#doctor who season 14 episode 2

[fan-of-chaos]

I love how freaked out the Doctor was in every scene in this episode since Maestro appeared.

[causalityparadoxes]

Absolutely obsessed with the decision to make a character who's really into DnD and also absolutely shit at improv btw.

It would have been be soooo easy to make him good at it. I like to imagine the Doctor expected him to be good at it too. But some of us ARE really awkward at roleplay when it comes down to it and thats okay. Rogue's one of us <3

[nomairuins]

thank GODDD the doctor is taking time to work on himself maybe now he can stop ruining womens lives .

[yahoo201027]

Now Playing: Season 1 (Series 14), Episode 2 of Doctor Who on @bbcone.

[cipher-fresh]

Mutual #1: Ruby is DEFINITELY Missy’s daughter guys

Mutual #2: I wish 15 had condemned cops or something when Ruby asked why the TARDIS looked like that

Mutual #3: CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON. CHRIS. CHRIS COME BACK BABY

Mutual #4: She Charley on my Pollard till i Scherzo

Mutual #5: I hate that Moffat is returning to write an episode. Can Steven Moffat kill himself please

Mutual #6: I love that Moffat is returning to write an episode. Can RTD kill himself please

Mutual #7: What if we kissed in front of Ianto’s shrine in Cardiff and we were both girls

Mutual #8: Chibnall’s episodes outside of his era are some of his better ones. I think for every cool thing he does there’s law of conservation of energy applies and the next episode he makes sucks

Mutual #9: I really do not mean to TJLC but i think the Doctor is going to realize he’s in a TV show this season. Bc i don’t know what to do with the death of RTD’s subtlety in foreshadowing

Mutual #10: I’m not misogynistic but I just hate everything about the 13th Doctor era and I just think it doesn’t have a single redeeming quality.

Mutual #11: You are literally an anti-feminist if you hate anything about the 13th Doctor era

Mutual #12: Spydoc are pegging each other rn in my Google docs

Mutual #13: Guys I’m getting a tattoo of the 8th doctor should it say “autism” or “lesbian” underneath in impact font

Mutual #14: It’s so sad that Simm!master turned into a puppygirl. Oh well I must comply to canon

Mutual #15: Was Thasmin queerbaiting? No nuance pick one

Mutual #16: Everybody listen to the TV movie soundtrack NEOWWWWWWW

Mutual #17: Tegan and Nyssa would have the Monkees on their sex playlist

Mutual #18: I just wish 14 got a whole season, you know? Or maybe two. Or three. Who needs 15 anyway?

Mutual #19: If David Tennant steps foot on a Doctor Who stage again I will kill him with my blade

Mutual #20: Link to pirating big finish in reblog. everybody please come to 6th Doctor land with me

[pinkiemachine]

BATMAN: GOTHAM FILES - SEASON TWO

OKAY, so this season starts off with a spectacular BANG! Joker makes his debut, causes a ton of mayhem for the Dynamic Duo, but of course, in the end, the heroes save the day. Here’s some sketches of Joker I’ve been working on…

Still not sure if this is what I wanna go with. Like I said, work in progress.

Anyway, what really matters is what happens after Joker gets defeated. He’s thrown into Arkham Asylum, for the Criminally Insane, and the doctors there attempt to treat him. Namely, one Harleen Quinzel. This does not go well. Instead of her being able to bring Joker back to sanity, he manipulates her and gets her to cross over to the insane side, becoming his twisted on-again off-again lover, and they break out of Arkham together.

But this is all happening in the background while the rest of the season goes on. The real highlight of Season 2, aside from revisiting classic villains and meeting new ones, is the arrival of BATGIRL! Now, Barbara Gordon (17) was going to get a law degree after high school, but after seeing what sort of corruption there was in Gotham from her father’s police job, she’d lost faith in the system. Instead, she became inspired by Batman to take matters into her own hands. Batman initially tries to tell her to stop—she’s just going to get herself hurt—but then she manages to make a strong case for herself. She’s smart, she’s been taking self-defence classes since she was three, she knows the criminal justice system, she’s passionate about making a difference, Robin’s allowed to fight crime despite being four years younger than her, and… she’s not going to take no for an answer. Batman begrudgingly agrees to let her help, especially after she saves his life on a mission, but he has one condition: no crime fighting alone. She must always have backup. He’s not about to let the police captain’s—now Commissioner’s—daughter get hurt on his watch. Because he knows who she really is. Because he’s a detective.

