The truth is, I don't really know what to think of yesterday's episode. Disappointed, probably. Not overwhelmingly, not crushingly, but slightly. I had such faith, y'see, that the mind-boggling complexity and frustration of the set-up would be brilliantly matched by a clever and well-executed pay-off and I don't think it was. The solution with the video clip seemed too easy - clever, yes, but nothing Moffat hasn't been doing for years - and also full of holes. So now every time a human being sees a Silent, they'll be filled with the desire to kill it? Fair enough when you're a roomful of armed security guards versus a single alien but what about children? What about wusses like me? One ordinary human being versus one Silent - I wouldn't fancy my chances. After all, look how well that ended for Joy. But I suppose we're just acceptable casualties.
And it's a shame, actually, because I thought the Silence were otherwise a great villain: the creepy look riffing off the Roswell Greys, the sleeping hanging from the ceiling, the ability to be the best sneaker-uppers in the history of ever. They sort of didn't even need the usual Moffat extra "it's the movement in the corner of your eye" nightmare fuel. I would have liked to see them have their own Blink-esque episode - be introduced simply and terrifying and then dispatched on a much smaller scale over the course of one 45 minute episode.
Therein lies the rub, I suppose. How much you liked the episode may depend on exactly what you want from Doctor Who: self-contained nuggets o' sci-fi fun or serial drama in the vein of Being Human or Lost. I have no problem with either but this was neither of them, a sort of weird halfway world between the two. Moffat's decision to split the series in half has allowed him to focus more on the series story arc but at what cost? I think the idea was that some questions were resolved and others weren't and would be saved for a rainy day/series finale but (and you can call me stupid but I'm really not) I wasn't entirely sure what had been resolved and what hadn't. There was no...adequate signposting. I hope Moffat doesn't consider the Silence over and done with because I certainly still have questions, not least about what they wanted with the little girl, but I suspect that's a matter for a series finale.
Lesser things niggle as well though: why kill Joy? It seemed needless, given that she wasn't going to remember the Silent, and if the point was to demonstrate their ruthlessness then that rankles as well because their precise morality was never explained. In fact, what they wanted was never really explained and I found it very odd that the Doctor made no attempt to uncover their agenda. If you've got complete control over the human race, you could do much worse things than sending them to the moon. I was right about the mind-manipulation element of suggesting to Amy that she tell the Doctor...whatever it was (still not sure) but again, why? I was also right about them marking themselves to remember the Silence but why on the face? They can't see it. I suspect that all these things can be attributed to Rule of Cool - it looks creepy to have marks suddenly appear on faces like whatever horror film that was and that's enough to justify it being there. Ditto killing Joy. Ditto picking up three months after unresolved cliffhangers to do a bit that shows off how clever you are but doesn't really make sense as to why Canton would need to pretend he wasn't on their side, given that they then have the President jollying around (seriously, does he not have a country to run?) telling people, Hey it's cool, they're with me. Also, "Silence will fall" still doesn't make sense. Also, there was so much going on that I nearly forgot the whole Frances-Barber-appearing-through-a-non-existent-hatch-wearing-a-space-age-eye-patch incident. Weird.
That's what I didn't like. Not enough questions answered and not enough enough promise that questions would be answered. And if I'm feeling like that, what must the kiddies and their mums and dads who are nominally the target market of this show be feeling right now? Bored and confused, I expect. In some ways, it's the natural evolution of a show that it gets darker and more complicated (episodes like this would never have got the show back on TV in the first place) but I hope it doesn't forsake its roots as a daft, time-travelling romp about a madman in a box who picks up girls young enough to be his several-hundred-times-great-granddaughter. Also the sacrificing of the show's internal logic for Hey, Cool Stuff didn't sit well, and this is coming from someone who could feasibly be labelled a Moffat Apologist.
