Early Access - Doctor Who | Reaction & Review 9x4 "Before the Flood"

The coolness factor of the fourth wall-breaking opening scene erases all possible criticisms I might otherwise have of its exposition. I think there's many ways to do exposition, and sometimes lampshading or sometimes even just not even trying to hide it is the way to go. If you can make it work. When you have an actor like Capaldi, anything works. And as you mentioned, a similar thing is done in Listen too. Love seeing Twelve walk around the TARDIS, and on top of that you have him riffing on the guitar. The O'Donnel death has always bothered me. Feels like a thing that worked better on the page than on screen. Clumsily spaced/blocked, the splitting up, the death flags and her final death monologue. I like the aftermath, him seeing her when they go back in time (Though the director should've had the actor be a bit more shaken up after her death instead of defaulting to his neutral mode for the character, like when they're on the Tardis) and him connecting with Clara, and melancholily helping the other two crew members realize their feelings for each other. But yeah, I'm not a fan of the tone of the death itself. I love Bennett confronting the Doctor though. And how ashamed he is after. Clara has her own parallel scene, but what I find so interesting is that the Doctor is the one that is left with more of a guilty conscience, while Clara clings onto her righteousness in a very-Clara fashion. Her "I do what needs to be done" is such a contrast between "Mummy on the Orient Express" <-- I actually wrote that a few seconds before hearing you say that in the discussion, ha. You don't miss a thing. [ROT-13 S9-10 spoilers]: Qbpgbe'f pbzzbanyvgl jvgu gur zbafgre bs gur jrrx (jryy, zbafgre bs gur sbegavtug). Qniebf, gur Svfure Xvat, Zr naq gur Mltbaf. Guvf cebonoyl vfa'g vagragvbany, nf V pna'g svaq vg va gur svanyr (Nyy gvzrybeqf? Pynen?) naq vg fcvyyf vagb Frevrf 10 jvgu Zvffl. The Fisher King looks really good in the shadows, and I like him as a significant antagonist whose role is not actually that significant. The writing of his role is interesting to me. Clara's raw outburst of honesty is very painful to watch. That the Doctor can die after her, and that he made her this way. That self-awareness has got to be hurting her, and shows that she isn't just living in complete denial, as the first part may have hinted at with her smiling at the Doctor.

tom