City of Death part 3

[Craig @craig Emperor]

The Mona Lisa has been stolen. How is the Count in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Italy and modern day Paris at the same time?

Turns out he’s a bit like Clara. He’s had his own, kind of, Trenzalore moment.

Some more great lines delivered by Tom. I love his delivery of

How time passes

There’s also a lot of his trademark, bass “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah”.

A joy.

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

Very entertaining episode, and the quality of the performances is really what makes this as we start to unpick what the fiendish plot is all about.

As well as Tom being as delightfully Tom-ish as only he can, Lalla is doing great work as Romana. Her outfit is possibly explained by being only a slip of a ‘gel at a mere 125 years old. In partnership with Duggan she really does come across as a female Doctor. Impatient, commanding, funny and downright insulting towards her “companion”. I love the line about “come on, let’s get back to the château, where at least you can thump somebody”, and the business about him going into partnership with a glazier. They’re good lines and she’s pitch perfect.

Excellent eye rolling evil from Julian Glover in his many guises. Shattered through time, but able to communicate with his splinters, allowing him to form the perfect scam to fund his experiments. Tancretti must have needed those thumbscrews often if he was relying on Leonardo to complete all the copies. The bloke was notorious for not finishing work (the original Mona Lisa wasn’t delivered to the man who commissioned it, Leonardo had it for decades saying it wasn’t quite finished).

Nice touches like the Doctor writing his note to Leonardo backwards (which was another foible of the very odd Leonardo). It’s such a throwaway little touch.

Duggans partnership with Romana is bringing out the best in him as he realises he’s completely out of his depth. He really needs to thump something soon to decrease his bafflement levels. 😀

As well as the Counts scams, he seems to indicate to the Countess that he feels responsible for much more when it comes to the human race. Building pyramids, mapping the stars. Inspiring Leonardo?

Gordon Bennet – how many aliens are responsible for dabbling with our DNA and guiding our development in Who history now? We can’t take credit for anything. It’s surprising the Doctor still admires us considering what he knows about these interventions!

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@phaseshift – I think Lalla Ward has joked that the alternative costume was Zoe’s jumpsuit.

I agree that – while she’s not as experienced as the Doctor, and so makes silly mistakes – she’s essentially a female Doctor. Just a very, very young one. Her barely reined-in exasperation with Duggan is indeed pitch perfect, as is the moment of compassion when she hands him her coffee.

After working for the Borgias, the guard is ready to believe anything. In the 20th Century, I’m beginning to wonder if Hermann is madly in love with the Count. And Tom Chadbon is now playing in a much less farcical style – a man out of his depth and obviously wondering why everyone else seems to be talking so seriously about the insane idea of time travel. He has, however, just brains enough to realise that six Mona Lisas bricked up for several hundred years with seven modern buyers ready to buy them is certainly very odd.

Now can he thump someone? 🙂

Every major historical event ever is due to aliens. Perfectly simple. What I do wonder is why all these aliens keep rocking up to Earth. What are we, the Watford Gap of the galaxy or something?

[Arbutus @arbutus]

Yes, this entire serial was definitely made with a lot of love. As others have said, the Fourth Doctor being quintessentially himself, with vocal timbre and body language. But in this episode, I especially enjoyed Romana’s interactions with Duggan. Those two really clicked together, with some very natural and charming exchanges as they tried to work out the puzzle. @phaseshift, those two lines jumped out for me as well, as well as the one about: “If you wanted breakfast, I’d expect to find…” It’s a shame they didn’t keep Duggan on for a bit, I think the three of them in the TARDIS would have had a great dynamic.

I remember being impressed by the scene in which all of Scaroth’s incarnations join, and we see flashes of him in his various incarnations throughout history. And at this point, I now understand the Doctor and Romana to be, not only time travelers, but quite possibly aliens as well.

“Can anyone join this conversation or do you need a certificate?”

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@phaseshift
Re Leonardo’s reputation for not finishing work (the original Mona Lisa wasn’t delivered to the man who commissioned it, Leonardo had it for decades saying it wasn’t quite finished)…
well no wonder – he was busy producing 6 new copies of his masterpiece!!

Agree with the above comments (and on previous episodes) – the acting of the leads is just great. (Love the scene where Romana neatly sneaks into the cafe – followed by Duggan breaking the window to get in. The ensuing discussion underlines the differences between them. Duggan is a wee boy.

[ScaryB @scaryb]

The guard in 1505 is probably an ancestor of Duggan’s 😈

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@bluesqueakpip

Her barely reined-in exasperation with Duggan is indeed pitch perfect, as is the moment of compassion when she hands him her coffee.

To paraphrase Elizabeth the first “I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the temperament and demeanour of the First Doctor, so hang on to your gonads Duggan. Have a coffee” 😀

That relationship between the count and Hermann is deeply weird. He’s just so devoted. It has to be true love.

@arbutus

God – Duggan would have been so much better in the TARDIS that the Adric we actually got. You’re making me thing of a parallel universes here. One in which I’m writing a retrospective of how Duggan was written out after heroically head butting a Cyberman to save a prehistoric Earth and it all went wrong.

It would have been heartfelt and epic.

@scaryb

Fascinating bloke Leonardo. MrsPhaseshift did one of the Open University short courses on him, and the material they sent her was fantastic. It was linked to the Mark Steel lectures of the time, and the one he did on Leonardo, which is a fascinating snapshot of him (highlighting in a humorous way his faults but in the enthusiastic way Mark had of talking about his subjects). I’ll stick this link in here (even though it’s not the best rip).

pt ii pt iii pt iv (total aprox 30 mins)

[wolfweed @wolfweed]

Highlights:

Romana = 125

The Polaroid Punch
This is a Fake
Mirror writing
Romana turns to the red wine.
Tom shushes the Louvre guide in a DOTDish manner

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