Doctor Who: Before the Flood

HI OKAY FORGET THE SMALL TALK THE DOCTOR IS A GHOST AND WE NEED TO FIND OUT HOW THAT HAPPENED AND HOW HE GETS FIXED! HERE WE GO! (If you have no idea wtf I’m talking about, please read my previous Doctor Who recap)

We open with the Doctor breaking the fourth wall and telling us a story about Beethoven: Imagine a time traveller was a huge fan of Beethoven, and had gone back to visit the musician. But when he goes back, he realizes that Beethoven has never been born. So the time traveller publishes all of Beethoven’s music himself. So who really created the music? Hmm..…and then we go right into a rocking-awesome opening credits!

…I have no idea what that has to do with the Doctor being a ghost, but it was pretty damn awesome!

The Doctor, O’Donnell and Bennett have landed in 1980. As O’Donnell summarizes, pre-Harold Saxon, pre-Minister of War…Minister of War? The Doctor begins to ask, but thinks better of it. He’ll find out soon enough. And I hope we do, too!

The trio comes across the alien craft. It’s wide open, and the alien is still inside. The Doctor tells the others that the craft is actually a hearse. The suspension chamber is still on the craft, as is the power cell. And there’s no writing on the wall.

Up runs black-eyed dude, but he’s alive, with no black eyes. Now he’s like a little moleman! And he’s a funeral director. He’s come to earth to bury the alien on the craft, who he calls the Fisher King.

Back to the future (Ha! See what I did there?!), Clara, Cass and Lunn watch the ghost-Doctor through the glass. Cass realizes that the ghost-Doctor is saying something different than the other ghosts. He’s repeating all of their names, over and over. Moran, Pritchard, Prentiss, O’Donnell, Clara… (NOT Lunn! Interesting!)… But who’s Prentiss? That’s not a name we know yet!

Clara’s phone rings, and it’s the Doctor, calling from the future. Clara tells him that he’s a ghost outside the base. The Doctor realizes that he has to die. Fixed point, I guess? I’m not 100% sure why, really. But okay. He has to die.

Clara argues. He’s given her “something else to be”, and he can’t die and take that away. He says there are rules and he can’t change them (since when?!). He tells Clara he’ll do what he can.

In the past, Moleman enters the ship. The Fisher King is gone, and the writing is on the wall! A shadow appears, and we cut to the Doctor, Bennett and O’Donnell on the TARDIS.

The Doctor is still talking to Clara. She notices that the ghost-Doctor’s coat is torn on the shoulder, and she also tells him that what the ghost-Doctor is saying is different. The Doctor explains that Prentiss is Moleman. Then ghost-Doctor walks through the wall and into the base!

Ghost-Doctor goes to the panel and opens the safe room, letting out the other ghosts. The Doctor wants to talk to ghost-him. He tries, and the ghost-Doctor’s message changes. He now says, “The chamber will open tonight.”

The Doctor tells Clara to get into the safe room, to not let the phone out of her sight. It won’t work in the faraday cage, so she’s to leave it outside and go out to answer it if it rings. The Doctor needs to know exactly what his ghost is doing at all times.

The Doctor, Bennett and O’Donnell leave the TARDIS, only to find Moleman dead in the alien craft, and the writing on the wall. The Fisher King did it himself. He took the suspension chamber into the church.

Suddenly, there’s a loud roar! The trio runs back for the TARDIS, but they’re cut off! They get split up and hide. The Fisher King is HUGE! I mean, MASSIVE! It finds O’Donnell, and she dies in Bennett’s arms.

Bennett questions the Doctor about the list. Who’s next? Ghost-Doctor has been repeating the names in order of their deaths…and CLARA is next! AHHHH!

Clara watches out the window at the phone. O’Donnell’s ghost pops up in front of her, just outside the faraday cage. O’Donnell takes Clara’s phone and walks off.

The Doctor and Bennett are back on the TARDIS, and the Doctor plans to break the rules. He’s going back to the base to save Clara, and to not die. But the TARDIS has other ideas. The cloister bell sounds, and they land right back in 1980--only now they’re 30 minutes backwards! He’s locked in his own time stream! The TARDIS won’t let him leave, and now they have to wait until time catches up with them. Seeing both Doctors in the same timeline reminds me of “Father’s Day”. God, that was a heartbreaking episode. Uh, sorry. I wandered a bit there…

Bennett wants to save Prentiss and O’Donnell, but the Doctor won’t allow it.

