#and that was quite a nice room anyway?

[billpottsismygf]

Joy to the World

Reviewing it a day late, but I enjoyed Joy to the World for the most part. It felt a little disjointed and unfocused, and honestly it seems like the Doctor didn't even need to be there (without him, the briefcase would have sent the last carrier a message and carried on its merry way). The star was never going to hurt earth and Villengard was never going to have control over it, and it's unclear why the carrier couldn't tell the Doctor that from the outset. I'll need to watch it again to decide if it feels pointless after knowing all that, but at the moment it just feels a bit underwhelming.

I liked Joy as a character, and Nicola Coughlan is truly wonderful. She did a particularly great job with her creepy blank smile and then her real and justified rage against the politicians who partied it up while they told the rest of us to isolate. I was fortunate enough not to have to say goodbye to a loved one during COVID and I can't imagine the devastation and rage people like Joy had to go through. I'm so glad this storyline was written into the show. It needs to be talked about. (Also is this the first acknowledgement of COVID happening in an episode proper? I can't remember it coming up before.)

I also liked Anita and Trev. Trev in particular had such great chemistry and banter with the Doctor, and I wish they could bring him back. However, I think the Doctor essentially gaining three one-off companions (who never properly meet) is part of what makes it feel so disjointed. Much though I liked Anita, I think basically all of that plotline could have been cut. I know it was part of the larger theme of the Doctor being lonely and hating himself, but unfortunately that whole thing felt very forced. Ncuti Gatwa still does a great job with the material and he almost manages to sell it, but the writing rang a bit hollow to me. The part that worked the best for me was him bringing out two mugs at the start, which genuinely gave me a little pang of sadness. The rest was a little too "I'm going to speak my self hatred out loud to make it nice and clear for the audience".

Also, the Doctor being cruel was interesting and quite unpleasant, but mainly all the things he said about hotel rooms and what you're willing to subject yourself to were just strange. I know he was just trying to get a rise out of Joy to get her back, but none of it had a ring of truth, which it's clearly meant to so that 1) Joy can admit he was right and 2) turn it back around on him for staying there for a year. It doesn't work, though. People just stay in hotel rooms. It's not a big deal and that was a perfectly nice one.

The whole turning into a star ending unfortunately didn't really do anything for me either. It did have me crying at Joy saying goodbye to her mother in 2020, but the rest of the ending fell flat and the Bethlehem moment was also just extremely silly. Maybe I'll get more from it in future, I don't know.

Miscellaneous other thoughts:

I really liked the Doctor staying while the Silurian was dying, but I initially thought he was doing so at the expense of chasing after Joy. When it turned out she was just waiting placidly for him, even though he was trying to hinder her mission, it slightly lessened the impact and the logic of the scene.

The couple of times the Doctor said "French" instead of a swear word was obviously to do with the expression "pardon my French", but I also have to believe it's a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which one of the worst swear words you can use is "Belgium".

[mewkwota]

Being in this new realm must be a nightmare for Trevor. He lost his weapons, his powers are suppressed...

And he can't even fit in the lockers.

[rolandkaros]

need to be so clear this is not a joke this is not sarcasm blah blah blah NO. i really dont give a fuck is qinwen actually is unpleasant or unlikable in the locker room. we get constant "access" to these people, where they are expected to be more than just tennis players but must also be public personalities, role models, marketing angels..........like i really dont give a fuck if a player decides they dont want to constantly have to cater to other people......the people in the locker room are literally your competition there isnt anything in the job description of "tennis player" that says you have to be nice to them.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

with a few minutes' reflection and a second conversation with my parents I have realized that I may have overblown things and overreacted a bit and also in some ways they're correct even if I think they're also harsh about it

[sysig]

Coming in to play! (Patreon)

[hesitationss]

i cant deal w ppl on tiktok saying they didn't like modern faerie tales because they thought the writing wasn't clear enough or too flowery... meanwhile i thought the language was too plain and explained every little thing in tfota series, but overall i thought the trilogy was fast paced so that may be a personal miff that i have... also there are crits i have about how race is handled in mfts, but the line 'what flavour of asian are you' is kaye experiencing racism... like that's the point, she's an asian main character even though she's mixed, and she's surrounded by racist assholes in new jersey... like that's a vital factor in her feeling different and othered by her white family who doesn't give a shit about her asian side, and othred by society... she experiences racism 😭 she's not just a changeling, she's also asian american...

[adriartts]

plane sheep (sheep from the plane)

[itsalwaysdark]

and when i live on my own ill be able to decorate like real life decorate ive never gotten to do that in real life b4

[widevibratobitch]

my god. skinny people really just have like. No Idea huh just absolutely not a single clue lmao it's almost funny to watch fr but then id lie if i said i wouldn't fucking kill to be able to be that ignorant

[ep1thymy]

I am sick of my liiiiiife

[echoheart0324]

Sorry for just kinda disappearing in and out lately, I recently moved into a dorm (with 7 other people...), and I genuinely feel like I'm going to lose my mind... Q.Q

[tardis--dreams]

Some of those doctors make hating oat milk their entire personality. I hate them. Cannot pretend to find them funny or like i give a shit. Fucking pretentious assholes

[itspileofgoodthings]

slowly, slowly, slowly learning how to bridge the gap in my teaching between overexplaining and underexplaining so I hit that exact sweet spot of getting the kids to the place where they’re interacting with a text that is absolutely over their heads and out of their leagues but their excitement, generated by me but sustained by them, and the right amount of scaffolding and explanation lifts them up to be able to meet it, enjoy it, learn from it, be affected by it. 

[exculis]

just found out singer made a teeny tiny miniature overlocker at some point??? and i might pick one up when i can bc. thats adorable.

[crescentmp3]

hiii! 'tis me.

[zemnarihah]

started moving some of my shit over to my new apartment today adn well. its moving.