"They are making him look better" my Mom said as she passed the television whilst MollyMarie, my shih tzu, and I were watching episode 3 of Doctor Who series 9. That, seriously, was the highlight of Under The Lake. Ultimately, this episode showed me that I don't flippin' care (I know... I sound like Moss in the I.T. Crowd), but I don't. This bleepin' two parter makes me want to curse like a sailor - an underwater one stationed in a nuclear facility that has nothing to do with the plot of a flooded town harboring an abandoned alien incursion.
Wait....there was a nuclear element? Really? Does that energy feed the signal making the ghosts into radio towers? Do I care how Clara saves the Doctor by opening the pilot's case and therefore releasing the souls back to their original times and bodies? And honestly, I don't even care if that's the resolution. I know that the Doctor is fine - Maisie's on her way in 9.5 and Clara has to die by Christmas so River Song can come back.
All the way back in Time Heist, the Doctor tells Sabra that "a thing will happen" and then "he will talk fast and claim the credit." Probably Clara will do that this time, saving 12 since she already rocked 1-11, and her confidence will soar until she makes a fatal flaw and can't regenerate because she is not, in fact, a Time Lord. That will happen around 9.10.
Do you even care if I'm right? Have you even wondered what next week's episode will bring? (Be honest with yourself at least - do you care either?) Does the Victorian Undertaker ghost make you the least bit curious? Hmmmmmm.
I remember reading complaints about the easy out by "restarting time" in Journey To The Center Of The TARDIS and the cries that, again, there aren't ghosts in Hide.... or Listen and I wish I wondered how this one will end. But it will resolve and it doesn't help to see Moffat smugly smiling "it was just about one word: Ghosts" in the extra. Duh, really? Is that how you have time to also executive produce Class, the new spin-off Who series, and Sherlock?
Ultimately, Capaldi is amazing. He DOES look like he's thriving and my Mom is right about that. I feel satisfied with that realization and thank her for it. Yes, Master Peter Capaldi looks really healthy, in the moment, and now no questions can be raised about him being THE Doctor. But at the end, shouldn't a multi-parter have enough plot for two episodes? Don't we actually need a plot that requires two parts to do it justice? This plot in Under The Lake was basically running in circles without tension, curiosity or characterization. Did you care about a single character?... since we never got to know a single one of them?
Gentle reader, please feel free to criticize what I am telling you. Remark how unfair I am to share this judgment BEFORE I see the second part, but I ask you to think for a moment... can you imagine the End Of Time without it being told in two parts? How about Silence In The Library? Or, The Big Bang?...... or [insert title here]... Really, can you?
Risk-adverse, Stacy would not even enter the TARDIS in case it suddenly set to motion. Yet, gentle reader, she feels compelled to clarify that she writes opinion or editorial pieces. By using logic and reasoning, she always hopes to coherently provoke honest discourse.
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