4 Responses

1. Well that was a particularly bonkers episode. The Doctor meets the Numskulls!

   Other than a brief mention of responsibility from the crew of the shape-shifter, what we got couldn’t have been further from the “If you could kill Hitler as a baby/Ethics Of time travel” story conjured up when that title whammed onto the screen nearly three months ago. And it was all the more fun for it – put Hitler in the title, and then lock him up in the cupboard for half the episode!

   Only a few slight quibbles: Hitler’s office window gets smashed and lots of noise goes on inside, and later a whole restaurant of people get forced out half-naked, and in neither case do any guards/SS/police show up? And River’s “Heel Face Turn” (as TVTropes would put it) was pretty abrupt for someone who’d been brainwashed throughout childhood to be on a mission to kill him.

   And what’s this First Question? “Doctor who?” comes to mind … (Or possibly “What do you get when you multiply six by nine?”, ho ho ho.)

2. All over the place tonally in the early part of the episode, which I sometimes don’t mind, but just seemed haphazard here. Remember when Moffat’s episodes felt beautifully crafted, rather than a bit of a jumble?

   The Numbskulls stuff didn’t feel like an especially Doctor Who-like idea to me, for some reason…

   Did like a lot of stuff in it, though. “Shut up, Hitler.”

3. I liked bits of it.

   Arthur Darvill and Nina Toussaint-White were great, but it was all over the shop and oddly anti-climactic.

4. It was a complete mess. There was no story, just a bunch of exposition and some thinly developed ideas.

   I refuse to believe this is the same writer as Blink, The Girl in the Fireplace, Eleventh Hour. He’s lost control and now thinks overly complicated timey-wimey developments are a substitute for story and character development.

   Step back from the fanwankery about “River Song’s true identity” and realise that this was a plot-less, thoroughly plodding 50 minutes in which very little happened except “we learnt some stuff”. And what we did learn was completely inconsequential.

   Spoilers that you can travel back and tell yourself three months ago:

   FUTURE YOU : I’ve seen Let’s Kill Hitler!
   PAST YOU : Tell me what happens!
   FUTURE YOU : Mels is River!
   PAST YOU : Yeah, I know. I’ve just seen AGMGTW. Melody is River.
   FUTURE YOU : Well, yeah. But this is less obvious. Mels is a different character. Well, she’s the same character but younger…or older. Um. Look; she’s black and everything.
   PAST YOU : And she has a lot of screentime?
   FUTURE YOU : About ten minutes. Then she dies.
   PAST YOU : Huh? So why is that a big deal?
   FUTURE YOU : I dunno, really. It is for the character so it must be for us too, right. Anyway. She regenerates into Alex Kingston.
   PAST YOU : Oh great. Her again. So what is young River like?
   FUTURE YOU : She’s a slightly more annoying version of old River…then she becomes the old River at the finale when the Doctor dies.
   PAST YOU : Oh wow! Does he stay dead?
   FUTURE YOU : Um. No. But that’s not the best bit. They visit Hitler!
   PAST YOU : Oooh. Does this lend much to the setting?
   FUTURE YOU : Not really, no. But listen, there’s these other time travellers in it, observing key figures in history.
   PAST YOU : Ooh. What’s their story?
   FUTURE YOU : Um. Not really sure. It’s not really told in any detail.
   PAST YOU : Well, that all sounds a bit disappointing. But I’m looking forward to the scene following on from AGMGTW where Amy gets to speak to River, now knowing that she’s her daughter.
   FUTURE YOU : Oh, hang on. That wasn’t there. They skimmed past that bit.
   PAST YOU : Um. OK.
   FUTURE YOU : Yeah, maybe plan to go out on the 27th of August?
   PAST YOU : Good idea. So, is the new Torchwood any good?
   FUTURE YOU : I have to go. Bye.