It's insulting when a TV show episode tells me how I should think about its characters by using weak, expository dialog. It's even worse when a plot isn't really a plot, rather a "vehicle" that makes some sponsored points but few impressions.
This episode starts with an excellent setting/premise: a Victorian steam-punk mystery starring Vastra et al. and a new Doctor, plus throws a Tyrannosaur into the heart of London! You've got a smashing episode, right?
Nah, sorry. Basically, all this episode does is repeatedly stuff certain concepts down one's brain through limp dialog, while failing to deliver on the plot side. The best I could describe it is "fun, I guess."
Vastra/Jenny, with their proved character potential, are all but wasted in this episode. Moffat, instead of writing Vastra some of the cool investigative intricacies of Sherlock, just throws her a "game is afoot" line (duh, got it), some moralistic posturing at Clara, with tons of tweenishly awkward interpretations of an interspecies lesbian relationship which verge on adolescent slashfic. Look, we get it already.
Straxx? As always, a great job at comic relief. It's just that in this episode, there's nothing really heavy to get comically "relieved" from.
Clara, with her whole "OMG, the Doctor's old!" thing, is one of the most slighted characters in this episode. Do we really think that Clara loved the 11th Doctor because he was "young and hot?" All of the sudden a faithful Who companion is turned into a person who thinks mainly with her hormones (her subconscious full of young men having sex, per Straxx's exam), and requires a knock on the head from 3+ characters to "finally" hug an "old" man. If he were, say, made of rotting green bacon, then this whole subplot would've made sense. But no, the new doctor's just an older-looking guy. It's not like he's asking her on a date, after all. What're the writers so insecure about?
The villain in this episode could have been so much cooler. I mean, multiply steam-punk by millions of years... a sci-fi writer's dream! At least, he could have been relevant and/or made logical sense. But no, robots who only know you're not a robot if you breathe, and will hack at you with swords until you decide to hold your breath. And if they can make a blimp out of skins, how come El Honcho's missing half his face?
Capaldi? Yeah, he's good. I appreciated the occasional tributes he did to previous doctors, but most importantly, by taking the crappy script he got this time and making it OK, he's gonna carry the role well.
In all, an entertaining episode, though with insulting writing aimed at the LCD. I hope they don't saddle Capaldi with having to save every episode.
This episode starts with an excellent setting/premise: a Victorian steam-punk mystery starring Vastra et al. and a new Doctor, plus throws a Tyrannosaur into the heart of London! You've got a smashing episode, right?
Nah, sorry. Basically, all this episode does is repeatedly stuff certain concepts down one's brain through limp dialog, while failing to deliver on the plot side. The best I could describe it is "fun, I guess."
Vastra/Jenny, with their proved character potential, are all but wasted in this episode. Moffat, instead of writing Vastra some of the cool investigative intricacies of Sherlock, just throws her a "game is afoot" line (duh, got it), some moralistic posturing at Clara, with tons of tweenishly awkward interpretations of an interspecies lesbian relationship which verge on adolescent slashfic. Look, we get it already.
Straxx? As always, a great job at comic relief. It's just that in this episode, there's nothing really heavy to get comically "relieved" from.
Clara, with her whole "OMG, the Doctor's old!" thing, is one of the most slighted characters in this episode. Do we really think that Clara loved the 11th Doctor because he was "young and hot?" All of the sudden a faithful Who companion is turned into a person who thinks mainly with her hormones (her subconscious full of young men having sex, per Straxx's exam), and requires a knock on the head from 3+ characters to "finally" hug an "old" man. If he were, say, made of rotting green bacon, then this whole subplot would've made sense. But no, the new doctor's just an older-looking guy. It's not like he's asking her on a date, after all. What're the writers so insecure about?
The villain in this episode could have been so much cooler. I mean, multiply steam-punk by millions of years... a sci-fi writer's dream! At least, he could have been relevant and/or made logical sense. But no, robots who only know you're not a robot if you breathe, and will hack at you with swords until you decide to hold your breath. And if they can make a blimp out of skins, how come El Honcho's missing half his face?
Capaldi? Yeah, he's good. I appreciated the occasional tributes he did to previous doctors, but most importantly, by taking the crappy script he got this time and making it OK, he's gonna carry the role well.
In all, an entertaining episode, though with insulting writing aimed at the LCD. I hope they don't saddle Capaldi with having to save every episode.
