DW: "The Beast Below"

[lizbee]

This morning I woke up from a dream where I sprang out of bed to check LJ's reactions, and everyone either hated this, or was merely unmoved.  Then I woke up, crawled out of bed to check LJ's reactions, and everyone loved it.  TAKE THAT, RANDOM SUBCONSCIOUS FEARS FOR MOFFTIEM!

This was terribly squeeful.  High-concept sci-fi filmed in corridors and tiny rooms.  Small, scared children.  Creepy smiley/frowny/scary booth monsters.  Hot men in black cloaks.  A hot woman in a red cloak.  Amy saves the world with her brain, while the Doctor is morally paralysed by anger and emo.

I LOVED IT A LITTLE.  If you're reading this on DW, you'll see that I loved it so much that, immediately after the credits rolled, I made icons.  I haven't done that for DW in ages.  I THINK MY SQUEE IS BACK!

Liz 10 is my favourite.  At last, a British queen whom the Doctor doesn't shag and/or irrevocably piss off.  And she is a woman of colour in a position of power, who doesn't die or otherwise suffer undermining at the hands of the Time Lord Victorious.

ETA: ...well, she abdicates. But that is because it's the right thing to do, and she's clearly going to continue to have a good post-queenship life, so.

I feel like I should have thinky thoughts, but (like the Doctor) my brain is going too fast to cope.  Here is some stream of consciousness:

- the entire scene with Amy hanging outside the TARDIS is the most beautiful thing I've seen on TV for ages.
- I love the prominence of children in Moff's Who.  And he writes them as people, which should be obvious, but isn't.
- I look forward to seeing meta about how Mandy and Liz 10 are further proof that Moff hates women.
- "Never could resist a keep out sign."  And Amy carries hairpins in her dressing gown pocket.  And, apparently, sleeps in her make-up.  Surely, even if you're lazy about that sort of thing (which you shouldn't be, because it's really bad for the skin, and then you wake up feeling all icky, and there's mascara all over your pillowcases), the day before one's wedding is a time for taking extra care?
- On the other hand, her ambivalence towards the whole marriage thing is brought to the fore, and in a realistic way. 
- And I love the bit where she's like, "Did you ever run away?" and the Doctor's all, "Um, hello."
- He was a dad, once.  Well, a parent.  Maybe One was a woman once.
- ELIZABETH THE TENTH, BITCHES!
- Eleven going all, "DON'T DECIDE WHAT I NEED TO KNOW" is even worse than Ten being a dickhead, because Eleven is usually so much nicer.  By the end, with Ten, I was going, "Yes, yes, you're basically a sociopath and we have failed to follow your arbitrary rules again."
- The Winders are basically Torchwood.  This r trufax.
- In fact, Jack is probably wandering around Cardiff, going, "WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU MY POOR FRIEND" a whole lot.
- It's really quite amazing that we just had an episode about a giant space whale, and I did not have a single flashback to "Meat".
- The Winders would be nifty to cosplay.
- "It's Winston Churchill.  For you."
- Scotland got its own ship.  I look forward to seeing the meta about how this is ruther proof that Moff is a self-loathing Scot.  I, for one, am enjoying the Scottish Agenda.

Thinky thoughts may come later, I don't know.  I haven't had breakfast yet, and I'm still crook, and basically, LIZ 10, BITCHES.

Also, every week brings us closer to River Song, and that makes me happy in my face.

Comments

[nostalgia]

I love Eleventy more and more each week, with his hard choices and his RAEG and his weird dancing movements. Amy is also cakes of excellent and HELPED THE PLOT HAPPEN! And it was nice that the Doctor noticed she could have killed everyone with her optimism there.

[lizbee]

And it was nice that the Doctor noticed she could have killed everyone with her optimism there.

Yeah, there was no, "Ooops, looks like Rose almost destroyed the world again! But don't worry, no one will remember it next week." YES, I'M LOOKING AT YOU, "FATHER'S DAY"!

[nostalgia]

ANOTHER REASON TO HATE FATHER'S DAY, YES.

Speaking of S1, I like how it's sort of having to do that stuff all over again but this time the clicking feels very unforced and unrushed, and he's not patronising her and she's quick to get his measure.

[lizbee]

Someone on my LJ flist said that it was like "Dalek", in that the Doctor and companion are on opposite sides of a moral dilemma. But this is better, because the Dalek was evil, and the space whale wasn't telling us to ship them.

