So far, Doctor Who Series 7 Part 2 has been going really well, although with a few bumps and scrapes here and there. The 6th episode this "segment" entitled The Crimson Horror is written by regular writer Mark Gattis, who was most recently responsible for the popular Cold War episode.
This episode to me, was a bit of a let-down. When I saw the trailer and the synopsis, I knew it wasn't going to be top-notch, but I quite liked the overall premise behind it. I liked the idea of the Paternoster gang turning up again, as I thoroughly enjoyed them in The Snowmen, and I liked the idea of them meeting Clara #3. I also kept an open mind due to the writer. Mark Gattis is far from the most consistent writer when it comes to quality, but he has done some good episodes so I felt rather hopeful about this one.
Strax has a more vital role |
One of the possible causes for the need for Gatiss to include funny content in this episode would be that this episode is actually quite dark as opposed to a few others. For example, it had a mother experimenting on her own daughter. It had a woman wanting to kill everyone on the planet for her own Eden. Should we presume that these reasons are for the children of the family, so that they do not cry too much?
The closest way Moffat can cameo |
Aka "The Hammer to the Face" |
Another indication that this episode is under-developed is the cringe-worthy reference to TomTom, that seemed completely out of place. Doctor Who has always had a certain level of cheesy-ness to it, but this just felt desperate where a hammer to the face would be more subtle, even to the point that I've thought that the kid might be something more than just an on-looker for part of an episode who managed to scale a chimney and watch a battle, without any of the other characters raising that point. I admit, that it was quite funny the first time, but it got cringe-worthy on even just the 2nd re-watch. Though if I consider it a reference to The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, it makes me feel better.
I did, however, like the "Doctor-lite" aspect of the episode. Many people do not like Doctor-lite episodes, but I do enjoy them. Let's face it, Doctor Who has been about for almost 50 years. We've had a lot of The Doctor. We don't need him in every second of every episode, and more than once we have seen the effect of him that left behind on others. This episode was a fantastic mix of this. Not too little, but enough of him to not remove this fact. it worked really well.
Clara first sees the screen |
The "boyfriend" |
The actual revelation itself that Clara was in Victorian London could go one of two ways. Clara could either realise now this is not her and ask The Doctor, or she could believe this is where she will go on a future adventure and then, when her life is severely threatened or she is dying, she will recall this picture. Either way, it makes the mind wonder what it could be, even if the fact that she found out at all was a fairly predicable thing.
The pace, however, was brilliant. I can say, without a doubt, that I found the pacing of this story one of the best among all of series 7. The climax of the story was not rushed to the point of "a few button presses and done" and had some good old action scenes and that didn't come at the cost of the rest of the story being too fast or too slow.
"You're Nuts" |
Murray Gold and the sound editing team have redeemed themselves in this episode from the previous episodes this series, with new musical pieces, such as the action piece. The flashback, with constant flashes annoyed me on the first watch, however I grew to like it on later re-watches.
Overall, I would rate this episode 4/10. It had promise and I did like some elements to it, but the balance between funny and serious, it not always keeping my attention and a couple other things let it down.
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