DW 5.02: The Beast Below

I wanted to like this episode... however... not as strong as last week.

Anyone else reminded of The Long Game? Obviously in reverse. Although, as much as this might be painful to admit, TLG had a better plot structure that TBB. The plot seemed all over the place, little scenes happening, without any decent connection between them [and let's not talk about the continuity nightmare that is their clothes and hair after they got vomitted up, no way that works]. And what plot there is is very easily gotten. How quickly does Liz Ten turn up? How easily do they move about this huge space craft? (Which made be think 'Brit-Cit in Space'.)

The one shining moment is when Amy puts it all together. Lovely moment of snatching victory that even the Doctor doesn't see... and then we are hammered with Doctor/Space Whale comparisons every other line. We get it, move on already. [Speaking of Amy, anyone creeped out about the fact that the Doctor was staring up her nightie in the opening?]

Performance wise, Karen Gillan is still strong, although Matt Smith's seems to have toned down a little. Got a bit less of the "old man in a young man's body" feel, and what we did get was more "tell don't show". This should have been a better moment to show off how alone the Doctor is, but the focus wasn't quite there. And Sophie Okonedo has traded (up? down?) from companion to guest star, pity the role wasn't worth it.

In the end, rather weak from Stephen Moffat, who was clearly putting his energy elsewhere. Rather telling that the script needed to bring in something from next week to pad it out...


Next week: Daleks! Cos we haven't seen them before... on the other hand, flashbacks to Manhatten Daleks in Evolution.

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