Is this
The Shining? But with clowns and laughing. Who's Lucy Hayward? Last of what? Photograph?
What room? Why? Never anything else what?
What's in the shower? Man in a terrible gorrlia suit and subliminal flashes of terror.
Worship of what?
Praise him. Popping up all over and again and again. What?! Is?! Going?! On?!
Minotaur with blue eyes? Apocalyptic log.
It's
House of Leaves. In
Doctor Who style. Great. Terror.
Intro time!
Wriet: Toby Whitehouse.
Okay. The Doctor's geeking out over a replica of an Earth hotel. Tere are horns over the Doctor's head. Foreshadowing.
Okay. These photos are massive call backs and show their fear underneath.
The Doctor is being threatened by a chair leg. And the staff are freaking out. The Doctor has a crush on the
other nurse.
THAT'S DAVID WALLIAMS! From a planet with a pathological compulsion to surrender. GLORIOUS!
The walls move, everything changes. The Doctor's babbling about walls again. Nurse: "The rooms have
thing in them. [...] Bad dreams."
D: Well, that killed the mood"
Also. They're being watched on CCTV.
This is
Housse of Leaves. Moving walls and CCTV and minotaur and things.
Also the TARDIS is gone now.
Okay, the Doctor's got lots of funny lines, but I only literally just finished that last episode. MOOD WHIPLASH.
FECKING PUPPETS!
GET AWAY FROM ME.
OH GOD THEY@RE WATCHING ME AND US AND THEM.
Freaky puppet man: "We're going to die here. [...] I've seen the light. he has forgiven my blasphemous inconstancy. [...]We were'nt ready. We were still raw. [..] Now we're cooked. [...] There's a room here for evryone Doctor. Ever you."#
So the minotaur is God, and he eats hear.
Also, he's insane and FECKING PUPPETS!
FPM: "YOU should go. He'll be here soon."
What is with that elevator music? And here's a recording something.
FPM: "Here comes a candle to light you to bed. Here comes a chopper to chop off your head." I learnt it as axe-man.
Also, they duck taped him.
Oh god. The nerd's a conspiracy theorist.
R: "It's amazing you've come up with a theory even more insane than what's happening."
Oh look. Old-fashioned PE teacher. I was threa -
what.
Girls. Minotaur. Flashes of eyes. Boe eyes? What? Nerd's afraid of girls.
Must stop referencing
HoL, but come on.
And now suspense with beepy music and the Doctor's playing Sherlock Holmes with the ceiling scrapes.
ROARING MINOTAUR is very, very real. Also, Rory found a Fire Exit, but they split up in two groups into two rooms.
Great. Nurse is going insane with the glashing
WEEPING ANGELS.
Don't blink. And the lights just went out.
D: "Why haven't they got us yet?" How does Amy know about the Weeping Angels. Minotaur roaring and a mole in the cupboard. The Doctor needs to see what in the corridor.
"Look at you. You are beautiful." Hello Tooth and Claw.
Crappy CGI rope undoing. And FPM is worship - what is with those screens of Praise him flashing again and again and again.
This is not helping my
HoL obsession here.
Bebby Hill. What was that? Seriously what.
What is going on.
Scooby Doo.
What.
How did he do that?
FMP's gone away inside his head as a nursery tune plays.
I think he's dead.
But the Nurse was . . . infected . . .
Amy/David Walliams bonding scene. Ha! I heard that slip Amy, you were thinking about last episode, not the beginning of season five.
Is the mole a mole?
Whoa. Rory slips up out of nowhere. And is twitching. Also, I think. I think. I think. Rory saw the exit because he was the Last Centurion and two thousand years without
Lampshade: "British. It's how we cope with trauma. That and tutting."
Nurse is a Muslim, "Don't be frightened." D says this isn't Hell. It's not.
Loving the lampshades. And that the secondary character is a Muslim. Explain later. Plot is plotting.
The Doctor has received Lucy's apocalyptic log.
I think the nerd is OCD. Look at him fiddling.
The fear makes you happy. And happy makes you praise him. Nerd's infected too and the Minotaur is coming for him.
What's with the CCTV footage?
The mole wants to sacrifice the Nerd so he can go home. Thesue and the Minotaur'ing much. D: "Cowardice isn't quaint it's slime." Bloody Hell Doctor. Way to go insult somebody's culture.
Dark Doctor is Doctor.
And then the Doctor decides to hold a seance with the Minotaur via the Nerd.
Fear distracts the minotaur from things. That explains the hotel then.
The Shining.
Nred; "Bring me death. Bring me glory. My Master. my Lord I am here. Come to me. I am waiting. here. For you. He has promised me a glorious death."
Rory's going to attack the minotaur with a mop.
FEck. Clown. A: "Don't talk to the clown"
This is very well shot actually. And the minotaur horns look so real.
The minotaur is in the hair salon.
Whoa. Slashy prayer. "Let's his breath on my skin be the last thing I feel. [...] Humbled by him majesty. Praise him"
What. The mole and the nerd and chatting. And the mole's preaching to him now.