So now they’re the fanatic threesome. I should also mention that there is NO Dick X Barbara. He’s 13 now, she’s 17, both going on 14 and 18. He’s like a little brother to her. Moving on.

Some time goes by, more baddies get thrown into Arkham, and then… Bruce meets Catwoman. It happened on a cold night when Bruce was soloing it as Batman. Dick was behind on his homework, Barbara was taking time off to rest, so he was all by himself when he got called in to investigate a series of expert burglaries/murders. He had to admit, she was good at what she did. Barely a trace of her was left behind… but barely was enough. He figured out her next target and then had her captured in one fell swoop. Catwoman. It’s not like she was a brawler or anything, just a cat burglar. It was during their ride in the Batmobile later that they got to talk some and learn about each other. Bruce questioned her about the two other robberies—ones where people died—and Selina pleaded innocent. She never killed people. Then, surprising Batman, she managed to escape from right under his nose. They would meet again, though, when he and Selina teamed up to catch the other burglar who had attempted to frame Selina with murder. The two had formed something of an attachment. Selina found Bruce attractive, and Bruce thought she had some good in her (and was also attractive), and they both found themselves wanting to see each other again some time. Purely for work purposes. Bruce only wanted her to face justice. There was totally NO OTHER reason. *cough cough* I have a post where I talk more about her and her relationship with Bruce.

Moving on, there’s an episode where we briefly head to Star City and meet The Flash, but THEN we get introduced to Ghostmaker. A fellow vigilante from Bruce’s past. His rival… and friend. He had also been one of Ra’s’s top students and they had fought often, but the main difference between them was that Ghostmaker was willing to kill. Bruce wasn’t. They have some funny, witty, exciting times when he comes to visit Gotham, but in the end, Bruce establishes that Gotham is his city. And there will be no killing in his city.

Grande finale sees the return of the Joker, alongside Harley Quinn’s debut!

And guess who they’re working alongside? TONY ZUCCO!! Dick has his revenge arc, trying to chase Zucco down, but in the end… all those years of Bruce’s training keep his hands from committing the most horrible act. I mean, Dick does rough him up, but in the end, Zucco gets sentenced to life in prison. Now Dick can finally let go. He can finally visit his parents’ grave with a clear conscience. They would be proud of him for what he did. They would be proud knowing their son was not a killer.

So that’s season 2 :)

Part 3 👇

Part 1 👇

More of Bruce and Selina 👇

[the-leviathan-inside-my-mind]

A Theory on Mrs. Flood and Susan Twist

Spoilers for Season 14 ahead!

1. Susan Twist is the One Who Waits

For those who don't know, Susan Twist is an actress who has been playing multiple background characters for this season. Since The Church on Ruby Road, she has played a background character with a speaking role for each episode.

At first, this may seem like an easter egg included by Russel T Davies. However, in 73 Yards, when Susan Twist plays the old hiking lady, Ruby points out that she recognizes her.

What if this reappearing background character played by Susan Twist is actually the One Who Waits? Quite literally, they are waiting in the background of the episodes, biding their time before they finally make a full appearance.

Additionally, there is an extra bit of evidence that may at first seem too meta of a conclusion. However, with the way the show has veen exploring more meta concepts (the Maestro playing the theme song in Devil's Chord, and the theme song not showing up after The Doctor disappears in 73 yards), this might not be such a leap after all. As we know, the actress's name is Susan Twist. And what does The Doctor say at the end of The Devil's Chord, which itself becomes a full length song? He says "There's always a Twist at the end".

(Bonus I found while writing this theory: In the behind the scenes video for The Devil's Chord, Murray Gold mentions that "The song was always called There's always a twist at the end".

The fact that the song was always called this means that the title may be more important than just an artistic choice)

2. Mrs. Flood is the Oldest One.

In the Devil's Chord, the Maestro mentions the Oldest One, who was there on the day of Ruby's birth. At first, I believed that the Oldest One and The One Who Waits were the same. However, this wouldn't explain Mrs. Flood.

