Doctor Who 5x11: The Lodger

[kerravonsen]

Catching up again. (And look at my new icon!)

How very Doctor Who; the very creepy juxtaposed with the very ordinary.

Another on the list of innocuous but now creepy phrases: "Can you help me?"
(Others on the list: "Are you my Mummy?" and "What do you want?")
I liked how the trouble turned out to be a malfunctioning computer program; a "Sorcerer's Apprentice" problem.
I also liked how "time rot" looked like mildew and how the Doctor revived Craig with tea.

Awww, Craig. An ordinary bloke saving the world because he's ordinary and in love.

I have mixed feelings towards the way the Doctor couldn't be ordinary even though he was trying. After all, he managed not to make an idiot of himself when he was working as UNIT's Scientific Advisor (whether that was the 70s or the 80s I don't care). So we know that he can do it; or that he can do it if he has more time. Where the heck did he get the idea that the kissy thing was a proper greeting? It's a girly greeting, for one thing, and not every girl does it. (sigh)

I did like the way he made Sophie question her apathy; that's very much him, he shakes things up wherever he is.

The way the Doctor picked up soccer in nothing flat, again I have mixed feelings towards that. I could believe that he could very well have superior reflexes, but even Time Lords have a learning curve. We have the example of the 5th Doctor, whom we know was excellent at cricket, but he also let slip that he learned from Bradman. On the other hand, it was lovely just seeing him enjoy himself so much.

That the Doctor learned cooking in Paris in the 18th Century, that one does make sense.

I didn't like the head-banging telepathy. Slapstick, we do not like it. We do not like lazy writing either. (sigh)

I did like Craig's gesture with giving the Doctor the spare keys. Particularly since Craig made it clear that he was sure he'd never see the Doctor again.

So, there were good bits and OTT bits. It still made me go "Awwww" at the end.


And then we have the bit at the end, with Amy and the engagement ring. Was she remembering? Something happened. And it seems to be implying that the Crack has something to do with Amy herself, that she's intimately connected with it. Where was that Crack that flared? Was it in Craig's flat, or in the TARDIS? I think it was in Craig's flat.

Was this meant to be an Amy-lite episode? Because all her scenes were inside the TARDIS, which would have meant that she didn't need to go on location for this episode. Does that mean that next week (er, tomorrow) is going to be a Doctor-lite episode? I guess we'll just see. I didn't look at the trailer, I try to avoid them. Though I already know that River Song is going to be in it; there's already been enough hints in the episodes themselves that she'll be there. Which means we could have a River-and-Pond roadshow. Hmmm. I wonder how they'll play River Song this time, since this one is supposed to be an earlier River than the one we saw in "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone". How much earlier? I guess we'll see next time.

I hate how smug River is, so I'm not really looking forward to it. (sigh)

Comments

Just a quick thing

[poulpette]

About the kissy thing, I actually found it was a nice touch after the Vincent episode. It was a very French thing. (but I admit, I'm French so I might have seen that through my own cultural bia.)

Re: Just a quick thing

[kerravonsen]

Ah, now that's a better slant on it!

[watervole]

I hated the head bang telepathy too. That sets a bad precedent for another time Lord ability.

Loved the keys though.

I'm looking forward to River - I really like her. It's so rare to have older female characters who can really hold their own in a show and totally be themselves.

[kerravonsen]

That sets a bad precedent for another time Lord ability.
I suspect that we won't see it again, though. They have an excuse not to bring it back, since the Doctor said he never wanted to do that again.

[tree_and_leaf]

It's a girly greeting, for one thing, and not every girl does it. (sigh)


Not necessarily - there are circles in Britain today where men do that (though not to perfect strangers) - but then, how you greet people is very culturally determined, so I don't see why the Doctor shouldn't mess up occasionally.

As far as fitting in to UNIT goes, I think it would be easier for a Time Lord to work - even stroppily - with a highly hierarchical organisation like the army, because the rules are much more clearly defined. And in any case, the Doctor was an outsider and known to be a civillian, a scientist, and a genius, which would tend to encourage the squaddies to accept, and tolerate, his being just a bit weird.

[kerravonsen]

Ah, see, that's my own cultural bias showing, isn't it?

so I don't see why the Doctor shouldn't mess up occasionally
Yes, but this episode was full of culture-fail, it was more than just "occassionally".

[kalypso]

Did the Doctor mention Bradman? My recollection was that he said he once played for New South Wales, but he didn't say when (it's always possible it hasn't happened yet).

