Mummy on the Orient Express

[llywela]

Oh, that was better. I enjoyed that! What a difference it makes when both leads are given a perspective!

I mean, I could grumble at length about having wasted half a season building up to Clara's little meltdown, only for her to realise at last that the Doctor is...the Doctor, same guy he's always been, making hard choices and trying to save lives, he just doesn't have the patience for social niceties any more. Is that seriously the arc? Clara slowly learns something she already knew. I mean, seriously, haven't we been told that she supposedly understands him better than anyone? Clearly she doesn't, and she's also rather a slow learner - any one of his previous companions would have made this breakthrough weeks ago. I could also talk how she has been projecting totally unrealistic expectations onto him (because she's a control freak who wishes to control situations that are fundamentally uncontrollable) and then punishing him for being fallible...but I'm always so much less inclined to pick nits when I enjoyed an episode.

It just makes such a difference being given insight into the Doctor's point of view. Pretty much the whole season so far has been told from Clara's point of view, and Clara is extremely self-important, she always believes she is right, so she's been as blinkered in her own way as the Doctor is when he's too focused on problem solving to be nice. He wasn't reacting or behaving as she wanted him to behave, she couldn't control him, and she reacted badly to that - and her negative reaction has clouded the whole season, because it's all we've been shown. Now we get to see the Doctor's perspective at last - he's still abrasive, still painfully blunt, still lacking social niceties, but we're allowed to see what drives him, his focus and intent...and Clara's little meltdown comes off poorly in comparison with his ancient wisdom and expertise. "Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose."

Both flawed characters, but each with a point of view that's valid to them, and portrayed as such, plus open lines of communication to help them understand one another. And a cracking good story with fleshed out supporting characters. Great stuff.

This episode was written by Jamie Mathieson, a newbie to Doctor Who - an excellent start, he can come again!

Comments

[catsdownunder.livejournal.com]

Couldn't help but picture the train as the Hogwarts Express.

It was a much better episode and the Doctor seems magical this series or am I just picking up on something that has always been there.

Sylvester's BATTLEFIELD episode he is called Merlin and probably this is at the forefront on my mind now. You can keep your Doctor Donna ... it is Doctor Merlin for me.

Must check ... was the woman who was saved Martin Freeman's real life wife ... she reminded me of her.

http://www.framecaplib.com/index.htm

Received an email advising of updates. This website has been going for a very long, long, long time.

Good afternoon.

[(Anonymous)]

I enjoyed this one as well, more of the Doctor and less of Clara was definately a better combination. The actress who played the woman who was saved was Daisy Beaumont, Martin Freemans partner is Amanda Abbington.

Rachel

[catsdownunder.livejournal.com]

Just been checking myself ... Maisie was NINA in WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH ... 007. That is why she looked familiar ... a bit older now like all of us.

The older lady played MRS BALE in As Time Goes By.

Next episode has BILLY from a Professionals Episode ... think it was Billy ... might be the Patricia Hodge episode ... pimple scarred skin.

The Captain ... DAVID BAMBER ... was in an episode of The Chief.

IMDb website is my external hard drive ;)

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

The magical thing has been going pretty much ever since the 11th Doctor fell out of his TARDIS in little Amelia's garden - Steven Moffat's vision of the show is basically fairytale with a dash of comic book. Me, I prefer it to be a little more real world in concept, which is just one reason why I don't get on with the style of this era.

I am rather fond of Battlefield, however.

[catsdownunder.livejournal.com]

The writers need to get stories suitable for Capaldi ... he is not charismatic like Smith and Tennant. He is a fine actor, no doubt, but his pairing with Clara does not sit comfortable after her relationship with Matt's Doctor.

If rumours of her leaving at Christmas are true then hopefully the replacement will be a better match.

[issy5209.livejournal.com]

A much better episode, and I really liked seeing the Doctor operating on his own.

