@riko30  Does anyone else feel like Clara’s “ending” allows for the impossible girl storyline to begin? I understand that it creates a boot strap paradox (so uncharacteristic for new who) but it makes sense to me.

Neat idea — makes my head spin a bit.  But these loops always do, so I tend to side-step them if I can.

moffat dosn’t know how to sp…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip  She does something a bit reckless in almost every episode of Series 9 (she does something a bit reckless in the first part of Face the Raven) – this time it bites her back. Why? Because they need to kill her off in this episode.

I disagree on the inevitability issue.  *At some point*, an impulsive and not fully thought through act…[Read more]

@puroandson  Puro Solo —  Sure; there are points where these finer points work well with different interpretations.  That’s one of the qualities that makes DW so good for viewers who like to mull things over and look at them from different angles.  More openness to interpretation is one way to give a story a chance to resonance forward in tim…[Read more]

@puroandson  she never checked behind her when she entered a room. Never triple checked ahead -her behaviour wasn’t so much reckless as risky

But she did have a good plan.  Her risky behavior had led him to be more and more protective and worried, and as much as she protested that she never asked for his protection, she still accepted it and cam…[Read more]

@kbranagh  Oh, I agree — inspiration works both ways.  The writers do things like the monologues because Capaldi’s delivery is mesmerizing, and Capaldi takes bits of what the writers provide and runs with them because he can — like turning “I don’t think I’m a hugging person now” into a whole visual vocabulary of communication with Clara by t…[Read more]

And that’s just the major stresses I can imagine from outside, looking in.

But on the other hand — every downside has an upside, and what a delight it must be for a lifelong fan of DW to get this chance to bring his inner Doctor to light for everyone to enjoy.  And not just onscreen, either, given how warmly and generously this actor is in…[Read more]

@puroandson @bluesqueakpip  Hi, yep, I’m back — with one wibbly wobbly eye, vision distorted by the gas bubble that’s slowly being absorbed, and I am *very* happy to be this far along with no backsliding or further trouble, so far.  Whew.  Hug back; I feel like hugging *everybody*.

Yes, the first female doc is going to be pretty intense for ev…[Read more]

@kbranagh  Well, he’s sure been impressive in my books; I’d like a couple more years of his Doctor, assuming he enjoys working with Chibnall and the next companion, and his character as written still gives him plenty to that’s interesting and challenging to do.  Good example of “Be careful what you wish for” — every fulfilled wish has its down s…[Read more]

@missy  After having seen a couple of epis of Elementary, with a female as Joan Watson *rolls eyes* I find it an awful idea.

I look in on Elementary from time to time, and the more I divorce it *completely* from any vestige of identity with our venerable Sherlock/Watson duo, the more I enjoy it.  I immediately forget that Watson is supposed to b…[Read more]

@winston  Yes, Eccleston was a breath of fresh air, and I was also disappointed by his early exit.

@nerys @winston  Now I’ve got to go look again . . . gosh, what a dreadful chore . . . Whatever happens next, we’ll always have S8 and S9, by gum, and to me that’s a joy and a wonder, come what may.  It feels like a victory for intelligence and perspicacity, that these things exist, warts and all, and the nitpickers and grinders can go chew on t…[Read more]

@winston  While I have enjoyed the maturity of the CapDoc series , I also loved the playfulness of the 11th ,the flirtiness of 10 and the shell shocked 9th. So I am ready for whatever happens in the future and I know I will like it.

Well put, thanks (though the flirtiness of 10 drove me away).  We’ve now had one hell of a mature story, w…[Read more]

@tardigrade

Oooh, the wet squelching — thanks for that — ?  I am cracking up here, over the “old magic”.  Yah, let’s think about it according to preference . . . (hoo hoo hoo!!  My preference varies entertainingly).

@tardigrade  Oh, yes, okay; thanks!  Only he goes on to say something about how you have to “touch between the fronds” or something, which doesn’t sound much like kissing an Elizabeth shaped Zygon to me . . . ?  More like, um, remembering how to, ah, persuasively touch an actual frondy Zygon thing like the “command center” Zygon thing he’s ac…[Read more]

Damn.  Forgot to tick the box . . .

@tardigrade

I guess an interspecies relationship with a 900 year age difference had the potential to come off as somewhat creepy.

That potential is always there, IMO. I mean, how did you feel about that throwaway line in Zygon Inversion, where the Doctor says, “I snogged a zygon once — ”  WHAT?  It sure gave *me* paws, as it were!  I do…[Read more]

@winston  Oh, absolutely — Danny’s death, however heroic, left her in bad, bad shape, and in a way, of course it IS the Doctor’s fault (at least as much as it is hers).  If he’d stepped aside and let her make the choice for Danny sooner, she’d have probably lived a reasonably happy life with Danny, so all this sturm und drang has been brought d…[Read more]

@kbranagh    the doctor is so over protecttive with her this year! I don’t remember Smith acted like this with Amy.

No.  I think this is new, and it’s kind of the point of the relationship as it develops: the basic problem of extreme disparity between a devoted pair (on whatever level[s] you choose to see that devotion).  He has found “some…[Read more]

Thnx all, goodnight for now . . .

ichi

I’m out of action for a bit, friends — eye surgery Friday morning, recovery

involves no reading for a couple of weeks.  I shall return to you as mad as

a (blind) hatter, in due course.

Ichi