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Shazam!
Do you prefer listening to us rant about episodes we really liked or disliked? Coolio, then head on over to the stats section and find an episode we rated exceptionally highly/incredibly disparagingly!
And there are PLENTY of ways to get involved beyond listening to the show and exploring the article archives. Point your eyestalks at some of these links to learn more! - Merch!
Things I liked:
– Gory-scary Time Zombies!
– The Eye of Harmony! First appearance since the Seventh Doctor’s 1996 TV Movie!
– Snippets of the expanded Tardis. More please.
– The History of the Time War. Oooh Ahhh! (But who wrote this, & is it really over?)
– Guest Star: the sacred lighty tree from Avatar!
– Clara Appreciation Society Moment of the Week: cross Clara smacking the Doctor.
Beefs:
– “He’s a human. Tricky is a goddamn human!” – aka Eyeballgate II. ‘Android Invasion’, you’ve been stripped of your award for dumbest twist.
– The Official Star Trek Voyager Reset Button. Cheats!
– Retcon 1) more expendable salvagers to create a massive multi-limbed Time Zombie!
– Retcon 2) Exploring the wreck of a baddie Timelord’s tardis. The Doctor would have been in the dark as much as the others. And it could have been doing some serious sicko timey-whimy shit to the cast.
Summary: for the love of god, would somebody please stop M.Night. Shyamalan getting access to the script cupboard.
Rating 2.7/5 unexplained but scary-ass Time Zombies – “Brains! Past-Self Brains!….”
I have very mixed feelings about this episode. I did not enjoy the guest characters, and that backstory for Tricky was… so awful… and cruel… and just… really uncomfortable.
I’m also puzzled why all the burning people didn’t, you know, fall down and die, and instead were trying to kill the living. Why, exactly? Do they crave brains?
I also want to know about the piece of fabric that fell on the console of the TARDIS at the very end of the episode. I thought for sure the Doctor would pick it up, and it would be something to do with the season arc, or the next episode, or something, but then the episode just ended.
On the other hand, I liked seeing the Doctor’s old baby crib again, and Amy’s model TARDIS, and we finally got to see the swimming pool! I loved the Encyclopedia bottles, and the little letters of mist coming out of them.
It’s just… people with burns that severe don’t go running around trying to murder other people. Even in space. I know this because I watched Revenge of the Sith fifteen times. The monsters in the TARDIS should at least have black armor and noisy breathing apparatuses. And preferably capes.
1.8 out of 5 bottles of knowledge. And a lot of corridors.
Eleven’s obsession with figuring Clara out is really beginning to bug me. At the end of The Snowmen when he decides to try to find this girl again it’s kinda sweet. Maybe they are meant to be together somehow! He had such chemistry with brainy Oswin and impulsive Governess Clara. He says he knows “who” and thinks if he found her twice he’ll find her again. Will there be romance? Kooky adventures?? But once he finds a third Oswald girl he suddenly suspects something nefarious. It’s like dude, you wanted her along and now you act like she’s gonna kill you? His relationship with Clara Prime is actually super messed up.
It’s a great week for messed up relationships, as a pair of brothers convince the youngest he’s really an Android. If you notice at the end, the photo is restored. I’m thinking the rewritten timeline contains some sort of post-hypnotic suggestion resulting in the pair never having fooled Tricky. Nonetheless, his memory loss makes him unfit as captain, and his prosthetics make him robotic, resulting in Bram teasing him as Gregor defends him.
And finally I’ll note that the last scene appears to show Clara having just showered, which strikes me as very intimate. She’s both trusting and flirty, hinting that she’s considering a relationship- or are they already in one off-camera? Is this a good idea given all the suspicion he holds onto?
Rating: eyeroll emoji