Category: Doctor Who

Doctor Who – The Lodger

Sorry about the uber late post, folks. It’s been a crazy week. Here is your overdue recap of the last episode, “The Lodger”. It goes without saying that there are plenty of SPOILERS for those who haven’t watched yet. You have been warned.

The street may look like any other street, but on it resides the creepiest house ever. The perfect place for The Doctor to take up residence. After all, The Doctor seems to have a thing for dark and creepy places. That is where all the action tends to be. (One wonders where he learned to cook amidst all of those adventures). Speaking of which, this line basically summed up my criteria for future relationships – You’re weird and you can cook – it’s good enough for me. But back to the show…

It was odd having The Doctor and Amy being separated for a majority of the episode. Also odd was having The Doctor making an attempt at being “normal” – although that was the good kind of odd. His attempts were actually quite hilarious at times, especially the shower scene and him playing football. Overall the episode was abnormal in the amount of normality involved. There wasn’t a lot of science fiction/fantasy involved (outside of the weird time loops and the spaceship that ended up being responsible for it all).

Favorite scene: It would have been The Doctor saving his new flatmate (b/c it reminded me of how he cured himself from when he was poisoned) but the scene where he shares details of his life via headbutt was pretty fantastic. Oh, and the final ten minutes were pretty fantastic as well. They were fun and kinda cheesy and everything Doctor Who should be. But that is just one blogger’s opinion.

What did you think of this episode? I saw a few complaints online that it wasn’t as good as the rest of the season (which is valid) but on its own I thought it was enjoyable enough. Feel free to agree/disagree in the comments section below.

Doctor Who – Vincent and the Doctor

As usually is the case when doing a review/recap of a thing, SPOILERS HAPPEN HERE. So you should probably go watch the episode being reviewed before reading any further. Just saying…

This week’s episode features one of my favorite artists: Vincent van Gogh (played brilliantly by Tony Curran). Anyone who thought they recognized the actor might remember him from Underworld: Evolution (he played Marcus) or any number of guest appearances on various shows (The Mentalist, 24, and Numb3rs being among them). Full list of credits can be found here.

Van Gogh may be one of the most famous painters today, but back in his day he was not so fortunate. It’s a shame really, because his work is actually quite good. One of my favorite paintings of all time is his Starry Night. (For those who care, my other favorite is Portrait of a German Officer by Marsden Hartley). But that really has nothing to do with van Gogh or Doctor Who, so I should probably move along to something more relevant…

Van Gogh suffered from mental illness, something I am quite interested in as a Psychology student. Even without that psychological background though, you could still tell it was going to be interesting to see how crazy old van Gogh would interact with The Doctor. I definitely was not disappointed. Especially not with invisible creatures that only the crazy painter can see running around. (Sidebar: loved The Doctor’s gadget that made it so he could see the beast-y as well). Armed with “overconfidence, this [referring to a briefcase holding gadget-of-the-day] and a small screwdriver” he finds said beast-y inside the church that van Gogh is painting and goes after it.

A word to The Doctor – you should know that when you tell Amy to wait somewhere, she is NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU. So really you should just stop trying and let her do her own thing.

Because she’s going to anyway.

Whether you like it or not.

So there.

Moving right along then…

Beast-y bites the dust thanks to a lethal case of the stabs brought on by Vincent, and thus ends that part of the story. Favorite moment for me came right after when we saw through van Gogh’s eyes and into the heart and soul of previously mentioned favorite painting, Starry Night. Yes, I am an art geek (among other things). No, I am not ashamed of this. In fact, I hope this inspires others to go check out an art museum sometime and experience some of his work (and others) for themselves.