And that minotaur looks good.
He can speak minotaur.
D: "This is a prison" and the minotaur's a warden. So the mole is a mole then.
N: "You're possessed, you'd say anything." The minotaur makes people ready to face . . . something.
D: "You have lived so long even your name is lost. You want this to stop. Because you are just instinct."
So the mole isn't a mole. And the mino - what. R: "Somebody hit me. Or is it Amy?" Leave a concussed man on the floor well done.
Amy's found her room. Number 7.
Amy's fear will be about Rory or the Doctor.
Whoa.
I think the Nurse is the bad guy now actually. "You shoulnd't have done that. What did you see?"
A: "I don't know, it was weird."
Dead nerd now guys. And the mole is alone.
The SLENDER MAN!
No. It's the mole.
He tells terrible lies. And the Doctor walks off angry-like because the mole is a coward.
D: "Have you found your room yet?"
R: "No. Is that good or bad?"
D: "Mayb -
Screw that. "After all the time I've travelled with you [etc]"
Rory wants to go home maybe. LAST EPISODE STILL HAS EFFECTS ON THINGS.
But Rory stay please. Love you so much.
Nurse: "Why is it up to you to save us? It's quite a god complex you've got there."
D: "I brought them here [...] offer them all of time and space and they'll want to go". The title is
STOIP THOSE CUTS IT'S BAD AND I WAS RIGHT ABOUT HER BEING THE MOLE!
Whispers of praise him everywhere. And the Doctor's room is 11. What? What? Who else? What? WHO ELSE WHAT?
Please do not disturb?
WHAT.
Why
The Doctor sees the Nurse, and she answers the phone. D: "You started to praise him didn't you? Rita, come back, please" etc.
Islam has a rapture?
And he's lost another person. One he wanted to travel with him.
Aaawww, Rita. "Goodby eDoctor. Thank you for trying."
Lovely music. Ethereal? And the camera is sonicked off so they don't see it.
Also the mole ate the fish.
The Doctor's raging really badly. Breaking things rage.
The mole's - D: "It's not fear. It's faith. Not just religious faith, but any faith [...] They all believe there's something guiding them, something saving them. [...] And all this time I have been telling you to dig deep down, find your faith [...] show them what they needed."
Rory has no faith (EXCEPT IN AMY!), the minotaur(?) wants Amy's faith in the Doctor. Not Rory. Growl.
Amy just said "Praise him"
She's possessed.
R: "No., Oh please no." RORY IS NOT ALLOWED TO LOSE TWO AMYS IN TWO EPISODES! RORY IS NOT ALLOWED TO LOSE ANOTHER AMY!
Take Amy with you.
It's Amy's room. Little Amy is sitting and waiting for the Doctor again.
The Doctor: "Forget your faith in me. I took you with me because I was vain. Because I wanted to be adored. Look at you. Glorious Pond. The girl who waited for me. I'm no hero. I really am just a madman in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are."
Aaawwwwwww.
It worked, but
aaaawwwww. "Amy Williams. It's time to stop waiting."
Aaaaawwwwww. And all the intercutting between baby!Amy and This!Amy is an apology to them both.
And the minotaur died and the hotel's dying.
D: "I [...] sacrificed their faith in me. Gave you the space to die."
It's TRON!
D: "Distant cousin of the Nimon" - I've seen that! And the worlds and whatever
Who does the Doctor believe in? Or Time Lords in general? The Doctor doesn't say.
D-as-minotaur: "An ancient creature drenched in the blood of the innocent. Drifting through space in a shifting maze. Death would be a gift.
[...]
"I wasn't talking about myself."
Knew it before the Doctor translated that bit.
Good Lord. We're back on Earth Earth.
The Doctor bought Amy and Rory a house and Rory's favourite car. Rory, that last speech of yours about obligation. I laughed so loud. I love you.
A: "So. You're leaving aren't you? [...] Why now?"
D: "Beause you're still breathing."
A: "Well I think this is about the washing up."
D: I mean you're right there's still heaps of stuff out there[...] Or maybe there's a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there."
What was in that car mirror?
Amy doesn't want to leave. And the Doctor tells her he has to because he doesn't want her or Rory to die.
Sadness.
And sad music.
And Amy tells the Doctor to tell River to come by and visit. D'aaawww.
Stop with the sad subtle music Gold.
Rory didn't know the Doctot was leaving until he left. He didn't get to say goodbye. And I love this pieve of music.
R: "What's he doing?"
A: "He's saving us."
DAMNIT! Stop making me feel sad for the Doctor when he just did something so bad last episode. Poor Doctor all alone again and lost.
Preview thoughts: Who's Craig? This is that guy from 'The Lodger' yes? And the Doctor works in a shop now? And Cybermen! Actual Cybermen!
Also lampshade about that whenever the Doctor investigates anything it's strange and alien.
Best Moment: This is a hard one. It truly is one of the hardest I've had to do in a long time.
But.
