What did Countryfile immediately before and Strictly immediately afterwards get? A dip might just mean people deferred viewing because they were having their dinner/tea.Overnights apparently 5.07 million!
Spoilers It Takes You Away grade and discussion thread
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
Watch the episode and judge for yourself. Don’t let other people judge for you.
I liked the episode mostly for the fact it inverted expectations. This is Doctor Who, we naturally expect that if the opening suggests there's a monster, there's going to be a monster. But instead, it's just recorded roars being blared over strategically placed speakers. And for some reason, I had it in my head that Shifty Alien in the Anti Zone was the blind girl's father (she's blind, she wouldn't know he was an alien). Kind of glad I was wrong with that prediction.
The start of the episode perfectly captured a horror movie vibe and genuinely felt creepy seeing the boarded up and seemingly abandoned house. Then by the end they completely shift gears, making it a personal tale about dealing with loss and then going completely surreal with the talking frog, which actually worked for me. It's exactly the sort of weird and unexpected thing that Doctor Who has become noted for.
Also, this was a great episode for Graham, his scenes with Grace really felt authentic, and likewise his scene with Ryan at the end was very well done.
The start of the episode perfectly captured a horror movie vibe and genuinely felt creepy seeing the boarded up and seemingly abandoned house. Then by the end they completely shift gears, making it a personal tale about dealing with loss and then going completely surreal with the talking frog, which actually worked for me. It's exactly the sort of weird and unexpected thing that Doctor Who has become noted for.
Also, this was a great episode for Graham, his scenes with Grace really felt authentic, and likewise his scene with Ryan at the end was very well done.
Decidedly mediocre. I was bored by most of it. However..... this is Jodies best performance as the Doctor, for the first time having a leading turn and commanding the scene.
I guess I didn't hate it, but I could change my mind in a re-view.
I guess I didn't hate it, but I could change my mind in a re-view.
I'm of a mixed mind about this one. There's stuff I liked, stuff I didn't, and one thing that I ADORED beyond all measure.
I think this particular story would've benefited from a cold open introducing the Father and the daughter and him leaving, "Because of the monster." I really felt I needed to see a desperate father would be willing to TERRIFY his child so he could go see his dead wife... and not bring his daughter (which is weird, that he didn't try it, we know the results, but, still...) When we finally see the Dad, he's all, shrug, shrug, she's fine. As a parent, I don't get that reaction. I'm not onboard with that reaction, UNLESS, I see how fucked up with grief this father is that he would be willing to create a WHOLE monster to TERRIFY his child... That's some fucked up shit.
In the end, it was a terribly thought out Red Herring... but, it could've been a red herring that ADDED something to the story... as in, the father is so fucked up with grief... but, we didn't see that side of him.
I also didn't like this InfoDump of this whole cosmological thing... I like the idea of a sentient universe just fine, but... it felt like an InfoDump to save the day, something we've never heard of before, something huge, something fundamental to the Universe... And, I'm not totally sure I get it... so math and physics and light and stuff couldn't come together, couldn't work, until this other energy was shunted off... who did the shunting? The "Universe"? But, if it couldn't get it's shit together, how did it get it's shit together to shunt it off?
I also didn't like much Ryan being pushed onto the kid. It felt a little to much of the hand fo the author. "Ryan needs to learn a lesson about kids!" Everyone saw how TERRIBLE Ryan was with the girl, wouldn't Graham or Yaz be MORE suited to take on this important thing? And, also, we've seen Graham--and the guy acts up a storm--deal with his grief, but, Ryan has been mopping around about his fucking father for episodes. Isn't he in mourning? I would've much rather have seen Ryan and his Nan...
I like the little in-between space, in felt creepy and dangerous, and I would love to see more of it. That alien dude and the bloody thirsty moths were cool.
The cast is still good.
But, the thing that I ADORED that almost makes up for the other stuff: the frog. I FUCKING LOVED THE FROG. It was so weird, so absurd, so surreal. It was funny. It was very Monty Python by way of Neil Gaiman. I would love it if Doctor Who leaned more into THAT weirdness--which could help set it apart from a lot of other things out there. This episode sort of had a Black Mirror feel to it...
More frog, please.
I think this particular story would've benefited from a cold open introducing the Father and the daughter and him leaving, "Because of the monster." I really felt I needed to see a desperate father would be willing to TERRIFY his child so he could go see his dead wife... and not bring his daughter (which is weird, that he didn't try it, we know the results, but, still...) When we finally see the Dad, he's all, shrug, shrug, she's fine. As a parent, I don't get that reaction. I'm not onboard with that reaction, UNLESS, I see how fucked up with grief this father is that he would be willing to create a WHOLE monster to TERRIFY his child... That's some fucked up shit.
In the end, it was a terribly thought out Red Herring... but, it could've been a red herring that ADDED something to the story... as in, the father is so fucked up with grief... but, we didn't see that side of him.
