Did you notice my new graphic? Pretty snazzy huh? Yeah, I made it myself with my mad windows paint skills. Okay, I lied. I just looked up a website to help me make graphics on Google and pieced one together in a matter of minutes. But I digress. I’m almost caught up folks. I know I’ve said this before but school got in the way. This week two of my four classes don’t have any homework due so I am going to do the sixth TARDIS Talk and then be all caught up! As usual, my TARDIS Talks have spoilers so allow Cat Smith (get it? Cat Smith! HA!) to be your final warning to turn back if you haven’t see episodes 8 or 9 yet.
Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express
As series eight progresses each episode feels more and more like older Doctor Who episodes. Episode 8 starts out with a bang that grabbed my attention right away. The mummy was nice and creepy and the addition of the timer counting down added a sense of urgency to an already tense situation. When the TARDIS appears in the baggage car it almost feels like we’re coming in mid episode which coupled with the early introduction of the mummy, helped the episode not have a slow start. Clara looked stunning in this episode which is nothing new but I thought the 1920’s style dress was great.
The setting was well done and it felt like, had the train been on earth and not flying through space, it could have been an actual retelling of Murder on the Orient Express. When the curtain was pulled back and the real train was revealed I quite missed the stylized feel of the Orient Express but the change in the train fit the change in the story really well. I liked the interactions between the Doctor and Clara in this episode. It was bittersweet and we went into this episode thinking it was a goodbye trip for Clara. This “date” also is a perfect example of how unconventional their relationship is. I’m not just saying that because he’s the Doctor and she’s a companion. Just look at what the trip was supposed to be. It was supposed to be the two of them on a romantic train ride through space but without the romance. She was never with Eleven long enough for me to get a real good feeling of their chemistry but I have the feeling that if Smith had stayed around for another season, it would have grown into what it is now. It looked like a date, seemed like date, but it wasn’t a date, not really. But it still had the feeling of an awkward date. Until mummy showed up again.
It was good seeing Danny this episode especially because he falls right in between the other two guys who have come along on adventures and loved companions. He reminds me a lot of Rory which is a good thing. I’d rather have someone remind me of Rory than remind me of Mickey because at least Rory wasn’t rubbish. Anywho, I could tell that the Doctor really was getting ready to say goodbye to Clara when he didn’t knock on her door before he went to investigate in the engine room. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. I know I’ve mentioned before that this Doctor is a jerk but he seems like a child who just hasn’t figured out that the way he’s acting is wrong. If you remember the end of the last episode Kill the Moon, when Clara yelled at him, you could see it in his eyes. He explained his side of things but seemed a mix of sad and shocked that Clara couldn’t see it his way.
Mummy on the Orient Express was another episode that showcased how Clara is probably one of the most determined and action oriented companions yet. When Clara finally leaves her cabin she comes face to face with Maisie, the granddaughter of the old woman from the beginning, on her way to see her grandmothers body. We see this aspect of her a lot more in the next episode Flatline when the Doctor is stuck in the TARDIS. The horror aspect of this episode was quite well done. The claustrophobic feeling of the train coupled with a foe you can’t escape and this was easily one of the scarier episodes this season. The addition of Gus made it feel like GLaDOS’s mellower brother was running the train.
I did feel a little cheated though with the episode because there wasn’t enough of a resolution with Gus. We knew he was trying to find out what made the Foretold tick so he could turn it into a weapon or super-solder or something but we never found out who created the train, who left Gus to steer things in the right direction, and how they even got the Foretold on the train in the first place. I know the episodes are only an hour long, but how many times before have we been introduced to an equally complex situation and got way more answers?
This episode gave us our first hints into Twelve’s mind and why he’s been so brash. It was all made clear when he mentions that sometimes all your available choices are bad ones, but you still have to choose. It caused me to think back on all the times that I was critical of the Doctor for being a jerk and maybe his only other options in those situations were bad ones too. Look back at Kill the Moon. If he stepped in and saved the creature then he risked killing everyone on Earth. If he blew up the egg then he’d have murdered an innocent creature, so maybe leaving the decision Clara and the people of Earth was the best course of action. Clara was too emotional at the time to understand that so that’s why she forgave the Doctor at the end of this episode. She’s beginning to understand him.
