Doctor Who Review of Let's Kill Hitler
Irene interfered with my plans to write a review for Let's Kill Hitler and then life happened (Distractions everywhere!) but I do want to post my thoughts before the next episode. *checks clock* I still have MINUTES! Hours? Whatever, I have time. \o/
Basically this episode was quintessential Moffat - both good and bad.
As written by tardis_stowaway in this excellent summary of the episode:
Let's Kill Hitler basically threw together a handful of shiny and wonderful things, a handful of total fail, and a few random plot elements from Moff's idea notebook that he hadn't found a way to include anywhere else. Then it stuck it all in a blender until it became a lumpy slurry of the wonderful and the infuriating and tried to pour the mixture into a too-small container.
- Is it shiny and does it seem like it works until you think about it for a minute? Yep! There were lots of good and enjoyable moments in the episode but unfortunately once again they added up to less than the sum of their parts.
- Do we have a time loop and paradox? Yep! Melody was named after Mel who is Melody.
- Is the episode ALL ABOUT the relationships between our main characters? Yep! Under Moffat Doctor Who has become a time travel melodrama full of soap-like complications and twisty romances. RTD has nothing on him.
- Do we learn more about the mysteries of the season in ways that obscure rather than enlighten? Yep! Now the Silence is some sort of religious cult and conspriacy not a species and we know even less about them.
- Do the emotional payoffs seem layered on top of the plot instead of being at the center of things? Yep! Mel appears from no where! And she's evil! And she's River! And she kills the Doctor! And then she's good and saves him and feels bad about it all? Huh? What did I miss?
- Did someone die but not really in the episode? Yep! First River (again) and then one more time for the Doctor. Rory must have been very relieved.
- Are there some annoying and jarring faily comments about women? Yep! She's been brainwashed, it all makes sense. Plus, she's a woman! Add in River's immediate need to check her weight (yes, she was off to put on the poison but she still gave that excuse since a woman wanting to check on her weight is so NATURAL no one would question it) along with her following need to 'go shopping' for some clothes and I'm a bit annoyed.
The Good:
- The flashbacks to young Amelia and Rory. Yes they were there to establish Mel but I like back story and young Amelia is adorable.
- Younger Amy finally figuring out that Rory has been madly in love with her since forever and is not in fact gay. I like to think that after he ran off and she realized how wrong she was there was catching up to him and kissing followed by her yelling at him for not telling her. And then more kissing.
- The use of Rose, Martha, and Donna! Guilt, guilt, and more guilt! Hee. I enjoy it when we focus on the Doctor's self loathing since it's one of those things that make him a three-dimensional person rather than a distant cipher. Also, I appreciated the callback!
- Canon acknowledgment that time lords can change their race! \o/ And NOT canon acknowledgment that can be easily handwaved. We SAW it right on the screen. (Not that a dedicated fanboy couldn't come up with some fanwank to invalidate it.) First we knock down male/female question and here whether they need to be always the same race. Now the question is why the Doctor is always a white male.
- Eleven in the tux. Yeah, there was no reason for it (except maybe misdirection but if you only have 32 minutes why waste any changing?), but I like a man in a tux no matter the reason or lack thereof. I do suppose that he may need the tux for something else that we'll find out later but as of now who knows why he did it!
- Rory. He punches Nazis, puts Hitler in a cupboard, and is adorable as wee!Rory.
The Bad:
- The continuing lack of emotional continuity. If you are going to write an emotional melodrama you should pay attention to the emotions and not gloss over them! I have issues with:
*River's whole life at this point. It's sad and depressing but we're supposed to thing it's amazing and cool. She dies young (very young for a time lord) in the Library which is enough tragedy for one woman but no there's more! She's stolen from her parents as a baby and is brainwashed by a military cult, (maybe) kills the Doctor as a child, (definitely) is dying herself and has to regenerate, spends time with her parents while they are children (It's great! She's their friend! Right? She certainly doesn't need parents as...parents.), dies again and regenerates again, kills the Doctor again...and so on. Not only does she have a depressing life but it's All About the Doctor. Even becoming an archeologist!
*The nearly complete lack of reaction from Amy and Rory to having their baby stolen. I know they didn't have much time to process the fact they were having a child but it really bothers me that they are so relaxed about it all. Meeting your child as an adult doesn't make it better!
*Hell, the nearly complete lack of reaction from AMY about being kidnapped and waking up to be pregnant.
*River killing the Doctor and then immediately turning around and sacrificing her regenerations for him. I got whiplash! *ouch*
The Unnecessary:
- The time traveling miniature people in the giant robot. We have 30 thousand things going on with River and the Doctor and Amy and Rory! The 'plot' was a distraction.
