Sorry, I’ve been letting the side down but I’m still very much pro-Doctor Who! I don’t watch tv at all these days and I don’t take notice of the time so I tend to miss it, but recently I got all up to date.
Even I was a bit, what the heck, with the frog, but I realise it was the doing of a weird sentient Universe that was basing everything on what it gathered from the folk inside it, including Grace’s love for frogs. It probably assumed it was some amazing creature that the majority of people loved!
I’m still loving the Doctor’s enthusiasm, her desire to bring out the best in everyone and be the facilitator to help them on the right path, and so I rather liked that the way she solved all this was promising to be the Universe’s friend. Like she said, she’s discovered something completely extraordinary and it wasn’t trying to be malevolent, why wouldn’t she want to befriend it first and foremost. Everyone talks about the Doctor being a big pacifist, so this was quite inkeeping with their way of working things out.
Plus it fit with the overall theme of having to let go even when it’s hard and painful, and knowing when things can’t be, etc.
The Doctor seems to be an infodump device this series. Need to explain something? The Doctor suddenly remembers. At least when she's not running about claiming 'I don't know' all over the place.
...just like all the other Doctors? Isn’t that why people say why the Doctor has companions, so there’s someone there they can explain everything (and thus us the audience) to? And it’s generally how it goes, they turn up in some form of mystery and then it takes a fair portion of the episode to gather evidence, review it, turn it over in that big, mad brain of theirs, and form an idea of what’s going on. Like this week, mirror portal, buffer zone, nice replica universe where people are being shown someone they’d find it hard to let go of...only finally then did the Solitract pop into her head. It’s not really suddenly. I reckon people would find it much more annoying, and wouldn’t make for a very good programme, if the Doctor turned up, took one look at the situation and knew what’s going on immediately.
Anyway, the real surprising thing for me this week...my mum was visiting this weekend and she a.) actually asked to watch it (genuinely shocked at that) b.) turns out she’s been watching all of them! c.) claims she, and I quote, “can watch it with her (Jodie) in it” and d.) is apparently a fan of the new format, as she found all previous series ‘too silly’. This is a massive turnaround!