#semi-random thoughts

THE GOOD

The atmosphere of this episode had great atmosphere

The message was woven into the plot much better

Yaz was given something to do.  I loved her reaction to finding out she wasn’t on an alien planet.

I love how you can see the gears turning in The Doctor’s head when she working out a puzzle.

Ryan is proving that The Doctor is the best thing that’s ever happened to him.  It’s a bit of a let down that his dyspraxia isn’t more prevalent but it is nice to see him being confident.

I’m pretty sure that Tosin can have chemistry with anyone

Graham filled the classic companion role well.

Jake and Adam had a great relationship

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

The lack of an actual villain was disappointing

That opening monologue just doesn’t work.  Let’s not make Jodie “Capaldi lite”

THE GOOD

Watching everyone deal with everyday life was a nice ground floor to build this episode on

Seeing the different dynamics when the team split up was really nice

The “light men” came across as a legit threat

Chibnall did a good job of keeping who was in charge of the bad guys under wraps until the end

The Master; yes please more of this.  The reveal was wonderfully pulled off surprising and his personality being a dark mirror of The Doctor was perfect.

The tone was an excellent homage to espionage movies which come to think of it makes having The Master show up make sense

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

The pace was a bit uneven but it is an improvement over series 11

The Doctor still comes across as a bit too passive at times, as with the male agent outside “O”s cabin

THE GOOD

Graham and Ryan continue to have a great chemistry

The dynamic between Tesla and Edison was nuanced so that neither looked like a complete saint or a complete bad guy

The Skithra were a good enemy for this episode and distinct enough from the Racnoss for me

Really good pace in this one

The climax had some good tension

Jodie has really settled in to her version of The Doctor.  She still has that joyful curious demeanor but shows more…oomph when it’s time to be serious than she did last series

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

Still too much “tell don’t show”

There is still a tendency to make American characters a caricature

The problem with having more than one companion is becoming more evident.  Specifically this episode made Yaz feel like a damsel in distress

Easy-to-forget detail is that there was no security to get to the gate in 1990: You could literally hop out of the cab and run all the way to the gate if you already had your boarding passes...

So, an incomplete list of things that make the plot work for the original: 

(1) Kevin gets mad at his brother/cousin and spills the milk on the counter. In the rush to clean it up, his passport gets tossed in the trash with some paper towels. 

(2) He's sent to sleep alone in the attic as punishment. 

(3) the power goes out overnight, causing the alarms to fail to go off. Nobody has cellphone alarms, obviously. 

(4) obnoxious neighbor kid is pestering the van drivers with questions, and with his back turned, one of the cousins includes him in the head count. 

(5) everyone runs through the airport to the gate in a panic, handing the mass of tickets to the gate agent to sort out, and everyone is told to sit wherever. 

(6) somehow, phone lines are down, too. Obviously, no cellphones. 

(7) Kevin hides from the police.

Points (1), (2), (4), and (7) could still work to varying degrees in a modern setting.

Another thought: these days, his mom could email the police his photo rather than trying to describe him over the phone.

Problems and/or solutions with updates: 

(1) the odds of 15-20 people's cellphones all failing to have an alarm in the morning seem hard to believe. 

(2) at the TSA check in, they'd need to have the families scramble who checks in with whom, or go individually, rather than checking in as nuclear family groups. The chaos might allow for this, and maybe some people have TSA-precheck and others don't, so they split up along those lines? 

(3) possible they forgot to get international cellphone plans? 

(4) The burglars would need to take webcams into account.  Not everyone has them, but enough people can check on their home remotely that you'd need to account for this...

THE GOOD

The twist to the multi Doctor story was interesting

Jodie continues to shine as The Doctor

Jo Martin was an interesting take on The Doctor.

The Judoon were presented well.

John Barrowman is always welcome.

Gat promises to be an interesting returning antagonist

Chibnall may be unoriginal but at least he showing he can be fun.

The series arc seems to be ramping up and I’m excited for that.  Chibnall has done a better job at keeping us in the loop than Moffatt.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

The joke of Graham being mistaken for The Doctor didn’t really play out well in Spyfall.  Please let it die.

I’m just going to go ahead and say it, either give the companions something to do worth watching or let’s pare it down so that they don’t feel like they are just talking scenery.

THE GOOD 

Jodie really came into her own as The Doctor in this episode.  That’s the bossy know-it-all Time Lord/Lady we all know and love.

It’s nice to see the after effects of the previous story on The Doctor.

The monsters were nicely menacing

The TARDIS team is also showing an ability to carry its weight

Kane actually worked for me.  In the beginning she comes across as a typical capitalist “villain” but she had a nice arc in the end.

I love how even after all this time Graham still can be a little careless

Making Ryan and Yaz just mates is a very good move

The banter between Ryan and Bella was well done.

Gia Ré gave a fantastic performance

THE MEH

They tried to vary the base under siege trope and did succeed, sort of

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

I could see the child being the better mechanic a mile off

Benni’s last name has to be McGuffin or else what’s the point

The message was so heavy handed it made my head hurt when it was slammed into my face especially because when the twist of the planet being Earth was revealed The Doctor gave a cliff notes version of it.  Having the unabridged speech at the end was just not needed

THE GOOD

I actually got the scope of the villains’ plans and a reason to care

The companions showed some excellent initiative even though The Doctor guided them through it.

The companions getting The Doctor to open up but not give everything is a nice bit

Unlike a lot of previous two-parters, this one managed to raise the stakes in a way that kept you going to the end

The historical elements were well done

The visuals, which was one of series 11 saving graces were great in this episode.  I particularly like the view from the nose of the plane

This, in my opinion, was Jodie at her best.  She managed to believably go through a range of emotion and end the crisis in a very Doctorish way.  Manipulating everything to what she wanted.

Even though The Doctor managed to save the day The Master never felt like he was out of his depth 

Jodie and Sacha demonstrated a very good antagonist dynamic

THE MEH

The pace, while not perfect, shows great improvement over last series

I’m still not sure if this “Timeless Child” thing is going to go somewhere.  I guess I’ve just been burnt by “mystery boxes” too much.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

I didn’t get the feeling of friendship between The Doctor and The Master.