lizbee | Doctor Who: "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe" (Reply)

Firstly, I would like to thank the people livetweeting this for the spoilers. I certainly didn't need to experience any suspense, and being aware of all the bits that other people hated in no way made my own viewing experience less fun.

Despite that, I was doing some happy-crying of my own by the end. Not least because Claire Skinner bears a passing resemblance to my mother 15 years ago, and Madge was very much like her in some ways, so ... yeah. And after a season that was quite heavy on stories about dads, it was great to have a story about a mum who was strong, brave, a little silly and very, very tough.

I liked the Arwell family, although the parents' courtship is one of those things that makes a great story to tell the grandkids, but to strangers kind of rings as a bit creepy. Given that something similar happened in "Blink", I'm willing to bet money this is how one of Moffat's sets of grandparents got together. The kids were sweet without being cloying, and I liked that Lily took on the responsibility of being the older sibling without putting Cyril down. (My Susan Pevensie Issues, let me show you them.)

Embarrassing fact: I totally missed it was Alexander Armstrong as the dad. OTOH, I really liked Bill Bailey and kind of wished for more of his character, even though the foresters came in, advanced the plot and got out, like good supporting characters should. (Does anything good come from Androzani? Anything at all?)

Finally, I loved that the Doctor kept his word about keeping in the shadows, and that this was a story about preventing a genocide that still felt small and personal. And that, in the end, he finally moved beyond the whole "I have no family, woes, I am so alone" schtick that made Ten so unbearable by the end, and went off to spend Christmas with the in-laws. And I really loved seeing Amy's face, because it is so pretty.