"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Doctor Who: Series 10, Episode 12 – “The Doctor Falls” (2017)

Yeah, not a whole lot I can say on this one at the moment.  I’ll save my spoilery thoughts for next time, so let’s figure out what I can say for now.

The Doctor and co. have a big, unstoppable force coming after a small group of innocent civilians.  The Doctor doesn’t know if he can hold back the flood this time, but he’s going to do what he can anyway, because that’s how he works.  He and his companions are tested to the utmost, and when the dust settles, we come full circle.

Can’t get any more specific on the plot than that.  What I can tell you is that all the actors positively tear it up.  Every single one of them is fantastic, including a couple of guest stars who have a ball playing off of each other.  Everyone gets some excellent moments to shine, in both action and dialogue, which is mostly quite effective here.  The Doctor in particular gets a gorgeous speech in the middle of the episode that doesn’t quite give me the same “ZOMG amazing actor” chills as his monologue at the end of “The Zygon Inversion,” but it’s so lovely and basically encapsulates what the Doctor is all about.  What a treat to hear him say those words.

As for the story, I’m again mostly happy.  There’s a little weirdness in the interactions at points, and I had some issues with it near the end, but overall, I thought it was affecting.  It touched on some nice themes and spent a fair amount of time really cherishing the relationship between the characters, which is what I always love best about the show.  Plus, even more classic Who references, all of which made me grin like a very happy dork.

And the very end, the lead-up to the Christmas special?  I have a few quibbles about it on Twelve’s side of things, but that last scene has me so excited.  Christmas please, now!

And… I think that’s it for the moment.  I’ll spend at least the next couple of Sundays going more in-depth on the end of the season and my thoughts on it.  Till then!

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