[skipthedemon]

I really really liked that the only real bad guys here were human ignorance, assumptions, and fear.

[lizbee]

Yes! But I love that the whale forgives them and keeps going, so all hope is not lost.

I also love that Liz 10 figures it out once every ten years -- to me that suggests subconscious regret for her choice.

And the little boy didn't die! I was quite worried about that.

[nostalgia]

YUS. Also I liked that Amy was going to let him do what he had to do and only got all "OMG STOP" when she actually had an alternative to offer. It was Dalek-but-better in that, where Amy wasn't just on the Is Compassionate side but actually did stuff with her brain to save everyone.

[lizbee]

I'll bet money that changes with Gatiss's script next week.

[nostalgia]

Do you think she will be utterly useless in that as is traditional in Gatiss scripts?

[lizbee]

She might get to find out something, but get kidnapped before she can use it. I mean, maybe it's only Rose that Gatiss wrote as stupid, but I've read his novel, so I'm not holding out hope.

[nostalgia]

He also wrote her smug and USELESS and it was frustrating even for a hater. You want to like someone a bit and then Gatiss happens to them.

What is his novel like?

[lizbee]

He also wrote her smug and USELESS and it was frustrating even for a hater.

Even before that, in "The Unquiet Dead", he wrote her as ignorant and inarticulate, and I remember watching for the very first time and going, "Why is she so dumb? She didn't seem this stupid in the first two episodes."

His book -- actually it's a series, but I only read the first one, and then I tried to give it away, but no one would take it -- is about a bisexual Edwardian spy. At the end, it turns out his heterosexual love interest is evil (which is to say, he killed her dad, and now she's going to kill him), so Lucifer and his boyfriend kill her.

[nostalgia]

WAAAAHHH AAAAAMY D:

...that sounds a bit fucked up.

I am so glad it is MoffTiem rather than GatissTiem.

[lizbee]

I would stop watching if it were Gatisstiem. I don't mean I'd hang around to make snarky remarks about how it's not as good, I'd just stop watching. Maybe I'd watch it in twenty years, when everyone's pointed out all the fail and there are no nasty surprises, but I couldn't watch it live.

[nostalgia]

I don't know if I'd watch it. His episodes have been unexciting-to-offensive and he has obvious problems writing the companions. And he seems to be stuck in the past a bit with his take on things, like he wishes it were all Gothic Homage again.

[lizbee]

Week after week of, "No, you should give your abusive parent another chance. That can't possibly end badly!" No thank you.

[nostalgia]

That was only once! Out of, err two episodes.

I am quite worried about how the Churchill episode is going to be. Because he may have helped win the war but he was also hated by The People before that, didn't get what hunger marchers wanted, thought tanks were an excellent way to end a strike, was about as racist as everyone else of the time, and lost the election because we wanted an NHS. But Britain is very bad at remembering the darker side of him these days and I don't want to see it going all "YAY AWESOMES!" about him like there was no Issues at all. And I don't trust Gatiss to be the one to bring balance to the force.

[prof_pangaea]

i was giving that trailer super side-eye for the churchill = awesome bits, but then it had chuchill going, "oh and btw i brought in these DALEKS to help us that is cool right?" so i have hope that it will not end in a churchillian cock-sucking fest.

[lizbee]

He also locked up a whole lot of people without trial or charge. I know they were all card-carrying Fascists (or, you know, the spouses of Fascists), but that's still a pretty shitty thing to do, especially when you're supposedly defending democracy from totalitarianism.

[liviapenn]

At the end, it turns out his heterosexual love interest is evil (which is to say, he killed her dad, and now she's going to kill him), so Lucifer and his boyfriend kill her.

HAHAHA, omg.

I actually randomly picked up the sequel, and thought it would be fun, because yay, bisexual edwardian spy, and then at the end, in order to fulfill a prophecy that will allow him to save the world, he is forced to kill his mean, stupid sister. ^_^

[lizbee]

Being forced to murder one female character is unfortunate; twice is a bit disturbing. I mean, there comes a point where you're basically writing an Edwardian bisexual espionage Supernatural AU.

