Episode Review: Silence in the Library
I like less and less the idea that Steven Moffat is going to be our new guru. Sorry to start the review with such a negative sentence, but this was really his pass-or-fail episode to me, and while I enjoyed the episode to some extent, I didn’t find it amazing, extraordinary, breathtaking, or russelltdaviesish in the least. It’s a whole bunch of been there, done that, got the t-shirt, can we move on now please? I mean, at times it truly felt like he’d been grabbing various elements from various episodes (mostly those he’s written), thrown them in together and made one great big salad out of them. And the fact that the confidential this week looks like one great big Moffat-can-write commercial didn’t put me in good spirits either.
Once I got past that, I did enjoy the actual episode, despite a few disappointments along the way. Let’s get these out of the way first. In the beginning, they announce they’re in the fifty-first century. So I started off screaming, thinking there are going to be Jack-mentions all over the place... and then of course in the end I was reminded that this is Steven Moffat, who sets almost every single episode he writes in the fifty-first century anyway. Did anyone tell him we’re dealing with a time-travelling show here and that it’s okay to move along the timeline a bit?
Then, the library. The library, which is in the little girl’s mind. All right. Fair enough. Creepy child, we’ve been there before, haven’t we? And creepy all right, but certainly not enough to make me hide behind the couch. The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances had freaked me out, yes. Blink was really well done, too, once I got past the whole stand-alone bit (and the fact that I liked Sally Sparrow’s character a lot more than Martha helped a great deal there, too). But this one? I was a lot more riveted to my seat by the whole River Song plot development (and what it means for Donna, mostly) than by the shadows. And somehow, I get the feeling that Moffat meant for the episode to be scary. Which... it wasn’t.
I mentioned there were bits I liked: yes, the whole ‘spoilers’ bit was witty and probably a nice wink to us all fans eagerly waiting for new episodes, fighting against temptation when it comes to spoilers etc. I also liked that River Song turned the tables on the Doctor and made him clueless for once.
However, I. Did. Not. Like. River Song.
I think I know why, though. And it’s entirely biased on my part, I know, but her presence and what she says implies that Donna will not be there any more, and I even got the horrible feeling in my gut that Donna’s going to die. Not in this ep (that’d be too expected, too soon anyway) but by the end of the series. And I really, really, really dislike the idea. RTD promised, back in the Rose days, that killing off a major character wasn’t an option, so I’m going to feel cheated big time if they kill off Donna, whom I love so dearly. So the whole River Song thing irked me, on top of the woman’s behaviour annoying me in the first place anyway.
I have a theory, btw. *grins* About River Song. Hey, everyone has a theory, so why wouldn't I? ;) I’ve seen speculation around on how she might be a regenerated Rose or Jack in the future (WTF?!?) or the Master or whatever. Well, personally, I believe that maybe, just maybe, River Song is actually... *cue drumroll*... a woman called River Song. ;) I mean, a woman we’ve never seen before. Who has no relation whatsoever to Rose. Sorry, I’m a great big Ten/Rose shipper who adores shipping-away, but the theories I’ve seen around are taking it a bit too far as far as I’m concerned. To me, the only Rose mentions in this episode were the drawings on the walls, and I missed them upon first viewing, too. So I can’t see River Song being anyone but someone from the Doctor’s future, and even then, she might be a flux and not a fixed point, so someone who will disappear from the Doctor’s life after next week’s ep. I can’t see them having already cast a future companion, unless it’s next year’s, and then I suppose we’d have heard about it, even if I’m trying really hard to stay spoiler-free. And casting someone like Alex Kingston for a whole series would have been rumoured all over the place if it had happened. Plus they’d have had to think this through back when they were writing series 4, and that’s taking it way back. So no, not happening.
Now that River Song is out of the way, I have another rant coming. Sorry, but once AGAIN the Doctor sends Donna away without her consent. Out of danger, or so he thinks. Like he did to Rose in PoTW and Doomsday. In a whole been there, done that, got myself in trouble, but still doing it again anyway fashion. Admittedly, there seems to be a lot of mirror moments between what’s happening to Donna and what once happened to Rose, like Donna announcing she’s going to stay with that man for ever, and now Donna being sent away, supposedly out of danger. Mind you, it might just be that they’re all running out of plot ideas, or it can be purposefully designed to prepare us to yet another big split between the Doctor and a companion he cares very much about. I’m actually ranting too much about this, because that’s one bit I liked: the idea that the Doctor could make the same mistake again and this time fail at protecting the woman he cares about precisely because of the decision he made. She died because he sent her away. So maybe, just maybe it’ll help him figure out he needs to stop making the decisions for every companion, and maybe, just maybe we’ll get to see Rose make her own decisions when she actually comes back.
Speaking of which, I was annoyed, deeply annoyed, by one line in next week’s preview: “You just killed someone I liked.”
Excuse me but... liked?! He doesn’t like Donna. He loves her. Not as a romantic sort of love, but as a best friend sort of love. Saying he likes her cheapens it all. He could have said “cared about”. But like? No. Bloody. Way. Lacking vocabulary, Mr Moffat?