So, what did I like? A lot, actually. In terms of isolated incidents there was some great stuff, pity about the way it hung together. I found the whole orphanage sequence terrifying and had to sing loudly and cheerfully to myself to ward off lingering urges to keep looking over my shoulder later on that night. Great American Gothic visual stuff going on, beautifully unnerving Southern drawl from the brain-addled proprietor, plus the whole reveal of the Silence hanging from the ceiling like a nest of the slimy hissing, rattling vampire-grub-foetuses they are. Brrr. Who locked and unlocked the door of the room, though? The little girl? A rogue Silent? Possibly another 'doesn't matter that it doesn't make sense, it makes good telly' moment, there.
Slightly sad to see Rory reduced again to second best, especially after all my gushing about him last week. Can we put this to bed now, please? Amy and Rory are a good couple, now let's just see them being a good couple, snarking and being feisty and snogging while the Doctor averts his delicate gaze. (Side note: anyone else think Rory looked quite the 1960s fox in those glasses? I would.) Also an annoying sitcom contrivance there, of the kind I hate - why couldn't Amy just say who she was talking to? Wouldn't have killed her, jeez. But wait, I was talking about what I did like. I like the timey-wimey pregnancy thing, partly because it means I was right to be so confused and "woah guys, this is a big deal" about it last week it. Don't think it's any evidence of Amy/Doctor shenanigans though, just the time vortex whizzing around her tubes. I also like my new Mega Theory that ties together every assumption we are supposed to make so far: the little girl is Amy's daughter who grows up to be River Song who goes on to be the astronaut who kills the Doctor and then goes to prison for it, all in some timey-wimey memory-wipey Silence-involved way that means none of them remember any of it. And if it's true, everyone must buy me several drinks. (This also applies if the little girl is River's timey-wimey baby because I made a throwaway crack about River being pregnant last week, so I've called that one too.)
Speaking of River, I hope she isn't going to lapse into excess angsting every time we see her. Part of the reason she's so great is that she's clearly had to deal with shit and knows the worst is still to come but straps on her gun with a happy smile and blasts some aliens anyway because shh, Spoilers. (Also I had enough angsting with OverlyMessianicTen and I love the fact that Eleven has not once tried to pull the "LAST OF MY KIND CURSED BURDEN SO FOREVER ALONE" business on us.) How is it that I still love River so much? She is definitely too awesome, taking down all those Silence, and yet I continue to sit with with head resting on hand and gaze dreamily at her. Plus, you cannot deny her chemistry with Matt Smith is amazing fun to watch ("Stop it." "Make me." "Maybe I will.") and the way she plainly worships the Doctor is a lovely antidote to her superiority. So what if she can take down a whole room full of Silence? She's not the Doctor and she knows it. And I'll admit, when it got to that kiss, I squeed. A full on fangirl squee and I haven't done that for a fair few years. I might even have clapped. Oh, I'm a shallow wee thing but I love it so.
Matt Smith continues excellent but oddly underused for the title character of the show. Hope we get some quality time with the Doctor soon. Do like how he inadvertently caused Watergate though. And his little "where do I put my hands?" moment during the kiss. Oh Doctor, we've all been there. And (because I criminally neglected him last week) a word must be said here for Canton Everett Delaware III, who was all kinds of awesome and excellently played by Mark Shepperd and I do hope we haven't seen the last of him.
I'm far too tired and head-spinny for theories this week (except above stated Mega Theory) although I'll just say that I bet that spacesuit's going to come back into things and if it's such a clever piece of technology could it have imbued an otherwise perfectly human girl with both the super-strength to bust out of it and the Time Lordy powers to regenerate? Or if it can move independently, could it have shot the Doctor on its own? Only time (and Moffat) will tell.
Anyway, next week looks set to get things back on track with Hugh Bonneville (yay), pirates (yay), Lily Cole-maids (yay) and general high seas rompery and is a stand-alone episode in a sea (no pun intended) of two-parters, so here's hoping for one of those fun nuggets o' sci-fi I was missing. Also the week after that is Neil Gaiman episode which, Wikipedia tells me, is called 'The Doctor's Wife' and this excites me greatly (although reportedly River isn't even in that episode, so it is probably a clever ruse but hey, Neil Gaiman). Actually this series has some great titles coming up. Go check it out. What, I can't do everything for you. Go away now. Shoo.
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