhukov, bothered by Tobias Menzies on fine weaselly form as Stepashin and threatened by a pressuring ocean, the submarine also happens to be carrying nuclear warheads. As if the situation weren't already bad enough, we're also in the 80s during the Cold War. So really, the Doctor and Clara could not be in a worse position. Well, until they find themselves dealing with an Ice Warrior who has been frozen for 5000 years and has been recently thawed by a cocky Russian with a blowtorch.

Now, first of all the good points, of which there are a few, despite my low temperature level response. Having been written by Mark Gatiss, I was filled with a certain amount of trepidation approaching Cold War as his previous Whoniverse record isn't exactly glowing; his last outing, Victory of the Daleks, still leaves a bitter taste even with the Jammy Dodger speech and a neat Where Eagles Dare reference. Yet for Cold War, he manages to be on good form, offering us a decent narrative about honour and restraint with some major Hollywood influences.

The episode was notable for its bringing back of an old Doctor Who foe in the Ice Warrior and it was a welcome return for the honourable Martian. Skadlak was an intriguing character too, a Martian out of his time, believing himself to be the last of his race. The parallels to the Doctor were clear, if not explored in great depth, but it was clear enough that a lot of the Doctor's respect for his foe stemmed both from that and his previous dealings with them. It's always good when the show-runners bring back an old foe that hasn't suffered from over-exposure. With the Cybermen showing up later (at the hands of Neil Gaiman no less, colour me excited) and the Daleks having already appeared in the first half of the series, I really enjoyed seeing an old fore back again.

Speaking of the Ice Warrior, I also enjoyed the return to a more traditional Monster of the Week episode without the constant questioning of who Clara is or a wider narrative arc taking away from the events of the episode. It meant that we got a focus on the supporting cast who were all excellent. I'm a fan of Liam Cunningham anyway and he brought the necessary gravitas to the role of a beleaguered submarine captain (with more than a few shades of Sean Connery in Hunt for Red October). Tobias Menzies is another one of those actors who crops up in everything (most recently in Game of Thrones) and he's on fine form again here, as the over-eager yet also slightly cowardly first officer. But it was David Warner is the Walkman-toting Grisenko who stole the show, right from the point in which he burst in singing Ultravox.



However, the major problem with the episode was that it held about as much tension as a lettuce leaf. With clear influences from the likes of Alien and The Thing, it could have been a truly suspenseful, claustrophobic and memorable episode. Alas, once again a victim of the run-time, there was no real build-up in the scenes where Skaldak was on the loose in the submarine. Instead, we got a couple of head-grabby scenes, a couple of off-camera screams and that was about it. The emphasis on the distress signal that the ice warrior sent out also meant that, at the back of your mind, you knew someone was on the way to pick him up.

Like the films it references, Skaldak held much more potential to scare people who hadn't seen the ice warriors before by skulking in dark corners, never to be seen or heard until someone dies. Think of Alien with its monster only being seen in flashes, bursting out of ventilation shafts or grabbing people from the ceiling. Skaldak did the same thing, though without any of the build-up or without the sense of peril. Granted, Doctor Who is going out at primetime on a Saturday evening, but it is a show that doesn't tend to shy away from scares - Blink still terrifies me. Here though, it just didn't seem to be trying.

The first disappointment for me of this new series run, Cold War was less than the sum of its parts though it was probably the best of Gatiss' episodes. Still we have a fair few more episodes to come and next week's looks like a cracker. It has Dougray Scott in it for one thing. 

- Becky

You can read Jen's review of The Rings of Akhaten here.

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Saturday, 13 April 2013

TV REVIEW: Doctor Who, The Rings of Akhaten




Who on earth* is Clara? What is The Doctor’s mental state? Does he still miss the Pond-Williamses? Well we’ve got absolutely no idea, and we won’t for a while, but nevermind that let’s all go to a market stall on a distant planet with all sorts of weird and wonderful aliens, hurrah!- seemed to be the order of the day in this week’s Doctor Who episode, ‘The Rings of Akhaten’.

In what has become standard Doctor Who second episode of a new companion fare, ‘The Rings of Akhaten’ began with The Doctor asking Clara what in all of time, space and all the bits of fluff and otherwise in between, that she would most like to see. Clara, betraying little touches of her character with almost everything she says, again standard fare at this point in a new character’s TV lifespan, asks simply to see ‘something amazing’. That something turns out to be a suitably far off planet, or more accurately, seven planets, rotating around a pyramid commonly believe in those parts to be not only a God, but the source of all life. Conveniently for the plot, if not for Clara’s “nice day out”, they arrive just in time for the Festival of Offerings, where a young choir girl is in danger of becoming a young sacrifice to an old God.

With its issues of religion, faith and it’s prominence in society, as well as the presence of a giant godhead sleeping just out of sight, this episode is very reminiscent of Series 2’s ‘The Satan Pit’. The resemblance actually went further than just the basics, with Matt Smith’s Doctor confronting the god figure in much the same impassioned and heartfelt way as David Tennant’s did the devil back in 2006. Said speech was undoubtedly one of Smith’s finest moments as the time travelling hero so far, with the solitary tear streaking down his cheek at one point as he spoke of “those lost” adding sincerity, rather than the melodrama it could so easily have been accused of. He really did act his socks off, and, for me, usually more of a fan of his predecessor, finally standing up and owning the role as his own. Hey, it’s only taken me three years to come around.

And speaking of coming around to a character, Clara is developing into a bright and witty companion, much more instantly likeable, dare I say it, than the two parts feisty seven parts grumpy Amy Pond (I mean she was married to Arthur Darvill for goodness sake!). We still don’t know who she is, but we are being slowly drip fed details of who she might have been. Albeit in the style of ever frustrating programmes such as ‘Lost’ –  i.e in a way which pretends to give you clues but actually just presents yet more questions. Aside from that, though, my fellow Blackpool born Jenna Louise Coleman is very watchable, and I look forward to seeing what she can do when given a plotline that isn’t entirely based around who, what, where, how – HUH?!? The second most googled phrase about her beyond her full name also happens to be ‘Jenna Louise Coleman hot’, so er, good for her I suppose.


 Many people seem to have been annoyed in their droves by this episode, presumably because it was a little too Fiction, with not enough Science, falling foul of that age old Doctor Who problem of wrapping up the main drama far too quickly without a thought for the consequences or how this is all meant to have happened. Personally, though, I think the main point of an episode such as this,  what with Clara being the new girl and The Doctor still grieving his lost friends, was always going to be more to do with character than the plot itself. Whilst others were not happy with that, and understandably so, given just how fantastic said character development was, particularly in the case of Matt Smith, personally I’ll happily take the compromise.

Perhaps tonight’s episode, ‘Cold War’ we’ll satisfy a wider range of viewers? Becky will let you know.


The next episode of Doctor Who, ‘Cold War’ is on tonight, BBC One, 6pm.

-       

*Consider that your first ‘what on earth’ pun of this series. Plenty more where that came from, fret not.



  Jen



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