I can only speak for myself but certainly the frantic pivoting away from a conversation you don't feel equipped to handle is quite familiar to me.
Spoilers Can You Hear Me? grade and discussion thread
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I can only speak for myself but certainly the frantic pivoting away from a conversation you don't feel equipped to handle is quite familiar to me.
Welcome to the internet.
Sadly, this is probably true of humanity in general. What was that old Lydgate quote?
“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.”
There was a 2014 Big Finish Short Trip, The Curious Incident of the Doctor in the Night-Time, about Six/Peri encountering a young man high on the spectrum who was investigating his father's disappearance. It turns out Six and the boy, Michael, have a lot in common behavior-wise. Towards the end the boy's mother realizes Six is autistic himself. "You're just like Michael... (you) don't see the emotions beneath the surface."
I really loved that story.
I hadn't thought of The Thirteenth (or The Twelfth) Doctor as being on the spectrum, but seeing those particular instances pointed, I definitely can see it, especially since my oldest brother is autistic.
I loved that there was a teaser before the theme. THERE SHOULD ALWAYS BE A TEASER LEADING INTO THE THEME.
Yeah for some reason they did away with teasers. I think they used to do them sometimes in old Who
Only very rarely: twice, I think, plus the mid-titles recaps of Ambassadors.
EDIT: three, a recap on Castrovalva, then Rani and Remembrance.
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Thank you.. I wasn't sure if I had remembered that right.
I mean as stated 12 was downright rude to people, and 11 struggled when dealing with Amy and Rory's inability to conceive, and where were all the complaints when 11 called Strax a potato eh?
There's a certain level so suspension of disbelief we have to consider here. Let's look at this logically from the perspective of Graham. If his cancer did return the Doctor could use the Tardis to take him to the far future where cancer treatments are far better, same as the Doctor could have presumably taken Amy to future time/alien planet where infertility treatments are more advanced. Presumably every companion who survived their time with the Doctor could have lived longer lives than they did if the Doctor just nipped back into their lives when they got ill and bounced them forward a few hundred years.
Of course the Doctor has never done this and never will because it's the thin end of the wedge, and a fact we choose to ignore because it would ruin the drama if the Doctor spent half her episodes in an A&E in 2075...
There's a certain level so suspension of disbelief we have to consider here. Let's look at this logically from the perspective of Graham. If his cancer did return the Doctor could use the Tardis to take him to the far future where cancer treatments are far better, same as the Doctor could have presumably taken Amy to future time/alien planet where infertility treatments are more advanced. Presumably every companion who survived their time with the Doctor could have lived longer lives than they did if the Doctor just nipped back into their lives when they got ill and bounced them forward a few hundred years.
Of course the Doctor has never done this and never will because it's the thin end of the wedge, and a fact we choose to ignore because it would ruin the drama if the Doctor spent half her episodes in an A&E in 2075...
Question - has Graham had any checkups since The Tsuranga Conundrum? The whole gang had to be patched back up after the sonic mine incident. The doctors on the Tsuranga wouldn't have any reason not to treat Graham's cancer (nor would they miss it) so either humanity hasn't cured it by the 67th century (bit depressing) or they could tell it's not coming back...
Can You Hear Me?
The seventh episode of series 12. Team TARDIS faces their fears as they confront a powerful being. But that is jumping ahead. The Doctor drops the 'fam' off in Sheffield, and then investigates something in 14th Century Aleppo. The set up was very good, especially when it came to the dream creatures that were made real. (But still unreadable with the sonic, which should be called a scanner, rather than a screwdriver at this point.) More on the dream concept below. The Doctor picks up someone and returns to Sheffield...
In Sheffield, issues are afoot. Ryan finds that his friend Coco is struggling with bad dreams, which are having effects on his self esteem. That Ryan would ask him to seek help for that is considerate, and believable. (What people should do in similar situations). Yas and Sonya celebrate the anniversary of Yas returning after running away one time. (Seems Sonya is having dreams also, but the theme of Yas' experience is an important part to the episode. More on it below.) And Graham has a vision...
