This may sound odd, but as of right no I find myself slightly afraid of ping pong.
Don't look at me like that. Ping pong balls can be SCARY.
I think I might have mentioned this before, but there has always been a tendency in the new series two part episodes for the second instalment to be... less good. Not exclusively by any means. And certainly not always detrimentally so. But somehow they never seem to have quite worked the pacing of these things out properly. And this is worrying me. Because apparently this latest series is going to be almost entirely two parters.
Now to be clear I'm not worried because I'm assuming half the series is going to be crap. My opinion is, after all, thoroughly subjective. And it's not like I've lost all faith in the production team. No, what's worrying me is that from here on out I'm going to be alternating posts between praising the odd numbered episodes for setting up interesting stories, and then complaining that the even numbered episodes simply weren't as good. Because really, how many different ways can you say "Not as good as the first episode" before you run out of things to say?
Still, that's a problem for another day. Although of course that ties into the other problem with 2 parters from a weekly criticism perspective. It can be tricky critiquing a story when you've only got half of it to go on. Maybe that's why the second parts always seem to be disappointing. It's only then that we get to find out what plot points actually get to go anywhere.
It's something to think about anyway.
If I had to summarize Under The Lake in a single short phrase I think I'd describe it as being deliciously generic. Which might not sound like praise exactly, but sometimes that's exactly what you need in a story. It's classic, by the numbers Doctor Who. And it isn't exactly shy about showing exactly which other stories it's drawing on. Being most overtly a curious cross between The God Complex and the Impossible Planet. Even better, since we're doing a base under siege story underwater, in a nuclear reactor I get to start making obscure references to the Myrka.
Although, to be fair I will do this when writing about ANYTHING.
On that note, am I the only one who noticed that since we're doing a base under siege, underwater, in a nuclear reactor, with a quietly understated but actually quite diverse set of characters we can take this opportunity to see just how much of the internet we can piss off by referring to this story as Social Justice Warriors Of The Deep?
Seriously though, if you want to improve diversity in media this is how you do it. I.E. You just do it, and don't make a fuss. Think about it, the only white male in the crew is the one who is clearly either going to die horribly or get punched in the face by Jon Pertwee.
You ever notice how there's ALWAYS that one prick whose job description is "make everything worse"?
The only part that honestly feels a bit awkward is that we're given a deaf character seemingly because somebody needs to be able to lip read. Perhaps not intentionally, but there's always gonna be the implication floating there. Shame really, as she seems pretty cool.
Anyway, leaving politics aside for a moment we have a nice set of likeable characters and some interesting mysteries to solve. Like why nobody has hit Clara in the face with a shovel.
Sorry episode I'm trying really hard to be positive about. I know that you're going to have difficulty since Clara has never really managed to achieve much of a personality. But trying to fill that in with Rose at her most punchably aggravating is not going to do you any favours. Although maybe that's just the Impossible Planet / Satan Pit influence. I'm not saying that's entirely a bad thing as at least the first one of those was damn fine episode. But couldn't you have replaced her with an Ood or something?
At least it would explain where he got that tea from last episode.
Still, if the companions personality is backsliding to a previous version if the Doctors is coming back up to date. The previous 2 parter did suffer from the Doctor being a bit to nice and apologetic, which had the basic effect of making it seem like most of the dialogue had been written with Matt Smith in mind rather than Peter Capaldi. But here the 12th Doctor regains some of his rough edges. He still get's to keep a bit of the playfulness and enthusiasm though. All in all things are looking good if this keeps up. And for as much as I like to bitch about Clara existing, the bit with cards was great.
Oh yeah, this isn't getting old any time soon.
Now, there obvious questions that one could ask regarding the Doctors willingness to embrace the whole ghost thing early on. I mean, they only come out in power save mode, can only handle metal objects and can't enter an electromagnetically shielded room. You don't exactly need an advanced physics degree to posit that they're an artificially induced effect that's leaching the bases power in order to manifest. But then I guess they're saving most of that for part two. The cliffhanger does rather hinge on there still being a certain amount of mystery as to the precise nature of the ghosts after all.
Spoiler Alert: They're rock climbers.
What I like most about this episode is that whilst it isn't trying to be special or even really all that original it is at least trying to be GOOD. Let's be clear, of you want to write a 100% original Doctor Who story at this point you're going to have a bit of a job. Do you know how many Doctor Who stories there even are scattered across the various TV series, audios, books, comics and fevered dreams about the Myrka that I could have totally sworn actually happened even if nobody else knows what I'm talking about?
Well, according to Google Image Search at least ONE person knows.
No? NEITHER DO I. But there's a fucking lot. If we wanted to utterly discount an episode for having some obvious theme or element from a previous one then there'd be about 3 episode of the new series left once we finished listing all the stuff that Big Finish did first. It's fun to spot, sure. But hardly game breaking.
No what's interesting is what this episode had made me realize about certain other episodes. Like I said above, there is a difference between special and good. The problem with, for example, Moffatts Dalek episodes is he's trying to write special, not good. In fact I think this may be the main problem with all the anniversary / 11th Doctor regeneration stuff.
So yeah, this is more like... utility Doctor Who. The sort of baseline by which we measure other stories. A good solid episode, well directed and all in all the sort of thing we'd like to see more of. Whether or not it will rise above this position into a true classic or be dragged down to the screaming depths of true mediocrity and disappointment will depend on next weeks episode.
It certainly has potential to be interesting. I'm hoping for something inter-cutting between the past and the present, but that I suppose depends on how long they can manage to stretch the whole ghost Doctor thing out for. Doesn't have to be more than half an episode, since the other half will be the lead up to him getting ghostified. Not even that when you remember that you need to leave room for the actual resolution and the big reveal that he was in the box all along. That's my bet anyway. But a nice mixture of Doom and Consequence would be very nice.
That has always been the problem with 2 parters though I suppose. They build up to a great cliffhanger, but then dispose of it before the credits even start on the follow up and go off in a different direction. If you want to make a decent 2 parter then you spend one episode establishing a threat, and then then the second one actually DEALING with it.
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