5x011 The Lodger (Grading/Discussion) SPOILERS!!

[Cyke101]

Did anyone else catch the Doctor smiling while he was jumping on the bed?

I loved that. And it really makes me wonder how much of this stuff is scripted, and how much is just made up on the spot by Matt. Like him covering up his nipples, or the way he kept moving the psychic paper behind his back...

Every episode it seems like he does something new and surprising, and I absolutely love it.

Oooh, oooh, there's also this bit, when Corden's pining on about his ladyfriend:

Corden: Why am I even telling you all this? I don't even know you!
Doctor: I have the kind of face that makes everyone tell me their plans...

Trufax, Doc. Trufax.

 

[PorthosShadow]

Overall, this has been an outstanding season but I am very embarrased to say that "The Lodger" has got to be my favorite in so far. I only say or rather write embarrased because it's a comedy episode and nothing hugely dramatic like the rest.

Anyway, I won't bother listing everything I liked about it because that would be a full episode review. However, I will say that Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor and after three years of the amazing David Tennant that is really saying something. I guess I'm just a fool for someone who makes me laugh weather they are saying anything or not.

 

[captcalhoun]

Did I read somewhere that Matt Smith used to play footie professionally before an injury?

quite possibly. it's true he had a youth team career before a back injury curtailed it.

 

[Jax]

Did I read somewhere that Matt Smith used to play footie professionally before an injury?

quite possibly. it's true he had a youth team career before a back injury curtailed it.

Indeed he did and for my beloved Nottingham Forest among others...

played for the youth teams of Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City but quit after a serious back injury.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

James Corden's an awful actor. And the music playing where he touched the rot and effectively just said "ow, err, ouch" or something was embarrassingly mismatched.

I had to overcome a lot of bias to enjoy this. That said, Corden looks like a saint next to Daisy Haggard. I find her appalling.

I disagree this was poor, but you're right about one thing atl east. This was not the abomination it could so easily have been. I thought it could easily be down there with the two I dislike most - Idiot and Fear Her. Nowhere near them, thank god.

 

[Brent]

James Corden's an awful actor. And the music playing where he touched the rot and effectively just said "ow, err, ouch" or something was embarrassingly mismatched.

I had to overcome a lot of bias to enjoy this. That said, Corden looks like a saint next to Daisy Haggard. I find her appalling.

I disagree this was poor, but you're right about one thing atl east. This was not the abomination it could so easily have been. I thought it could easily be down there with the two I dislike most - Idiot and Fear Her. Nowhere near them, thank god.

Why would you find her appalling, I found it quite lovely in this episode, definite eye candy, didn't see any problems with her acting either.

 

[Starkers]

Did I read somewhere that Matt Smith used to play footie professionally before an injury?

quite possibly. it's true he had a youth team career before a back injury curtailed it.

Indeed he did and for my beloved Nottingham Forest among others...

played for the youth teams of Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City but quit after a serious back injury.

Yes he played for Leicester and Forest, yet I still think he's wonderful!

 

[Starkers]

James Corden's an awful actor. And the music playing where he touched the rot and effectively just said "ow, err, ouch" or something was embarrassingly mismatched.

I had to overcome a lot of bias to enjoy this. That said, Corden looks like a saint next to Daisy Haggard. I find her appalling.

I disagree this was poor, but you're right about one thing atl east. This was not the abomination it could so easily have been. I thought it could easily be down there with the two I dislike most - Idiot and Fear Her. Nowhere near them, thank god.

Why would you find her appalling, I found it quite lovely in this episode, definite eye candy, didn't see any problems with her acting either.

I thought she was ok, and quite cute, haven't seen her in anything else though so not sure where some dislike might arise from?

 

[Captain Shaw]

I thought she was ok, and quite cute, haven't seen her in anything else though so not sure where some dislike might arise from?

She was in Psychoville and I think she was in the episode of ashes to ashes that my avatar is taken from.

 

[Starkers]

Thought I recognised her!

