Closing Time
Posted: 24 Sep 2011, 20:45
Okay.
I would have been more impressed with this episode if the last five minutes hadn't been an elaborate set-up for the next episode. What Who has tended to do with grandiose climaxes is stretch them out into two-parters, filling in time with banter and special effects if they're not long enough, which is fine by me. As next week's climax is one episode long, somebody has probably realised, "holy sh*t, we need to remind viewers of the plot, quick, shoehorn something in at the end of this sort episode!", and so they did.
I don't particularly like the whole River Song Silence Will Fall Impossible Astronaut story arc anyway, but this just felt clumsy.
The main episode was fine though, it was good to see James Corden back (as I liked him in The Lodger) and the whole setup, happening in Colchester (as opposed to somewhere fanciful) was a good plot set-up too. Cybermen are always good to see. Underused a bit in this episode, and the whole "killed them with love" thing was a bit schmaltzy, but it was good to show Corden's character having a bit of strength - enough to fight off the mindwiping influence of the Cybers.
I liked the little mouse thing too. It was cute.
Humour in this epsiode was very good - the bemused but well-meaning shop assistants, the Doctor's "shh!" thing, "Stormageddon", the Doctor translating baby talk, the whole gay "partner" thing. It was all quite gentle humour but made me laugh.
One bit that stood out for me was the brief showing of Amy and Rory. I love Amy and Rory, but I'm kind of glad they weren't in this episode (consider the last James Corden episode, where Amy's role was just to sit in the TARDIS and give advice). Any unanswered questions about what they're doing for money since they were dropped off can be answered simply - Amy is a model now. Nice and easy... and also believable.
So all in all I really liked this episode. Sadly, it did feel like a bit of a filler, but may have done less so if they hadn't tacked that unrelated bit onto the end. Since that was there, it really does seem like someone just got given a spare episode to write and put James Corden in it to have a bit of fun. Real shame there.
I would have been more impressed with this episode if the last five minutes hadn't been an elaborate set-up for the next episode. What Who has tended to do with grandiose climaxes is stretch them out into two-parters, filling in time with banter and special effects if they're not long enough, which is fine by me. As next week's climax is one episode long, somebody has probably realised, "holy sh*t, we need to remind viewers of the plot, quick, shoehorn something in at the end of this sort episode!", and so they did.
I don't particularly like the whole River Song Silence Will Fall Impossible Astronaut story arc anyway, but this just felt clumsy.
The main episode was fine though, it was good to see James Corden back (as I liked him in The Lodger) and the whole setup, happening in Colchester (as opposed to somewhere fanciful) was a good plot set-up too. Cybermen are always good to see. Underused a bit in this episode, and the whole "killed them with love" thing was a bit schmaltzy, but it was good to show Corden's character having a bit of strength - enough to fight off the mindwiping influence of the Cybers.
I liked the little mouse thing too. It was cute.
Humour in this epsiode was very good - the bemused but well-meaning shop assistants, the Doctor's "shh!" thing, "Stormageddon", the Doctor translating baby talk, the whole gay "partner" thing. It was all quite gentle humour but made me laugh.
One bit that stood out for me was the brief showing of Amy and Rory. I love Amy and Rory, but I'm kind of glad they weren't in this episode (consider the last James Corden episode, where Amy's role was just to sit in the TARDIS and give advice). Any unanswered questions about what they're doing for money since they were dropped off can be answered simply - Amy is a model now. Nice and easy... and also believable.
So all in all I really liked this episode. Sadly, it did feel like a bit of a filler, but may have done less so if they hadn't tacked that unrelated bit onto the end. Since that was there, it really does seem like someone just got given a spare episode to write and put James Corden in it to have a bit of fun. Real shame there.