Mummy on the Orient Express is probably now my second favorite episode. First being Time Heist and third being Robot of Sherwood. We didn’t see Missy or the Nethersphere at the end of this episode even though so many people died. I wonder if we’ll ever get answers as to why we haven’t seen more of her yet.
Episode 9: Flatline
Another great episode, folks! Another episode where we see a bit more of the old Doctors in Twelve without abandoning who he has become. The Doctor lands the TARDIS in the wrong place which is something we haven’t seen him do all that often in recent history. Remember that Ten always had a problem getting to the exact time and place he wanted. Remember when Aliens of London (series one, episode four)) when Nine brought Rose back only to find out that she’d been gone for twelve months instead of hours and people thought she was missing? It wasn’t so dramatic this time though as he landed in the right time but the wrong place. Bristol rather than London.
The thing that confused me the most about the episode was the fact that these two dimensional creatures were sapping the power from the TARDIS. The TARDIS has a black hole in the center that powers it which Eleven revealed in Journey to the Center of the TARDIS (series seven, episode ten). So this group of creatures from another dimension zapped so much energy from it that it’s not only going to shrink but it’s going to turn off life support? I didn’t buy that. I liked the shrinking TARDIS but I would have preferred that something, I don’t know, more epic be what caused that much trouble. If later on this season, or next season, we learn that Missy was somehow involved then I’d be fine with it. But until that happens I just don’t buy that some two dimensional baddies can have that big an impact.
That was, however, my only complaint with the episode. I had a lot of fun watching Clara run around mostly on her own with the Doctor in her ear. I’ve read that this episode was light on the Doctor because of scheduling conflicts, but I didn’t even notice. Even though he didn’t have a lot of screen time, his presence was felt the entire time. I liked how Clara was good at being the Doctor but not too good. You could see there were moments where she had to collect her thoughts or didn’t know the right course of action at a moment’s notice. When she was giving instructions to the community service group it felt like she was using her teaching experience to get the guys in line. Clara’s plan to get the energy back to the TARDIS, which was in siege mode, was inspired and not entirely predictable. I knew that Rigsy’s “artistic skills” were going to be brought up somehow by the end of the episode. I just didn’t know that it was going to be used in that way.
There were two parts that made me see a bit of the old Doctors in Twelve. The first was that he assumed the best of the Boneless. He assumed that they really didn’t want to hurt people and that they probably didn’t even realize they were hurting anyone. Later, when he escaped the TARDIS and realized that they weren’t interested in peace, the Doctor says that the 3rd dimension was under his protection. That last part reminded me a lot of Matt Smith’s first episode titled The Eleventh Hour (series five, episode one) when he told the Atraxi to bugger off, that the Earth was under his protection.
The final scene in the episode between Clara and the Doctor did a lot more to show us Twelve’s side of things. His statement that “goodness” has nothing to do with being and exceptional Doctor really encapsulates his current mentality. I realized that I thought he had been a gigantic dick lately and I wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. It’s a mix of him being colder and detached while dealing with situations that may not have any good answer, like he said last episode. I’m really looking forward to the growth of the Doctor.
Oh, and we saw Missy again! But what could she have meant by “her Clara” and having “chosen well?” The fact that we’ve seen so much of Clara at home this season makes me think that she is the real Clara so she hasn’t been planted by Missy. Unless she had been planted and either had her memory wiped, or she just pushed Clara in the right direction. OR! If one of the theories about Missy is correct that could explain it too. If Missy is a TARDIS then she may be referring to something Clara and the Doctor haven’t experienced yet. If Missy is The Master, which my friend Anne thinks is possible, then the same thing could be true about the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.
That’s it for now, dear readers. Please stay tuned as TARDIS Talk 6 will drop later this week!