Monday 20 May 2013

DW: Episode 7.2.8

So we start with Forest Gump'ing all over the series (although not 8, 9 and 10 that I spotted). Yes I did work out most of the episodes they referenced (in so far as it wasn't some random extra dressed as the Doctor walking around). But, what will the name be? If it's Rassilon, I'm slapping Moffat.

Okay, so I've now watched that... and WE STILL DON'T KNOW THE DOCTOR'S NAME!!! Even though River Song says it, and we've heard everything else she's said. But noooo... And Clara doesn't get back her memory from reading that book in the library? And, and... and this is the biggest thing... we've set up this season so that Clara went into the stream, so clearly the Doctor going to Trenzalor was always a thing, but... knowing that, why wouldn't the Doctor have set up the Tomb to be a trap of some kind? Or other 'get out' clause built in (that still preserved some form of the time line). Not to mention how depressed must the Doctor get, always knowing that at some point he's going to end up on Trenzalor... [But where's the Silence? And wasn't there a big thing about the Field of Whatsis? And where's the falling Silence that's supposed to happen? Or is all that still yet to happen, and will happen during the big death fight of the Doctor?]

And it's a title??? A promise? The Doctor has always going on about how he's a doctor of science, but that would imply the Doctor is a healing term!! Bah! You know what, Moffat. No. You don't get to write the series any more. You clearly only want to rewrite the entire series for some mad idea you want and don't care about the history. RTD did this because he didn't care about the history, only cared about the characters. You obviously care about the history, but not enough to not to want to shit all over it with this. Clara all over the Doctor's past? Bullshit. Just straight up bullshit.

But really this whole episode is set up for the big 50th. With John Hurt. Big love for Hurt, but... I don't know any more... I just don't trust Moffat to deliver whatever he promises. This episode works in a basic way... but just fails in so many others.

Next time: The worst part isn't the six month wait, but the endless speculation and spoilers we're going to have to avoid.

[END]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The maguffin of this episode was the idea that the words of the condemned man had been completely misunderstood by everyone (except River Song.) So it seems oddly apposite that everyone misunderstood the title of this episode (in the same way as we did with The Doctor's Wife.)

Think of it as being IN the Name of the Doctor, and it works beautifully - all of the actions of the characters in the story (Song, Vasta et al, the Great Intelligence, Clara, the Doctor, even perhaps the TARDIS although that's a whole different kettle of fish) were driven to do what they did "in the name of" the Doctor. Hence his repudiation of whoever that actually is at the end.
I genuinely don't see why everyone is so upset other than the embarrassment of having to admit that they made the mistake. (And yes, I jumped to the wrong conclusion as well. And I feel like an idiot too.)

Jamas Enright said...

I entirely agree that it works as "IN the Name of". But we had this big set up in the last season of "the Doctor's name being spoken on the fields on Trenzalor" with the Silence... and it's that lack of pay off (where's the Silence??) that's annoying me so much.
Moffat has left so many major dangling plot threads (what did cause the crack in time?) that I can't trust him with stories any more.