Was that seaweed?
I was looking forward to seeing this sequence, and it did not disappoint. It was a wonderfully comical opening, showing Clara’s double-life and her ‘affair’ with time-travel, and her inner control-freak coming to the surface in her determination to keep the two most important men in her life apart.
Otters
I lived among otters once for a month. Well, I sulked. River and I, we had this big fight….We love us a River Song reference. But we didn’t get to hear the whole story about life with the otters…
Adrian
I’m thinking Adrian would be an infinitely suitable replacement for the Pink. The Doctor, it seems, would agree…
Look at that face…
Seriously, look at that face.
We don’t need no Education…
The Doctor whistling Another Brick In The Wall while Clara admonishes some students. Gold. Pink Floyd have actually referenced the Doctor Who theme in One of These Days from their 1971 album Meddle.
You’re a space woman…
You said you were from Blackpool. I really enjoyed seeing Danny struggle to articulate here. Almost as much as the Doctor constantly insulting him throughout the episode. Almost. Swimming certificates, cross country, the offside rule…
The Skovox Blitzer
A single robot that contains enough armament to destroy a planet, one that can’t be overpowered, but has to be outsmarted. While it was only a brief sub-plot it did call for some cool gadgetry and wild plans.
The Disruptive Influence
We finally got to see more of Ellis George as Courtney Wood, and she took her first trip in the TARDIS. And vomited. She looks to appear in next week’s Kill the Moon, but we want to see much more of Courtney on the TARDIS. The Doctor did say he may have a vacancy soon.
The Promised Land
A little like a classic horror-movie where the victim is caught in the act of doing the ‘wrong thing’, this hapless policeman was killed by the Scovox Blitzer whilst in pursuit of truants. He had such a brief appearance I had forgotten all about him until we were treated to another intriguing glimpse of the Nethersphere. A previously unseen character ‘welcomed’ him, although the policeman looked like he could have used a cup of tea with Missy.
One last thing….
Now we were expecting the first meeting between the Doctor and Danny to go badly. But if the scene of blatant emotional manipulation on Danny’s part to cap off Clara’s story at the end of this episode was supposed to be romantic, it missed its mark. By a long shot. So far we have experienced an endearingly awkward Danny. I was not impressed with this new ‘assertive’ Danny, who tells Clara if she breaks her promise to him that they are finished. I only wish she had the sonic, so she could have poked him in the eye.
Clearly this was meant to show Danny being protective of Clara because they have entered a serious phase in their relationship, reinforced by Clara’s impassioned plea to the Doctor not to wipe Danny’s memory because she loves him. Rather than treat Clara as the Doctor’s equal, Danny told her that she did “exactly what he [the Doctor] told you to do” and rather than being impressed at her courage he frowns at her recklessness. The promise he extracts? Danny tells Clara that he wants her to tell him if the Doctor pushes her too far, under the guise of if Danny doesn’t know, then Danny can’t help her. In fact by the end of the conversation he is coming off as a controlling jerk.
Clearly Clara was afraid to broach the subject of her alien best friend to her new boyfriend because Danny has the imagination of a gnat. Rather than expressing any sort of amazement that he has just discovered that time travel and aliens exist, he sulks that Clara didn’t share this rather remarkable news with him after a few weeks of dating. Considering Danny thought Clara was “from space” perhaps she was devising a way to explain it to him very slowly.
And after years of looking after herself, apparently Clara now can’t live without the Pink’s protection. I’m the one who carries you out of the fire, he’s the one who lights it.
Is this really the guy who is going to whisk Clara off to a mundanely human existence? Perish the thought.
I’m agreeing with the Doctor that Adrian is more suitable boyfriend material. After all, the world is full of P.E. teachers.