(This part was done rather well.) Which leads to the discovery of a station near two planets that are about to collide, but have stopped just beforehand. Investigating, the quintet finds people held in suspension, and separated fingers... (Quite creepy!) The Doctor finds a man who calls himself Zellin (which she thinks is mythological). It is revealed that he is responsible for the dreams that have been plaguing the others (and the creatures in Aleppo), feeding off fears. Similar to the Eternals, Guardians and the Toymaker.
An especially apt reference. I can definitely see the similarities between this and Enlightenment. Zellin and Marriner are 'cut from the same cloth' as it were. The former feeding off fears. The latter feeding off Tegan's imagination. (And she found it very creepy too...) The companion's fears. Ryan about his friend. Yas flashing back to when she had run away. Graham worrying about his cancer possibly coming back. And the Doctor, thinking about the Timeless Child (That is definitely leading somewhere.)
However, the Doctor manages to outwit Zellin and his companion, in a typical Doctorish way. The endings with Yas giving the other policewoman the 50p and the Doctor's awkward response to Graham's concerns about the cancer returning were done well. With the latter, it is within her character, and it's a way that someone on the autism spectrum may respond, which I can certainly relate to. Overall a very good episode. 9/10.
The seventh episode of series 12. Team TARDIS faces their fears as they confront a powerful being. But that is jumping ahead. The Doctor drops the 'fam' off in Sheffield, and then investigates something in 14th Century Aleppo. The set up was very good, especially when it came to the dream creatures that were made real. (But still unreadable with the sonic, which should be called a scanner, rather than a screwdriver at this point.) More on the dream concept below. The Doctor picks up someone and returns to Sheffield...
In Sheffield, issues are afoot. Ryan finds that his friend Coco is struggling with bad dreams, which are having effects on his self esteem. That Ryan would ask him to seek help for that is considerate, and believable. (What people should do in similar situations). Yas and Sonya celebrate the anniversary of Yas returning after running away one time. (Seems Sonya is having dreams also, but the theme of Yas' experience is an important part to the episode. More on it below.) And Graham has a vision...
(This part was done rather well.) Which leads to the discovery of a station near two planets that are about to collide, but have stopped just beforehand. Investigating, the quintet finds people held in suspension, and separated fingers... (Quite creepy!) The Doctor finds a man who calls himself Zellin (which she thinks is mythological). It is revealed that he is responsible for the dreams that have been plaguing the others (and the creatures in Aleppo), feeding off fears. Similar to the Eternals, Guardians and the Toymaker.
An especially apt reference. I can definitely see the similarities between this and Enlightenment. Zellin and Marriner are 'cut from the same cloth' as it were. The former feeding off fears. The latter feeding off Tegan's imagination. (And she found it very creepy too...) The companion's fears. Ryan about his friend. Yas flashing back to when she had run away. Graham worrying about his cancer possibly coming back. And the Doctor, thinking about the Timeless Child (That is definitely leading somewhere.)
However, the Doctor manages to outwit Zellin and his companion, in a typical Doctorish way. The endings with Yas giving the other policewoman the 50p and the Doctor's awkward response to Graham's concerns about the cancer returning were done well. With the latter, it is within her character, and it's a way that someone on the autism spectrum may respond, which I can certainly relate to. Overall a very good episode. 9/10.
That's a very good point. I was thinking of this episode in relation to that. Love how quickly everyone in twitter jumped on Jodie and the BBC for that one scene when there was no need to.
Listening to the Radio Free Skaro podcast on this ep made me realise I was over-thinking this. Yaz was being bullied (we don't know why, but we hardly need a reason, bullies need none), so she ran away from home. Sonja knew and worried that Yaz might hurt herself (presumably she had reason to worry this, maybe this wasn't the first time), so she sent the police after her sister.
