Posted 02 September 2014 - 07:47 PM
Regards the episode - like many have said, I'm terribly sick of the Daleks. I realize there's some contract somewhere that forces them to use the Daleks once a season at least (or at least I feel like I read that in here somewhere) but still, their episodes, though wildly varying in the how they get there, pretty much always end the same way.
That being said, there is lots in this episode that I thought was truly wonderful! As noted above, the moments where the Doctor's usual compassion about people dying just isn't there ("He's the top layer if you want to say a few words" had me in stitches) were great to watch. The slow fleshing out of Clara's relationship with this Doctor is good. When she was saying "That is NOT what we have learned!" I was seriously being all "You teach that Doctor, teacher!!"
Also, the call back Dalek line "You would have made a good Dalek." Say what you will about the Daleks, that's one of the most powerful lines in the series. I think the first time a Dalek says that in NewWho is in Eccleston's first Dalek episode, and it's an idea that has been touched on, but the fact that they overtly bring that specific line back was very neat. I think that it's an indication of what we should be expecting from this season's Doctor Who. We'll be exploring the Doctor's dark side, and just how dark his dark side can be.
I'm unsure how I feel about Pink the Soldier, yet. Obviously one of the overarching themes this season is going to be the Doctor's hate for soldiers, something that has always been evident in NewWho. I feel like event Tennant and Smith's Doctors hated soldiers (because GUNS!) but given that this Doctor is all about the darker side, we're going to be looking very closely at the things that the Doctor hates, and how the Doctor expresses that hate. I like that, I think it's going to make for excellent television, but Pink is a Chekhov's Gun, and I'm interested to see how, exactly, that gun is going to fire.
It seems obvious, to me, that Clara's gonna fall in love with him, the Doctor's going to continue being down on soldiers throughout the season, he's eventually going to come pick Clara up while she's with Pink, they're going to help the Doctor deal with something, the Doctor's going to get really buddy-buddy with Pink, but then find out that Pink is a soldier, and it's gonna cause all kinds of drama that'll force Clara to make the Doctor just deal with how he expresses his hate... I'll be interested to see if they go somewhere different with that, and how Pink is going to tie into the rest of the overarching plot.
There is no struggle too vast, no odds too overwhelming, for even should we fail - should we fall - we will know that we have lived. ~ Anomander Rake
My sig comes from a game in which I didn't heed Blend's advice. So maybe this time I should. ~ Khellendros
I'm just going to have to come to terms with the fact that self-vote suiciding will forever be referred to as "pulling a JPK" now, aren't I? ~ JPK