DW 511: The Lodger

So last week's trailer was basically this week's precredit sequence. Cool! We nicely set up the sit-rom-com and the mystery! If only all trailers could be that brief and not-give-away-y!

So let's get this out of the way. It so easily could have been Sapphire and Steel, but clearly Gareth was going more for the funny. Thus we get big fatso Gareth Craig is pining for his girlfriend and gets caught up in the Doctor's life (yeah, that is in no way any kind of Gary Stu situation there).

But clearly the love interest had to culminate in the same moment the sci-fi is dealt with, that's just obvious, yet good, story-telling! (And yet, in the Confidential, it took a dozen drafts to get there?) In fact, good story telling all around! (Now, I do have the comic, but can't be bothered looking it up. I'm not sure what is says that previous stories were televised novels, but now they're televising comic strips?)

Matt Smith gets a lot of play in this story too, and gets to show off his football skills. I was trying to imagine Eccleston doing this, couldn't (but then, he doesn't do 'domestic'. And we would have had to have Rose). Although this is the same character I couldn't see the Pertwee spitting out wine, Baker (either) probably would have gone upstairs straight away, and McCoy would have been the one upstairs. Lawrence Miles does have another good point (damn him) about the stories being appropriate for the Doctor.

Anyway, decent story, nice light touch to 'cleanse the palette' before the final headlong crash into continuity...


Next week: It begins! Or rather, ends! What is in the Pandorica? I have a suspicion...

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