The End of Time, pt. 2

[rm]

If given what we were given in part 1, this was pretty close to what I would have done with part 2. That's a little goddamn weird.

1. The redemption of the Master was AWESOME. I do have to confess I was disappointed we didn't get any Harold SAxon-esque musical numbers this time though. I LOVED that.

2. Also, yes, thank you for dialing back on the cracky.

3. The performances were great. Just people's eyes. The Doctor (more bondage for the win!) and the Master specifically.

4. The Doctor's utter love and admiration for the Master.

5. Rose, returned, again -- in a way that didn't suck or lessen the impact of the Rose narrative. Win.

6. Jesus fucking Christ the Weeping Angels reference. Oh god, they are something horrible related to the Time Lords. Oh god oh god oh god. These things get WORSE AND WORSE and I'm writing a story about them EATING JACK'S EYES.

7. So let's talk about this Jack thing.

I think it was adorable and interesting and thorny and I loved it. We don't know how long it's been since CoE. We don't know if he's still grieving or is having a bad night after he's mostly over it or what.

We don't know if the Doctor is getting Jack laid or if the Doctor is telling Jack something bigger with "His name is Alonso." What does the pronoun stand for? "The guy who's about to sit down next to you" or "the guy that's going to help you heal" or "the next person you're going to fall in love with"?

It's wonderfully open-ended, and because Alonso is young and has a lot of similar features to Ianto (personality and facial), it creates a lot of potential issues for the fannish mind to consider -- does Jack fuck him then freak out? Do they get into a several week fling and Alonso can see that Jack is broken about something and asks? Do they get into a relationship and Jack eventually explains and then hey have lots of fights because Jack isn't seeing Alonso but Ianto?

These are all MARVELOUS questions, but they also don't address the way this moment also speaks wonderfully to the Jack/Doctor relationship. Is this an apology from Ten? Or a recognition that Jack is in pain? Is he telling Jack to get on with things? Is he giving him permission? How much knowledge is this gesture made with? And look at Jack, after everything, taking it and latching on to it.

I know a lot of people don't like Barrowman's performance in this moment or the way the direction was handled, but I loved it -- it was like someone using muscles they are out of practice with -- look at Jack, nervous and overcompensating and unsure and a little queasy -- we haven't seen this since he asks Ianto on a date in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and those were different wounds.

Look, people, I thought it was AWESOME.

8. Time Lords blow.

9. Wilf! We all love Wilf, but I also love the function Wilf serves. Doctor Who does a lot of romanticizing of war, but it also spends a lot of time trying to de-romanticize it in various ways. Wilf is the quietest of these ways, the most ordinary, and I think the writing there is consistently spectacular.

10. Ten saying goodbye to all those companions. And them sensing it, somehow. Great great great.

11. Martha & Mickey -- WTF? I'm so WTF the on this. We liked Tom; Martha liked Tom, and I like Mickey (and he looks GREAT with the facial hair) but I'm Just Not Getting that. WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE FUCK FUCK FUCK WAS THAT? Also what were they doing? Are they rogue Torchwood agents now? WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT? AAAAAAAARGH!!!

12. The Ood. The Ood may be one of the best things the new series has brought us. So lovely, so elegant. And the line about the story. ALL TIMES ARE NOW, MOTHERFUCKERS. Ood!

13. So, Matt Smith, eh? I don't even watch old Who and I feel like we're in for a real throwback with Eleven. Very mad and wacky. It could work. But it's the human interactions that make this show go for me, so until he's saving the world, until he's sad, until he's running from himself, I won't really have a verdict.

Comments

[rednwhiterose.livejournal.com]

I could tolerate some of his stuff because I wasn't really in the fandom yet, but you're right, lately...gah the ego!

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

What annoys me is that he was getting perilously close to acting like he and his characters were the be all and end all of the Doctor Who Continuity, and while he's very good and has made some brilliant characters and fabulous episodes, he is merely upholding a grand tradition. Doctor Who is a shared dream, and thrives with the input of many.

I think some of RTD's set ideas (Emo!Doctor, etc) were beginning to drag the series down, and away from the quirky sci-fi romp it originally was. I can see Steve Moffat chomping at the bit to get back to that, and I can also foresee people getting a bit weird about that, not knowing Doctor Who's dorky roots.

That said, I'm hoping Eleven will enjoy the success of Five. It was hard for Davison at first, but he soon found his fans and a following. Not as big as Tom Baker, of course, but TB was classic, brilliant, and really bloody hard to follow. But he did okay. I'm hoping young Matt Smith will do okay. I don't want the show to fail.

[rednwhiterose.livejournal.com]

I agree completely. RTD was being repetitive to the point of annoying and almost like he didn't care. I just wish David could've gotten a Stephen Moffat send off. I think it would've been brilliant, exciting, and not obvious or melodramatic.

I think people will warm up to Eleven because I get the feeling he's going to be all over the place, quirky, geeky, with a side of cute. :O)

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I wish that too. Steve Moffat really knew how to write for David Tennant. He knew how to get the most out of him. How to get the Oncoming Storm without drowning in the Emo Flood. Ya know what I mean? But I would blow Steve Moffat's wang for eternity for writing Blink alone, so I might be biased.

I think Matt Smith is fucking adorable, myself. He has very nice cheekbones and a very nice chin. He's ugly-cute, I think. At first one might be like, "What the hell?" But then you see him moving and talking and those eyes gleam at you and you're like, "Ohhhh! I get it! You're LOVELY!"

A lot of newer fans will probably need the time to be sad that he's not David Tennant. Gladly, I was prepared this time. I had my first great Doctor Loss when I was but a wee bairn, and one day, Tom Baker wasn't on Doctor Who anymore. I got indignant and stopped watching for, like, ages. I wish I hadn't have done that now, cause I have a large gap to catch up on!

Oh well, something to do between seasons! :D

[rednwhiterose.livejournal.com]

OMG BLINK!!!111!!! I (attempt) to sell Doctor Who to my friends on Blink alone, followed by Girl in the Fireplace.

I agree Matt Smith is adorable in that geeky, dorky kinda way. I have no doubt that SM will make a running joke out of the fact that he's so young and doesn't look like the Doctor at all.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

SM rocks my socks. I can't wait to see what he does with this franchise.

I hope so. The fact he's 906 and looks 25 is friggin' hilarious to me. When we first had the Doctor, he was an old, old man! LOL!

[rednwhiterose.livejournal.com]

SM rocks my socks.

That needs to be an icon.

It is funny how the older the Doctor gets, the younger he looks. :O)

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

DAMN! THIS IS SOME BENJAMIN BUTTON'S SHIT!!!!

(Oh Kanye! Is there anything I can't quote you for?!)

[natf.livejournal.com]

I had my first great Doctor Loss when I was but a wee bairn, and one day, Tom Baker wasn't on Doctor Who anymore. I got indignant and stopped watching for, like, ages. I wish I hadn't have done that now, cause I have a large gap to catch up on!


Me too! I was a teenager and Five was just not The Doctor, for me. Back then change was a bad thing and so Five was a bad thing. When Three became Four I was young enough to absorb the change.

I still miss Three, Four and Nine (I did not watch DW between Four and Nine) and will no doubt miss Ten as well but I do love the little we have seen of Eleven so far (end of tEoT and the trailers). I wish I could go back and watch One, Two and Five-Eight as an adult but I don't think they are even available on DVD/VHS. *cries*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Torrents are the way to go. :) Love the icon!!