Sunday, July 02, 2017

A Sunday Doctor Who Review

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I will be discussing my thoughts and feelings of the Doctor Who episode "World Enough and Time" after the cut. I will not worry about spoiling the plot, so read at your own risk.

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Doctor Who: "World Enough and Time" - The Doctor decides to test Missy by letting her answer a distress call with Bill and Nardole.

That was an incredible opening scene. I didn't like it in the sense that I didn't like what was happening in it, but I have to admit it was an incredible way to open the story.

I have mixed feelings about this one, all the way through. I liked the set up, with the front of the ship moving slower through time than the bottom of the ship, but I have a lot of questions about it that I hope will be answered in the next episode. For example, if part of the crew was sent down to mess with the thrusters, and time moves more quickly down there, why weren't they back to the main cabin almost immediately? What stopped them from returning? There must be something more going on.

I hated the disguise. Why did he need a disguise? Seriously? For YEARS. Had Bill ever met him before? She might *MIGHT* have recognized him as Saxon, but out of context, with some subtle changes and not a full mask, she probably wouldn't have. It was a device entirely for the audience and it messed up the story.

Speaking of years, Bill lived with this guy for years and never figured anything out? An observant person like her? Eventually she would have turned her attention to other things besides waiting for the Doctor, although that would always be in her head. I find it a little difficult to accept, given what we were given, that she didn't have more of a clue what was happening.

The scene in which Bill is shot, interspersed with scenes of her talking with the Doctor, were nicely done. It was shocking to see a big hole in her, but not as shocking as when she meets the Doctor again. That scene was both predictable and distressing. And makes everything I've read about Bill probably being a one-season companion makes a little more sense. Even with that, however, I'm halfway expecting a reset button to be pushed somewhere along the way.

I guess that's my biggest problem with this episode. I kind of feel like it went out-of-bounds, and it's going to be brought back at some point to the status quo. I don't know why I feel that: it isn't really bound the way I feel like it is, but I still feel a deep cynicism that they really went forward with this. By the time you read this, many people will have seen the second half of the story. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I almost can't imagine the reset button not being pressed.

I'm partly convinced that Missy is going to save the day. That would be very strange.

TL;DR summary - Not my favorite.

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