@blenkinsopthebrave yes – I already knew it was Guarda, but this episode really bought it out. I even said to my boyfriend ‘I like that it’s guard in Ireland.

So I looked on OED and I feel that my response is reasonable. Police comes from public order, administration, possibly regulation. To police something is one kind of thing. To Guard is to…[Read more]

Not to mention showing Ryan’s growing confidence, working alone.

So anyway, I’ve made my decision, and I’m sure CC is on tenterhooks to hear what I’ve decided, but: I’ll accept Graham leaving, Bradders does love doing his quiz shows, on condition that he returns for Christmas/New Year episodes and if they do a multi-Doctor story for the next…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave I saw a little shared ‘moment’ between the two of them and predicted: Graham’s leaving, either through death or re-marriage.

Both are actually set up too. He’s worried about the cancer returning. He still has feelings of guilt about Grace. Please, please, please be the second one, though. The man’s earned it, and it leaves…[Read more]

@jimthefish The Doctor is definitely getting interesting, more edge. The bouncy freshness of her original regeneration feeling the pressure, perhaps, of so much time and memory

.@ollie14, I think so too, but I also agree wit @bluesqueakpip that he’s the timeless child

We now know that the Time Vortex can do one of two things to human style b…[Read more]

So, the problem of the Doctor’s lack of a sympathetic speech.

I think the problem was that Graham really needed a chat with, well, Graham.

Graham would have told him, in a kindly, sympathetic, but utterly down to earth way: well, none of us know how long we’ve got yet do we? And things looked pretty dark for you for a while back there. And you…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip oh that’s good to know!

I’m studying Don Juan a few module blocks from now, so I’d like to think I’d have known that if I’d seen this episode later.

‘An over active imagination’ works splendidly with the gothic aspect as well.

Great timing for this if we’re considering looking at Penny Dreadful after Who ends…

I didn’t much like (this is actually possibly the number one complaint on t’other place which is delightfully positive so far) the implication of cowardice in Byron. There is a difference between ghosts and an oncoming army, sure, but he did die in a war he was…[Read more]

One last thought about this episode – an interesting contrast I think – that yes, the plastics message was, maybe, a little heavy handed, though executed better than in episode three.

On the other hand, the married couple was extremely well done. To the point where I didn’t feel particularly aware of anything being ‘done’ at the time (but then my…[Read more]

@geekknocker123 it has been said many times, but: Doctor Who has always engaged with political issues. Including, in the past, the dangers of all this plastic.

I actually had a conversation on another site where someone was saying how much better this issue was handled in the 70’s, which I found slightly amusing. Because here we are.

@Tardigrade…[Read more]

@ollie14 I don’t entirely get the sense of Yaz and Graham as a potential couple thing. Partly because ‘give me your sister’s number, I’ll be a great brother in law’ is just a really, really weird way to flirt.

as for Yaz’s future, I can’t help wondering if there was another significance to featuring the Judoon. Would becoming a police officer on…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip they do, though it would have been nice to have seen it more. I can definitely see Yaz roaming the universe – did they imply she was on an official sabbatical from police work? Seeing as the last time she got away she was told it was absolutely the last time… and obviously my dyspraxic heart cheers on seeing Ryan’s growing…[Read more]

darn it! fatherly advice. Must be all the birds.

Incidentally the bird attacks are instantly relatable for anyone who has attempted to consume an ice cream on Llandudno pier. I really don’t recommend it.

I feel that the companions were possibly at their best here, exhibiting a kind of confidence, competence, and in Yaz’s case, breathtaking recklessness that slightly adds to my feeling that a lot of their work and development is taking place off screen. It was nice seeing Graham do his stuff again, giving some kind, feathery advice like he does so…[Read more]

@everyone – no recap in t’other place…

I’m quite happy that this seems a fairly moral ambivalent (relatively speaking) Doctor. Just because up till now every time we’ve seen a male Time Lord regenerate into a female Time Lord they’ve seemed to be – I don’t know -emblematic of a kind of unwittingly patronising male feminism I see sometimes from…[Read more]

@juniperfish oh quite – a kind of retcon spin for one of the issues with season 11.

@juniperfish I really get the feeling with this Doctor she was trying a new start, new gender, shake off all the baggage approach, and might have believed in it. And then she finds out this new mate she’s been whatsapping is her oldest friend/enemy. That Gallifrey is destroyed. That there’s a horrible Time Lord secret. And how much she cared. She…[Read more]

so, first thoughts – alt line War Doctor? I mean, yes, fine, she didn’t fire the gun. She acknowledged she wouldn’t fire the gun. She said please don’t pull the trigger. But the Doctor really doesn’t do armed weapons. They just like (River, Ada) women who do… Working for/with. tried to quit, companion with military training, it seems like…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip @jimthefish Gallifrey seems to be something of a battleground for the show runners. Or a pantomime…

RTD: They’re all dead.

SM: Oh no they’re not.

CC: Oh yes they are. (possibly).

As you say, the Doctor destroyed Gallifrey. Or at least, now, he thought he did, he had decided to do it and was willing to go through with it until…[Read more]

@mudlark ah, but that’s time. They could have gone far back with their new abilities to get the jump on all the rivals.

@blenkinsopthebrave – don’t worry, I’ve got you – possibly:

@mudlark – what if they stole, and then changed the course of history? Which we’ve been reminded can happen. This would potentially require ‘fixed points in time’ not…[Read more]

@ollie14 me too – see you at the season finale! 😉