Doctor Who reviews: Flesh And Stone
| REVIEWS - DOCTOR WHO |
A promising start leads to a series of cosmic cop-outs...
Flesh And Stone had a cheat and a teaser too many to qualify as an out-and-out stonking episode of Doctor Who. In fact I'm beginning to wonder if new Who shouldn't entirely give up on two-parters and either adopt a series arc - which would let it keep the odd cliff-hanger that the show is so identified with - or stick to single-story episodes...or even return to the old extended-story format, which spanned many episodes. It can't ever seem to get the pace of two-parters consistent or right, as Silence In The Library demonstrated.
Flesh And Stone doesn't jar as much between its two instalments as that particular story, but it wasn't able either to repeat the creepiness of last week's encounter between Amy and the screen-bound Weeping Angel, and it spent too long setting up future stingers, zingers and possible red herrings.
Retreated from the rock environment into a gravity-independent floating ship, the Doc and co. quickly find themselves fighting off the hordes of Weeping Angels in a very spooky Silent Running-style space forest. It's a Mexican stand-off between The Doctor and his accompanying clerics, and the creatures that cannot move while they are being looked at.
Even the ticking time-bomb of Amy turning into a Weeping Angel herself is turned off at this point, and it's right here that Steven Moffat seems to have painted himself into a corner. Having paid tribute to Aliens and had a good look round a truly infernal environment, he doesn't seem to know where to go next, and re-introduces the cosmic 'crack in time' from The Eleventh Hour - a universe-wide phenomenon which is intricately bound up with the fate of Amy Pond and either (from the look of next week's trailer) going to be resolved imminently or span at least the whole of series 5...and possibly beyond.
"Other worrying things: Doctors and assistants kissing - an event that by itself should have torn the fabric of the universe"
Moffat won't get a second chance to credibly introduce this bit of failing masonry into a plot as a deux et machina again, even if he does it with such aplomb as The Doctor's 'gravity solution', which gets rid of both the Weeping Angels and the crack in time at a swoop. So if this is set to recur in the series, it had better to be a smashing concept, or it had better get wrapped up next week.
Other worrying things: Doctors and assistants kissing - an event that by itself should have torn the fabric of the universe. In his defence, the Doc repelled Amy's end-of-episode advances in consistency with his father-like/mentor-like attitude to her, and he doesn't seem to have Tennant's emotional vulnerability as demonstrated towards Rose - a note of alienation that is helping to keep Matt Smith's take on the time-lord very interesting.
And so, River Song. Let's face it, all the hints are that she succeeded (or will succeed) where even the BBC high command failed in the 1980s and 1990s - in killing off The Doctor (in her past, The Doctor;s future). Or is there some other 'best man she has ever known' for whose murder she is serving out a prison-sentence?
Anyway, as it stands, our Hero has worked out that his stumbling across Amy Pond as a new assistant is no coincidence, and that (it seems) truly cosmic events are taking place with her at the centre, or maybe because of her. This not only repeats a little the exaggerated significance of Rose in seasons 1-3, but also the dynamic between The Doctor and Donna, in that this is the second time he has whisked an assistant away from the aisle.
"Apparently it doesn't matter anymore whether you are actually looking at the Weeping Angels, in order to 'freeze' them; it's enough to whistle cheerily with your eyes shut and pretend that you can see them - which gets Amy out of Moffat's forest-centred writer's block in an even clumsier manner than the reprise of the glowing fissure from The Eleventh Hour."
There were some strong moments: Iain Glen's terminally-paused stranglehold in the Weeping Angel's clutches was both the scariest and most effective moment of Flesh And Stone - but this was counterbalanced by Moffat changing the rules about quantum-locking...
Apparently it doesn't matter anymore whether you are actually looking at the Weeping Angels, in order to 'freeze' them; it's enough to whistle cheerily with your eyes shut and pretend that you can see them - which gets Amy out of Moffat's forest-centred writer's block in an even clumsier manner than the reprise of the glowing fissure from The Eleventh Hour. There's no backing out of this grafted-on weakness now, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the core concept of the creatures.
It depends on the ratings, but I think Moffat will not return to his stony monsters until he has a smaller and more intimate tale to tell with them. This one started promisingly with The Time Of Angels, but exited on a desperate note, and in a positive flurry of lucky chances.
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Comments
Based on that assumption, they would then have to affect the lights again or whatever, in order to be able to launch an attack. That degree of effort, given that they were under threat themselves, may have been judged too much to get one person in a way that it would not have been had they known Amy was blind and so they could go right up to her.
In other words, Amy was in a situation where pretending to see could affect their cost/benefit-calculation -not their ability to attack,
As I said, I do need to watch the episode again so I may be completely wrong.
1) Doctor Who has a long tradition of altering key concepts in their monsters. The Cybermen of the old run were hurt by gold dust because the dust itself penetrated their armor and shut them down. Eventually, it was okay to just use gold anything like a bullet, regardless of where you shot. Not that the tradition is right, but it's something I just accept and roll along with.
2) The Doctor even said that the angels were too busy worrying about the crack to pay attention to Amy. There's something instinctual and animal-like about the Angels. They could have stared at each other, something in the crack (if not the crack itself) was staring at them. In any case, they were more concerned with surviving the event than killing a human they assumed to be escaping with them. Sort of like how you won't care about a filthy, disease-carrying rat when you're all abandoning the sinking ship.
As for Amy, I side with others in that it's inevitable that most companions will feel something for The Doctor. Especially when he looks as young as Matt Smith. This is a man who seems to bend the universe at will, who can show you things you've only dreamed of, who has the wisdom and maturity of a professor but the confidence of an alpha. Women and men who want to have that will be attracted to him, regardless of whether he wants it or not.
Yeah, former companions didn't do it. Former companions also had to deal with stricter censorship laws.
And I'm still keeping the faith that this will be the run in which Omega returns. Evidence be damned.
Also, these rules didn't seem so strict even in Blink. If they only turned to stone when looked at, why were they statues when no one was in the house looking at them (aside from the audience of course)? How were they able to move through an urban center to get to the TARDIS unnoticed?
Both stories have holes, of course. And as far as I know, the logic was still in place. The question is: why were they stone when Amy walked by? I know they were ignoring her, but my assumption is either their glances caught each other, or something saw them through the crack (if not the crack itself). Doesn't really explain how they were able to move as stone, but that was probably just a break in logic to make an interesting scene.
1) How the Angels don't send you to the past any more. They kill you and re-animate your vocal cords. Nah, sending them to the past was cooler, especially for consistency sake.
But I SUPPOSE, if you're on a ship or planet, where in the past would they send you? They're not on earth. Still, should've sent them somewhere.
2) How The Doctor escaped the surrounding Angels with the gravity globe. Seemed.. far fetched.
3) How Amy avoided the Angels by moving along blind, eyes closed. Cop out
4) River Song. Personally, don't like her character. I dislike smarmy know it alls.
5) Should've put more emphasis on Amy turning into an Angel.
6) The time crack and the whole sucking the Angels into the crack. Seemed too... convenient.
7)I agree. Too much emphasis on future episodes, events and spoilers.
And I really haven't seen any episode this season / series, that I liked. I thought Blink, Midnight, Father's Day, Impossible Planet / Satan Pit, Fear Her, ANY Cybermen adventure were all brilliant and I loved them. Not saying I dislike the 11th doctor or amy, but I'd like to see more sci fi, more horror, less drama / real life.