Second favorite moment was van Gogh getting a peek inside the TARDIS. I love everyone’s usual reaction of “OMG it’s bigger on the inside” but his was especially good – “How is it I’m the crazy one and you’ve remained sane”. And thank you very very much to The Doctor for showing Vincent van Gogh how important his work is going to become to future generations. He may be about ready to die in his time, but now he knows that his work will live forever. It reminded me of when he did a similar thing for Charles Dickens in letting him know his books would be timeless. I only can wish that someone like The Doctor really comes around and lets these greats know how truly special they were.

Doctor Who – Cold Blood

Sorry for the late recap here, folks. (I seem to be saying that a lot lately). Once June is over there will be a lot less going on, so the last few Doctor Who episodes will be watched when they are actually on. For now, enjoy this recap of Cold Blood. It was part 2 of the episode from the week before.

*I’m sure it goes without saying but – SPOILER ALERT*

The Doctor and his female companion (not Amy) have both been taken by the Silurians underground. He tries to negotiate a peaceful solution, but the Silurians just counter with a proposal of their own – his execution. Meanwhile, Amy has escaped from her Silurian captors and is in search of The Doctor. And the Silurian that had been taken by our human group is trying to provoke them into killing her in order to fuel conflict between the two species. Yet again I have to say how much I love these stories about human nature. I said in last week’s recap how the Silurians always seem to really bring this out. I have loved all the flashbacks to past situations, and continued to do so with this episode.

Eventually the whole group gets reunited, but only to be captured again. The leader eventually realizes what is going on and tries to settle the issue peacefully though. Other things I love about the Silurians – the fact that some of them actually want to be peaceful about this. Just like us humans, some are more violent than others. It’s great to see this portrayal that not all aliens are bad. That different does not have to be a bad thing.

Back to the story though – Things are looking bad for our heroes with the death of the Silurian they had captured. The Doctor gives another of his epic speeches about the future being dependent on what happens today and Amy gives about the same reaction I would – “Well, no pressure there.” Brilliant!

Other things I liked about this episode – how half of it was from the point of view of the lead Silurian. And how said Silurian actually seemed to be willing to work with the humans at a peaceful solution. He actually wanted them all to work together. IR students, take note. Peaceful negotiations actually work when both sides are willing to bring something to the table. True there will always be radicals in every group, but they usually represent the minority. A strong leader who is willing to work towards a change can do remarkable things.

On the other hand, sometimes that one radical can really mess things up. The lesser of the group becomes the representative of the whole race. One human makes a mistake and it has the potential to destroy everything. All because they choose the violent solution. See, people, violence never solves anything. I was really disappointed that a peaceful solution was in sight and then destroyed by one human. The Doctor has always had to let the Silurians down, and I really wanted to see some redemption for him here. I did love the idea, however, of making it so they would get another chance at sharing planet Earth 1,000 years from now. Hopefully that is enough time for the human race to sort itself out and finally learn how to co-exist with other species.

Final bit of academics for the day – how were Rory and Amy both on the hill if Rory dies here? I guess you’re going to tell me that time traveling changed things but that will just lead to a huge paradoxical debate (which are fun but take up loads of time that I don’t really have here). I mean, Rory doesn’t just die – all the memories of him get wiped. Maybe that makes it less painful for Amy, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. I was angry at Rory’s death, and Amy should be too. I really wanted the two of them to make it till happily ever after.

The final scene where they reveal the piece of the TARDIS suggests very big things are going to happen in the last few weeks. Make sure you stay tuned, because you’re not going to want to miss a single second of it.

Doctor Who – The Hungry Earth

Sorry for the late recap, but I have class on Saturdays now. I know, lame, right? Anywho… without further ado, here is your recap of The Hungry Earth. *insert usual SPOILER ALERT here*

This week gave us part one of the two part episode which brought back the classic Who villains, the Silurians. If you were a fan of the original series, the last time you saw these guys was during Warriors of the Deep, which featured Peter Davison as The Doctor. Our Doctor’s adventure with them starts with a “big mining thing” and his natural curiosity that has gotten him into trouble countless other times before.

