Doctor Who 2x11: Fear Her

[icepixie]

Something you should watch on YouTube: Doctor Who: Attack of the Spoiler. I think it's a Dead Ringers sketch, maybe? Anyway, hilarious.

2x11: Fear Her

On the one hand, I may possibly have been misting up towards the end. Possibly. I make no guarantees. On the other hand: OW, MY HEAD HURTS. BECAUSE I HAD TWELVE DIFFERENT ANVILS DROPPED ON IT IN THE LAST TWO MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

Hey, do you think maybe Rose and the Doctor will be separated at the end of the season? And maybe that Rose will die? I don't know what's giving me that impression...

Right. So. I was thinking that this could not possibly be a decent episode, but it surpassed all expectations. There was a lonely kid and a lonely alien and a lonely god Doctor and I was totally empathizing with the kid because I HAVE BEEN HER. Well, without the alien. But that would have made my childhood much more interesting, let me tell you.

Anyway, that allowed me to ignore the crap science in this one (I'm not even going to ask how the Beast ghost of the father was "made out of energy from the Isoleus" or whatever; it's just not worth it), and the uber-cheesy moment that was the Doctor lighting the Olympic torch (the hell? Like security wouldn't have shot him down immediately...), and Rose's "Feel the love" line (gack), and of course the anvils.

I loved Rose's independence in this episode beyond the telling of it, although her snooping in the kid's room was perhaps less than cool. She basically solved the whole damn problem BY HERSELF, and that's pretty cool. (Okay, so some people say that kind of thing makes it less "Doctor Who" than "The Doctor and Rose," which I can kind of see, but I also really enjoy competent companions with initiative, so hey.)

The Olympics thing actually worked! I figured from right about the time when the mother turned on the TV in the kid's room that the crowd was going to be sucked into her pictures, so it wasn't exactly a surprise, but it worked nonetheless.

Nina Sosanya was fantastic. Yay Bellino! Also, there was very little evidence of smuggery from Rose and the Doctor, which was nice. I like their little jokes about being police officers, but they didn't take them too far this time, which was nice.

Random comments:

- *snerk* at the opening, with the TARDIS landing the wrong way round, and the Doctor having to turn it 90 degrees. I always thought that there was more room for error than we usually saw on the TV.

- "Why is it so cold?" ...Because it's England?

- So a lot of small children are going to be scared of their closets tonight, aren't they? *snicker* Not to mention of Narnia. Nothing in this episode scared me in the slightest, but if you're a kid, I can see how it might be frightening.

- I have mixed feelings about the continual use of light-through-Venetian-blinds in this episode. It drove me a bit crazy, but deep yellow light through blinds also screams "horror film!" to me (I have no idea why), so it also kind of worked.

- Not a cat person. Hahahahaha.

- Loved the Vulcan greeting. Hee.

- "I was a dad once." *watches the asexualists go boom*

- Two hugs and handporn. Awwwww.

- "Who's gonna hold his hand now?" DUN DUN DUN DUN.

- I think the music made me cry. *sniffle*

- Who was the "her" in "Fear Her"? The kid?

Am avoiding the trailer for next week and all talk of the next two episodes because what with the BBC's big spoiler (not to mention THE ANVILS), I already know more than I want to. LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

Comments

[elflore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was the Superman thing I was referring to. But for me...the fact that he didn't go back for Adric is just what makes me excited about the idea. To see the Doctor pushed to a place he's never been pushed before, at least that we've seen. To do for Rose what he's never done for anyone--unless I'm right about his wife anyway, and that had to end badly. I figure it'll be dramatic and glorious and messy. I also suspect Father's Day could be key. Both because the Doctor *almost* succeeded in rescuing Rose's dad that time...and because I could see the Reapers coming into play after the Doctor pulls off the rescue, perhaps being the reason Rose can't travel in time and space anymore.

On the other hand...I just caught a line on Outpost Gallifrey's news saying that there are still a few main cast members for Torchwood that have yet to be announced. Hmmm.

[icepixie]

I could see the Reapers coming into play after the Doctor pulls off the rescue, perhaps being the reason Rose can't travel in time and space anymore.

Ooooh, now that would be interesting. I like that idea. And hopefully they would have enough sense not to attempt some kind of long-long-long-long-distance relationship. ;) (Although that would be really nifty to explore in fic. Might get a bit Time Traveler's Wife, though.)

On the other hand...I just caught a line on Outpost Gallifrey's news saying that there are still a few main cast members for Torchwood that have yet to be announced. Hmmm.

Hmmmm...

[elflore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't see them going for a long-long distance kind of thing either. It'd be interesting in fic, but on the show...again, it would be a false hope and an unneccessary cluttering of the narrative. Who shouldn't have that kind of baggage...and pretty much no show does well with it anyway.

How was 'Time Traveler's Wife' btw? I've heard bad things...

[icepixie]

Who shouldn't have that kind of baggage...and pretty much no show does well with it anyway.

I agree with you on the first part of that sentence, but SG-1 didn't do so badly with Daniel and Sha're. That was sort of nifty. It works for some, but not all, shows.

I haven't read TTW either. I read the first twenty or thirty pages in a bookstore, and it was much more romance novel and much less sci-fi, than I was expecting, so I haven't picked it up since.

[elflore.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I dunno...Daniel and Sha're only half worked for me. It was kind of forgotten about for large portions of early SG-1...which I think is a danger of that kind of storyarc. You're kind of stuck...either your whole show is driven by a very narrow quest every week, which gets old, or your characters look like they're forgetting something important. And then when they finally did wrap it up...it was so sad! :?P

[icepixie]

I think that kind of narrow arc works better for the shorter BBC season, though, so it might work better on DW. Hypothetically, of course; I doubt they'll end up doing that.

It was sad at the end, but that episode is probably one of the best they've done, too. IMO, of course. :)

[elflore.livejournal.com]

Hmm...while it could work, I still don't see it working out so well. Partly because one of Who's great strengths is that it does standalone adventures so excellently. I love my arc-driven shows like mad, but who's kind of the one real episodic show I love as much...I think because the imagination's so big it never feels like planet-of-the-week. Of course, RTD has figured out how to make arcs work brilliantly inside the adventures, but there's still a fine line...

I think the other thing, though, which makes me think it wouldn't work out well is that we've all been given the impression that Billie really does mean to move on for good. If Rose could actually come back, the arc could be interesting, but if she's not gonna come back then it'd be hard to pay off to anyone's satisfaction, methinks.

And which SG-1 ep are you referring to exactly? The one where Sha're dies? That was a great one. I also rather liked the ep where he found the Buddha-baby. Except for the fact that the utterly western writers kinda missed the bit about Buddhist types not, y'know, killing people. Or Ja'fa. *snerk*

[icepixie]

*very carefully avoids finale talk*

And which SG-1 ep are you referring to exactly? The one where Sha're dies?

Yeah, that one ("Forever in a Day," I think). One of my favorites.

I also rather liked the ep where he found the Buddha-baby.

I almost remember this one, but not quite. I remember Daniel and a kid...and it being Not Great...but I can't remember any specifics.