On the base, Clara is doing her own deducing. She realizes that the ghosts won’t hurt Lunn because he’s never seen the words on the craft. He should be safe to go get the phone.  Cass argues against it, but Lunn agrees to go.

On Earth, Bennett tries to run out to save O’Donnell, but the Doctor stops him. They wrestle briefly, and the Doctor’s coat is ripped. He sends Bennett back to the TARDIS, and he goes by himself to face the Fisher King.

The Doctor goes into the church, and, of course, into the creepy church basement. The suspension chamber is open. The Doctor speaks to someone in the dark. He tells the Fisher King, I guess?  what he’s seen in the future. Death, ghosts. The Fisher King wants the ghosts. He wants many ghosts; enough to make an armada and wake him from his sleep.

On the base, the suspension chamber lights up, and begins to beep.

Lunn is in a corridor, and the ghosts find him. They surround him, but don’t attack. Clara was right. They aren’t interested in him.

On earth, the Doctor questions the Fisher King; what will happen when his people arrive?

The Fisher King will drain the oceans and put the human in chains.

The Doctor tells the Fisher King that the earth is protected. By him!

The reply? “Yes. One man, lost in time.” Well when you put it that way….gulp.

On the base, Lunn grabs the phone, but the ghosts lock him in, away from the others.

The Fisher King finally shows himself, and he’s huge, but also UGLY! BLECH.

On earth, Cass and Clara decide to go find Lunn. They get separated when Cass decides to go off on her own.

Moran stalks Cass, dragging an axe behind him. It’s creepy as hell, because she can’t hear the sound of it dragging along the floor!

The Doctor and the Fisher King bicker a bit, until the Doctor gives one of his speeches and tells the Fisher King how horrible he is and that, “this is where your story ends.”

And on the base, the suspension chamber does more beeping and lighting.

THIS IS INTENSE, YOU GUYS! The damn axe dragging, and then silence when Cass is shown, and then noise again with the axe and Moran…I CAN’T HANDLE THIS.

BUT OH MY GOD SHE KNEELS AND FEELS THE VIBRATION IN THE FLOOR WITH HER HAND. AND SHE DUCKS OUT OF THE WAY JUST IN TIME! YOU GO, CASS!

Cass runs, and finds Clara!

Um, and then confusion? The Doctor can’t be killed and used as a beacon because he “got rid of the words”? No one will die; no one is coming to save the Fisher King. Wut?

Clara and Cass get to Lunn, but it’s a trap. The ghosts come through the walls. The trio runs back to the faraday cage.

On Earth, OH MY GOD THE DOCTOR LIES YOU GUYS! I FORGOT! I NEED TO NOT FORGET THAT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Doctor LIED to the Fisher King! Of course the words are still there! Of course he still has them in his mind! And the Doctor has also taken the power cell! HE EXPLODES THE DAMN DAM! THE DOCTOR DID IT ALL ALONG! OH MY GOD!

The TARDIS starts to leave with Bennett inside! It's going back to the future! (HA, I did it again!)

The dam is bursting! Water is flooding the base! The water hits the Fisher King full force! He's dead! The flood has taken him!

In the future, Clara, Lunn and Cass run into the room where the suspension chamber is! The ghosts are upon them! The chamber opens! OUT POPS THE DOCTOR!  HE WAS IN THE SUSPENSION CHAMBER!

They all run into the computer room! The Doctor inserts his sonic glasses into the computer! The Fisher King is roaring! The ghosts leave and walk away, answering the Fisher King’s call! They go into the faraday cage, and it’s the ghost-Doctor roaring! He called the ghosts away! The Doctor locks the ghosts in the faraday cage!

…omg, I can’t breathe. This is insane.

With everyone now safe, and Clara wearing the sonic sunglasses, the Doctor explains that his ghost was a hologram beamed through the sonic glasses. He uses the glasses to erase the words from Clara and Cass.

Bennett watches the ghosts in the cage and asks what will happen to them. The Doctor explains that UNIT will take them away in the cage and destroy the alien craft.

Bennett makes Lunn tell Cass how he feels about her. It’s too late for him and O’Donnell, and he doesn’t want Lunn to suffer the same fate. D’aww.

Lunn does it, and Cass kisses him. D’AWW!

Back on the TARDIS, the Doctor explains how he told himself to do all the things he did; get into the chamber, protect Clara…but omg it’s so complicated and confusing.

