8/18/2023 0 Comments Closing time doctor whoEyepatch Lady could have dressed her in a gorilla suit and it all would be otherwise exactly the same. So, River is in the astronaut suit when she kills the Doctor for no reason at all except that we’ve already seen her in the astronaut suit so she has to be in the astronaut suit. My goodness, even the bit at the end with River Song was filler! Exciting! Not! How can there be room for a filler episode in this death-of-the-Doctor arc? Steven Moffat couldn’t come up with enough story to fill 13 episodes with the Silence and the Doctor’s murder and the history of River Song and Amy and Rory having a baby and all the other stuff? We need to tread water for an entire episode? So, after the strained setup, we get a good two hours - it felt like it, anyway - of running around a department store asking people if anything weird is going on and busting in on women in changing rooms. Does Doctor Who really want to descend to the level of Look Who’s Talking?ĭaleks and Slitheen are more plausible than “I speak baby.” As an extended joke running through an entire episode, it was downright ridiculous. They certainly don’t have the mental capacity to prefer to be called “Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All.” As a one-off joke it was pretty bad. At this point, the Doctor being able to communicate verbally with a baby was hardly a surprise, having been a brief joke in a previous episode… but really: babies don’t have the cognitive function to make themselves understood on that level. The Doctor dropping by on a “social call” to a former companion, which was to consist of saying hi and leaving until he was distracted by an infant? This I was not expecting. I know this is allegedly a kids’ show and all, but still: Doctor Who needs an episode set in a pub.Ĭybermen invading a department store and killing all the black employees? This I was not expecting. I honestly thought that with the title “Closing Time,” this episode was going to be set in a pub. There was a real pathos as the Doctor imparted his philosophical life lessons under a beautiful blanket of stars, and a genuine tenderness to the way he reflected on his long life.(all spoilers! don’t read till you’ve seen the episode! this is a love fest only - all complaints and bitching must come from a place of love / previous: “The God Complex”) Smith bounced off the baby superbly, with the nursery scene in particular standing out as one of his strongest emotional scenes to date. While Craig reigned in the slapstick to less-punchable effect, it was little Stormy who stole the show. Craig fan or not, Smith and Corden have undeniable chemistry, and while adopting Craig as a full-time companion would wear thin very, very quickly, his appearance here brought a much-needed fraternal and relatable warmth to the Doctor in his final hours. Roberts cleverly and swiftly dispatched with Craig's wifely companion, and threw in the amusingly emotional curveball of Craig's newborn 'Alfie' - or, as he preferred to be known, Stormageddon (and if that doesn't work its way into next year's Geeks Most Popular Baby Name list, we'll eat our Sonic Screwdriver). While The Lodger's writer Gareth Roberts returned to script a sequel to the Doctor's greatest bromance, the silliness was pared down enough to craft a sentimental story that was allowed enough room to breathe and explore the Doctor's newfound guilt and ever-approaching mortality. Cue the Doctor's whimsical arrival and a coincidental attack on Craig's local department store by one of the Timelord's oldest foes, the Cybermen. While Craig bagged the girl of his dreams and a new baby to match, he's still struggling to assert himself. With the Doctor on a self-professed 'farewell tour', he couldn't help but call in on his former flatmate Craig (a refreshingly restrained James Corden). So with only one episode left until what's sure to be an action-packed, dramatic spectacular against everyone's favourite amnesiac aliens, the Doctor awash in a sea of enforced emotional detachment and in serious need of some humanising lovin', a return visit doesn't seem that out of place after all. 2010's fluffy and frivolous tale may have polarised fans with its attempt to overly humanise the Doctor (nothing like a bit of Sunday afternoon football to bring even the most spectacularly intergalactic of figures down to Earth), but it also subtly sewed the seeds for this season's Big Bads, The Silence. If you had the chance to revisit the characters, themes and location of any one episode from the Doctor's incredible and complex canon, we're betting that you probably wouldn't have picked The Lodger.
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