In terms of the Silurians, past encounters have been due to research or military bases that have awakened the creatures. This time it is a drilling project that does it.

While The Doctor and Amy is directly dealing with the danger, Rory gets sucked in to a problem that is connected with the Silurians underground activities (and we use the term “underground” in the literal sense here). There are bodies in the graveyard that have gone missing, and one of the townsfolk have asked Rory to figure out why.

Something I have noticed in watching both the current series and classic Who is that humans tend to be very foolish on the show and rarely ever trust The Doctor, even though he usually knows best how to handle the situation. There was more of this seen in this episode, especially from one person in particular. I love that the kid trusts The Doctor almost immediately but his Mom is skeptical throughout the show. It just goes to show how perceptive kids can be and how easily they except even the most impossible of scenarios. It’s a shame we tend to lose this as adults. Perhaps Doctor Who can be a lesson to try to keep the inner child from dying within us all.

Back to the matter hand though… Our bit of sunshine through the rain – when they are trying to get inside the one building but the door sticks:

Rory: Can’t you just sonic it?
Doctor: It doesn’t do wood.
Rory: That’s rubbish.
Doctor: Oy! Don’t dis the sonic!

Words to remember, folks. Words to remember…

It is worth noting that we don’t actually get our first glimpse of the Silurians until halfway point. That should have been our first clue this would be a two-parter (assuming you hadn’t read about it somewhere before). It also takes about this long for The Doctor to figure out who (or what) they are dealing with.

It is always fun watching The Doctor interact with different species, but it is especially true with the Silurians. They have been on Earth since before even the human race and have always fascinated The Doctor as a race. He also has always regretted not being able to negotiate a lasting peace between the two species. “Nobody dies today,” he says. Fans of the classic series remember the last encounter with the Silurians and you will know just how important it is to him to keep that promise.

Part 1 of our adventure ends thus: The captured Silurian says one of our group will kill her and ignite a war between the two species. Meanwhile, The Doctor and his TARDIS are dragged underground where the rest of the Silurian tribe is (which turns out is really an entire civilization). Oh, and Amy is in danger of being dissected by a member of said tribe.

Will The Doctor be able to keep his promise and keep Amy and the rest of them from dying? You’ll just have to tune in next week to find out.

Doctor Who – Amy’s Choice

Sorry about the late posting here. I wish I could say I have lots for you, but this one had so many twists and turns I tried to just keep it simple. So, without further ado, I present – Amy’s Choice.

The opening scene showed Amy pregnant (which made me think – This can’t be real!). Then The Doctor shows up and says something about it being 5 years later. I barely had enough time to owner if maybe this was real before they fall asleep and wake up in the TARDIS. Confused yet? Yeah, I was too.

Eventually I figured out that they’re switching between the real world and a dream world. And it’s all thanks to some Dream Lord character. One world’s real, one world’s not, and they have to figure out which one’s which. It was loads of fun trying to follow both worlds and guessing which one was the real one. Both worlds have a danger in them – in one they are in danger of freezing to death and the other they are being chased by a dangerous alien species that has hidden itself in the bodies of the elderly. At first it seems like the episode won’t have anything to do with the overall story arc, but by about midway point I realized this is all about Amy and how she is split between these two worlds. She loves Rory but knows life with him will probably be quite boring in comparison to her life with The Doctor. So even though there is no romantic attachment to The Doctor there still is conflict in terms of where she wants to be. I know, I should have seen this a lot sooner given the title of the episode, but your Blogger can be a bit slow at times. Which is ok, because Amy can be a bit slow too and takes forever to finally commit to something and make her choice. Of course it takes Rory “dying” for her to realize that is who she wants to be with.

Shocking twist: BOTH WORLDS WERE A DREAM. So people guessing which one was the dream world – you were right and wrong at the same time. And those guessing which world was real, well, you were all wrong. Also, The Doctor says the Dream Lord was really him. I guess the purpose was a life lesson for all of them.