AND WE’RE BACK TO BEETHOVEN OH MY GAWD WHITHOUSE, YOU BLOODY GENIUS! WHO CREATED BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH? WHEN DID THE DOCTOR FIRST HAVE THE IDEAS TO PLANT THE WORDS HIS GHOSTS SAID?!

…and then that little knowing smirk and shrug to the camera! HA!

Okay, you guys, I LOVED the second part of this two-parter! The first part was good, but this was a really good episode! Great writing, great story, not too many huge plot-holes! We may almost be back on track here!

Um, so I forgot to do my favourite lines. SORRY, I WAS A LITTLE BUSY WITH THE WHOLE GHOST-DOCTOR THING!

I’ll remember next time. See you soon!

Doctor Who: Under the Lake

Okay guys, we’re going to try something different from here on out. If you’ve followed the other shows I’ve recapped, you may be familiar with my saying that they’re more of a reaction, less a recap. I usually like to write as I watch, which often leads to the use of ALL CAPS as I scream at the show I’m writing about, a few light (or not so light) cursing, and tons of ???’s and !!!’s.

With Doctor Who, I do things differently. I watch the show once with no interruptions, and take it all in. Then I watch it again, and I write my recap during that second watch. I do things this way with Doctor Who because it’s such a meaty and often confusing show, I don’t want to miss anything. I want to make sure I catch every word so you all don’t miss anything either.

Sadly, because there’s so much great TV to watch these days, and so little time for me to watch it, I’m gonna switch things up. My Doctor Who recaps are now going to be reactions. I promise to TRY not to miss anything, but if I do, please forgive me. And keep an eye on this post throughout the week, as edits may occur as I think of more theories and post them, or realize something important I missed.

Okay, here we go with Under The Lake!

We open about a hundred years in the future, on an underwater base. I love the diversity of the cast this week, and having the show’s first deaf guest star is a really fantastic addition. Well done, Mr. Whithouse! (he’s the writer of this episode, and a fan favourite. Yay)

So, on the underwater base, they discover a craft of some sort. How it was missed before is mystifying to them all. Oh! Creepy black-eyes dude is seen reflected in some glass! Okay, this is getting interesting…

On the strange craft they discover strange writing. One of them mentions that the material used has never before been seen on earth. So…aliens?

Suddenly the weird ghost-guy appears and attacks one of the crew. There’s an explosion, and another of the crew members dies in the blast. The rest are able to get away from the fire. Once they’re all safe behind a closed door, they turn to see the ghost of their former crew member…and the creepy guy with the black eyes! We cut to the opening credits as the ghosts loom over the surviving crew members.

Three days later, the TARDIS appears on the abandoned underwater base. The Doctor is speaking to her—the TARDIS, I mean. Apparently she’s not happy, and he’s trying to figure out why.  Clara wants to go back to the fun exploring, but the TARDIS isn’t having it. She’s brought them here for a reason…

As they explore, the Doctor and Clara discover  signs of a recent struggle in the mess hall, but no bodies. They explore further, and come across the ghosts of the black-eyed guy and the crew member, Moran.

The ghosts come very close and examine Clara and the Doctor, but they don’t seem to mean any harm. The Doctor smirks gleefully, as the game is afoot!

The ghosts wander down the corridor, and the Doctor and Clara follow. They enter the room that holds the strange alien craft, and the ghosts have disappeared. They explore the small craft. The Doctor sees the alien writing, but he can’t read it because the TARDIS hasn’t translated it. Curiouser and curiouser…

The ghosts reappear and seem to be speaking, but no words can be heard. This is some creepy sh!t right here!

The ghosts suddenly go on the attack, walking through walls and floors to get to Clara and the Doctor! Their lips continue to move, but still no sound is heard.

As they run, they find the rest of the crew held up in a secure room. The Doctor and Clara gladly join them and introduce themselves. The Doctor uses his psychic paper, and the crew realizes he’s from UNIT (hahaha!), and apparently so are they!

The Doctor tries to listen to Cass as she signs, but he can’t. The TARDIS still isn’t translating!

The crew explains about the weird alien ship, about Moran dying. The Doctor explains that the black-eyed guy is from the planet Tivoli(?), but they’re not usually a violent people.

