Other Doctor Lives: The Crown: Season 2, Episode 6 – “Vergangenheit” (2017)

A slightly uneven episode for me, but the good parts are very good. This is a case where I knew the bare bones of the history involved – just enough to have familiarity with the topic but not enough to know how things would play out (historical spoilers.)

When David comes to England with a view to reconnecting with royal life, Elizabeth finds herself in a quandary. Her interest in the visiting American preacher, Billy Graham, urges her to consider David’s request of forgiveness for past transgressions. However, as news of a secret British war document winds up in the hands of foreign newspapers, Elizabeth is briefed on just how deep those transgressions went.

I’m glad the show addressed this, David’s cozy ties to the Nazis during World War II. Again, I knew the bare fact that this had been a thing, but I was unaware of many of the specifics, as well as how Elizabeth herself was made privy to it. Unsurprisingly, David tries to spin things in a, “Well, how could we have known then what Hitler would go on to do?” way, but the series in no way shrinks from how bad his associations were. It’s disturbing in a very effective way, especially a scene of Elizabeth talking to someone who can give her more visceral details from that time.

Additionally, it serves as a good jolt for the viewer. As a character, David is (a tiny bit) like Jefferson in Hamilton. Again, as a character, David is an enjoyable antagonist, and I really like his awfulness. But in my head, I periodically have that thought, “Screw you – you were a Nazi sympathizer,” much like my Jefferson thought is, “Screw you – you owned some of your own children” (although, David wishes he had Jefferson’s swagger.) In this instance, the show did the reminding for me.

Everything about this plot is really strong, but the Billy Graham stuff doesn’t work as well for me. I suppose these were two events that were happening in Elizabeth’s life around the same time, and they tie it in a little bit with the whole forgiveness angle, but on the whole, it feels really tacked on. I don’t care that much about Rev. Graham’s tour of Britain and Elizabeth maybe having a tiny crush on him when there are revelations to be made about Uncle David’s Nazi ties! While any B-plot probably would’ve suffered in comparison, this one really doesn’t stand a chance.

An uneven episode for Philip. On the plus side, we see a moment of some good advice from him (good in both the substance of it and how it’s given, with only minimal toolishness) and a sweet scene between him and Elizabeth toward the end. On the negative, there’s him repeatedly trying to contradict Elizabeth while she’s actively engaged in queen business and his snooty/snarky attitude toward Billy Graham. However, I find that Philip bothers me less now that I’ve basically given up on him. I can take the good moments when they come and, in the formerly-aggravating moments, I largely just roll my eyes at him now, rather than want to bang my head against the wall.

The Sandman, Vol. 7: Brief Lives (1992-1993)

Once again, it’s been a while since I read a volume of Sandman, but this one is great, maybe my favorite of the series so far! Very Endless-focused, which is totally my jam, and the interludes tie in nicely with the main story.

Delirium, the youngest of the Endless, is longing for a reunion with her brother Destruction, who left the family centuries earlier. She entreats her siblings to help, and finally, a lovelorn Dream agrees to accompany her on her search, if only in the hopes that it will distract him from a recent heartbreak. The journey takes them through the waking world, where they look for other inhabitants of Earth old enough to have seen Destruction before he disappeared, but forces seem to conspire against the quest.

Because it bears repeating: Sandman does a lot of neat things along a wide range of stories that fit loosely within its themes, but for my money, its best feature is the Endless, and the otherworldly family takes the center stage here. Our main characters in this volume are Dream and Delirium, a great odd-couple sibling pairing. Dream is so self-serious and goth, and Delirium is just an undulating bundle of chaos – in other words, the perfect combination for a supernatural road trip.

Obviously, the focus of their mission is to find Destruction, so we also learn more about him, both through the search itself and through flashbacks. But each of the Endless makes one or more prominent appearances, and along with it, we’re given interesting tidbits on the various characters and insights into the family’s history. There are some particularly intriguing hints on Delirium’s backstory and on the twins, Desire and Despair, that I hope get explored further in later volumes.