As always, there was a Doctor Who Confidential that went with the episode. This week we got some behind-the-scenes stuff that kinda made me wish I was there (mostly because they seem to be having loads of fun together). Much love especially to Arthur Darvill (Rory), who has been a great addition to the cast.

Doctor Who will be on again next week at 9pm. The next episode is Hungry Earth.

Doctor Who – Vampires of Venice

Last week The Doctor took Amy back home after their adventure with the Weeping Angels. This week brings us to that same night before her wedding. The Doctor gets Amy’s future husband, Rory, to try to sort them out. He sends them both to Venice for the biggest date ever. Little does he know that there are Vampires in Venice.

I loved the giddy reaction Amy and The Doctor had upon discovering the vampires. And poor Rory totally doesn’t know how to handle the situation. The scenario kinda reminded me of Torchwood and the dynamic with Jack, Gwen, and Rhys. Jack and Gwen had a working relationship that Rhys never really understood and at times was jealous of because of the fact that they shared things he was not a part of. The same seems to be the case here with Amy and The Doctor. It’s nothing that threatens the engaged couple, but Rory (like Rhys) is still somewhat jealous of what they share and the fact he is not a part of it. Yes, there were moments in both cases where it looked like there might be something to be jealous of but that was never the case.

The speech Rory gives about The Doctor not knowing how dangerous he is to the people who are with him hurt more than he could possibly realize. The Doctor most certainly does have an idea how dangerous he can be, which is why he traveled without a companion for awhile. After what happened with Rose and Donna he did not want that to happen to anyone else. I’m not sure what changed his mind and made him decide to take Amy along. He probably just got lonely and convinced himself it would be alright this time.

Going back to the actually story though – turns out the “vampires” are really fish from space. More specifically, they are aliens from Saturn 9. They were running from the cracks that have been popping up everywhere this season. Rosanna asks for a partnership with The Doctor. Reasons why I love The Doctor – this answer: “I’m a Time Lord. You’re a big fish. Think of the children”

So now The Doctor and company have to stop the fish from space before they take over Venice. Super! Yet again The Doctor sends Amy off to the TARDIS when things get too dangerous. I know part of this was b/c of what Rory said but he’s been doing a similar thing all season. And just like in the past, Amy doesn’t listen to a word The Doctor says. Amy picked an equally foolish fellow to marry when she got engaged to Rory though. I get he wants to protect his girl but some of the stuff he tried was just plain stupid. He’s lucky he didn’t get himself killed. It kinda reminded me of when Mickey was on the show in the Rose years. He would eventually become quite brave and clever though, so maybe there is hope for Rory too.

Back to the vampires, I mean, space fish – The Doctor is his usual amazing self and does the thing where he saves the day yet again. The sun shines, the birds sing, and everyone cheers – yippee! Well, not everyone is happy. Rosanna gives The Doctor some guilt trip about another dead race being on his hands that kinda puts a damper on things. We also get a preview for what looks to be an amazing second half of the season.

This week’s Doctor Who Confidential gave us a look at the location where they shot most of the episode. It also showed us some of the research they used to get the story just right. If you enjoy all that behind-the-scenes stuff then this is something you’re definitely going to want to check out.

Doctor Who won’t be on next week, but it will return June 5th with a seemingly super tense episode. So hold onto your sonic screwdrivers, kids. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Doctor Who: Confidential

Usually I write a little something about Doctor: Who Confidential for the week after I finish my recap. Due to some technical difficulties I didn’t do that with the last two episodes involving the Weeping Angels, so I thought I would take a few minutes to mention them now. (And if you want to see them, they have been linked above).