The Doctor tells Amy to lose his faith in him. The music, the editing, the cutting between Baby!Amy and This!Amy. It's something Amy needs to do, because remember last episode? When Amy went hard after she was abandoned again. Yeah.
This is something that needed to happen, especially after last episode when the Doctor found out just what can happen when everything goes wrong.
Worst Moment: I don't like puppets and dolls, so laughing and bouncing and turning to look.
However. I always try to pick a moment that is
not as good as the rest, so I'd have to say the first confrontation in reception.
And on another note: what did the Doctor see in his room?! I really wanted to know, so of course you had to hide it and drive everyone insane.
Best Special Effect: That minotaur costume is a real costume. I also liked how the hotel dissolved TRON-like (or Tessalecta-like) into the prison cell.
Worst Special Effect: That crappy CGI rope undoing.
Best Actor: The Doctor. Over season six the Doctor has been getting darker and darker.
The Nurse. For being so strong and likeable and
not a stereotype of a Muslim.
But
all of the actors were amazing. Genuinely.
Worst Actor: Ther Freaking Puppet Man. He didn't exactly have a personality or anything at all really but worshipping the minotaur.
Most Punchable Character: The mole.
Death Count:
Three.
Kink of the Episode:
-
Thoughts overall?
Just wiki'd Toby Whithouse. He wrote 'School Reunion', 'Vampires of Venice' and
Being Human. So I can see I'm going to love 'Vampires of enice' then.
I like that the Doctor's room was 11 (watching
Confidential - the writer is
looking forward to the debate - he is a Troll), bit of meta fun there. And a
Classic shout out as the monster is a Nimon.
Now, let's talk about the Doctor!
Remember when River said that Demon's Run was the point when the Doctor would never rise higher, no fall lower?
I think, thematically, season 6a was the Doctor rising higher, and 6b is the Doctor falling lower. 'Let's Kill Hitler' had him
die, and he had no way out of it; ep. 9 should have been ep. 3, so 'The Curse of the Black Spot' had Rory
die (or if you prefer you can think about ep. 9. I'm not. Seriously); ep. 11 had the Doctor
lie and force Rory to choose which Amy to choose and Amy died.
This episode had the Doctor literally tell Amy (both of them) to lose their faith in him. The Companions have long been understood to be a stand-in for the audience. Rory saw the exit, he has
no faith in anyone (except Amy, but she was right there with him always), because he lost his faith in the Doctor last episode, if not earlier.
The Doctor has told the audience that it is
wrong for us to have faith in him.
The Doctor is falling, and falling hard. He insulted the mole (turns out his name is Gibbis) and his entire species for the way they are, and the way they live. He has a god complex as Rita pointed out, and it's getting bigger to be honest, and when he lost Rita who
sacrificed herself for them he
lost it. He didn't lose it like that when he lost Amy or Rory!
And he inadvertently made everyone a target by telling them to have
faith in something. In his mind, as always, he got people killed because he wasn't right fast enough. And Amy's faith in him is what keeps everyone trapped there. Amy's fear is being abandoned by the Doctor.
I think, this episode was him realising he is not a god. The reason I can say this is that next episode he seems to be working in a shop trying to be a human. I
think. The instant I finish 'The Unicorn and the Wasp' I'm reviewing 'The Lodger'.
Ignoring the Doctor a second, Rory. Rory my sweetheart. You
travelled with the Doctor. After last episode it seems that you really do want to go home, and you got it this episode. But I want to point out something I only realised watching the first few minutes of
Confidential.
When the Nerd found his room the girls in there stuttered at him. And then when Rory was looking at the Nerd's picture, he said the Howie had just finished an intensive speech therapy course to get rid of his stutter.
Rory
knows people. He has a great, lovely heart, and that came across there. And, oh, I'm getting mixed up doing two episodes it's such a
Rory thing to say, asking is people were happy. Rory has a great heart.
Rita, the nurse. She's how you write a character. You don't write them as a woman, a man, a Muslim, a Jew, an [insert whatever]. You write them as a character
knowing that these things are there, and they would influence them, but you don't make it overt. Yes, I do think there is a Motive here: showing that Muslims aren't all stereotypes and radicals etc., but here I got the feeling that it's only there as one example of faith.
Interesting note: Amy Pond has faith in the Doctor. Amy
Williams happens after she loses faith in the Doctor.
This is a very deep episode. It's about people growing up and moving away.
I know that Karen's said she's doing a third season, so she seems to be staying (I'm not excluding the idea of a hoax), but this is such a
final goodbye. He leaves them to make them safe. But as no parent ever misses their child's wedding, they'll be back for the finale.
I really, really enjoyed this episode, even though there are some weaker moments and the end is a bit odd, mostly because I can't believe Rory didn't get to say goodbye; but the character development is worth it.
And yes, it was so very
House of Leaves. With the weird intercutting (which was kind of genius) and the words flashing onscreen, the general setting (an evershifting maze with a minotaur hunting people, and it feeds on fear, people using CCTV and so on), the roars, the psychological effects on the people and setting.