Sunday 25 September 2011

Electric TV Review: Doctor Who Season 6 "Closing Time"

THE ASTRONAUT COMETH

Well, that was kind of alright in a bubblegum sort of way. I approached this episode like trying to dodge the kissy kissy grasp of an over eager Aunt when it's your tenth birthday. Having survived the kitchen sink drama's of the RTD era, I feared armageddon was about to happen during a bout of heavy hoovering or ironing. And there was James Corden. Last season's "The Lodger" was perfectly fine mostly due to the eccentric watchability of Matt Smith. Pretty much the same here with "Closing Time." Smith again carried the day and the sense of impending doom/death was a nice counterpoint to the baby talk and poop. Corden was bearable - just. I thought the sprog had more gravitas than the rotund one and the funnier lines.

So, this was a 200 year older Doctor than the one seen in the last episode. I think. Since dropping Amy and Rory back into good old boring domesticated suburbia he's been galivanting around time and space having untold adventures which will all probably come out in paperback in the near future. But even a space alien cannot avoid the call of fate. Fate is a pain in the rear - especially when you know your own and the exact moment it happens. Heavy. You can only run so far for so long.

Liked the bit of the Doctor demonstrating the toys to the kids. Really liked the scene in baby Stormaggedon's bedroom where he transformed the projected singular stars into a whole epic galaxy spanning panorama of awesome wonderment. Loved when Amy and Rory appeared and that the Doc hadn't seen them for a very long time, was going to say hello, but thought better of it. Let them live whatever lives they're now living - Amy, a model!! Cool but not unexpected. So some nice little moments but not enough to make this rise beyond merely average. Pity the poor Cybermen. Boy, have they had a bum time of it lately. Stand up fall guys of the Universe. Arse kicked by the power of love. Ugh. Well, ok. This one is for the grannies and Titanic groupies. The ending was like being force fed head first into a candy floss machine. But there are worse things that could happen in space so I sighed and chewed harder on that bubblegum.

Then there was the other ending. Alrighty, this is more like it. Holy smokes. Cool. But I'm worried. I loved the final episode of last season. "The Big Bang" was a pure joy for me. A magnificent blancmonge of time travel timey wimey that had me grinning like a loon whilst watching it. No more fucking gnomes, peek-a-boo Timelords or half assed Deux whatevers. No, I'm worried because I doubt whatever answers Moffat reveals in the final 45 minutes of this season won't meet the expectations I've built up as the season has progressed. Season 6 has been great. The fun of it hasn't really been what's shown onscreen but what's implied offscreen. So many theories. So many fantastical possibilities of multi-timelines and multi-characters. It's been brilliant. I hope Moffat can at least pull off his own literary ambitions and give us an ending of epic storytelling.

Time will tell. As it always does.

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