I love behind-the-scenes stuff on occasion, but never as much as when watching DW: Confidential every week. It is fascinating to me to see how some of the scenes work and where the ideas come from. A few especially cool things from the Weeping Angels episodes included seeing the make-up work and some of the stunts. Also pretty cool was hearing where Steven Moffat got the idea for the crack in the wall. (No spoilers. You’ll just have to watch for yourself.) My favorite though might have been seeing Matt Smith and Karen Gillan interact (especially when they talk about *slight spoilers* the smooching that happens at the end of part 2). It was a lot of fun watching them tease each other and such. Don’t take my word for it though. Go watch and judge for yourself.

Doctor Who – Flesh and Stone

*As always, Spoilers ahead*

When last we left The Doctor and Co, they were trapped by an army of Weeping Angels. That is exactly where we pick things up this week, with the aftermath of The Doctor firing the gun he borrowed from Father Octavian up into the air. They have jumped up onto the ship that had crashed and away from the Angels – but not for long.

The Angels follow them onboard the ship, and with that the chase is on. At this point it is important to note that Amy seems to be counting down from 10. The audience notices this (or should) as does The Doctor. Also worth noting is the crack in time has made a surprise early appearance. That is because it is going to become the focus of the rest of the episode. The Doctor says it is pure time energy and the end of the universe. That doesn’t sound very good to me…

Back to the thing with the counting though… turns out there is an Angel inside Amy’s mind (from back when she had a staring contest with the one) and it is kinda just chilling in the vision center of her brain. The Doctor has her close her eyes to “starve” the Angel. Problem: she can’t open her eyes or the process will start up again and she will die. I loved how this sort of switched things up from what we were used to when dealing with the Angels – instead of “don’t blink” and have to keep staring we now aren’t allowed to open our eyes.

At this point the story with the crack starts to take precedence. The Doctor explains something about there’s going to be a very big bang and things will collide and *poof* a crack in time will emerge and bring about the end of the universe. This particular crack seems to originate from Amy’s time. The Doctor ponders, “what would happen if time could run out?” and I start clinging to the edge of my seat. I knew this was going to be our story arc from early on, but it was still cool watching it play out. This is the reason that Amy couldn’t remember the Daleks. And these memory lapses aren’t going to be the last thing the crack in time changes. People are forgetting things, as if time is being altered. And it seems to affect the Angels as well – they all run in fear from the light (which is shaped like the crack in the wall).

I’ve noticed this pattern that The Doctor and Amy seem to split up a lot. Is it just me, or did that not happen nearly this often in past seasons? I’m not sure how I feel about him always leaving her behind or letting her fend for herself. It’s as if he just thinks she will get in the way. And then he wonders why she doesn’t trust him…

While Amy is dealing with cracks in time making her guards disappear one by one, The Doctor is with Father Octovian, who gets caught by one of the Angels. Before he dies he tells The Doctor that River was in prison for killing a man and that she can’t be trusted. My reaction – River killed someone?! WTF?!

Finally we see a merging of the two stories going on (Amy, the Angels, the crack, all of it). Now that Amy is all alone The Doctor has realized just how dangerous that crack can be. “If the time energy catches up to you, you will never have been born,” he warns her. Amy has to literally walk blind and try to get to The Doctor while staying ahead of the time energy. The crack is hungry and needs to be fed. I loved The Doctor’s comment at this point, “The Angels came to feed on the time energy, and now it’s going to feed on them.” I loved the irony in this, but not as much as what happened next.

The Doctor feeds the Angels to the crack to get it to close! The crack is not gone forever though. The explosion that created it in the first place is still happening somewhere in the universe. This means we have not seen the last of this story arc. As for River and the “good man” she killed – could it possibly be The Doctor? If she cared about him as much as she seems to have, then why kill him though? And when The Doctor says, “Time can be rewritten,” is he referring to the person River killed? I tried figuring out River’s timeline with The Doctor in my head but it just made my head hurt.

