Cold War
I have nothing to say about this episode except:
my heart got all warm and squishy when Clara asked, "How did I do? Did I do okay?" and the Doctor's response was "That wasn't a test." Not just because the way that Eleven interacts with Clara continues to be so different from the way that Ten interacted with Martha - making her feel like everything was a test, that she somehow had to be "good enough" to earn more than "just one trip" - but because I happened to watch "The Vampires of Venice" the other day (I had a craving to see Eleven pop out of a cake, what can I say?), and Rory's comments seem to fit in here: "You make people want to impress you." Clara wants to impress him - wants to be "good enough" - and Eleven responds by saying, basically, you were great, but that's not what this is about; that's not why you're here. Yay, he's learning.
I feel, a bit, as though I'm falling in love with Clara's face faster than with the character; I love watching her react to things, but I don't quite feel like I know her as well as I'd like, yet. Maybe I just wanted to see more of her this episode; I don't feel like it quite built on the other two? Or that her big emotional moments weren't especially unique to her: it would be weird if she didn't react with shock upon seeing a body ripped apart on the ground, so that reaction doesn't tell me anything about who she is. Since I've already brought Martha into this: the episode made me think about "42," a bit, in that the Doctor and the companion are separated from each other for so much of it, and Martha has another one of those "this isn't just fun and games" moments, in the capsule. She thinks about her family, and why she jumped at the chance to leave them behind for a bit, even though she loves them: "All that noise." It would have been nice to get something like that from Clara, I think, something that told us a bit more about her instead of just telling Clara what traveling with the Doctor is like ("Things have got very...real").
my heart got all warm and squishy when Clara asked, "How did I do? Did I do okay?" and the Doctor's response was "That wasn't a test." Not just because the way that Eleven interacts with Clara continues to be so different from the way that Ten interacted with Martha - making her feel like everything was a test, that she somehow had to be "good enough" to earn more than "just one trip" - but because I happened to watch "The Vampires of Venice" the other day (I had a craving to see Eleven pop out of a cake, what can I say?), and Rory's comments seem to fit in here: "You make people want to impress you." Clara wants to impress him - wants to be "good enough" - and Eleven responds by saying, basically, you were great, but that's not what this is about; that's not why you're here. Yay, he's learning.
I feel, a bit, as though I'm falling in love with Clara's face faster than with the character; I love watching her react to things, but I don't quite feel like I know her as well as I'd like, yet. Maybe I just wanted to see more of her this episode; I don't feel like it quite built on the other two? Or that her big emotional moments weren't especially unique to her: it would be weird if she didn't react with shock upon seeing a body ripped apart on the ground, so that reaction doesn't tell me anything about who she is. Since I've already brought Martha into this: the episode made me think about "42," a bit, in that the Doctor and the companion are separated from each other for so much of it, and Martha has another one of those "this isn't just fun and games" moments, in the capsule. She thinks about her family, and why she jumped at the chance to leave them behind for a bit, even though she loves them: "All that noise." It would have been nice to get something like that from Clara, I think, something that told us a bit more about her instead of just telling Clara what traveling with the Doctor is like ("Things have got very...real").