The crew explains that the ghosts can’t get into the safe room where they’re held up. They go on to tell the Doctor and Clara that the base used to be a military training base, but years and years ago a nearby dam burst and flooded the whole thing. There’s also apparently a massive oil reservoir underneath it.

The lights change and the base automatically switches from night to day mode. Being so far underwater, the daylight is simulated. Oddly enough, the ghosts only come out at night.

The crew gives the Doctor and Clara the low-down on the base and situation, and the Doctor eloquently sums things up, “So we’re fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor.” Yup, sounds about right!

The Doctor realizes that the alien ship must have the answers, and he examines it. He notices that some things have been removed…namely a suspension chamber and a power cell.

Lunn tries to join the others on the craft, but Cass won’t allow it, saying it “isn’t safe”. This is the second time she’s said this to him. Hmm…

The Doctor sums up what he knows about Moran and the black-eyed guy and realizes they’re ghosts! And he’s pretty stinkin’ excited about that!

And then Clara whispers something about “cards” to the Doctor. She rifles through some cue cards from his pocket and chooses the appropriate one. The Doctor reads the card and gives a grave speech about being sorry for their loss and doing and he can to help solve the mystery. It’s pretty damn hilarious. I love that Clara has put cue cards in his pocket so he can actually pretend he has a heart! Hahaha! Also, y’all should make sure to pause and read all of the cards. They’re damn funny.

The Doctor gives a speech about how cool it is that people are now able to come back from the grave, and he has a ton of questions he’d like to ask them. This all seems a bit heartless, considering that Clara only lost Danny a few months ago…I mean, I’m assuming months because she’s not much older…I suppose it could be years. But still…

Oh! Suddenly, the base goes into night mode too early, and the TARDIS sounds her cloister bell! The Doctor and Clara enter the TARDIS, and she’s all moody and full of steam. She apparently wants to leave…so the Doctor put her handbrake on. That makes everything okay again.

Clara wants to go back out to the adventure, and the Doctor stops her to give a speech about not going native, and there can only be one him, blah blah. He then says that he felt he had to say something because he has duty of care, and he’d like to stop now. I mean, at least he’s trying to have a heart, right?

And then poor Pritchard is caught and drowned by the ghosts.

Everyone on the base is separated as some try to grab supplies, and others try to figure out how to get back into day mode. Why haven’t they just been trying to figure that out every day? Just keep the base on day mode all the time? Err, suspension of belief. Right. Sorry.

Clara and Lunn see Pritchard, who had been missing up until that point. He’s standing with his back to them…and then they see his body float by outside. Uhoh, ghost! Pritchard-Ghost grabs a metal chair—the Doctor has noticed that they can only move metal objects—and goes in for the attack.

Luckily, O’Donnell gets the day mode turned back on and the ghost disappears. See my rant about day mode above. 

The crew gathers, and Cass wants to abandon the base. The ghosts are learning to use it against them—turning day mode off and opening hatches. The Doctor, of course, wants to stay.

O’Donnell calls for help, but topside has already sent a rescue sub. Someone else has already called them! It had to have been the ghosts!

The Doctor makes them call back the sub and puts the base under quarantine. No one is going anywhere!

The Doctor makes O’Donnell put the base back into night mode Clara and Lunn try to lead the ghosts to the point the Doctor has given them, but the ghosts unexpectedly separate when Clara and Lunn do! Clara gets safe, but Lunn is cornered! BUT HE HAS NEVER SEEN THE WRITING ON THE ALIEN CRAFT! CASS KEPT HIM SAFE! WHOA!

The Doctor leads the ghosts into the safe room using a hologram of Clara as bait. The ghosts are trapped in the safe room.

The Doctor enters the room so Cass can get a better look at the ghosts through his sonic sunglasses camera-thing. He wants her to read their lips. She does, and the ghosts are saying, “The dark, the sword, forsaken, temple.” The Doctor is confused, and then he calls for a map. He works out that they’re giving him coordinates. The ghosts are trying to beam out coordinates and more ghosts means more beaming.

The Doctor also figures out that the coordinates go to the former base’s church, but he doesn’t know why the ghosts are beaming them out. He convinces everyone to stay and help him solve the mystery.