Mrs. Flood is certainly not a normal old woman. She is one of the only characters with the ability to break the fourth wall, and demonstrates knowledge of The Tardis, in a scene which suspiciously happens in the middle of the end credits, almost breaking the reality of the show.

I have heard the theory that she could be Older Ruby, yet we have seen old Ruby in 73 yards. Additionally, breaking the fourth wall is a reality warping power. It's a power we have only seen used by the Maestro, and The Doctor right before the Twist musical number (where reality breaks due to the remnants of Maestro's power lingering after their banishment)

Could it be that she is also a member of the Pantheon? If so, I believe that they are the Oldest One. The only major argument against this theory is that the Oldest One is stated to be a He, and Mrs. Flood is referred to as She, but Mrs. Flood can merely be another form or disguise for the Oldest One.

Ultimately, I believe it would be interesting if these two suspicious old ladies are the very extra-dimensional beings that we are warned about.

Thank you for listening to my wild theories! Reblog and comment your ideas, I'd love to know what you guys think about this. I hope you also see my next theory, which is coming out soon, on the identity of The Oldest One. See ya!

[championashley]

True Love: Why FifteenxRogue Works

WOW. Man, that Rogue episode, huh? Watching that live was probably the greatest experience I’ve had recently regarding Doctor Who. Not just as a queer viewer, but as a queer media analyst. Fifteen and Rogue truly feel like a relationship written for me to analyze, because there is simply so frickin’ much to talk about. So, allow me, gentle reader, to be your Lady Whistledown of queer alien fuckery, and guide you through analyzing the latest dalliance of our Time Lord extraordinaire with the most honest bounty hunter in the galaxy. 

We’ll be covering a LOT of ground in this: the theme of facades/masks, an interrogation of The Doctor’s perception of romantic relationships, and a deep dive into The Fifteenth Doctor’s character overall. So, needless to say, this is going be a LONG LONG piece. Grab a snack, some water, whatever you need, cause we’re going deep on this one. 

You’re still here? Fantastic! Then let us begin! Specifically, with the Fifteenth Doctor himself. Because above all else, this episode works as a dissection of his character overall. 

I’ve already done two metas regarding The Giggle’s ending and The Doctor’s perception of romance pre-Season 1/14, so if you want more elaboration, go read those here: 1, 2. But in case you don’t, I’ll sum up and expand based on what we’ve learned since. 

The Doctor, as a character, has always struggled with commitment and attachment. They never stayed in one place for long and when they did, they had an unhealthy relationship with it (Trenzalore, Darillium, Bill’s University). Romantic connection is a permutation of this larger issue, as every romantic relationship we have seen The Doctor take part in since 2005 either was unbalanced (holding back problems/outright lying) or ended in a really bad way.  However, thanks to the 60th specials and a bi-generation, The Doctor went through a massive change, and with it, came a new perception of openness and love. Fifteen is more expressive, and willing to verbally identify beauty. He openly points out how beautiful people are, and talks about previous exploits with pride. But this supposed openness betrays a deeper dishonesty still inside the Doctor. As much as Fifteen talks the talk of openness, he doesn’t often walk the walk when things get tough.

Fifteen’s character struggle is trying to break out of the Doctor’s previous patterns of unstable attachment and commitment while continuing those patterns. He values emotional honesty and encourages it in others yet simultaneously runs from it when the spotlight is on himself, even when he knows it’s beneficial and necessary for him to do so. So, with all of that in mind, let’s deep dive into Rogue (the episode, not the character, but also the character).

The best word to describe this episode is ‘deception’. Setting the episode in Bridgerton-esque Regency-era England was an appropriate choice, likening to a show that is all about facades and posturing to gain wealth and social standing (yes I am oversimplifying, don’t hurt me). Throughout the episode, we see characters who aren’t who they present themselves to be and use all manner of tools or tactics to disguise themselves to meet their ends. 