This entry was originally posted here and has
comments. Comment here or there.
Basically this episode was quintessential Moffat - both good and bad.
As written by tardis_stowaway in this excellent summary of the episode:
Let's Kill Hitler basically threw together a handful of shiny and wonderful things, a handful of total fail, and a few random plot elements from Moff's idea notebook that he hadn't found a way to include anywhere else. Then it stuck it all in a blender until it became a lumpy slurry of the wonderful and the infuriating and tried to pour the mixture into a too-small container.
- Is it shiny and does it seem like it works until you think about it for a minute? Yep! There were lots of good and enjoyable moments in the episode but unfortunately once again they added up to less than the sum of their parts.
- Do we have a time loop and paradox? Yep! Melody was named after Mel who is Melody.
- Is the episode ALL ABOUT the relationships between our main characters? Yep! Under Moffat Doctor Who has become a time travel melodrama full of soap-like complications and twisty romances. RTD has nothing on him.
- Do we learn more about the mysteries of the season in ways that obscure rather than enlighten? Yep! Now the Silence is some sort of religious cult and conspriacy not a species and we know even less about them.
- Do the emotional payoffs seem layered on top of the plot instead of being at the center of things? Yep! Mel appears from no where! And she's evil! And she's River! And she kills the Doctor! And then she's good and saves him and feels bad about it all? Huh? What did I miss?
- Did someone die but not really in the episode? Yep! First River (again) and then one more time for the Doctor. Rory must have been very relieved.
- Are there some annoying and jarring faily comments about women? Yep! She's been brainwashed, it all makes sense. Plus, she's a woman! Add in River's immediate need to check her weight (yes, she was off to put on the poison but she still gave that excuse since a woman wanting to check on her weight is so NATURAL no one would question it) along with her following need to 'go shopping' for some clothes and I'm a bit annoyed.
The Good:
- The flashbacks to young Amelia and Rory. Yes they were there to establish Mel but I like back story and young Amelia is adorable.
- Younger Amy finally figuring out that Rory has been madly in love with her since forever and is not in fact gay. I like to think that after he ran off and she realized how wrong she was there was catching up to him and kissing followed by her yelling at him for not telling her. And then more kissing.
- The use of Rose, Martha, and Donna! Guilt, guilt, and more guilt! Hee. I enjoy it when we focus on the Doctor's self loathing since it's one of those things that make him a three-dimensional person rather than a distant cipher. Also, I appreciated the callback!
- Canon acknowledgment that time lords can change their race! \o/ And NOT canon acknowledgment that can be easily handwaved. We SAW it right on the screen. (Not that a dedicated fanboy couldn't come up with some fanwank to invalidate it.) First we knock down male/female question and here whether they need to be always the same race. Now the question is why the Doctor is always a white male.
- Eleven in the tux. Yeah, there was no reason for it (except maybe misdirection but if you only have 32 minutes why waste any changing?), but I like a man in a tux no matter the reason or lack thereof. I do suppose that he may need the tux for something else that we'll find out later but as of now who knows why he did it!
- Rory. He punches Nazis, puts Hitler in a cupboard, and is adorable as wee!Rory.
The Bad:
- The continuing lack of emotional continuity. If you are going to write an emotional melodrama you should pay attention to the emotions and not gloss over them! I have issues with:
*River's whole life at this point. It's sad and depressing but we're supposed to thing it's amazing and cool. She dies young (very young for a time lord) in the Library which is enough tragedy for one woman but no there's more! She's stolen from her parents as a baby and is brainwashed by a military cult, (maybe) kills the Doctor as a child, (definitely) is dying herself and has to regenerate, spends time with her parents while they are children (It's great! She's their friend! Right? She certainly doesn't need parents as...parents.), dies again and regenerates again, kills the Doctor again...and so on. Not only does she have a depressing life but it's All About the Doctor. Even becoming an archeologist!
*The nearly complete lack of reaction from Amy and Rory to having their baby stolen. I know they didn't have much time to process the fact they were having a child but it really bothers me that they are so relaxed about it all. Meeting your child as an adult doesn't make it better!
*Hell, the nearly complete lack of reaction from AMY about being kidnapped and waking up to be pregnant.
*River killing the Doctor and then immediately turning around and sacrificing her regenerations for him. I got whiplash! *ouch*
The Unnecessary:
- The time traveling miniature people in the giant robot. We have 30 thousand things going on with River and the Doctor and Amy and Rory! The 'plot' was a distraction.
This entry was originally posted here and has
comments. Comment here or there.