 

[captcalhoun]

well, she's got her knockers...

and i thought they were nice ones too!

thank you, i'm here all week, try the venison.

 

[Starkers]

well, she's got her knockers...

and i thought they were nice ones too!

thank you, i'm here all week, try the venison.

You should be on the stage...

It leaves in five minutes!

 

[captcalhoun]

 

[Mr Awe]

Above average. Funny but not as funny as it could've been. Mostly enjoyable characters. Plot resolution was thin.

A theory, I think that was the Doctor's TARDIS in his own future, a future where River Song kills him. It's stuck and the hologram based on his first incarnation tries to find a pilot.

Mr Awe

 

[Lensman]

Daisy was a main player in the comedy series 'Man Stroke Woman', here's a clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Od65_dc3Y&feature=related

 

[Brent]

If it was his first incarnation you'd think the Doctor would have recognized himself.

 

[Cyke101]

I and Roberts writes the Doctor like he's a blithering moron (though Matt Smith is such a great Doctor I can see past it for the most part). James Corden's an awful actor.

Is he really a moron if he's brilliant at everything and charms everyone (or almost everyone)?

It's not as poor as Victory or the Silurian two-parter...

Agreed agreed AGREED.

...but only really because it doesn't ruin the Daleks or rip off a classic episode.

Okay, disagree I thought it worked because it put the Doctor in an environment that he wasn't used to: domesticity. I don't think it's meant to be more ambitious than that, just a quirky episode and nothing more. In a show with endless alien invasions and threats to key points in history, I can appreciate the little backtrack here.

 

[Mr Awe]

If it was his first incarnation you'd think the Doctor would have recognized himself.

Good point. That may strike that theory by itself. Rats, because I liked the idea!

Mr Awe

 

[HappyDayRiot]

I thought she was ok, and quite cute, haven't seen her in anything else though so not sure where some dislike might arise from?

She was in Psychoville and I think she was in the episode of ashes to ashes that my avatar is taken from.

I think was Psychoville I didn't like her in and it's kinda stuck. Too bloody cute and sweet in this, if anything.

I did think of a question for this episode actually - is this the first time the Doctor has explicitly stated which incarnation he is? He told Craig outright he was the Eleventh version of himself.

 

[Psion]

...but only really because it doesn't ruin the Daleks or rip off a classic episode.

Okay, disagree I thought it worked because it put the Doctor in an environment that he wasn't used to: domesticity. I don't think it's meant to be more ambitious than that, just a quirky episode and nothing more. In a show with endless alien invasions and threats to key points in history, I can appreciate the little backtrack here.

Here's the thing: last week, we watched the Doctor get bored out of his mind waiting for Vincent to paint the church. "Is this how the rest of you experience time ... in order?" That was hilarious ... and insightful. While I don't mind this week's episode quite as much as Bones, ever since I first heard about it, I'd been hoping for a character study of the Doctor as a man forced to slow down and live life for a week ... as a man. Cooking, eating, cleaning, doing the laundry, being largely inept at it all, completely out of his element -- still clearly a genius from another planet -- but one that needs help with the details when he's not got the TARDIS to run off to.

Remember in "Amy's Choice" when he sits on the bench between what's-his-name and the very pregnant Amy? How just the description of how they lived bored Eleven to tears? This episode should have forced that upon him. Pizza, telly, and booze? Bring it on! Let me see the Doctor go five minutes without disassembling the remote and putting it back together better than it was before with lots of fun and dangerous new features!

When he took over Craig's job, he should have left it in a shambles. When he took up socc-- excuse me, football -- he should have been proficient with the ball (as a nod to Matt's background), but a bit confused about how to play, bringing in rules from the Greeks, Romans, and even from the future. His playing style should have been a bit like his attire: a bit anachronistic no matter when he is.

I'm a bit let down because "The Lodger" had potential to be an amazing study of the Doctor's psyche, but instead they just made a lazy stab at comedy.