DW 5x11 - The Lodger
Jun. 12th, 2010 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caz963I've still got a smile on my face after that one :-) Moff & Co seem to have been saving up the best episodes until last (assuming the last two are awesome of course!), what with last week's wonderful Van Gogh episode and now another one from Gareth Roberts. I was pleased to see he was on board again this series, becuase he wrote two of my favourite episodes of nu-Who - The Shakespeare Code and The Unicorn and the Wasp.
As an aside, the problem with saving the best until last of course is that people have to actually want to watch all the others to get there and I know some people who were so underwhelmed by the first part of the season that they stopped watching.
Anyway. This was billed as the "comedy" episode, and it certainly delivered on that score (excuse the pun!) as the Doctor finds himself stuck in Colchester (aka Cardiff because it didn't look like any bit of Colchester I'm familiar with!) with no TARDIS and an alien to track down.
James Corden was wonderfully sweet and funny in a nicely understated performance where he played the straight man to the Doctor.
It was clear from the first episode that Matt Smith can do comedy and I can't fault his performance here. He was very good at being that little bit "other" - different, but not so different as to stick out like a really sore thumb; he was engaging and funny and a bit barmy and I thought the relationship between the Doctor and Craig worked really well.
The thing about having a woman as a best friend - "works for me" - was a nice touch and I liked his observations in the scene with Craig and Sophie (who was also wonderful) - "6 million people on the planet; looking at you two, I wonder how they all got here".
Clearly, however, the Doctor has missed his vocation - he should set himself up as a yenta. First Amy and the dear departed Rory and now Craig and Sophie.
If headbutting is Eleven's way of establishing a psychic link, I think I prefer Ten's method. I know that was done for the fun value, but seriously, there will be kids in the playground on Monday morning butting heads trying to read each others' minds. It won't be pretty. Was the Doctor literally supposed to be putting thoughts into Craig's head or something? We got the very quick flashback of his other faces, and Craig understood what and who the Doctor is, and the second time, the "story so far" bit. I'm nit-picking, but that bit came across as a bit dafter than all the rest!
The space ship in the attic was an interesting development... someone was attempting to BUILD A TARDIS? Even before that was said, it was obvious from the look of the set that we were supposed to see the similarities. Is that important or was it just a throwaway line? (And aren't they grown?)
And finally - at the end of that scene... I saw THE Doctor. Talking a mile a minute about why he's "too much" for the ship, and the "is that a lie?" exchange with Craig - of course it's a lie! was spot on.
After all that - just when you thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen... the return of the Crack! I've been thinking for a while now that it might not be following Amy around. What if it's following the Doctor around? It could have been sitting waiting for him in little Amelia's bedroom for a few years, and then, BAM! - he turns up and off we go.
Then Amy finds her engagement ring. That was on the cards, I suppose, given how big a thing was made of it in the Chibbers two-parter. As those last scenes were a set up for the finale, I imagine we'll find out what she makes of suddenly finding a ring in the Doctor's pocket next week.
I'm sure the internet is currently exploding and that the brains of a million Matt fangirls are currently in meltdown. Personally - meh. But I'm not going to rain on their parade on this one; I've ogled David Tennant's pert little arse enough times to not be in a position to call any pots black.
All in all a fun episode and I enjoyed it rather a lot :-)
As an aside, the problem with saving the best until last of course is that people have to actually want to watch all the others to get there and I know some people who were so underwhelmed by the first part of the season that they stopped watching.
Anyway. This was billed as the "comedy" episode, and it certainly delivered on that score (excuse the pun!) as the Doctor finds himself stuck in Colchester (aka Cardiff because it didn't look like any bit of Colchester I'm familiar with!) with no TARDIS and an alien to track down.
James Corden was wonderfully sweet and funny in a nicely understated performance where he played the straight man to the Doctor.
It was clear from the first episode that Matt Smith can do comedy and I can't fault his performance here. He was very good at being that little bit "other" - different, but not so different as to stick out like a really sore thumb; he was engaging and funny and a bit barmy and I thought the relationship between the Doctor and Craig worked really well.
The thing about having a woman as a best friend - "works for me" - was a nice touch and I liked his observations in the scene with Craig and Sophie (who was also wonderful) - "6 million people on the planet; looking at you two, I wonder how they all got here".
Clearly, however, the Doctor has missed his vocation - he should set himself up as a yenta. First Amy and the dear departed Rory and now Craig and Sophie.
If headbutting is Eleven's way of establishing a psychic link, I think I prefer Ten's method. I know that was done for the fun value, but seriously, there will be kids in the playground on Monday morning butting heads trying to read each others' minds. It won't be pretty. Was the Doctor literally supposed to be putting thoughts into Craig's head or something? We got the very quick flashback of his other faces, and Craig understood what and who the Doctor is, and the second time, the "story so far" bit. I'm nit-picking, but that bit came across as a bit dafter than all the rest!
The space ship in the attic was an interesting development... someone was attempting to BUILD A TARDIS? Even before that was said, it was obvious from the look of the set that we were supposed to see the similarities. Is that important or was it just a throwaway line? (And aren't they grown?)
And finally - at the end of that scene... I saw THE Doctor. Talking a mile a minute about why he's "too much" for the ship, and the "is that a lie?" exchange with Craig - of course it's a lie! was spot on.
After all that - just when you thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen... the return of the Crack! I've been thinking for a while now that it might not be following Amy around. What if it's following the Doctor around? It could have been sitting waiting for him in little Amelia's bedroom for a few years, and then, BAM! - he turns up and off we go.
Then Amy finds her engagement ring. That was on the cards, I suppose, given how big a thing was made of it in the Chibbers two-parter. As those last scenes were a set up for the finale, I imagine we'll find out what she makes of suddenly finding a ring in the Doctor's pocket next week.
I'm sure the internet is currently exploding and that the brains of a million Matt fangirls are currently in meltdown. Personally - meh. But I'm not going to rain on their parade on this one; I've ogled David Tennant's pert little arse enough times to not be in a position to call any pots black.
All in all a fun episode and I enjoyed it rather a lot :-)
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