auntiemeesh | (no subject)

Okay, I just watched Doctor Who 5x12, The Pandorica Opens.

My first impression is OMG! I loved it! I'd heard rumors that it was the Doctor in the box, which made no sense to me in the perspective of the Doctor being the one to come out of the box now. But by about ten minutes in I figured it out, and I loved how they brought it about.

It made me laugh out loud that all the big bad bullies of the universe banded together to prevent the destruction of the universe by coming up with this elaborate plan, and they actually succeeded. They defeated the Doctor, locked him in the box. And yet they all got it so very wrong, so that even in victory, they still lose.

Groggy Amy, foggily patting Rory on the chest for doing the *insert circular stabby motion here* thing was awesome, as was Rory's face when he realized she didn't know him. And Amy starting to cry and having no idea why she was happy, and then getting freaked out and breaking away because it was all just too weird and intense. I spent the whole second half of the episode wanting to wrap both of them up in warm, fuzzy blankets and making all the bad things go away.

And now I get why they belabored the idea that human emotions can overcome robotic programming. It makes it that much more effective when Rory's human emotions are not enough to overcome his constructed programming. Fight as much as he wants, he must do what he was built to do.

I liked River in this one. I liked her a lot in the Library episodes, but really didn't like her much at all in the weeping angels ones. Glad to see River That I Like back again.

And now the Doctor gets to sit in the box for God knows how long before someone (River?) comes along to let him out. And then he's going to have to go back and fix everything so that River isn't dead (since she dies in the Library, when the Doctor first meets her), the TARDIS isn't destroyed and the universe hasn't gone silent. All in a day's work for a Time Lord, right?

Now,

eve11 has postulated that Amy is also a construct, based on all the various and sundry weirdnesses about Leadworth, which is a fascinating idea all on it's own. Is she then not really dead but simply deactivated? Might she also have a Trojan program that will come out when she turns back on? Are there a real Amy Pond and Rory Williams floating around out there, possibly never having met? How many of these questions will be answered next week?

I'm still not entirely in love with Matt Smith's Doctor, but with so much else going on in this episode, that becomes pretty irrelevant. I really, really liked this episode. It was fast paced, challenging, went off in unexpected directions (for almost completely unspoiled me, at any rate), had all sorts of Yay!Guest Appearances (Liz 10!) and a cliffhanger ending that is fun without being too overwhelmingly stressful (obviously things are going to get sorted out one way or another since there's another season coming up).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, I like Matt Smith's quirky energy but he's not quite as good at Gravitas in the Face of Certain Doom, I think. He already seemed defeated, with less energy than he should have had as they closedhim into the box. But I think he will get better. And yeah, the rest of the episode held up enough for a weaker effort by Matt Smith. Not to say he was bad, but he's definitely had better outings.

I'm very eager for next week, now.

Yeah, me too! I keep replaying the last 10 minutes of the episode and just going "aaaaa! What happens next???"

Lol! For all that I'm very excited for next week, I'm not actually feeling the suspense all that much. I think it's a result of TPTB making a lot of these 'ultimate doom' sort of cliffhangers the past few years, and yet things always work out okay in the end, so while I'm curious to see how things work out, I'm not feeling the cliffhangeriness of it as much as maybe I should.

heh, I should clarify that I pretty much feel this way every week, cliffhanger or not. ;)