Yes, yes, yes, I’m ranting. I still haven’t accepted the idea that RTD’s not going to be the head writer any more. And Silence in the Library did nothing to reassure me on Moffat’s abilities to deal with a whole arc. Especially since, as usual, he completely underused the Doctor's companion.
That’s all I’ll be ranting about this week, I guess. More to come next week, I suppose. ;)
Once I got past that, I did enjoy the actual episode, despite a few disappointments along the way. Let’s get these out of the way first. In the beginning, they announce they’re in the fifty-first century. So I started off screaming, thinking there are going to be Jack-mentions all over the place... and then of course in the end I was reminded that this is Steven Moffat, who sets almost every single episode he writes in the fifty-first century anyway. Did anyone tell him we’re dealing with a time-travelling show here and that it’s okay to move along the timeline a bit?
Then, the library. The library, which is in the little girl’s mind. All right. Fair enough. Creepy child, we’ve been there before, haven’t we? And creepy all right, but certainly not enough to make me hide behind the couch. The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances had freaked me out, yes. Blink was really well done, too, once I got past the whole stand-alone bit (and the fact that I liked Sally Sparrow’s character a lot more than Martha helped a great deal there, too). But this one? I was a lot more riveted to my seat by the whole River Song plot development (and what it means for Donna, mostly) than by the shadows. And somehow, I get the feeling that Moffat meant for the episode to be scary. Which... it wasn’t.
I mentioned there were bits I liked: yes, the whole ‘spoilers’ bit was witty and probably a nice wink to us all fans eagerly waiting for new episodes, fighting against temptation when it comes to spoilers etc. I also liked that River Song turned the tables on the Doctor and made him clueless for once.
However, I. Did. Not. Like. River Song.
I think I know why, though. And it’s entirely biased on my part, I know, but her presence and what she says implies that Donna will not be there any more, and I even got the horrible feeling in my gut that Donna’s going to die. Not in this ep (that’d be too expected, too soon anyway) but by the end of the series. And I really, really, really dislike the idea. RTD promised, back in the Rose days, that killing off a major character wasn’t an option, so I’m going to feel cheated big time if they kill off Donna, whom I love so dearly. So the whole River Song thing irked me, on top of the woman’s behaviour annoying me in the first place anyway.
I have a theory, btw. *grins* About River Song. Hey, everyone has a theory, so why wouldn't I? ;) I’ve seen speculation around on how she might be a regenerated Rose or Jack in the future (WTF?!?) or the Master or whatever. Well, personally, I believe that maybe, just maybe, River Song is actually... *cue drumroll*... a woman called River Song. ;) I mean, a woman we’ve never seen before. Who has no relation whatsoever to Rose. Sorry, I’m a great big Ten/Rose shipper who adores shipping-away, but the theories I’ve seen around are taking it a bit too far as far as I’m concerned. To me, the only Rose mentions in this episode were the drawings on the walls, and I missed them upon first viewing, too. So I can’t see River Song being anyone but someone from the Doctor’s future, and even then, she might be a flux and not a fixed point, so someone who will disappear from the Doctor’s life after next week’s ep. I can’t see them having already cast a future companion, unless it’s next year’s, and then I suppose we’d have heard about it, even if I’m trying really hard to stay spoiler-free. And casting someone like Alex Kingston for a whole series would have been rumoured all over the place if it had happened. Plus they’d have had to think this through back when they were writing series 4, and that’s taking it way back. So no, not happening.
Now that River Song is out of the way, I have another rant coming. Sorry, but once AGAIN the Doctor sends Donna away without her consent. Out of danger, or so he thinks. Like he did to Rose in PoTW and Doomsday. In a whole been there, done that, got myself in trouble, but still doing it again anyway fashion. Admittedly, there seems to be a lot of mirror moments between what’s happening to Donna and what once happened to Rose, like Donna announcing she’s going to stay with that man for ever, and now Donna being sent away, supposedly out of danger. Mind you, it might just be that they’re all running out of plot ideas, or it can be purposefully designed to prepare us to yet another big split between the Doctor and a companion he cares very much about. I’m actually ranting too much about this, because that’s one bit I liked: the idea that the Doctor could make the same mistake again and this time fail at protecting the woman he cares about precisely because of the decision he made. She died because he sent her away. So maybe, just maybe it’ll help him figure out he needs to stop making the decisions for every companion, and maybe, just maybe we’ll get to see Rose make her own decisions when she actually comes back.
Speaking of which, I was annoyed, deeply annoyed, by one line in next week’s preview: “You just killed someone I liked.”
Excuse me but... liked?! He doesn’t like Donna. He loves her. Not as a romantic sort of love, but as a best friend sort of love. Saying he likes her cheapens it all. He could have said “cared about”. But like? No. Bloody. Way. Lacking vocabulary, Mr Moffat?
Yes, yes, yes, I’m ranting. I still haven’t accepted the idea that RTD’s not going to be the head writer any more. And Silence in the Library did nothing to reassure me on Moffat’s abilities to deal with a whole arc. Especially since, as usual, he completely underused the Doctor's companion.
That’s all I’ll be ranting about this week, I guess. More to come next week, I suppose. ;)