I also like the idea of other long-lived beings scattered about the earth, former or forgotten gods who’ve integrated themselves into modern society, living on. Not that this is a novel idea or anything (hello, vampire lit!), but the way it’s executed here reminds me a little of American Gods, which makes sense, since that’s also Neil Gaiman.

The thing about Sandman is that you never really know what you’re going to get from one volume to the next, which makes this volume a little frustrating precisely because I like it so much. The story pulls at a lot of interesting threads and I want to get more on them, but I had no idea if anything here will ever be mentioned again. Every so often, I flip through the earlier volumes just to go, “Oh yeah, remember _________? I almost forgot that was in here!” With this one, though, I’m crossing my fingers that the choicest threads won’t be dropped.

Warnings

Violence, sexual content, language, drinking/smoking/drug use, disturbing images, and strong thematic elements.

Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: Peri Brown (Doctor Who)

Peri doesn’t always get the fondest recollections. Like Victoria and Mel, she can be quite the screamer which can translate to some viewers as useless. Her time on the show is also marked by a lot of objectification and an inordinate amount of creepy villains becoming licentiously obsessed with her. But despite all that, Peri can be brave and clever like any other companion, and her place on the TARDIS isn’t an accident. Here are my favorite moments from her (spoilers.)

Standoff with Kamelion (Series 21, Episode 16 – “Planet of Fire:  Episode 2”)

The Master has taken over Kamelion in order to steal an important component from the Doctor’s TARDIS, but Peri runs off with it. When the Master-Kamelion catches up with her and confronts her on a cliff side, Peri holds him back by threatening to destroy the comparator. She then encourages Kamelion to regain control, just long enough for her to slip away.

Standing Up to the Doctor (Series 21, Episode 23 – “The Twin Dilemma:  Episode 1”)

The Doctor’s regeneration into Six is notoriously rough, and in this episode, he tries to strangle Peri during a fit of post-regeneration psychosis. Afterward, he has no memory of the incident and tries to dismiss Peri’s description of it. It’s not precisely gaslighting, since he genuinely doesn’t remember doing this, but he does downplay what she says and insists that it can’t possibly be true. Peri doesn’t let that stand, however, and keeps at him until he understands the severity of what happened. Given the traumatic experience she’s just had at the hands of her recently-regenerated friend, it’s brave of Peri to confront the Doctor like this. What’s more, it establishes that, going forward, Peri won’t simply be run roughshod over, no matter how brash and dismissive the Doctor might be of her. Peri doesn’t always get a lot of love from fans, but let’s face it: it takes a lot for her to continually stand up for herself against Six.

Escaping the Kidnappers (Series 22, Episode 10 – “Timelash:  Episode 1”)

Okay, so technically, this is an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” situation, since Peri escapes one danger and runs straight into another, but I’m still counting it. A pair of toughs come along to take Peri hostage (in order to force the Doctor in line.) She quickly recognizes their shadiness, thinks on her feet to disable one with the aid of a toxic alien plant she was warned about earlier, and outruns the other. Even though her first instinct is to call for the Doctor, in this moment, Peri gets herself out of the situation she’s in.

Recovering the Doctor (Series 23, Episode 3 – “The Trial of a Time Lord:  Episode 3”)

Quick little example of the ol’ companion faith and tenacity. When Peri sees a robot carrying the unconscious Doctor, she tries to run to him immediately but is held back by Glitz and his sidekick while the tribespeople attack the robot. As soon as the coast is clear, though, she breaks free and runs to retrieve the Doctor from the wreckage, keeping at it after Glitz gives him up for dead.

Making Yrcanos See Sense (Series 23, Episode 7 – “The Trial of a Time Lord:  Episode 7”)

Peri has a time of it during her tenure on the show, that’s for sure. When she isn’t putting up with Six’s pomposity or getting drooled on by villainous leches, she winds up with the task of managing Yrcanos, a self-important war lord who’s intent on fulfilling his “destiny” of dying in glorious combat. So intent, in fact, that it doesn’t occur to him that his allies might prefer a strategy in which they don’t all die. While Yrcanos postures and rages, hellbent on jumping straight into the thick of things, Peri makes herself heard, forcing him to focus on one thing at a time and come up with an actual plan.