I think you've hit on something thats been a problem Clara slowly learns something she already knew
It seems that they've made her a completely different person than she was when travelling with the 11th Doctor - unless the script calls for her to remember.

I saw somewhere that Jamie Mathieson is also a stand up comedian, perhaps it helped!

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I am coming to feel that part of the problem with Clara is that the writers are trying to make her be too many different things, and all those elements they are trying to jam together don't go, some of them are directly opposed to one another - like, she can't be both the person who understands him best in the universe because she's met every version of him AND the companion who is freaked out by regeneration and rejects him because he's different. Yet she has been presented as both and it doesn't work, it makes the character too inconsistent and destroys suspension of disbelief. I think...the concept of Clara was cooked up out of a bunch of different ingredients and requirements that didn't blend together well at all, because they didn't add up to a complete individual - and now that an actual personality is being built for her, it jibes with that original concept less and less. She wasn't well established last season and her development this season has been so extremely clumsy, which makes it hard to believe in her as an actual person. She is too obviously a construct, designed to suit whatever plot purpose she needs to fulfill now.

It is far more gratifying when the plot is driven by the specific characters involved in it, the way those personalities react and interact, rather than having the personalities of the characters involved shaped by the requirements of the plot.

[issy5209.livejournal.com]

I do think you are right, she's whatever the plot is wanting her to be.
Which is why I said to catsdownunder it just feels like Merlin (particularly s5) all over again, its not really character growth and I don't really like or root for any of the characters, which is sad.

[femsc.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it good to have the Doctor as the lead character for once? The companion should never be the one around whom the whole show revolves. He or she can have the odd episode, sure, but not a whole series. I loved the way the Doctor was finally able to be the Doctor, with his companion taking the role as helper in the background.

I have no idea who Jamie Mathieson is (yes I know I've only got to look it up!) but I really hope he sticks around. And if Clara's leaving, can we have Frank Skinner's engineer character for companion, please? I've had more than enough of Doctor/female companion relationships.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Totally. The first season with a new Doctor is so important, establishing him with the audience is crucial, so I cannot for the life of me understand why he has been sidelined so enormously, so that arrogant Clara can be the lead. The styling of this season has been so poor, this episode stands out a mile for its quality in comparison!

I don't think Steven Moffat understands the difference between a lead character and a viewpoint character. I also think he has vastly overestimated the strength of the character he has created in Clara. The more desperately he tries to convince me of her wondrousness (all via telling, what's shown is very different), the less I believe it. She is completely the wrong personality for this Doctor. I'd quite like to see him with a younger companion - go back to the paternal, grandfather-granddaughter relationship of the early classic era, or the mentor-student dynamic of McCoy-Aldred. Not Courtney, who has a loving family and stable home and would be missed, but some young stray with nowhere to go who could bring out his softer side.

And we really need to get away from this insistence on getting home on time! Let the TARDIS break again, install another randomiser, anything to escape the regimentation Clara insists on. Let the Doctor and the TARDIS fly free. That's when he's happiest. I really do not understand why he keeps going back for Clara, I've not been sold on their relationship at all.

[femsc.livejournal.com]

Clara started off all right for me, but the Impossible Girl has become an irritant. She should have been pensioned off when she went back through the Doctor's timeline, because that gave writers the perfect excuse to end her involvement.

I'm finding it hard to get used to a programmable TARDIS. The whole premiss at the beginning was that something had broken and the Doctor could never be entirely sure where or when he'd end up. I liked that aspect of it, because each adventure was new and unpredictable. If the TARDIS is going to be restricted to Earth or thereabouts then at least let the era should be random. Being home in time for tea should be something that only happens accidentally, and very rarely.

That said, another week has happened and we've seen another of Jamie Mathieson's episodes. I laughed long and loud at the Addams Family TARDIS, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole story. That's 'my' Doctor Who: unpredictable, off the wall, completely bonkers - and at the same time oddly believable. More please!