Pining for the Fjords

[astrogirl2]

How is it possible that there's only one Doctor Who episode left this season? Well, let's not think about that now. Let's think about this week's episode instead!

Comments

[anonymous]

I have to say, I wasn’t as thrown by the story’s weirdness as you were. It just seemed like the typical Who bizarreness for the first two thirds of the episode, which then turns into a remake of The Three Doctors. After all, we have a creature trapped in a universe which it has control over but from which it can never escape; and like Omega, it wants company, but the Solitract is more benign, sensibly lacking his agenda of universal domination. Again like Omega, it wants the Doctor to stay in its universe, only to have that universe blow up on it (maybe). As for the frog, well, that’s like Arc of Infinity, with Omega taking on Five’s appearance (you could argue that it’s not as ridiculous as deciding to look like a frog, I suppose

[astrogirl2]

You know, reflecting back on it (um, no mirror-based pun intended!), it probably really isn't much more surreal than much of Who, and considerably less so than some. (At least up until you get to the frog.) But I think something about the way it's filmed makes it feel stranger and more off-kilter to me. Like you never quite get a feel for exactly what genre you're in, and thus never quite get a good handle on what the story is and where it's going. Which is not bad thing, as far as I'm concerned. I think it made it much more interesting than it might have been otherwise.

The "Three Doctors" echos aren't something that had occurred to me, though!

For what it's worth we don't even know for a fact that he was an orphan. It's a reasonable conclusion to draw from what we saw, but we really don't know very much at all about the nature of that place he was living in, why he was there, or who might or might not have been there with him. So it's hard to even know what needs to be reconciled! The idea that his family were killed

[anonymous]

This season comes across as a reaction to the Doctor’s previous depiction in NuWho as a universe-affecting, godly force; instead of storylines about how his personal problems affect the cosmos, we get ones where she mostly fixes more small-scale things which she has no personal stake in, and moves on. Which is fine in itself, but takes things too far; we get stories like Arachnids In The UK, where she could’ve, and should’ve, taken down Jack Robinson, but does nothing. It’s an odd approach, and it’s hard to believe the production team didn’t see the problems with this; but here we are.

Diona the Lurker

[astrogirl2]

Yeah, I agree with all of this. I think there's a correct balance there, and we haven't quite achieved it.

[jaxomsride]

The Doctor's dirt eating put me in mind of Benton Fraser. You can tell a lot from dirt. I am amused by the sheep bits.

The house being boarded up and the Monster noises only makes sense when you consider there were bears in the woods. A blind girl would be at a disadvantage exploring the wilderness.
Erick did intend to go back to his daughter, he just found it difficult to drag himself away from his dead wife.
The doctor befriending rather than fighting the Solitract is typical for this series even if it does now mean she is friends with the hypnotoad. (Husband to blame for that, I'd never heard of a hypnotoad).

Flesh eating piranha moths nice idea but the inbetween world has a weird ecosystem. What do the rats eat.

[astrogirl2]

That girl was more than old enough to have a reasonable conversation with about the danger of bears, and she seemed sane enough to be sensible about it. If you ask me, the monster thing was beyond unnecessary, not to mention cruel.

Also, ha, hypnotoad! I definitely know hypnotoad. All glory to the hypnotoad!

[aelfgyfu_mead]

The Doctor's dirt eating put me in mind of Benton Fraser.
Ha! I just wrote something to the same effect above and then found your comment.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I'm honestly not sure what the heck it is that I just watched.
Me too! I've had two more weeks to process it without any additional insights. I have not rewatched, and I don't think I want to-I enjoyed it, and I don't want to poke the holes that I'm not looking at.

It kind of hurt that Ryan was so clearly projecting when he suggested Erik had just run out on Hanne and then he was right. I wanted him to be wrong! I felt bad when she clobbered him with the door, but I also had to cheer her on a bit. I knew he was going to call Graham "grandad" at the end.

I also really like the fact that he doesn't fall for the fake Grace immediately or easily. He's not stupid, he's just human, and she was convincing.
Yes! I knew we'd see Grace; I've been convinced since her death that she was too important never to see again. And I loved that he resisted but then was persuaded for a time. Her failed reaction to Ryan In Jeopardy was inevitable

[astrogirl2]

I have not rewatched, and I don't think I want to-I enjoyed it, and I don't want to poke the holes that I'm not looking at.

Yeah, that's always a danger with re-watching. I find that often I enjoy things a lot more on repeat viewing and I can maybe even relax more about things that bugged me the first time. But a fair amount of the time, I enjoy it less and find new things to bother me, and you can never really tell which one it's going to be.

I knew he was going to call Graham "grandad" at the end.

It may not have been terribly surprising, but it gave me the warm fuzzies, anyway. :)

Yes! I knew we'd see Grace; I've been convinced since her death that she was too important never to see again.

As unhappy as I was with her death, I really do like the way they've handled the fact of it and kept the memory of her alive.