They use a sub controlled by virtual reality to find the church, and figure out why the coordinates lead there. They find the suspended animation chamber from the alien craft… And this was my face:

via GIPHY

Okay, and then I got a little lost. I’ma try to explain this as best I can…

The chamber is locked, and the Doctor goes back to the writing in the craft. He realizes the writing is the coordinates, and that none of them were surprised when they heard the coordinates because they’d already seen them when they looked at the writing. Got that? Okay, good.  Me neither. ;)

Okay, so the words get stuck in your brain after you see them, and they stay there, even after death. The ghosts beam out the coordinates while the pilot/weird alien/whatever? Sleeps in the animation chamber and waits for its friends to come rescue it.

Suddenly, the ghosts tamper with the computer and start to flood the base! Everyone needs to get to the TARDIS, and they have 30 seconds to do so! A flood door comes down, and Clara and the Doctor are separated! Clara, Lunn and Cass are safe where they are, and the Doctor tells them through the com that he’s going to bring the TARDIS back to when the alien craft landed, so that he can understand what happened and why it’s happening.

The Doctor and two crew members leave in the TARDIS, as Clara, Lunn and Cass look at something out the window of the base….It’s a new ghost. IT’S THE EFFING DOCTOR HE’S A GHOST OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

HFGFKGFYAUGFJHEHFGUKGLGRLGHFFGRGBVJKMN CLIFFHANGER!!

Guys, GUYS! STAY CALM! I’ma get on watching Before the Flood ASAP because now I’m DYING.

Oh, right. My favourite lines. Here they are!

The Doctor: “So who’s in charge now? I need to know who to ignore.”

The Doctor: “Anything else I should know? Anyone got a peanut allergy or something?”

The Doctor: “Yes, well, there was no such thing as socks, or smart phones, and badgers until there suddenly were.”

The Doctor: “Well I don’t know, but I’m pretty certain it’s not so they can all form a boy band.”

The Doctor: “Clara, why don’t I have a radio in the TARDIS?”
Clara: “You took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel.”

Okay, be back as soon as I can with my next reaction post!

Doctor Who: The Witch's Familiar

Welcome back to the Missy Show! Y’know, sometimes I wish it was the Missy Show, because Michelle Gomez is KILLING it, isn’t she? I just love Missy!

Let’s check out what happened in this episode of Doctor Who!

Okay, so Clara is hanging upside down, and she isn’t dead. Neither is Missy. But we knew that, right?

Missy tells Clara a story about the Doctor — and the costume changes are really great here — with no TARDIS. He’s being stalked by invisible assassins, he’s surrounded, close to death. And Missy wants Clara to tell her how he escaped. Clara answers the question correctly, and Missy explains that that’s exactly how she and Clara got away. So, that answers that question, tied up with a neat little bow! Oh, except for the vampire monkeys. But that’s another story!

Missy and Clara plot to save the Doctor from Davros and an army of Daleks … with a pointy stick.

Back in Davros’s sick room, the Doctor threatens Davros with a Dalek gun. Then he apparently rips Davros right out of his chair and leaves him for dead on the floor. And then climbs into said chair. WHAT THE EFF IS EVEN GOING ON. I’m supposed to believe that the Doctor would just kill Davros in cold blood like that? SERIOUSLY?

Oh, and then the Daleks exterminate the Doctor. But he’s okay. Because he’s the Doctor. And also Davros’s chair has a force field.

Over near the Dalek sewers — yeah, Daleks have sewers. Who knew?! — Missy pushes Clara in to see how far down they go. It was actually a very comical moment. Clara is pretty mad, and she threatens Missy with the pointy stick. Missy explains that the Dalek sewer is also the Dalek graveyard. Eww.

In the sewer, Clara and Missy hear the Doctor’s speech about wanting Clara back alive. It’s very touching. But stupid Davros has to ruin it by being not-dead. JEEZ, this guy NEVER DIES. Suddenly, the Doctor is covered in snakes because Sarf apparently put snakes in Davros’s chair one day, for this exact reason, I guess?

Missy AGAIN tricks Clara into being bait for the Daleks — Clara’s kind of naïve, isn’t she? — and Missy kills the Dalek that comes to investigate the sewer.

The Doctor wakes in Davros’s chamber again, and Davros talks. And talks. And talks. We get a peek at Snake-Guy, and he’s now changed into a bunch of cables. Um. O…kay?

In the sewer, Missy puts Clara inside the Dalek casing.

In Davros’s chamber, MOAR TALKING. Davros explains that he’s connected to the life force of every Dalek, and that they all have respect and mercy for him. The Doctor now realizes that by touching the cables, he could kill every single Dalek. He could commit genocide, and Davros pushed him to do it. Because, duh, snake cables.