Going back to the story though… The Doctor returns Amy home, they snog a little bit, and The Doctor has a light bulb moment where it all suddenly makes sense. Except it doesn’t entirely make sense to this blogger. I get that it has something to do with Amy but that is all. And it seems that we are dropping this until the season finale, especially since the date they mentioned in the show was 26-06-2010 – June 26, 2010 for those Americans who might not be used to this way of writing the date. Looks like we’re going to just have to take what we have so far and enjoy the ride as it happens. No spoilers!

Doctor Who – The Time Of Angels

As River Song would say… Spoilers!

OK, two really big milestones in this episode: the return of the Weeping Angels and River Song. Two of Steven Moffat’s greatest creations in one fantastic adventure.

Right off the bat we see River being her awesome self. It’s cool watching her do her thing as The Doctor discovers her message. Also cool: watching her school The Doctor in how to drive his TARDIS. Why does she seem to know more about this than he does? Unless she was just around when he made all these discoveries for himself the first time. Regardless, watching these two match wits is priceless. At the same time, it’s weird how their timelines keep crossing over in the wrong order and watching them navigate this problem. But more about the mysterious Dr. Song later.

The Weeping Angels are possibly the creepiest monsters The Doctor has ever faced. They were bad enough when there were just a few of them trying to survive. Now we learn all new things about them that make them even worse. At first we just get a four second clip of one on a loop. Then Amy discovers that the Angel in the recording moves. This just as The Doctor and River make their own discovery – “That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel”. The recording comes to life with Amy locked inside with it. She manages to freeze the recording in just the right spot to stop it, but this is only the beginning.

The other thing we find out about the Angels is that you are not supposed to look the Angels in the eye. This comes into play later in the episode. At this point I realized – this might be an old monster but we are putting a fresh spin on it here.

Our V-8 moment for the evening comes in the last 15 minutes or so. If the statues in the cave were made by a species with two heads, then why don’t the statues have two heads? Answer: because they are all Weeping Angels. They have been slowly dying in the caves for years. The ship crashing down on the planet was a rescue mission to save an army of them. But why are they killing people off instead of displacing them in time like they normally do? Oh, and remember Amy looking into the eye of the one Angel? Now would be the time for this to come into play. The gang is all ready to run, but Amy says her hand has turned to stone and she can’t move. The Doctor tells her it is all in her mind and she is really not turning into stone. She doesn’t believe him so he bites her hand to prove it. “Ow, you bit me!” she exclaims. “And you’re alive. Did I mention…?” he replies. Even in the darkest of moments, he is still able to bring some light to the situation.

We leave things with everyone seemingly very much trapped by the army of Angels. “No way back, no way up no way out.” Ah, but this is The Doctor we are talking about here, River. “There’s always a way out.” Cue inspirational speech by The Doctor that gets everyone to trust him and follow whatever crazy plan he comes up with next.

The Doctor: Big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn’t anyone ever tell you? There’s one thing you never put in a trap. If you’re smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap.
Bob: And what would that be, sir?
The Doctor: Me

Our final scene is him shooting a gun up into the air after this moment of pure awesome.

Questions that still need answering:
Why are the Weeping Angels killing people?
What was up with the convo between River and Father Octavian where he asks her “He doesn’t know yet? who and what you are?” And she says something about having “no intention of going back to prison”…say what?! Prison?! We knew there was a huge mystery surrounding this character but this takes it to a whole new level. She also said something to Amy about things not being as simple as they seem and wouldn’t confirm that she and The Doctor were married even though he seems to think this is the case… or will be eventually. He also doesn’t seem too sure how he feels about this. Notice how he was ready to just leave her on the planet to fend for herself?

I think that is quite enough questioning for this episode. Next week we get the conclusion, and based on previews it looks like we may be connecting this to the cracks in time that keep appearing everywhere. You’re not gonna want to miss a single second of the adventure that awaits. (No fair downloading it online though. River would not be pleased with the Spoilers.)

