DW 8.05

I'm not saying I'm overly cynical (although I am), but I watched that opening and went "that's a brilliant opening... how are they going to cock it up?" Interesting fact: my Chrome spelling thing doesn't know the word 'heist'.

So, first mistake: waking up at the beginning of the heist. How more interesting would it have been if they had woken up at the end and had to reconstruct what happened? Heck, the Doctor and Clara could go back and see what happened, and interact with events around their past selves and that would be been great. Instead, we just skip over the thorny question of "why would the Doctor do this?" so we can get the story going.

And then there's a big bad. With an example of him being a big bad. Sigh. Now it's just getting boring. Oh the tension they are trying to build and failing... (pro-tip: a usb plug that's an image transmitter that's obviously just a usb plug, especially to those watching? not an effective image transmitter).

Fifteen minutes in: current guess, the Doctor is the Architect, and he's getting back the TARDIS which is locked in the bank.

For someone who doesn't know what the Teller was, he seems to know an awful lot about how it works. And I was expecting Saibra to turn into the Teller and have a connection that way. Nope. (That 'exit strategy' looks like a lot like a transporter.)

The Teller is not impressive. Especially not the feet. At the first reveal, I was thinking it was a four legged beastie. That would have been interesting... but nope. Instead we get a Judoon knockoff. ...why don't they use the 'exit strategy' on the Teller?

33 mins... HA! And new theory, Architect is Karabraxos, is trapped in the bank, and wants out.

Just what is the director doing with all those transition effects? What show is he referencing? And then there are a conveniently huge duct tunnel things to get through the station by. The director was far more concerned with appearance than sense.

And at 40 minutes... I was right. And there's the Teller's mate (I say, right before the lock is opened).

Thinking back on it later... what is the point of Clara? She sees her clone and doesn't get angry (although that idea could help explain The Rebel Flesh). She's pessimistic, as the Doctor points out. She gets into trouble and makes Psy sacrifice himself. The Doctor's only got her there to disrupt her date. What great insight does she provide to the heist? I can't think of anything...

And so it ends limply, with two ridiculous creatures wobbling away...

Next week: Oh gods, the soap opera is right back, along with dodgy robots.

[END]