[kerravonsen]

I thought he mentioned Bradman, but I can't remember when.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

My reaction to the episode was much the same as yours. I too worried a little about the apparent inconsistency with the Doctor in his UNIT scientific advisor days. I hypothesised that perhaps so much had happened to the Doctor in the interim that he'd forgotten some stuff that he'd learnt a long time ago. Or maybe the process of regeneration could cause some less essential memories to be lost?

I think it must have been an Amy-lite episode. I can't imagine that they would want to make either part of the season finale Doctor-lite though, so perhaps Matt Smith is so full of energy that he didn't feel that he needed a break.

I like your new icon. That the Doctor and his companions have a lot of similarities to Peter Pan and Wendy is something that first occurred to me a few months ago.

[kerravonsen]

I hypothesised that perhaps so much had happened to the Doctor in the interim that he'd forgotten some stuff that he'd learnt a long time ago. Or maybe the process of regeneration could cause some less essential memories to be lost?

I wonder if it is that he keeps on forgetting what time period he is in? Especially since the thing upstairs was messing with Time. On my other journal, someone pointed out that the kissing thing is very French, and since the previous episode was set in France, it might have carried over from that.

I can't imagine that they would want to make either part of the season finale Doctor-lite though, so perhaps Matt Smith is so full of energy that he didn't feel that he needed a break.
My impression is that the reason for a Doctor-lite episode isn't that the actor needs a break, but because there literally isn't enough time to film 13 full episodes in the schedule they have, so they try to squeeze the filming of two episodes in the time for one, by making one of them Doctor-lite.

I like your new icon. That the Doctor and his companions have a lot of similarities to Peter Pan and Wendy is something that first occurred to me a few months ago.
Thanks. It isn't an original thought with me - I think I might first have come across it in a story about Sarah-Jane Smith - but the portrayal of the Doctor and Amy - especially in The Eleventh Hour - struck me as particularly strong in that trope.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I thought that the Peter Pan/Wendy thing was stronger with Martha or Donna as the companion, because they both seemed more mature than the Doctor in a lot of ways, whereas that doesn't apply so much to Amy. OTOH, Matt Smith's Doctor is perhaps more Peter Pannish than David Tennant's was.

One could extend the metaphor by comparing the Master to Captain Hook, and the drums in his head to the alarm clock in the crocodile!

[kerravonsen]

OTOH, Matt Smith's Doctor is perhaps more Peter Pannish than David Tennant's was.
(nods)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I thought the kissing was French too (ummmm, not in that sense) but they actually make contact with cheeks, and I think they do it three times. Maybe it comes in later in our time and he wasn't sure, or got confused between French custom and American society lady.

As for the soccer, he must have seen lots of it on TV when we was on Earth in the past, so maybe he subconsciously knew all the moves from that. I liked the touch of having it in the middle of the World Cup.

I'm assuming the next ep will be Doctor-lite, though I don't know how they'll manage that with it being the first part of the finale. I think.

[kerravonsen]

I'm assuming the next ep will be Doctor-lite, though I don't know how they'll manage that with it being the first part of the finale.
I think so too. Perhaps part of the crisis will be that the Doctor is incapacitated/unavailable?

[sahiya.livejournal.com]

I hypothesized that he was seriously off his game because he was cut off from the TARDIS. But that's just me.

Apparently there is no real reason for there to be a "Doctor-lite" episode. I've heard - and this makes sense - that it had something to do with Tennant's contract, wherein he was contracted for thirteen episodes but that didn't include the Christmas special, so they dealt with it by giving him one episode of almost no work. I don't think it'd make any sense at all for him not to appear in one half of the finale, and I don't think that's what's going to happen.

Though personally speaking, I think a River-and-Pond roadshow would be awesome.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I hypothesized that he was seriously off his game because he was cut off from the TARDIS. But that's just me.

I think that's an excellent idea.

[kerravonsen]

I hypothesized that he was seriously off his game because he was cut off from the TARDIS.
Ah, that makes sense, too. My face-saving hypothesis is that he was affected by the broken time machine Upstairs, kept on getting confused as to what era he was in.

that it had something to do with Tennant's contract, wherein he was contracted for thirteen episodes but that didn't include the Christmas special, so they dealt with it by giving him one episode of almost no work
Oh, I see! That makes sense. And it also makes sense that they would have fixed that hole in the contract for a new Doctor.