Spoilers Kerblam! grade and discussion thread

[Lonemagpie]

This week's DW wasn't as much of a lecture as feared, but rather a harmless bit of traditional-ish (in a McCoy-era sort of way) fun. Team TARDIS come across a mystery, solve it, and the bad guy does get done in by his own plan at last. Nothing amazing, nothing terrbile, just a fairly regular episode to remind us this is still DW.

 

[matthunter]

This week's DW wasn't as much of a lecture as feared, but rather a harmless bit of traditional-ish (in a McCoy-era sort of way) fun. Team TARDIS come across a mystery, solve it, and the bad guy does get done in by his own plan at last. Nothing amazing, nothing terrbile, just a fairly regular episode to remind us this is still DW.

True but Yaz and Ryan's convo on how they aren't going to let his dyspraxia get in the way of jumping down the Chute of Doom to save people is pretty fucking epic.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Oh, and the instant they focused on the bubblewrap was anyone else expecting that this was a surprise return of the Nestenes?

I mean, killer daffofils? So 1970s. Killer packaging materials? Look at your house and tell me you ain't scared...

I honestly didn't even think about the Nestene, but I'm really glad they didn't go that route. I much prefer the notion of killer bubble wrap on its own.

I assume the Doctor gives out some kind of recognition signal for authorised deliveries, like the "If I'm out, leave behind the shed" things you can send to Amazon.

That does make sense, but that's ripe for abuse. I guess you can hand wave it as part of The Doctor's trusting nature. Not a big deal, but it stood out to me during that scene.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Given Amazon's plan for people to give their delivery drivers access to their houses to deliver parcels while the customer is out it isn't that out there.

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[Emperor-Tiberius]

This really felt like a rehash of Robots of Death, but without the Agatha Christie, whodunnit element in it. Not bad, but beyond the spectacular look of the thing (seriously, the show has been on a visual roll since World Enough and Time), I can't say much that hasn't been said before.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Not only the call back to the Fez but the "Speaking of wasps, did I ever tell you about Agatha Christie?" and the Doctor saying "Laters, ugh, I'm never saying that again." plus plenty of fun to even out the darker elements.

Oh, yes! I forgot to mention the Agatha Christie call back. Lots of great and subtle call backs in this one.

True but Yaz and Ryan's convo on how they aren't going to let his dyspraxia get in the way of jumping down the Chute of Doom to save people is pretty fucking epic.

That was an awesome moment. I thought for awhile the writers had forgotten about Ryan's dyspraxia (although I'm glad they're not trying to beat it over our heads each episode), but I loved how it was utilized here.

 

[Butters]

Fez was a nice touch. Warehouses were my bread and butter for a lot of years, so also nice to see. But I, erm. Pacing.

It might be the ensemble cast. I don’t know. Other shows manage bigger casts. Maybe they need to decide who are the main characters and who are supporting. The dynamic and the pacing are a problem for me.

 

[Starkers]

I really liked that. Nice twists, creepy robots, an unexpected threat, oh and thank god someone's remembered Ryan's coordination issues.

Killer bubble wrap! Love it!

I'd agree with people that it seemed a little generic at first but it ended up superb. Poor old Kira and Dan though

Can Twirly be a companion please? Nice commentary on Amazon et al without hitting us over the head too much. We had a villain, the Doctor acted...damn we need more like this!

I seriously hope Chibnall has/will invite Pete McTighe back next season!

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Can Twirly be a companion please?

It would be great to have a robot as companion again. As The Doctor said, some of her best friends are robots.

 

[matthunter]

Fez was a nice touch. Warehouses were my bread and butter for a lot of years, so also nice to see. But I, erm. Pacing.

It might be the ensemble cast. I don’t know. Other shows manage bigger casts. Maybe they need to decide who are the main characters and who are supporting. The dynamic and the pacing are a problem for me.

I dunno, I thought this week made good use of everyone. Ryan needed to be with the Doctor to bond with Kira (since the Doctor gets distracted by questions). Yaz needed to be with a victim (and Lee Mack needed a paycheck, though he earns it every time) and Graham needed to be his usual "folk at the bottom see all" Dad figure.

I don't think any one of the three took preference. Besides, do you want the old days back, where we had a whole ep of Ian being a heroic rebel slave whilst next week we see Barbara cleverly evading Nero's lustful clutches?

