This week's unexpected blub-fest sees The Doctor revealing the best of himself on his march towards the grave
SPOILER ALERT: This weekly blog is for those who have been watching the new series of Doctor Who. Don't read ahead if you haven't seen episode 12 ? Closing Time
"You destroyed them because of the deeply ingrained hereditary human trait to protect one's own genes which in turn triggered a ? yeah, you blew them up with love."
What do you do when you when you know your day is coming? I definitely wouldn't go and visit James Corden in Colchester, but then I've never been in that situation. And I'm not a Timelord.
But that's what makes Gareth Roberts' Closing Time something of a curiosity; we've never had a standalone episode 12 before.
On one level it's a gentle sequel to last year's surprise hit The Lodger. On another it's a portentous blub-fest as The Doctor shows the best of himself on his march towards the grave. You can understand his decision; after all that outrageous business with the Pond genealogy, he chooses to spend his final night in the universe revisiting the last real normality he knew. Once again, Corden is immensely (unusually?) likeable as Craig, and his and Smith's Laurel and Hardy act (as someone mentioned last week) is turning into a fun annual tradition. Plus, there are Cybermen involved.
If this series does have an overarching theme then it's parental love, or parental acceptance. There was the pirate Captain Avery mending his ways. There was Ganger Jimmy accepting his own humanity by being a proper Dad. There was Alex saving the day by accepting his alien son George. And now here's Craig, blowing the Cybermen up with love. This can't be a coincidence, since there's another parent-child relationship out there in dire need of some resolution?
"If they've got the teleport and they're that evil then why haven't they invaded yet?"
The Doctor suggests to the Cybermen that six is not much of an invasion force. Knowing digs to the budget aside, there's no getting away from the giant silver humanoid in the room. Once again, New Who has emasculated the Cybermen almost completely. These are supposed to be the second most deadly beings in the universe, and here they are, hiding out in a spaceship, or under a department store, snatching people one at a time and bested by the software bug of 'human emotion' that they could surely have ironed out by now. Neither did they have much of a strategy. The gnashy-teeth Cybermats come off far deadlier. Their masters would be well advised to man up, with no apologies for the pun whatsoever.
"It's a coincidence. It happens. It's what the universe does for ? fun."
A fun, fleeting and contractually necessary appearance from the Ponds, who are apparently also now living in Colcester. Because you wouldn't go there simply for a shopping trip would you? Amy has found work as a billboard model for Petrichor perfume ? in a lovely nod to The Doctor's Wife.
The Doctor emotes at the sight of them. How long has it been since he saw them? Have 200 years passed since the events of The God Complex? Or just 100? (A nod to the commenter to this blog who suggested that The Doctor spent 100 years looking for Melody?) Or, as I suggested last week, was he simply lying about his age?
Fear factor
Having said all that about the Cybermen, the scene of Craig's conversion was frightful in the other sense. Meanwhile Roberts, a writer steeped in Who history, understands that the show works by placing the horrific within the everyday. Although if you were setting an episode in a department store, would the Autons not be the obvious choice of monster?
Mysteries and questions
"Silence will fall when the question is asked." The question is the oldest question of all, hidden in plain sight. Is it too corny to suggest that this question may just be: "Doctor who?"
Whichever way, Moffat has an awful lot to satisfactorily tie up in just 45 minutes next week. That continuity rush of an ending broke new boundaries of ridiculous camp, and jarred with the rest of the show. Can it actually be really straightforward? That it's the adult River who kills The Doctor, and then gets sent straight to Stormage? No way.
Time-space debris
? The Doctor's buddy Craig gives him the Stetson we saw in episode one. So of course he thinks Stetsons are cool. Did anybody else notice him borrow Sophie's blue envelopes?
? On the subject of those blue envelopes, should we not have had another encounter with Canton Everett Delaware III by now?
? Cybermats previously appeared in Tomb of the Cybermen (1967), The Wheel in Space (1968) and Revenge of the Cybermen (1975). More recently of course, they were mentioned in The Almost People.
? "Robot dog ? not as much fun as I remember." Me neither, Doctor. I have said it before and shall again: I have always hated K-9 with a loathing far beyond rational.
? Smith and Corden's double act allowed for some great comedic wordplay over their true relationship. But what's the betting the crowing over a "gay agenda" will start again?
? Some fun Saturday night TV riffage about The X Factor. But please God, nobody mention Family Fortunes?
Next week!
Fez? Stetson? Whichever you choose, it's time to get yourself a new hat for The Wedding of River Song, as series 32 of Doctor Who reaches its climax. Hold tight, everyone.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/sep/24/doctor-who-closing-time-episode-12
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