Doctor Who 8.09 Flatline
Oct. 19th, 2014 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn case I haven't mentioned this before, I really like this season. Not without individual complaints, of course, but those always happen. In totem I haven't liked a Moffat season so much since s5. (There is a difference between liking individual episodes and liking an overal season.) I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but the dynamic between Clara and Twelve works for me, the Doctor's re-emphasized alienness works for me, and the way (present day) Clara suddenly came into her own constantly reminds me that in the utopian day when I have more time, I want to write an essay about Doctor-Companion combinations and why some Companions work with different Doctors (though in different aspects, like Sarah Jane), while others click with just one specific regeneration.
Now, on to Flatline, which definitely belongs into the "liked much, want to rewatch!" category of episodes for me.
To start with the leftover from the previous ep aka the one thing I minded about the previous episode: am I ever glad that having introduced the silly "Clara suddenly lies to both Danny and the Doctor about her decision to continue travelling with the Doctor" plot device, the show proceeds to get rid of it immediately. I.e. the Doctor figures out Clara was lying, and if Danny doesn't after that phonecall, he'd have to be stupid, which he's not. Okay, thanks, next time, show, don't even introduce such an unworthy plot device.
Thankfully, this getting rid of said unnecessary plot device took minimal screentime, which left yours truly to enjoy a tale which had a great Whovian mixture of scary (people being absorbed into two dimensional paint- the show did this before, of course, in Fear Her, but the circumstances were different enough to appreciate this on its own) , silly (the tiny TARDIS - and kudos to whoever in the script writing department remembered that this would not make the Doctor himself tiny because the TARDIS works differently on the inside anyway) and character exploration (Clara as the Doctor, with character of the week Rigsy assuming the traditional Companion role). I appreciated the Doctor tried to communicate with the two dimensional entities first; loved that Clara didn't let Rigsy go through with the heroic self sacrifice, figuring out a way to save the day and him at the same time. Also, the biggest jerk among the workers surviving, much like Rickson (spelling?) did in Voyage of the Damned, made the point that you don't get to choose whom to save unless you're making yourself god (God?), and that way lies megalomania. Also, the Doctor remembering the ones who weren't saved after the day saving is accomplished to me is the flipside, or rather, counterpoint to his abrasively pragmatic "figuring out saving now, mourning later" attitude during a crisis; that in this particular case it happens after Clara has saved the day connects it to the seasonal themes of Clara's and the Doctor's developments. The season started with the Doctor asking Clara "am I a good man?" and implying he knows himself not to be, but trying. The way Companions change, for good or bad, through their time with the Doctor has been a constant in both the Davies and the Moffat eras, and in this season, various characters (notably Danny and Psi) made Clara examine the effect her time with the Doctor has on herself. She doesn't in this episode, where she essentially plays the Doctor-ish role; instead, the Doctor does. And if he doesn't see himself as good, there's no way he can see Clara acting like himself as "good".
(Sidenote: maybe in retrospect all the different layers of the word "Good" will turn out to be key to this season? See also the different meanings of "a good Dalek" in Into the Dalek.)
There was a lot of humor in this episode, too, tiny TARDIS aside; Clara taking a swipe at the Doctor with her whole "I am the Doctor" introduction to Rigsy, for example. And the way Clara figured out how to turn the Two Dimensional People's power against them - by letting Rigsy draw a door - struck me as Moffat's penchant for clever narrative pay offs to his creature's powers at its best. Rigsy himself joins Perkins from the previous episode and Courtney from the eps fore that as well as Journey Blue from the season opener in the ranks of "guest star I'd like to see again". Since I came recently across the obervation that there are fewer working class characters in Moffat Who than there were in Davies Who, I wonder whether Rigsy isn't a way to self correct that? Anyway: liked him, am glad he survived! And hopefully will continue to do so for a long, long time.
I didn't understand what Missy said about Clara in the last scene, either the sound was off or my English was. Can someone transcribe it to me?
Now, on to Flatline, which definitely belongs into the "liked much, want to rewatch!" category of episodes for me.
To start with the leftover from the previous ep aka the one thing I minded about the previous episode: am I ever glad that having introduced the silly "Clara suddenly lies to both Danny and the Doctor about her decision to continue travelling with the Doctor" plot device, the show proceeds to get rid of it immediately. I.e. the Doctor figures out Clara was lying, and if Danny doesn't after that phonecall, he'd have to be stupid, which he's not. Okay, thanks, next time, show, don't even introduce such an unworthy plot device.