The Doctor refuses, and in a wonderful scene, explains why. He came to help Davros because he’s sick and he asked, and because he doesn’t want to just be some “old Timelord who ran away.” He wants to be The Doctor. He wants to do what the Doctor does. Save people. Even if that person is evil old Davros.

In the Dalek, Clara becomes a Dalek. She learns to control it with her brain, and Missy locks her inside. It’s then that she learns that she can no longer say her own name. Oh, and if she gets emotional, she automatically starts shooting. Also, most feelings make her yell, “Exterminate!”

So here’s my major grief with this: WHY DIDN’T WE KNOW THIS BEFORE?! Is this new?! The Doctor has talked to Daleks before, and this has never, EVER been mentioned. WHY? Ugh, sorry. It just really bothers me. It’s like the writers are making stuff up — and making it canon! — just to make the plot of one episode fit together. We have 50 years of Dalek background, and this was never a part of it! Okay, okay … shutting up now.

Davros wants to know why the Doctor ran with the TARDIS. The Doctor puts on his shades, because he’s cool, I guess? They banter some more. The Doctor tells Davros that Gallifrey didn’t burn. That he brought it back, but he’s not sure where he put it.

Davros changes tactics and plays the good guy. He actually *cries* and then opens his ACTUAL eyes so he can look at the Doctor. Davros tells the Doctor to do everything he can to protect his people, as Davros protected his. He asks the Doctor if he’s a good man. Then they have a laugh when Davros makes a joke. I mean, it’s a really, really great scene. Davros says he wants to see the sun one last time with his own eyes. Welp, that does it, and the Doctor is now going to do all he can to keep Davros alive to see one more sunrise.

Meanwhile, Dalek-Clara gets Missy up to the Dalek hand-out room. I assume that’s what it is because it has, like, twenty Daleks just hanging out in it at all times.

The Doctor decides to use a little bit of regeneration energy (OH MY GOD IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY AT ALL WTF?!?!?!?!) to keep Davros alive for the sunrise. Of course, that backfires because, duh, Snake-Guy is the cables! So Snake-Guy keeps the Doctor attached to the cables and sucks a ton of regeneration energy through the cables and into Davros.

In the Dalek hang-out, Missy is about to give up Clara when the Daleks start to glow with the energy flowing into them through Davros. Missy runs off to find the Doctor.

Davros mentions a prophecy that was on Gallifrey, about a hybrid race. He asks the Doctor if that’s what he ran from. His part in the coming of the hybrid; Half Dalek, half Timelord.

Missy enters the room and blasts the cables. The Doctor is detached, but the Daleks wake up renewed and more powerful than ever. Davros is also feeling just fine now, thanks.

BUT WHOOPS, NOT SO FAST, FOLKS!

The Doctor knew what was happening, and he LET IT HAPPEN! HE PULLED THE OL’ SWITCHEROO, GUYS! The regeneration energy also went down into the sewers, and woke up generations of Daleks that are now REALLY ticked off.

As he’s running, the Doctor runs into Dalek-Clara, and she, of course, can’t tell him who she is. It just keeps saying, “I AM A DALEK, I AM A DALEK.”

Missy tells the Doctor that it’s the Dalek that killed Clara. The Dalek begs for mercy. The Doctor realizes that it’s Clara inside, and he tells Missy to run. Missy runs.

The Doctor gets Clara out of the Dalek casing, and he reassembles the TARDIS with his new sonic glasses. And that’s all I’m going to say about the sonic sunglasses.

Missy gets away in the end (of course).

The Doctor realizes after he and Clara are safe that it was HE who taught the Daleks mercy, through Davros, when he SAVED the boy in the field! He goes back and shoots off of the handmines, and takes young Davros home.

So the first time I watched this episode, right after it aired three weeks ago, I hated it. But on second watch, I guess it wasn’t totally horrible.

I hated the stupid Dalek Clara bit, and I’m not even going to mention the sonic sunglasses, but I didn’t HATE it.

I just wish Moffat et al. would leave the classics alone. Let the canon lie, and stop changing huge stories to suit their own episodes.

I didn’t have a ton of favourite lines, so here are the two I liked:

• Davros: “I hope you are grateful. It wasn’t easy to procure, and very nearly unique, of course. You should feel privileged. The only other chair on Skaro.”
• The Doctor: “I’m just a bloke in a box! Telling stories!”