We have the Chuldur, creatures who gain pleasure from cosplaying. They thrive on creating fake entertainment for their amusement, honesty is useless if it can’t satisfy them. While this is meant as an obvious commentary on fan culture and how dangerous it can get when taken to the extreme, it also functions as a darker reflection on The Doctor’s habits. Because think about it: what are Fifteen and Ruby doing in this episode? They are having fun, dancing alongside the other partygoers. They’re wearing the outfits but only to blend in. Ruby doesn’t know how to dance, she has to wear psychic earrings to keep up. She watches the fake fight between ‘Emily’ and ‘Lord Stilton’ like she would watch an episode of Bridgerton. Her fight with Emily later in the episode is set to Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ playing in the background.

What we’re seeing in the villains is The Doctor’s pastimes becoming toxic, taking a companion and bringing them to a culture far removed from their own. But it’s not only a commentary on The Doctor overall, it’s also Fifteen’s philosophy in a darker context. Posing as sincerity and maybe containing it to some extent, but ultimately not completely honest. Through the setting and the villains, the episode is already priming us on a subconscious level to be thinking about disguises and dishonesty, a topic that both The Doctor and the Fifteenth incarnation specifically have a complicated relationship with. And then comes Rogue.

Rogue himself is such a fascinating part of the episode because he is such a deliberate disruption to this cultivated environment of deception. Rogue is the complete antithesis of everyone in the plot. He’s terrible at improvising, he’s socially awkward, he dances without needing psychic earrings, and he never cleans the inside of his ship. Rogue intentionally disrupts the narrative of lies by not being able to play the game. Even when he tries to wear a mask, the mask of an uncaring bounty hunter, He doesn’t wear it well and gets rid of it after the ship scene with The Doctor. Rogue is a character who cannot help but be who he is, he’s a character who not only can’t wear a mask but doesn’t want to. To put it simply, honesty is Rogue’s kink. That’s why the episode is named after him; it’s not just because he’s a central character, but because he provides the counter-argument to the themes of lies and deception. Rogue, the disruptor to The Chuldur’s acts of fake entertainment, and the disruptor to The Doctor’s act of cosplaying with Ruby, and on a deeper level, disrupts Fifteen’s oscillation between sincerity and repression. But we’ll get to that, we have Mount Everest's amount of context to analyze first, starting with their first meeting.

The Doctor and Rogue’s beginning scene sets the stage for the main obstacle in their relationship: their masks. ‘Cause right now we’re operating with two versions of the characters: the facade/mask versions, and the real versions. We get our first look at Rogue when Fifteen looks around for interference on the psychic earrings. He finds him being the most conspicuous while wearing the ‘bounty hunter’ mask: on a balcony (separated from the party physically), not speaking at all. 

He is standing out here but only in the way someone who knows disguises would recognize. The Doctor, remember no. 1 liar, of course he’s gonna recognize that. So much so, that he gives Rogue pointers on how to put on a better “brooding” face, literally teaching him how to wear the mask better. Rogue is an amateur mask wearer, going up against the master of mask-wearing. And that’s why Fifteen smiles when he sees him, he’s intrigued by that contradiction and wants to know more. 

Rogue meanwhile, is being rude and dismissive to scare him off, trying to keep to the mask he’s built. At this point, he knows that Fifteen also stands out from the rest but right now is assuming that he’s still a random partygoer. Notice what he says to him: 

He’s still using language and ideas someone from that era would understand. Where this deviates is this little exchange that felt familiar to me, but I couldn’t figure out from where. Until I remembered this:

(credit to @ngatwa for this set, you're amazing)

This is the first instance in the episode where Fifteen and Rogue’s relationship calls back to previous romantically-coded relationships The Doctor has had between companions. But it’s not just romantic subtext, it’s subtext that explains where the two are in the relationship. Victorian Clara was far more than what she appeared to be (a governess masquerading as a barmaid/echo of a companion scattered in the Doctor’s timeline), and the Doctor was more than he appeared to be (an alien who lived in a blue box). In asking those questions, it’s both recognition of the masks and inquiry for the real person underneath. Same thing here: Rogue and Fifteen at this point are trying to figure each other out, trying to see beyond the masks of the uncaring bounty hunter, and the flirtatious partygoer. Where things start to go wrong is that neither party fesses up to who they are. Rogue instantly assumes Fifteen is The Chuldur he’s looking for, while Fifteen assumes Rogue is a regular partygoer looking to…*ahem* create a scandal in the gardens if you get what I mean. This explains why a violin rendition of Billie Eilish’s ‘Bad Guy’ plays in the background. It’s not just a Bridgerton reference, it’s contributing to both characters’ perception of each other in this scene: both characters think the other is the “bad guy”. The lead into the scene is deception, we leave it the same way. No breakthrough yet. 

