The Power of Three finds the Ponds torn between their two lives, real life and life with the Doctor. Meanwhile, mysterious black cubes begin appearing everywhere with no explanation and no conceivable motive. Spoilers sweetie!
To try and sum up the plot of this episode, and do justice to everything that happened, briefly and succinctly would be near impossible. A ridiculous amount happened; from the welcome return of Brian Williams (Mark Williams), Rory (Arthur Darvill) actually doing his job whilst Amy (Karen Gillan) hangs out with her friends, then there's the supposed cube invasion which turned out to be an attempt at genocide, the Doctor (Matt Smith) starting to realise his companions are going to leave him, UNIT coming back, a Lethridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) appearing and... well I'm not going to go on, you've probably seen the episode yourself.
Put simply, there was too much happening. As Jen has observed, Doctor Who is very much a victim of its episode run-time and nowhere was that more evident than in The Power of Three. The slow cube invasion was an excellent concept, a true sci-fi gem that could have been utilised to ramp up the tension before the big Steven Birkoff-related reveal. In between, however, we got a stupid amount of time-jumping as the Doctor got bored so swept Amy and Rory away to times gone by. Instead of creating a cohesive storyline, Chris Chibnall's script instead opted for mining the largest amount of jokes and references he could. It was still entertaining, but far too frenetic to become truly invested in.
As such, the reveal that it is the Shakri, a galactic pre-emptive policing system who want to get rid of the human race before they can conquer space, becomes both rushed and slightly anti-climactic. It is left to yet another convenient 'sonic screwdriver solves everything' conclusion, something which I had hopefully thought we'd left behind in the Davies era. Poor Steven Berkoff had barely anything to do except look evil then aggrieved. After the fantastic twist in Asylum of the Daleks or the ridiculously tense climax of A Town Called Mercy, this paled in comparison. It does, however, get points for providing some of the most terrifying facially challenged people since the "where's my mummy" child (Which still haunts me. Bloody Moffat).
Thankfully, despite the many plots, the episode still had an inherent strength and entertainment value because of the performances of the key players. Seeing the Ponds in their two lives added another depth to their characters because, whilst we've always seen companions' families, it is rare that you see their wider social circles. The ever-growing sense of doom surrounding their departure continues this week with Brian questioning the Doctor about his previous companions. His 'just get them back safe' at the end of the episode was practically dripping in dramatic irony.
As always, Smith remains the strongest performance and he was giving a fair amount of emotional yo-yo-ing to do this week, as well as demonstrating a Doctor at only half his coronary capacity. In amidst all the mania, he still manages to convey the darkness we've been seeing in previous episodes, the anger and the loneliness that never goes away. It's a masterful performance and Smith is further cementing himself as an iconic incarnation of everyone's favourite Time Lord.
For me, this episode has been the weakest of the current run with too much plot, frenetically jumping from one scene to the next whilst trying to cram as many jokes and references in as possible. That being said, it's a testament to the quality of this latest series that The Power of Three was still an enjoyable watch and further confirms that the Ponds' departure is going to be a very sad episode indeed. Both Jen and I will be reviewing The Angels Take Manhattan next week, together, at the same time. Who knows how on Gallifrey that will turn out.
- Becky
You can read Jen's review of A Town Called Mercy here.
Follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or follow her blog beckygracelea.wordpress.com
With possibly the best title since last series' Let's Kill Hitler!, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship finds the Doctor and the Ponds aboard an abandoned craft populated by dinosaurs, with only an Egyptian Queen, a rather bemused member of the Pond Williams family and a Victorian game hunter for help. As always, there be spoilers ahead.
Finding himself propositioned rather strongly by Queen Nefertiti (Riann Steele), the Doctor (Matt Smith) is relieved to be called away to 2367 AD to help Earth out with a hurtling spaceship problem. Earth's authorities declare that they are going to blow up the ship in six hours if the Doctor can't stop it. Nefertiti has come along for the ride and the Doctor decides to enlist a friend, a big game hunter named Ridell (Rupert Graves), and the ever-reliable Ponds (Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill), accidentally bringing Rory's father, Brian, along for the ride (Mark Williams).
The first thing that struck me about this episode, apart from the new episode-themed title sequence, was how much fun the cast seemed to be having. Matt Smith has really settled into the role of the Doctor now and the constant mood swings the character experiences are well-handled from his infectious humour to his despair at Solomon's actions (David Bradley). Chris Chibnall's script was packed full with great lines that offered each of the main actors, regular or guest, to shine whilst also offering us a fast-paced narrative that was both well constructed and easy to follow. It was a proper caper episode, from start to finish, and should go down as one of the more enjoyable adventures of the Eleventh Doctor, fitting well into Steven Moffat's new blockbuster mantra.
I've long been a fan of Rupert Graves and his gung-ho Victorian hunter was brilliant from start to finish with his innuendo-ridden chat-up line to Nefertiti providing one of the big laugh-out-loud moments. Also, his ongoing battle with Amy was a real highlight and played well with the actors' chemistry and their different social attitudes. David Bradley made a suitably scenery chewing villain but the most adorable member of the cast had to be his fellow Harry Potter alumnus Mark Williams. Given his very own character arc across the episode, he was both funny and poignant, going from a man who lives a staid life to one who travels the world, the universe and beyond. Williams handled the role perfectly and the shot of him sipping a cup of tea whilst looking at Earth from the TARDIS was a lovely moment.
There was one slight drawback in the proceedings however as the episode was also notable for the appearance of comedy duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb as a tempestuous pair of robots who looked like they had been sourced from The Fifth Element leftovers. Sadly, despite their considerable comedic skills, the pair unfortunately forgot to utilise their funny bones and were let down somewhat by the material they were given. Many of the supposed jokes that the pair came out with fell rather flat and paled in comparison to the considerably more hilarious scenes between Ridell, Nefertiti and Amy. All in all, their appearance was perhaps the only low point of the episode and detracted from the immense fun that was going on elsewhere.
It wasn't all laughs and positivity in the narrative either as the whole episode had an underlying air of doom, from the massacre of the Silurians to the impending departure of the Ponds. With Amy's declaration that the Doctor could be with her to her 'end', there was a rather ominous hint to her potential fate. Whilst my love of Arthur Darvill's Rory is both well-known and unabashed, I've had a rather difficult relationship with Amy throughout her time on the series. Recently though, Karen Gillan has proven herself repeatedly and has completely won me over. After the heartbreaking revelation about the consequences of Demon's Run in the last episode, feisty Amy was back and here, Gillan acquitted herself well, showing how Amy has developed into a competent time-traveller in her own right. I'm going to be extremely sad to see the Ponds go.
A rather worrying trend was beginning to emerge in the Moffat/Smith era of the second episodes in the series being rather, to put it bluntly, crap. Thankfully Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is a riot from start to finish and a great way to continue from the excellent Asylum of the Daleks. Next week sees our heroes hit the Wild West with cyborgs and Matt Smith donning a Stetson. Stetsons are cool.
- Becky
You can read Jen's review of Asylum of the Daleks here.
Follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or find her at her blog: beckygracelea.wordpress.com