[liviapenn]

It was so bad. It was like... a cargo cult, but for fiction. "I'm doing all the right stuff! It'll be dramatic and moving and tragic any second now!" Oh, wait, your hero is a cheerful sociopath and his sister is a random, unlikable plot device, so it's just sort of... disturbingly flat.

[falena]

If you're reading this on DW, you'll see that I loved it so much that, immediately after the credits rolled, I made icons. I haven't done that for DW in ages. I THINK MY SQUEE IS BACK!

SAME HERE ON ALL COUNTS! (SORRY FOR THE CAPSLOCK OF SQUEE, I CAN'T HELP IT!)

[owl]

Did you make that icon? Is it takeable? It perfectly encapsulates what I loved about that end bit.

[falena]

Yes, I made it myself. It's totally snaggable (as is this one), just credit me in the icon keywords, please.

[such_heights]

eeeee! *flails about* I am enjoying the Scottish Agenda also, very much.

LIZ 10 OMG HOW WAS SHE SO GREAT. *_*

[miss_s_b]

This. Also, really, this. And I wants to steal the icon. Can I steal the icon?

[copracat]

Amy saves the world with her brain, while the Doctor is morally paralysed by anger and emo.

This. This this this.

Liz 10 is my favourite.

She doesn't die. She doesn't die. And the Winder didn't die either. Nobody died.

Also, every week brings us closer to River Song, and that makes me happy in my face.

*uses River Song icon to indicate strong and gleeful agreement*

[pontisbright]

LIZ TEN. HELL YEAH.

I don't have anything at all coherent to say, it is all just OOOOOOSHINY in my head still. Though I did entirely think WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU MY POOR FRIEND, before remembering that Turlough nearly lived in a space whale first so that sort of made it alright. Or something.

Why did the sick not make them fly out into space? (But even then, TY Moff for making me ask such questions about teatime telly.)

[jesuswasbatman]

Some people are complaining about plot holes in a way that is ridiculous coming from RTD fans.

[infiniteviking]

-LIZ TEN<3
-SCOTLAND GOT ITS OWN SHIP
-ELEVEN ADMITTED THAT IF HE KEPT ON LIKE THAT HE WOULDN'T BE THE DOCTOR ANYMORE
-AMY REMINDED HIM THAT SENTIENCE =/= ETERNAL AGONY OF FAIL
-HE LISTENED
-..It's like the Moff is fixing everything that went wrong with Ten or something. HOW DARE HE.

I JUST. AM NOT USED TO FEELING LIKE THIS AFTER A DW EPISODE.

<3333333333

[fahrbotdrusilla]

- I look forward to seeing meta about how Mandy and Liz 10 are further proof that Moff hates women.

I didn't read it because someone on my flist posted it before I saw the episode, but there was a link to the Doctor Who comm on LJ of this thing already, I believe. :/

- Scotland got its own ship. I look forward to seeing the meta about how this is ruther proof that Moff is a self-loathing Scot. I, for one, am enjoying the Scottish Agenda.

LOL, I loved that Amy was all "good for them."

[lizbee]

I didn't read it because someone on my flist posted it before I saw the episode, but there was a link to the Doctor Who comm on LJ of this thing already, I believe.

Well, damn, now I have to go look and make fun of it! Unless they actually have a good argument, but I'm inclined to think it unlikely.

[kaptainvon]

Thought on the abdication of Liz X and undermining thereof by the Doctor-man: further help comes, perhaps, from the way that Eleven tries to undermine her by absolving her of choice and taking her guilt on himself (she doesn't have to Abdicate if what she's trying to Forget is made arguably-less-of-a-problem by someone else - at leas that's what I think he's thinking) and it's Amy who takes that one stage further and puts Liz up to punching that button and daring to dream. She doesn't die, and the undermining effort is thwarted by another awesome woman.

There are doubtless both hilarious and problematic aspects to a white Scot abdicatifyin' a black English queen, but at least it wasn't Eleven who did it, and at least Amy's forced resolution is the one where nobody has to be killed, or turned into a vegetable, or have their home demolished around them, or compromise their precious principles, and in fact everyone pretty much gets what they want/need. Because Amy's made of win, like that.

[sohotrightnow]

I LOVE LIZ TEN SO MUCH, OH MY ACTUAL GOSH. I have not been this jazzed about Who in...ever, maybe? Oh my gosh, I am enjoying it so much; this can only end in heartbreak.

LIZ TEN!