Deep Breath

[clocketpatch]

"What? It laid an egg!"
"It dropped a blue box, marked "police" out of its mouth. Your grasp on biology troubles me."

And then I laughed, quite a bit.

I like the way this episode started. The Paternoster gang going after a dinosaur (who is acknowledged to be… slightly larger than usual. I'm going to blame vortex energies. I'm also pleased that the TARDIS is to blame for the transportation, because that takes care of the geographical issue of a T-rex in London).

Twelve (and I will refer to him as such in this response, even if the numerology scheme has gone a bit out the window) running about in post-regeneration distress is suitably funny and terrifying. Poor Clara, dealing with it all.



ooooEEeeoooo!!! DumdiddyDum! DumdiddyDum!

The title sequence was the thing I was most excited for with this episode and it did not disappoint. The fact that it is fan made will never stop being lovely (I'm also wondering if it was at least partially responsible for inspiring Moffat to have the droids in the first episode). The new rendition of the theme song…

My initial reaction was horror, but it quickly grew on me. I like it much better than Eleven's original theme. Listening to them side-by-side, I think I even like it better than the Day of the Doctor amalgamation of themes.



"You might as well flirt with a mountain range."
"He flirted with you."
"I wore a veil for the same reason he a face… For the oldest reason. To be accepted."

The, "he's not young any more, deal with it," preaching seems a bit too directed towards the audience, though I did enjoy Clara telling Vastra off on behalf of the audience.

I also find the sentiment that Clara was never that way interested in Eleven, and that Eleven was not that way interested in Clara, but that he was working under the assumption that he had to be a dashing young romantic partner in order to be… accepted… very sad, and very telling of Eleven's behaviour.

Eleven (and Ten, and even Nine, and, heck, this goes all the way back to Eight, doesn't it?) having been falling more and more into that assumption. But it isn't true and never has been. Twelve coming to that conclusion at the end of the episode and admitting that he's been pretending to be something he's not was was poignant for me.

As a side note, I'm a bit worried about Vastra and Jenny's relationship. They keep having spats in this. They're treated as humorous, but the underlying control issues really aren't funny. And Jenny cheering her on when she gets back at Vastra was just slightly too enthusiastic. O_o
(and the scene later on with her posing naked is creepy, OMG Moffat, forced nudity is not as funny as you think it is!)


"I will keep you safe! You will be at home again!"

Poor Doctor. The more things change…


"A dinosaur is burning in the heart of London, nothing left but smoke and flame. The question is… have there been any similar matters?"

A very nice segue into the plot with the Doctor leaping into the Thames. The comedy Strax morning after is also very nice. As is Clara's Victorian dress. I can tell why they keep visiting this era. It's not just the wonderful banter of the Paternoster gang – it's the fact that Clara looks very nice in the requisite garb.

Strax's medical exam is a bit creepy though (again with the nudity jokes, Moffat, and wtf, Clara is thinking always of slash?) I do like Strax's false cheerfulness about the Doctor's propensity for abandoning companions.


"These are attack eyebrows!"

The whole post-Thames scene with Twelve in his wet night gown terrorising that poor tramp is unspeakably sad. The references to Four with the scarf and Eight with the mirror… The implication that all of the Doctor's faces belonged to people he met somewhere along the way (backed up by what happened with Five to Six). And the idea that all of those faces are trying to tell him something.

Funny bit in the middle with the seceding Scottish eyebrows (though they carried on just a bit too long, me thinks). Quickly turning to terrifying as Twelve starts demanding the tramp's coat. The Doctor often steals his clothes. Usually from people who can afford to replace them. Never off the backs of the people wearing them.

I was very glad when Twelve suggests in the next scene that he traded his watch. Though I'm not certain I believe it. And I do worry about that tramp.


"The smell is everywhere."

The bickering between Twelve and Clara in the restaurant is great. They make a very enjoyable double-act. The mystery of the note-writer is a great puzzle within a puzzle. Speaking of which –


"How long can you hold your breath?"

The list of things Moffat has made terrifying:

• Statues


• Blinking


• Dolls


• Clocks


• Gas masks


• Breathing

"I might need it."

Twelve will throw you to the wolves. It is a very Seven-like manipulation. I always thought Eleven was very Seven-like, perhaps the regenerrrration will enhance this.


"You are stronger than you look."
"I hope that you are too… And unlike you, I don't expect to reach the promised land… You realize, of course, that one of us is lying about our basic programming. And I think we both know who that is."

The climactic scene with the clockwork man and the Doctor was very troubling to me. Whether the droid fell or was pushed isn't the issue here. The issue is, should suicide really be such a reoccurring theme on this show given its viewership? And worse, should it be implied at the end that this is the way to Paradise?

(because do any of us, for one second, believe that that Doctor pushed the droid with his hands? His words however… the Doctor definitely did some word pushing… but clean hands, right?)

I did a literally, wtf at both this, and the gratuitous impaled-on-a-weathervane scene.

That was just upsetting and uncalled for. The episode had quite enough creepiness without that scene (the skin balloon? The Doctor wearing an ACTUAL face? That hand hanging on the clockwork man's lapel?) Yeah. I enjoyed the creepiness. I did not enjoy it when that over-the-top camp creepiness superimposed itself over something darker and more serious and acted like it was the same sort of thing.


"You can't see me, can you? You look at me, and you can't see me. Have you any idea what that's like?"

I was spoiled for Eleven's cameo. I don't know what effect it would have had unspoiled. It was nice to see him again, but… it felt like a ghost talking. I don't need any more confirmation that Twelve is the Doctor. He confirmed that for me the moment he looked out of his T-rex spit covered TARDIS and started accusing Strax of being all seven of the Seven Dwarfs.

His awkward, hands-flailing-in-distress response to Clara's hug is incredibly funny, a little bit sad, and very… Twelve. He has sprung into being not totally defined. He is still a rough sketch of a Doctor. But you can see who he is.

He is afraid.

He is a man who has been given a second chance and is terrified that he will blow it.

He doesn't know who he is. He is afraid that his friends don't know him either. Old broom. He doesn't know if he can still sweep, or what he is sweeping, or why.

But I think that he knows himself now more than he did before (even if he doesn't know it yet). I am eager to see more of his adventures. And that eagerness means that this episode has succeeded.


Post-Script

The lady with the telephone. The lady who took out the ads. I thought she might be Romana or Susan, but on seeing her… (and a_phoenixdragon said the same in her review)… Iris Wildthyme? What mischief are you getting up to now?


Post-Post-Script:

"I don't like her; I love her, and as for different... she's a lizard."

So, I was wrong about Jenny being naked in that scene. I still find it vaguely disturbing, but that doesn't change my love for the above line (which I forgot, somehow, while rounding up quotes). So... even if I think that their relationship has a few worrying elements, I also think that it's still a very strong and loving one, and that line is lovely (and really... what kind of response was Clara expecting to that question?)

It has, however, given me a fic bunny, (what would Jenny's reaction be if Vastra were to suddenly become human? Or vice versa) with which I shall probably do nothing at all...

Comments

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

That really did irk me as well.