Now we’re moving on to the scene in the garden, where both masks of Fifteen and Rogue begin clashing with their real personalities. Fifteen is still being semi-sincere, still complimenting Rogue. And like water, all of it is rolling off of him because he’s still under the assumption he’s talking to a shapeshifting alien. He rudely asks about The Doctor’s info dumping and doesn’t respond to The Doctor’s compliments.

(credit to @klausbens for the gif, you're awesome)

He’s not engaging because he thinks the Doctor is not who he appears to be, and for a character that values honesty, everything Fifteen says is gonna wash over him. The moment this changes is when the two are accusing the other of the murder. Quite literally finishing each other’s sandwiches (C’mon, you know I had to throw a Frozen reference in this somewhere). 

This is a very interesting scene given our current context. Trope-wise, this is meant to communicate to the audience the bond between the two characters, they’re thinking the same thing. But the trope is flipped on its head because both characters take it in opposite directions. Both Fifteen and Rogue are in perfect sync, they are being honest about how much they understand about the situation, but that information is leading them to completely different conclusions (i.e. the other person is the Chuldur). They’re slapping more masks onto each other, this time with information they know is true, which leads to them locking in their heels and simply not being honest altogether until later. This scene is a repeat of the previous one, except this time it’s them showing their hands a bit more, making the backslide all the more difficult. Getting close to sealing the deal, then heel turn at the last minute, a classic Bridgerton move. 

So, what needs to happen to break this backslide? Well, plain and simple honesty. The scene on Rogue’s ship is when both masks start coming off. What Fifteen is doing on the ship during the scene is essentially trying to figure out Rogue. He finds out the ship is meant to be piloted by two, and he discovers the origin of Rogue’s name, the Kylie Minogue music. Which is a moment I want to zoom in on. Right before this happens when Rogue gives a cheeky response to Fifteen finding out about the name, Fifteen makes a joke and starts emphasizing his Scottish accent. This is Fifteen putting on another mask to make a joke, and Rogue doesn’t appreciate that, given his dirty look. 

Then Fifteen finds the music, which he then again uses as an opportunity to joke around and make fun of him (and flirt a little bit with him).  Fifteen is removing Rogue’s mask, while he is staying enigmatic and mysterious, which is why Rogue is still stonewalling him. HOWEVER, two can play that game, and Fifteen makes a big mistake in showing Rogue the psychic paper. This is the first time Fifteen is completely honest about his feelings towards Rogue. No mask, no posturing, complete honesty. And we see Rogue responds positively to this: 

This is the first time the two are both on the same level, communicating honestly. And that’s where we start to see genuine romantic feelings and attraction. 

But it’s not enough, so what does Fifteen do? He pulls out the big guns. He shows Rogue the truth: he’s a Time Lord from Gallifrey and has lived many different lives over hundreds of years. He not only rips off his mask, he quite literally reveals all of the other masks the Doctor has worn throughout the ages. And what is Rogue’s reaction to this? 

Complete besotted awe. If honesty is Rogue’s kink, then The Doctor revealing their faces just supercharged it. This is the moment that Rogue falls in love because he’s finally seeing who this mysterious flirty person really is. 

Now, I’m gonna pull out another previous Doctor romance for two reasons: One, I’ve been seeing this comparison floating around for a while, and if you know me and my old analyses, it’s that I cannot leave an inaccurate take alone, and two, because I think it applies here. I’ve been seeing comparisons online of this episode to Girl in the Fireplace, in which a new character falls in love with The Doctor and gets the rare opportunity to see their true self. But what makes Reinette different from Rogue is that honesty kink. Reinette was attracted to the mystery of the Doctor, her childhood hero who somehow doesn’t age. Note when he comes back the first time, she focuses on how strange he is:

She learns more about them later, but she was already in love with them before that. Rogue doesn’t want the mystery. In reality, The Doctor wearing masks is a turnoff for him. He only wants the real thing, so when Fifteen reveals the truth, that’s when the genuine romance begins. 