See y’all next time!

Doctor Who: The Magician's Apprentice

Hello, Whovians! Welcome to series 9! I AM VERY EXCITED! I have such high hopes for this season, seeing as it’s (OMG SPOILERS!) Jenna’s last as a companion. I’m not at all a Clara fan (although I adore Jenna), but I truly hope she gets the send-off she deserves. And now, on to the premiere!

On a battlefield, a soldier spots a boy running where he doesn’t belong. The soldier follows, and they both get caught in a “hand mine”. Good god, that’s some creepy stuff right there. Eye-hands that suck you underground. NOPE.

After the soldier is sucked beneath the earth, the Doctor randomly shows up in the field. Apparently he was looking for a bookshop, and he ended up on the battlefield. The Doctor tries to help the boy and tosses his sonic screwdriver over. He asks the boys’ name, and the boy replies, “Davros.” OH MY GODDDDDDDD WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAT?!? WHAT IS HAPPENING?? HOW….WHO…..WHAT?!?!?!

Ahem…Sorry…..Um, the Doctor is now obviously conflicted. He’s not sure what to do. I mean, this child will grow up to create the most evil beings in all of time and space. They will destroy planets, commit genocide, start the Time War that kills off the Time Lords…Of course; I’m talking about the Daleks. What would YOU do?
Queue opening credits!

Meanwhile, a creepy snake-type guy riding an invisible Segway is searching for the Doctor. He asks around the universe; In the Maldovarium, on the Shadow Proclamation, and finally on Karn, where he leaves a message. Davros is dying, and wants to see the Doctor one last time. “Davros knows. Davros remembers.” 

Um, wut. Davros is ALIVE?! Again?!?! And apparently he still has the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver! Davros tells the snake-guy to find the Doctor’s friends. That’s the sure way to find the man himself.

In school, Clara is teaching a class when she spots something odd out the window. A plane is just hanging in the sky. We find out that it’s all planes, all over the world. They’re just frozen in the sky, and Clara dashes off to UNIT HQ to help out.

Clara and Jemma realize that the planes are merely a message from someone who wants the Doctor’s attention. Queue Missy, texting her favourite song on the Doctor’s private UNIT channel! She summons UNIT and Clara to a parley.

Missy explains to Clara that the Doctor has left his confession dial—a Timelord will—with his closest friend. Clara assumes the confession is meant for her, but NOPE! It’s Missy he’s left it to.  The girls have a chat, Missy proves her continued evilness by killing a couple of UNIT agents, and Clara convinces Missy to unfreeze the planes. They hunker down with UNIT and try to figure out where the Doctor would go to have a last hurrah. It’s pinpointed to 1138AD, and off go Clara and Missy with the help of Missy’s vortex manipulator. She slips another on Clara’s wrist, and syncs it to her own.

They land in an arena of some kind. The Doctor makes an EPIC entrance, playing the Doctor Who theme song on an electric guitar while wearing sunglasses and riding on top of a tank! It’s bloody beautiful! He makes a few really bad dad jokes, plays “Pretty Woman”, hugs Clara, and leads a “dude” chant. It really is a fun, adorable scene.

Sadly, even adorable scenes have to end, and snake-guy shows up in the arena. Missy and Clara led him right to the Doctor. Snake-guy literally turns into a snake, explains that Davros knows and remembers, and tosses the sonic screwdriver onto the ground. In a flashback, the Doctor remembers leaving young Davros alone on the battlefield. He just gets into his TARDIS and leaves. Poor kid. 

The Doctor agrees to go with the snake-guy. Clara and Missy ain’t havin’ that, and despite the protests of the Doctor, they’re also taken along to see Davros. Bors is then revealed to be a Dalek slave, and he finds the TARDIS. The Daleks have procured the TARDIS.

On the trip to see Davros, the Doctor explains to Clara who Davros is and how he made the Daleks. They enter Davros’s hospital ship, and the Doctor is led away to see the man himself. As he exits, the Doctor says one word, “Gravity.” Missy explains to Clara that the gravity is more like a planet than a ship. She easily breaks her restraints, and the two take a walk outside.

In Davros’s chamber, we’re shown many wonderful flashbacks of former Doctors and his run-ins with Davros. We see the Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Doctors, and most importantly, we see the Fourth. His words ring clear, “If someone who knew the future had pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives. Could you really kill that child?” So, um…wow. Nice, nice callback, Mr. Moffat. That was really wonderfully done. And the point is made to our most recent Twelfth Doctor.