 

[matthunter]

Can Twirly be a companion please?

Twirly-style robots are cool! BOB and VINCENT from The Black Hole, PPA from the old Starfleet puppet series...

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I dunno, I thought this week made good use of everyone. Ryan needed to be with the Doctor to bond with Kira (since the Doctor gets distracted by questions). Yaz needed to be with a victim (and Lee Mack needed a paycheck, though he earns it every time) and Graham needed to be his usual "folk at the bottom see all" Dad figure.

I don't think any one of the three took preference. Besides, do you want the old days back, where we had a whole ep of Ian being a heroic revel slave whilst next week we see Barbara cleverly evading Nero's lustful clutches?

I do think the season has had a bit of a balance issue for all four of them and Yaz has unfortunately suffered the most, but I think this episode struck the perfect chord for all of them. I thought about this while watching the episode and the key element is giving each of the characters a person who they're specifically interacting with and developing a relationship with. Hopefully we'll see more of this kind of dynamic going forward.

 

[matthunter]

I do think the season has had a bit of a balance issue for all four of them and Yaz has unfortunately suffered the most, but I think this episode struck the perfect chord for all of them. I thought about this while watching the episode and the key element is giving each of the characters a person who they're specifically interacting with and developing a relationship with. Hopefully we'll see more of this kind of dynamic going forward.

I like Yaz, but I have a very worrying feeling - especially in the light of last week's "imagine a universe without Yaz" - that Chibbers is going to melt her at some point. The last time we had three companions, one got killed off. I'm not sure the man who made a point of killing two main characters in Torchwood is going to avoid the temptation here.

 

[Starkers]

I dunno, I thought this week made good use of everyone. Ryan needed to be with the Doctor to bond with Kira (since the Doctor gets distracted by questions). Yaz needed to be with a victim (and Lee Mack needed a paycheck, though he earns it every time) and Graham needed to be his usual "folk at the bottom see all" Dad figure.

I don't think any one of the three took preference. Besides, do you want the old days back, where we had a whole ep of Ian being a heroic rebel slave whilst next week we see Barbara cleverly evading Nero's lustful clutches?

I'd agree, this was one of the better episodes for making full use of the cast. For a minute it felt like Graham was being shortchanged but his section was vital because it gave us the villain! Bet he only got the mop because there wasn't a bus to drive though...

 

[Starkers]

I like Yaz, but I have a very worrying feeling - especially in the light of last week's "imagine a universe without Yaz" - that Chibbers is going to melt her at some point. The last time we had three companions, one got killed off. I'm not sure the man who made a point of killing two main characters in Torchwood is going to avoid the temptation here.

Worryingly my money would be on Graham

 

[matthunter]

Worryingly my money would be on Graham

Well, after his "it should have been me who died" speech about Grace, I was concerned about a Father's Day type ep where he could actually prevent her death, but the remaining ep synopses don't suggest that's on the cards.... perhaps next series? Ianto didn't get offed until Children of Earth, after all...

 

[Samurai8472]

It would be interesting to have a companion that uses the doctor. Not unlike turlough.

A companion that is scheming to kill or harm the doctor while playing nice.

Of course the doctor is smarter than that to be fooled

Maybe this time the doctor is completely blindside and at the end she just says

“Get out”

 

[CuriousCaitian]

Rather conflicted about this one, personally. For most of its runtime it was an engaging mystery with good material for all the gang and solid guests and strong humour and the Doctor in great form...and then it took a turn for the bleak - pureed people, Doctor's lengthy attempt at reasoning with Charlie that fails again and again, Kira's death, arguably the bleakest bit of all since that's what pushes Charlie over the edge - that to me felt just a little jarring, too much of a tonal shift. It pushed me out of the episode a bit, likely because it was feeling like the less-heavy episode this season's starting to need - in my opinion - and then it spun fairly sharply to the dark side.

To me it felt like it went dark just for the sake of it. To be fair, though, I have developed something of an allergy to grimdark storytelling, largely thanks to overexposure. It's pretty dominant these days.

 

[OCD Geek]

The title of that clip said the doctor reunites with an old friend and I was thinking Captain Jack was going to appear. I guess it was the Fez.

The Fez of Boe

 

[tomalak301]

The Fez of Boe

Now that would have been some children in need clip.