Language Of The Mad

 

they apparently finally made use of the thing about time lords switching genders when they regenerate... just so they could make the master and the doctor kiss without it being gay. 0/10 would not recommend.

 

hey, I never said it was looking to be great, I just said it surprised me.

 

that said, besides the really dumb thing Lucina mentioned, I thought it was better than the rest of this series.. but that's really not saying much.

I say go for it. Both Time Heist and The Caretaker were by far a low point in the series, and Kill the Moon is a few steps up but also a couple of steps back at the same time. It has some strong moments for the relationship between Clara and The Doctor that I feel probably shouldn't be missed. That said, Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline are by far the best episodes in a long time and I'd strongly suggest catching up on those. The Forest of the Night, or whatever it was called...yeah, you can probably skip it. It was a nice idea but wasn't exactly executed brilliantly. And frankly, I'm loving the series finale so far. It's by far one of the best we've had in a long, long time and just more proof as to why Doctor Who needs more two-part episodes again. 

 

 

Lucina's point confuses me, though. I saw The Master kissing The Doctor as more her usual habit of trying to confuse and disorientate him. It wasn't a passionate or even remotely romantic exchange. I saw it more as just The Master being The Master, using what they have on them to claim power in their typical narcissistic way. Of course that's just supposition and I presume we'll have to see the second part to further explore the ramifications of The Master adjusting to their new body. Also to say it's "just" for the kiss is to do a great disservice to Michelle Gomez's so far stellar performance.

 

 

 

Spoiler

Lucina's point confuses me, though. I saw The Master kissing The Doctor as more her usual habit of trying to confuse and disorientate him. It wasn't a passionate or even remotely romantic exchange. I saw it more as just The Master being The Master, using what they have on them to claim power in their typical narcissistic way. Of course that's just supposition and I presume we'll have to see the second part to further explore the ramifications of The Master adjusting to their new body. Also to say it's "just" for the kiss is to do a great disservice to Michelle Gomez's so far stellar performance.

 
I don't mean to discredit the actor, but the writer. The fact is that making the Master(Mistress, I guess) kiss the Doctor would never have happened if they hadn't become a woman, which speaks to objectification of women on the part of a writer who has already shown an affinity for it. Can we please have a female character who ISN'T defined by snogging the Doctor at some point? I'm getting sick of it.

 

Personally, I think Dark Water was the best episode in years. But the season as a whole has been fairly mediocre, so I wouldn't really recommend catching up on it. The storyline isn't at all like it was in other Moffat seasons. You can just watch the finale, and not miss any major story information.

Ooooh you are in for a surprise, 'cause Mummy, Flatline, and Dark Water are all great. You need to see Kill the Moon for Clara's arc progression as it's a very important part of it, but the episode is absolutely awful unless you have an improbably high threshold of suspension of disbelief. If you really don't wanna suffer it, I'd skip to the end, honestly, when they're back in the Tardis; I think Clara sums up the important bits anyways so just do that if you really don't wanna be repulsed by awful, awful writing. Forest is cute, I'd watch it, it's a nice breather episode. If you wanna see Twelve struggle to deal with kids, which I thought was great, definitely watch it. It's meh at best, but the ending leads directly into the finale, again, through Clara/Danny's arc. As for Part 1 of the finale... besides the reveal at the very end of the episode (a stupid thing to condemn the whole episode for either way) it was pretty much universally well received, I think. Gave me some genuine frights, and it's really great.

I honestly don't care what the reasoning behind the Missy/Doctor kiss was because whatever a producer's political intentions and affiliations are I really don't wanna let it spoil my enjoyment. I thought it was a great scene and the bottom line is that we really cannot claim to know for sure why they wrote that and I'm just glad they did it and I think Missy being a woman is a really cool take on the character. Moffat is a coward, but the story is solid. I've seen a lot of people say they would think it was a really cool twist, except the fact that a lot of people wanted something like that to happen, it ruins it for them. That just doesn't make any sense to me, it sounds a lot more like you're trying to scapegoat the idealogy you don't like for your own prejudices. Everyone wanted an older Doctor, nobody suddenly went "I love that Capaldi is old, but a lot of people wanted that, so I can't enjoy it now." Blah.

Also, legit, Gomez is an incredible actress, and if we did live in a magical world where actors are cast solely on their performances, I would never, ever doubt that they picked Gomez for being a fantastic actress and a great depiction of her character that was better than any other candidate. She's wonderful.

But yeah, definitely pick the show back up. Kill the Moon needs to be skipped, but the next two episodes are the best of the season and the one after it isn't bad, just kinda there, and the finale is fantastic. I recommend you skip the NEXT TIME trailer at the end of Forest, 'cause if you don't know anything about the finale yet, it'll spoil what would otherwise be a very cool, satisfying reveal besides the Missy one. I meant what I said about needing to see the key moments in Clara's arc, 'cause she slowly changes through the season, and without seeing that, her behavior in the finale and even the end of Forest may throw you off and make you think she's being written way out of character.

While the season has been really good but great, and some episodes just downright baaaad, Capaldi's performance basically carries everything. He saves every scene he's in, and he's consistently incredible and enjoyable. So you have that to look forward to

Capaldi is really a quirky Doctor—I'd say he's probably the most aloof and alien portrayal that I've ever seen. It's a great breath of fresh air from the overt "humanity" of 10 and 11, which I never felt suited the character.
 
My main issues with Moffat have been the pacing. Deep Breath and Dark Water could easily have been cut down. There was a lot of repetition and needless suspense to the point of dragging. Deep Breath would have been best served as a regular hour-long show, and Dark Water could have likely been cut to thirty minutes, making the two-part finale one longer episode. (As a side note, I think two-part episodes in general have this same pacing issue, but I think it only made the problem worse here.)
 
I really didn't mind Kill the Moon even though I really couldn't suspend my disbelief. I think it gives a lot of insight into how 12's mind operates as an impartial observer rather than a compassionate intervener.
 
Mummy on the Orient Express is one of my favorite episodes from the series. It felt like classic Who in a very good, very creepy way and I just loved every part of it. Flatline was slightly less creepy but again, a great episode with a brilliant, simple concept.
 
In fact, both Mummy and Flatline are, at their hearts, simple concepts. The writers of those episodes didn't try to do too much with their episodes and it paid off big time.
 
In the Forest of the Night was just stupid. I was left confused by half of it and bored to tears by the other half.

Why the sister showed back up at the end really confused me. What did she have to do with the forest? Moreover, how did the forest communicate when the Doctor said that it couldn't?

 
I've already mentioned Dark Water, which was really too beset by its lethargic tempo to be anything but a mediocre episode.
 
Overall, I think it's gotten better since The Caretaker. It, Kill the Moon, and Deep Breath would be the low points of the series, in my mind. Everything else has been either decent or just outright smashing, which is all Capaldi. His acting has done more for this series than any script could.