Missy with Clara walking outside, and the Doctor with Davros inside, both realize at the same time where they are. Davros has brought them back to Skaro, where it all began. Where else would Davros go to die? The Doctor is trapped in Davros’s chamber, and Missy and Clara are brought into a room with the TARDIS. It’s full of Daleks…all different types of Daleks from many different episodes. Missy tries to get them to keep her alive by telling them that they need her. It doesn’t work. She is exterminated. The Doctor begs Davros to save Clara. Clara runs. It doesn’t help. She is also exterminated. The Doctor is devastated. Davros wants to hear the Doctor say it just once, “Compassion is wrong.” And the Daleks begin to destroy the TARDIS.

We flash back to young Davros on the battlefield. The Doctor has returned, and he’s going to save his friends, the only way he can…with extermination! And a Dalek gun! WHOA! CLIFFHANGER!

IS EVERYONE OKAY?! DEEP BREATHS, YOU GUYS! Jeez. JEEZ.

So we all know there’s no way Clara and Missy are dead, right? Remember the vortex manipulators? Clara’s is synced to Missy’s? They got out safe for sure. And how about young Davros? Do you think the Doctor is going to kill him? No way, dudes. He’s totally going to shoot a path through the hand mine. Teach compassion by showing compassion, right?

But is Davros really dying? Will Moffat actually kill him off this time? (I’m gonna vote no)
Is the TARDIS okay? (I’m gonna say yeah. No way can Dalek guns destroy that old girl)\

All in all, it was a good episode. I enjoyed it. I wish it had been a regular episode, and not a premiere. I expect more from premieres. I expect…well, I expect The Eleventh Hour, or Rose, or Smith and Jones, or Partners in Crime. I expect huge, massive, brilliant, fun premieres, and this one was just okay. However, I enjoyed this one way more than Deep Breath, so we’re already taking a step in the right direction this season.

Favourite lines:

Missy: “Okay, cutting to the chase: not dead, back, big surprise, nevermind.”

Missy: “Since always. Since the cloister wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the president’s wife. Since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie, can you guess which one?”

Bors: “Dude! What is that?!”

The Doctor: “When do I not see you?”

The Doctor: “I spent all day yesterday in a bow tie. The day before in a long scarf. It’s my party, and all of me is invited.”

The Doctor: “Davros is my arch-enemy. Why would I want to talk to him?”
Missy: “But, wait, hang on a minute. *Davros* is your arch-enemy now?”
The Doctor: “Hush!”
Missy: “I’ll scratch his eye out.”

Missy: “I know traps, traps are my flirting, this is a trap.”

As I mentioned above, I have high hopes this season, and I’m so glad I’m able to share my thoughts and theories here with you guys. Until next week!

Oscars 2015

With two days to go before the big show, I finally found time to post my Oscar picks! 'cause I know how y'all wait for my picks every year, right? RIGHT?!

Okay, first up, supporting actress:
Patricia Arquette.

BOOM, that was easy!

Next, supporting actor:
J.K. Simmons. No contest. He KILLED IT. 

Another easy one, yay!

Best actress: 
Julianne Moore. My god, she was brilliant. So were Reese and Felicity, but Julianne would get my vote. 

Man, these are easy this year!

Best actor: 
Okay, this one is tough. Michael Keaton will probably win it, but Bradley Cooper was crazy-good and could win if the vote is split. Of course, my heart is with my boyfriend EDDIE REDMAYNE. (SHUTUPHEISTOOMYBOYFRIENDSHUTUP), so I'm choosing him.
Guys, he WAS Stephen Hawking. He was absolutely wonderful. I lub him.

Writing, adapted screenplay:
Whiplash. God damn I loved that movie.

Writing, original screenplay: 
Boyhood. It's too unconventional to not win.

Best Director: 
Richard Linklater. His movie was so out-of-the-box. The Academy loves that crap.

Best animated movie:
The LEGO Movie. I don't care that it wasn't nominated. It should win.

Best movie:
Birdman. I think they'll give Linklater the directing Oscar, but give Birdman the picture. I'd LOVE to see Whiplash win because it was ny favourite of all the nominated movies, but that'll never happen. Not in a year so full of brilliance.

And there you have it! My picks for 2015! I'd love to hear your picks and thoughts on mine!