That is the anniversary they are commemorating – the day Sonja demonstrated that for all their sibling bickering, they did love each other. That's why their parents weren't there – because this is a sister thing, between the girls only, and the parents probably don't even know. Nice to see, as we have witnessed Yaz's relationships with her mother and her gran, so now her sister.
He had a check-up at the start of "Spyfall" - it's what he was doing when the government goons came to pick him up. That doctor told him he was clear, but Graham's point was that they can tell him it's clear as often as they like, the possibility is always going to be hanging over his head regardless.
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Thanks - two possibilities then. The 67th century docs didn't scan him for cancer, or did and either cured it or knew it was fully dormant.
Or the writers didn't think that a 67th century hospital would pick up on everything including whether you have a slight zinc deficiency that day WHILST putting your mangled remains back together after a sonic mine went off in your face.
Another boring week from the most boring season of nuWho yet. The whitest 14th century Syrians ever need rescuing, but don't invest in them too much because they barely register as characters. No arc, no character development, and not that important really. They're just there to get into trouble. There's a werewolf for some reason, and a villain who detaches his fingers with effects for both based on early Angel. Ryan's buddy is in it too, but that doesn't go anywhere really either aside from learning he's sad, with no further expansion. The closest thing in it to meaningful is the explanation of Yaz's dream sequence but even then we don't actually understand why she's down either and why that went away. It's supposed to be about her relationship with her sister, I presume, but we get so little interaction between her and her sister that I learnt nothing about that relationship at all. Emotionally, there's nothing there this week. Again.
Graham's worries seem like they're going somewhere but then instead the Doctor, super clever being of a thousand years or more's experience can't handle a basic conversation with someone who needs a friend, apparently. The nameless police officer did better at empathy. Horrific, cringey.
A generous 3.
Graham's worries seem like they're going somewhere but then instead the Doctor, super clever being of a thousand years or more's experience can't handle a basic conversation with someone who needs a friend, apparently. The nameless police officer did better at empathy. Horrific, cringey.
A generous 3.
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Thankfully I've never experienced depression, but my (admittedly limited) understanding is that what's so terrifying is that often there is no explanation for why you feel depressed. As others have stated, 13's reaction to Graham is no different to how 11 and 12 have handled delicate situations.
It's not so much an explanation for his depression that I'm asking for so much as that the element of the story actually goes somewhere. That Ryan's relationship with him is meaningful in some way or develops the narrative. Instead he's just another person to be damselled by the dream guy. Same as the Syrian woman. The episode seemed to be shooting for deep and emotional and not actually landing any of it.
Perhaps I'm too close to the subject, but the cancer conversation was horribly written, whichever Doctor was on the other side of it. Or character at all for that matter. To set it up like that with Graham's existential fears laid out and then try to go for the joke? Bizarre choice. As for precedent, I can't see 11 treating Amy that way, for example. 12 was written very rude in his opening year because ha ha Scottish I guess, but even he showed considerably more compassion, especially later on with Bill. 13 here was cruel - something I don't associate with the Doctor.
Perhaps I'm too close to the subject, but the cancer conversation was horribly written, whichever Doctor was on the other side of it. Or character at all for that matter. To set it up like that with Graham's existential fears laid out and then try to go for the joke? Bizarre choice. As for precedent, I can't see 11 treating Amy that way, for example. 12 was written very rude in his opening year because ha ha Scottish I guess, but even he showed considerably more compassion, especially later on with Bill. 13 here was cruel - something I don't associate with the Doctor.
I felt the exact opposite, it seemed very real to me I have had similar conversations and reactions to my cancer. I think it was a real reaction the Doctor gave, I have found people can struggle initially because it can wrongfoot them.
The Doctor knows when Graham will die. A consequence of seeing all of time and space. She was quiet so she didn't have to tell him. Maybe he's going to die next year from being hit by a speeding TARDIS?
You mean by Clara's TARDIS..... She was zipping by and oops. Graham was killed by a flying 1950s Diner
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