Doctor Who – Victory of the Daleks

*INSERT USUAL SPOILER MESSAGE HERE*

When last we saw The Doctor and his lovely companion, they were getting a phone call from Winston Churchill saying he might need their help. Apparently the TARDIS still has some kinks to work out yet, because The Doctor doesn’t actually show up until a month after that call takes place. By that time, Churchill has already put into place a new secret weapon: the Daleks?

Wait, did I just see Winston Churchill working with the Daleks? That can’t be right… can it?

That is how it in fact seemed to be. Except they weren’t calling themselves “Daleks”. Instead they were called “Ironsides” and were created by a Professor Bracewell. It is all very confusing for The Doctor, especially the part where AMY DOESN’T REMEMBER THEM?! You mean AT ALL?!

So that was another thing that seemed off about this whole situation.

Also, their new purpose was to win the war for Great Britain. The Doctor isn’t buying any of this and even says to “Exterminate them” – Hey, Doc, that’s their line.

Another great line from The Doctor – “What does hate look like? It looks like a Dalek, and I’m going to prove it.” We all know The Doctor hates the Daleks, but for good reason. They destroyed his home and tried to destroy Earth (which is like his second home). You would hate them too, if you were him. Even still, it is amazing to see the level of emotion that they bring out in him (a combination fear, hate, and anger).

After enough words are shared between the two species, we finally get some explanation as to what is going on. It turns out the Daleks found this “Progenitor” that contained pure Dalek DNA, but did not recognize them as Daleks (because of mutations that happened in a previous episode). They needed The Doctor’s testimony to get the progenitor working. This created a whole new race of Daleks. First task: exterminate the old “inferior” models. Next they turn their sights on their old enemy: The Doctor. How will he escape this time? With the help of Winston Churchill of course!

Churchill sends Spitfires to blast the Dalek ship. The Doctor lowers their shields long enough for the planes to get a clear shot. But there is a slight complication. Seems old Bracewell is really an android created by the Daleks as part of their plans, and he is set to self-destruct. The Doctor now has a choice: stop the Daleks from escaping or keep the bomb from going off and taking all of planet Earth with it. He chooses to save the Earth, which the Daleks criticize him for. “His compassion is his greatest weakness,” they say. I disagree. I believe that is is actually one of his greatest strengths and what sets him apart from the rest of the world (besides, you know, the whole “Time Lord” thing).

The Doctor proves this in saving Bracewell. He tries to get Bracewell to remember how it felt to be human in an attempt to stop the bomb from going off. This is a great idea, but needs help from an actual human. Yet again we see the companion helping The Doctor in a crucial way. This time she asks Professor Bracewell if he has ever been in love with someone he shouldn’t have been. As he starts telling the story of a girl he knew once, the bomb is deactivated, thus proving that love is our greatest strength. Unfortunately, the Daleks use this to complete their time jump and escape. When Amy proclaims that they won (because the Daleks are gone and nobody died), The Doctor questions this. Was it really the right thing to let them escape, considering how much harm they could do to the Universe? The phrase, “Live to fight another day” came to mind here, for me.

Things that still needed answering at the end of this episode: why couldn’t Amy remember the Daleks? My second “open-ended” item might be connected to this – what is the deal with the cracks appearing everywhere? First we saw one in Amy’s room, then in the side of the ship in “The Beast Below”. Now we saw one in the wall as the TARDIS was disappearing. These are supposed to be cracks in time, so I am thinking this will be connected to Amy’s memory being apparently altered. Maybe something happened to “break” time somehow and caused history to be altered. We will have to continue watching to find out more.

As always, after the episode finished we were treated to another edition of Doctor Who: Confidential. This week gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the Churchill cabinet war room. The writer (Mark Gatiss) went there for research purposes. We also see how the “Spitfire in space” scene worked. Some very cool stuff worth having a look at, if you haven’t already done so.

Next week we get part 1 of the two-part episode with the Weeping Angels. This is the one I’ve been most excited to see, so you can be sure I will have lots to say once it’s over.