In the UK: Saturday 17th September, 7.15pm, BBC1/BBC1 HD. Available on the iPlayer
In the US: Saturday 17th September, 9pm/8c ET/PT, BBC America
Now that’s more like it. I was worried for a minute that I wasn’t going to love any episodes of Who in this second half of the season. But good old Toby Whithouse (School Reunion, The Vampires of Venice and creator of Being Human) has saved the day. And who’d have thought he’d have done it with a story that referenced the good old Nimon?
You know, if it hadn’t been for Murray Gold’s bizarre scoring during the first half of the episode, a dodgy prosthetic for the monster and some oddly cliched supporting characters, this would have been pretty near perfect for me.
It was scary. It said something. It had pathos. It was funny. It kept you guessed. I liked Rory, who was barely a dick once and was actually quite good at times. I liked Amy, who was actually nice at times.
I liked the faux new companion who was pleasantly smart. I loved the direction, which managed to avoid most of the usual Shining conventions any scary thing set in a hotel typically appropriates while still using them when needed. The Doctor was good, Matt Smith was good. Even David Walliams worked, despite essentially being David Walliams in a mask. It had a great surprise (probably fake-out) write-out for Amy and Rory. There were probably a few guest appearances by the Silence, although we’ve all forgotten them by now. It even mentioned the Nimon.
Hell, they ended up in Tron land. How could anything that ended up in Tron land not be great?
So I loved it. Proper loved it.
But how about you?