Thankfully, this getting rid of said unnecessary plot device took minimal screentime, which left yours truly to enjoy a tale which had a great Whovian mixture of scary (people being absorbed into two dimensional paint- the show did this before, of course, in Fear Her, but the circumstances were different enough to appreciate this on its own) , silly (the tiny TARDIS - and kudos to whoever in the script writing department remembered that this would not make the Doctor himself tiny because the TARDIS works differently on the inside anyway) and character exploration (Clara as the Doctor, with character of the week Rigsy assuming the traditional Companion role). I appreciated the Doctor tried to communicate with the two dimensional entities first; loved that Clara didn't let Rigsy go through with the heroic self sacrifice, figuring out a way to save the day and him at the same time. Also, the biggest jerk among the workers surviving, much like Rickson (spelling?) did in Voyage of the Damned, made the point that you don't get to choose whom to save unless you're making yourself god (God?), and that way lies megalomania. Also, the Doctor remembering the ones who weren't saved after the day saving is accomplished to me is the flipside, or rather, counterpoint to his abrasively pragmatic "figuring out saving now, mourning later" attitude during a crisis; that in this particular case it happens after Clara has saved the day connects it to the seasonal themes of Clara's and the Doctor's developments. The season started with the Doctor asking Clara "am I a good man?" and implying he knows himself not to be, but trying. The way Companions change, for good or bad, through their time with the Doctor has been a constant in both the Davies and the Moffat eras, and in this season, various characters (notably Danny and Psi) made Clara examine the effect her time with the Doctor has on herself. She doesn't in this episode, where she essentially plays the Doctor-ish role; instead, the Doctor does. And if he doesn't see himself as good, there's no way he can see Clara acting like himself as "good".
(Sidenote: maybe in retrospect all the different layers of the word "Good" will turn out to be key to this season? See also the different meanings of "a good Dalek" in Into the Dalek.)
There was a lot of humor in this episode, too, tiny TARDIS aside; Clara taking a swipe at the Doctor with her whole "I am the Doctor" introduction to Rigsy, for example. And the way Clara figured out how to turn the Two Dimensional People's power against them - by letting Rigsy draw a door - struck me as Moffat's penchant for clever narrative pay offs to his creature's powers at its best. Rigsy himself joins Perkins from the previous episode and Courtney from the eps fore that as well as Journey Blue from the season opener in the ranks of "guest star I'd like to see again". Since I came recently across the obervation that there are fewer working class characters in Moffat Who than there were in Davies Who, I wonder whether Rigsy isn't a way to self correct that? Anyway: liked him, am glad he survived! And hopefully will continue to do so for a long, long time.
I didn't understand what Missy said about Clara in the last scene, either the sound was off or my English was. Can someone transcribe it to me?
no subject
Date: 2014-10-19 06:23 pm (UTC)What that MEANS, I have no idea.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-20 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-19 06:38 pm (UTC)The "good" theme is a, er, good point. I keep thinking of "when a good man goes to war". Not sure how that'll tie into "Heaven", although I assume your goodness is what gets you in there?
no subject
Date: 2014-10-20 07:50 pm (UTC)Graffiti is so an open need in alien planets!
no subject
Date: 2014-10-20 04:20 am (UTC)I adored the tiny TARDIS (and the Doctor being normal-sized on the inside!) and the escape from the oncoming train (OMG HEE). And Clara in the Doctor's role was just great--for all the reasons you've listed plus the fact that it meant that character pulling most of the narrative weight for the episode was not being a constant jerk to people. :P
Neither know nor care what is up with Missy. Though still half-guessing she'll be the Master. But WTF is her connection with Clara, I dunno--nor care.
Agree that Danny must know after that phone call that Clara is still travelling with the Doctor. But seems like he's in the next episode (along with his schoolkids!) so we'll see how that all works out. If I remember right, when he found out she was lying to him a couple episodes back, the thing he said would mean it was over between them wasn't if she lied to him about travelling with Twelve again...it was if Twelve pushed her beyond her moral limits and she didn't say anything. So...hmm.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-20 02:51 pm (UTC)But they haven't got rid of it. Just because the Doctor and Danny both know she's lying - and maybe, at the back of her mind, she knows they know - doesn't mean it's gone. This is building up to the denouement, in which various truths will have to be faced: Clara's lies, Danny's bad day, the Doctor's issue with soldiers, and whatever Missy has planned.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-21 08:41 am (UTC)