Thank you for this thoughtful discussion about depression. It really is a complex beast, and it helps to point out the differences between situational depression and clinical depression. People who know of, or have experienced, situational depression think that’s all there is. There must be a “cause” of it. Eliminate the cause, and you eliminate…[Read more]

@missrori I agree that the Monks did pose a genuine, dreadful threat — they just seemed oddly easy to defeat after being near-invincible for two weeks.  And it was never really clear why they wanted to rule humanity; they didn’t have some master plan in mind.  Between that and the lack of personality, they weren’t the most compelling villain…

[Read more]

Finally had a second viewing just now. Wow, there’s so much I missed the first time around! I loved it even more this time. I can’t explain why I feel that way, while others feel let down. Maybe the holes aren’t as gaping to me as they are to others. Dunno.

OK, to quickly address some observations made by other posters:

Bill took her anger out…[Read more]

@lisa I shouldn’t have said the only one left. Maybe the one most readily available is a better way of putting it. But they were childhood friends, as I recall, and so maybe that’s why the Doctor feels compelled to try to save her. It certainly is a dysfunctional relationship, as you rightly point out.

I think the Doctor’s basic problem is that he is lonely for his own kind. Missy is the only one left, and so he keeps trying to save her … not just physically, but mentally/emotionally. The evidence seems to point to her being unsavable, yet I think the Doctor can’t help himself. He is compelled to keep on trying, very likely at his expense.

@blenkinsopthebrave You make some very good points. I was younger, only nine years old at the time, so I guess that’s why I’m thinking that episode was so difficult for me. I suppose I thought she could be rescued somehow. Reconstituted, or some such thing. That was not to be, and I found that very hard to accept. My older sister sort of laughed…[Read more]

@mirime I have long felt that your explanation of why the forgetting happens is why it’s done. If people didn’t forget, then the world in which Doctor Who is set would be vastly different from the one we know. Which wouldn’t be an altogether bad thing, but it would be harder to relate to.

@thane15 Puro, thank you for that reflection on…[Read more]

@nick The fact that it’s not the first time such forgetting was used as a plot device is explained plausibly, and I think far better than I could, by other posters like Puro. I find this explanation by @ichabod to be most compelling:

There is that: this isn’t the targeted audience for Children of Men, it’s DW, where even showing a bit of gore is…

[Read more]

@nick Ah yes, the passing student. I’d forgotten about that. But @pedant has a point with the list; this is not the first time it’s happened on Doctor Who. I’m not saying I’m completely sold on forgetting as a plot device, but for whatever reason it is a frequent occurrence in the Whoniverse.

Hmmm, was this a three-parter? Speaking of forgetting…[Read more]

Hmmm, I guess I’ll have to watch the final scene again. I thought it was between the Doctor and Missy, but I must be forgetting something.

Doctor Who almost always needs at least two viewings from me, because I find I often miss a lot on first viewing (not the least of which is because of those pesky commercials we have to endure on the Space…[Read more]

@wolfweed and @missrori I agree with you that one reason for dissatisfaction has to do with the episode’s time constraints. There’s only so much you can cram into a 40-minute episode without turning it into a three-parter. A two-parter may have been too short, while a three-parter might have felt like it was dragging things out. Dunno.

@lisa I…[Read more]

@nick I fully understand the story wasnt about the details I’m seeking. I don’t know what you thought I expected to see I didn’t. I am merely suggesting that if you chose to have a global invasion and litter the world with physical evidence of that invasion (with the camps and possible deaths) have the creative bravery to live with the conse…

[Read more]

Oops, earlier I wrote “sci-fi literalists”; what I meant to type was sci-fi purists. Too late for an edit.

@nick, I agree with @pedant that the kind of detail you’re seeking isn’t what the story was about. Yes, sci-fi literalists will want those details, and be disappointed if they’re not there, but I don’t consider Doctor Who to be strictly science fiction. It’s a combination of science fiction and fantasy, and has been throughout its run. As such,…[Read more]

@serahni I too wondered where the TARDIS was through all of this. I suppose some might have considered it rather too MacGuffin-ish to have the TARDIS turn up and whisk Bill away from the Monks, thus breaking the connection. Maybe, for some reason not yet known to us, the Doctor needed Bill to overcome the Monks with her own mind, rather than…[Read more]

So much misdirection in this episode. Or was it? We thought we were seeing a regeneration, only to find that it was an illusion. Then we thought we lost Bill, but her created memories of her mother saved the day. The only genuinely tragic figure was Missy, who now seems lost in her remorse. Or is she?

I’m quite late posting on this thread. Crazy few weeks, and now I can breathe a sigh of relief. I thought this was an amazing episode. Am I the only one (probably not) who would like to see a return of Erica, played by Rachel Denning? I thought she was utterly believable in her role, and how great that it was not at all about her stature, but…[Read more]

@devilishrobby I don’t suppose anyone has dared to mention the similarities between the veritas aliens and the Silence.

I did notice that. I wonder if there’s an actual link, or it was just Moffat playing off one of his own characters. I loved this episode, though I admit to being not completely drawn into the “game” element of the story. S…[Read more]

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

Currently watching The Handmaid’s Tale (TV series). Very dark, as one would expect. But we had a small victory in the most recent episode, which felt uplifting. It’s all relative, of course.