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–River and 12 have phenomenal chemistry. Matt Smith once said that Alex Kingston could flirt with a fish and he’s basically right. I love the back and forth between River and 12.
–Hilarious one-liners. “You don’t look much like your pictures.” “That’s an ongoing problem for me.” (I love when the show gets all self-aware)
–This episode was just straight up fun without being overly sentimental (until the end). Doctor Who’s Xmas episodes have a tendency to be overly sweet because of the holidays, sweet enough to make your teeth rot. But this year felt like a normal episode that just so happens to take place on Christmas. It’s also nice that the message this year wasn’t anything saccharine but rather that everything ends, the story is what matters. 4 (5?) years ago, a father came back to life because it was Christmas but this year, Moffat accepts that everything has a proper ending and sometimes there are no loopholes.
–I would like a Sonic Trowel, please and thank you
–Nothing Victorian! Moffat has a bit of a fetish for Christmas in late Victorian times for some inexplicable reason. He tends to fall back into that trope (velvet high collard skirts, men in top hats) more often than he should. The promotional images for this episode showed Alex in a typical purple Victorian dress but it never showed up. Yay for a new approach!
–Really great supporting cast–especially Hydroflax who wasn’t even trying to be a good guy.
–The Doctor having to express wonder at the TARDIS being bigger on the inside. PERFECT. Just straight up perfect. Hilarious but so totally 12th Doctor as he’s acerbic as all get out. I couldn’t stop laughing.
–River has a wallet full of the Doctor’s faces. Clever girl.
–River describing what it’s like to love the Doctor. “You can’t expect a sunset to admire you back.” Oh dear. The feelings.
–Genocide takes a vacation aboard the SS Harmony and Redemption. LOL
–Peter looked ever so dashing in his new suit when he met River for dinner.
–River married Stephen Fry?!
DISLIKED
–Honestly, not much. I thought the restaurant bit went on a bit long and I could have done without the guy splitting his head down the center
[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Overall, I think the Capaldi run hasn’t been as good as the Tennant and Smith run. 10 and 11 had a nice balance between light and dark whereas 12 is dark and darker. Capaldi has hinted that next series could be his last and I will actually be glad to see a new Doctor.
I don’t necessarily disagree but I don’t agree with your cause and effect either. Yes, Season 8 wasn’t phenomenal and maybe the worst of New Who yet. But season 9 was, IMO, the best it has been since season 5 (even if it was going down a darker path which I think was necessary to some degree given the nature of the 12th Doctor). The issue isn’t Capaldi-as-Doctor though. It’s Moffat-as-showrunner. You could bring on a new Doctor but if Moffat is still show runner and head writer, then we’re still looking at overly convoluted, choppy, blockbuster style storytelling that often feels as though the emotional fallout gets cut off at the knees. It’s Moffat’s trademark of storytelling but he’s gotten so egotistical about it that instead of being clever it becomes confusing. That’s why I liked this Xmas episode so much; clever but not unnecessarily complicated.
Personally I adore Capaldi in this role. When he’s given something good, he makes it sing (The Girl Who Died, the Woman who Lived, and this Xmas episode spring to mind).
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Her name will always be Pistachio. Even though that’s a boy’s name (Pistachia?).
It shall remain Pistachio, boy name and all because gender swapping a baby is not unheard of on this show.
Poor Alex.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"But that’s where dead people go in the Disney version of Hercules. It’s not a special place of torment, we see the river/lake of the dead already in the beginning.
That’s the River Styx. That’s not Disney’s creation. Here’s a way more famous etching of Styx. Special place of torment? No, not so much. But I don’t expect A and E to stick to classic Hades. They’re going to throw in some Christian motifs (that are already aplenty in this show) and make it so that the souls in the River aren’t exactly…thrilled.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"The Christmas episode was *amazing*
This is Moffat at his best: funny, witty, charming, clever (but not convoluted), with heart and sass and a lot of feelings. Loved how we finally cam full circle, back to the Library episodes.
I’ve never shipped the Doctor and River (always and forever be a Rose and 10 girl) but that was poignant and incredibly well performed and written. I’ll have more thoughts later but simply a big brava for now.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"My biggest fear is that they will actually name this child Pistachio Hood Mills….that’s my biggest fear for 5B at the moment.
Interestingly enough, that’s my biggest #hope.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"My guess is that if somebody dies while in the Underworld, they cease to exist completely. There’s no more afterlife for them. They’re just totally gone.
Interesting. That might solve the Graham and Nealfire conundrum without going down the “heaven” route
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Ok, maybe i got it wrong and with me being tired of the holidays to many things to do, so probably my brain got frozen, but did they just said that the Dead people in the UW could be killed and die even tho they are dead already? Im sorry, but if i got it right, they are not even trying anymore to actually make sense.
That’s kinda what it sounds like, and that there’s something worse than death. My guess is the “something worse” is the inability to move on.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
