michelel72 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
michelel72) wrote2010-04-25 10:58 pm
michelel72) wrote2010-04-25 10:58 pm
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DW 5x04 The Time of Angels
No spoilers in this post; no guarantees for comments.
Now that is what I was hoping for from the new season!
In contrast, Behind the Sofa's Neil Perryman nails one of the greatest problems I've had with the series before this point. (This point was made in specific reference to "The Beast Below", but it applies to various extents to all three initial episodes.)
Now that is what I was hoping for from the new season!
In contrast, Behind the Sofa's Neil Perryman nails one of the greatest problems I've had with the series before this point. (This point was made in specific reference to "The Beast Below", but it applies to various extents to all three initial episodes.)
Ah, but it's all a fairytale, isn't it? It's not supposed to make any sense. Er, well, in that case stop trying to weave intricate plot threads that are supposed to lead to logical conclusions - and stop imploring us to pay attention to these details in order to work it all out. It's not working.To be honest, my greater problem has been the way the show has served as an object lesson for why "show, don't tell" is one of the most basic writing directives ever, but the "it's okay because it's a fairytale!" defense is one I've expected to hear in response to both that and the completely incomprehensible plotting. (TWoP's Jacob has used that defense before, but to my surprise, he seems to have the same problems with the early episodes I've had, which is a surprise.) But I don't have nearly that reaction to this latest episode, so — at least for now — I have hope that they just needed to get their feet under them.
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I wasn't actually annoyed by River, though given what you point out, I should have been. Maybe those heels shocked me into complacency? (Those heels were awful. How can anyone do any proper running about in those?) She waltzes in and pretty much acts out the Mary Sue handbook (in all but the bizarrely colored hair and eye categories). But they had already established her as having knowledge the Doctor didn't have yet, and I think that was a big part of why that didn't bother me. The Doctor's mixture of refusing to answer anything Amy asked and petulance made it hard for me to side with him; maybe that's a factor. And I don't mind seeing his pomposity punctured just a bit every now and then.
(How devastated would you be if she turned out to be a regenerated-into-human, genderswapped (or post-gender) Master? That idea popped into my head about half an hour ago, as I pondered what she might be to the Doctor if not his once and future wife, given that she knows his true name and that's a huge thing.)
Long-term, I don't see a need for her, but the concept of her doesn't necessarily actively annoy me. Given that she's one of Moffat's pet creations, that's a good thing, though I suspect you'll be gritting your teeth in future. Sorry ....
Amy didn't annoy me either, honestly, except for yet again knowing more about the Doctor's ways than she should. (The script makes it explicit that they haven't even done a planet yet, but she knows he usually never lets anyone call him "sir"? The hell?) She refused to remain behind — and being left behind for safety is not the companion's role, Dalek episode — but she stuck with the Doctor or in the supposed-to-be-safe bunker thing. She actually annoyed me less this time around.
They still had the problem of stating what we should be allowed to register for ourselves, but that was diminished; and they didn't take what was supposed to be ALLEGORY and make it EXPLICIT TEXT (*cough* DALEK EPISODE *cough*). I think what matters most, though, is that it wasn't nearly as incoherent and random as the prior episodes. Once a narrative actually gets my attention and lets me stay on, I tend to enjoy the experience far more.
I also liked the casual worldbuilding. A militarized church? Controversial, and yet potentially cool — what's behind that? And I had just a flicker of thought about the two-headed extinct civilization and single-headed statues, but it went right out of my head again until it became a plot revelation. That's a refreshing change from the blinking obvious plot turns of the prior episodes.
It could all go to hell in the second part; the franchise has a history of that. But I'm no longer actively dreading disappointment.
I mean, I enjoyed the DALEK EPISODE more than this one! And that's just...wrong! Daleks are something to be accepted for the sake of the superior episodes!
Heh ... and yet wow, man. I'm just as happy to say the Dalek episode never happened, because it actively and aggressively annoyed me, where this one didn't. How very strange, that we had such differing reactions!