I also didn't like this InfoDump of this whole cosmological thing... I like the idea of a sentient universe just fine, but... it felt like an InfoDump to save the day, something we've never heard of before, something huge, something fundamental to the Universe... And, I'm not totally sure I get it... so math and physics and light and stuff couldn't come together, couldn't work, until this other energy was shunted off... who did the shunting? The "Universe"? But, if it couldn't get it's shit together, how did it get it's shit together to shunt it off?
I also didn't like much Ryan being pushed onto the kid. It felt a little to much of the hand fo the author. "Ryan needs to learn a lesson about kids!" Everyone saw how TERRIBLE Ryan was with the girl, wouldn't Graham or Yaz be MORE suited to take on this important thing? And, also, we've seen Graham--and the guy acts up a storm--deal with his grief, but, Ryan has been mopping around about his fucking father for episodes. Isn't he in mourning? I would've much rather have seen Ryan and his Nan...
I like the little in-between space, in felt creepy and dangerous, and I would love to see more of it. That alien dude and the bloody thirsty moths were cool.
The cast is still good.
But, the thing that I ADORED that almost makes up for the other stuff: the frog. I FUCKING LOVED THE FROG. It was so weird, so absurd, so surreal. It was funny. It was very Monty Python by way of Neil Gaiman. I would love it if Doctor Who leaned more into THAT weirdness--which could help set it apart from a lot of other things out there. This episode sort of had a Black Mirror feel to it...
More frog, please.
I'm so happy someone besides me loves the frog. Most people here are either ambivalent towards or outright dislike the frog, which makes me sad. I especially love your "very Monty Python by the way of Neil Gaiman" description. Very apt.
I also liked the frog. I'm not sure what the problem with the frog is.
I gave that an easy 10 - my favourite episode this year. It was a truly fascinating idea having a sentient universe. I sided with the frog being adorable. I'm not sure how else the could have portrayed it? A big swirly ball of energy would have been so-so.
Bradley Walsh and Jodie Whittaker were wonderful again. The Doc seeing eye-to-eye with the universe was typical fare, but they really sold the moment where she talked the great losses she's endured. Also, the seven grandmothers was a nice touch.
Bradley Walsh and Jodie Whittaker were wonderful again. The Doc seeing eye-to-eye with the universe was typical fare, but they really sold the moment where she talked the great losses she's endured. Also, the seven grandmothers was a nice touch.
I guess the fans will be left wondering if it's seven different grandmothers, seven different INCARNATIONS of the same grandmother, or somewhere in between...
Mark
Mark
I'm so happy someone besides me loves the frog. Most people here are either ambivalent towards or outright dislike the frog, which makes me sad. I especially love your "very Monty Python by the way of Neil Gaiman" description. Very apt.
I sort of expect MORE of that from British TV. Actually, I should've said, it's very Monty Python by way of Neil Gaiman in a way Douglas Adams would approve of.
It was so fantastically subversive... I really wish Who would have more of that spirit. The Whoinverse is sort of weird and I would love it if it leaned more into it. Make it quirky as fuck.
Ooh I never even thought of that
This season has been loaded with long, boring and confusing exposition dumps.
And yes, the father was a real piece of shit who put his child's needs last.
Last edited:
An even more apt description.
Yes, yes, so many times yes! The quirkier and the weirder the better.
Or at least more pining for fjords.
Actually, didn't Graham pine for them...?
Although he was one of the more interesting aliens this season (that really isn't saying much), what the hell was the purpose of the Ribbons character?
I disagree, for me, it's mostly worked. Most of the time it's been, "Hey, this new alien that you've never heard about." And that's fine, because, Doctor Who has aliens. So, to meet a new alien, that's not weird.
To have, as a solution to a problem, be a whole new cosmological setup... meh.
Parents can be selfish sometimes. That doesn't make them any less of a pieces of shit. But, I don't think that was the intent of the episode, that the father is just a piece of shit. Look at the last scene with him and his daughter. I feel like what we saw was the middle and end of his story, but they left out the beginning, where he's a father in tremendous grief over the loss of his wife who makes terrible decisions because of it. Now, it's just some guy who flippantly makes a terrible decision.
If you want to have really loud sex with your wife, you slot a video tape of Pengu in the machine, and tell the kid to turn volume up to 11 for their own well being, or at least that's what it was like when I had a four year old.
This is the danger on relying on reviews and recaps to prove the existence of programming.
Simpsons last week, insisted a conspiracy that Netflix hires recappers to write about bad shows that nobody should watch, that do not exist, so that it seems that Netflix's library is far more huge than it actually is... Also that the USA Network does not exist.
This is the danger on relying on reviews and recaps to prove the existence of programming.
Quite good. Nice message about friendship for younger viewers, and Whittaker and Walsh both acquitted themselves well. The frog was fine, but it was no Susan. 
Susan isn't dead.