Doctor Who 11.09

Well, this is a mess of a story, isn't it?

We start with it could being a haunted cabin or a cabin under attack from strange and weird forces... but nah, don't worry, it's just the dad being a dick and speakers. We get a weird inbetween zone with a strange figure and flesh eating moths... but after one problem takes care of the other, we don't need to worry about it again. Instead it's a weird parasitic dimension that wants you to be there and will whatever it takes... which, as it happens, aligns perfectly with an odd tale from the Doctor's childhood of a thing from before time, but it gives up pretty easily.

And so we have three different ideas stuck together, and they are not patched together well. If they fed off each other, or played more together, fine, but this really is three parts that are just three parts. And while each part could have been developed into being a proper threat, none of them really are inpactful.

Well, the third bit could be, with that other dimensional living energy (well, that was a luck long shot, eh?). Meeting your past loved one is a heck of a draw, and really could have been powerful... but I weren't really believing it was Grace and was just waiting for the drop. If Ryan had also encountered her, it would have been something, but this also demonstrates we just have too many characters. Although this did lead to the granddad bit, so that character arc is resolved... just in time for the final episode. Oh dear?

At least we have Ellie Wallwork, a proper blind actress, so they have that going for them. Oh, and other comedian Kevin Eldon, trapped beneath layers of latex and bad lighting and suffers the same fate of all comedians in this series... being badly used.

Now the Solitrax is standard bafflegab for Doctor Who, but for some reason, probably because it's just a small part of this mess of an episode, this is just emblematic of just this episode pulling crap from its arse and trying to be important. It just doesn't work.

Next time: Um... big epic finale, wrapping up all the hints of this season? Or just another base under siege story?

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