(We could also extend this comparison to the discussion of consent: Reinette found out everything without The Doctor's permission, while Fifteen revealed all the info by himself, but whether we can consider this consensual depends on your definition of consent under duress/threat. So I’m not entirely sure what to make of this conversation, feel free to expand in the tags/replies cause I want to hear more about this)

So now we’re moving along to the TARDIS scene. We continue with the theme of disguises with the whole “bigger on the inside” routine, Fifteen riffing as Willy Wonka for a hot moment singing Pure Imagination, and we have Rogue’s momentary slip-up:

(credit to klausbens for the gifs, you're awesome)

This is a great sign of character growth because while he’s maybe not wholly honest about his feelings towards The Doctor, he still is open about his love for the TARDIS, an important part of The Doctor’s life, so big step right there. 

I want to pay attention to the heart-to-heart here because watching what Fifteen says and how he reacts is extremely important to getting his view on the situation. Because right now, I wouldn’t say The Doctor is in love with Rogue back. While there is a lot of attraction and hints at a deeper bond, Fifteen is still operating with most of his mask on. Notice that when he asks Rogue about the person he lost, Ncuti Gatwa’s blocking has him leaning on the railing at an angle to the side of Rogue. He’s purposely staying at a distance, yet is leaning on the railings to appear casual. 

And when Rogue starts opening up, he moves closer and they’re at equal distance from each other.

We get a really sweet (and allegorical to the queer community) moment about The Doctor’s motivation of living out of respect for the dead, to keep living each day that they lost. And then we get Fifteen inviting Rogue onto the TARDIS. I want to focus on this because he doesn’t seem upset or disappointed by Rogue countering this offer by inviting The Doctor to travel with him, meaning he doesn’t see this as a “take it or leave it” offer. In fact, the compromise Fifteen comes up with, “let’s argue across the stars” and Rogue accepting it, is what leads to the almost kiss. So that prompts the question, what is Fifteen trying to say here? 

Well, what Fifteen is asking for is to continue seeing Rogue. It doesn’t matter to him if he’s on the TARDIS or not, all that matters is that he still has him in his life. The choice to see him more. Why does that sound familiar? Because that’s exactly what I wrote about in my dissertation on The Giggle’s Ending: 

“In giving Fourteen their own TARDIS, Fifteen is allowing his younger self to have what they always removed from the equation: free will. The Doctor can still go anywhere they want, which makes them even more motivated to stay and fix themself. Fourteen can feel safe staying with Donna, Wilf, Mel, Rose, Shaun, and Sylvia because the option to travel is still there.”

Fifteen’s love language is giving the people he cares about the freedom to express the love they already have within them. He values freedom above all else, and when Rogue accepts that freedom, that’s when we get the almost-kiss. This is the moment where The Doctor falls in love with Rogue back because it’s Rogue being willing to meet The Doctor where they’re at. He’s allowing Fifteen to set the pace and not force himself on him. 

Additionally, this willingness to be as slow or fast as The Doctor needs means far more to The Doctor overall than to just Fifteen. Many people have already pointed out the similarities between the line “let’s argue across the stars' and previous lines the Doctor has said to villainous characters like The Master and The Toymaker:

"We can take your games back to the stars."

"We can fight across the constellations if that's what you want".

Now, why is that? It’s because again, The Doctor’s perception of Rogue is evolving in this scene. Remember, up to this point, The Doctor doesn’t entirely know Rogue’s morality. All they know is that Rogue is a bounty hunter, and is not afraid to use his gun when he deems appropriate. There’s even a little line in this scene before the heart-to-heart where Fifteen specifically imposes his own brand of morality on the situation: “Whatever the Chuldur has done, I can’t let you kill it.” Now, we know that The Doctor’s morality and romantic life can conflict: River being a known murderer/psychopath, their longtime situationship, and later attempted rehabilitation of The Master/Missy. This is another feature of The Doctor’s character: while they do act like they have the final say on what is right, they also compromise that morality for people they care about. 

Like how The Doctor surprised Rogue by showing all of his faces, Rogue surprised the Doctor right back by not only being honest about his past but by being willing to accept The Doctor’s compromise. This moment is when The Doctor finds out that Rogue is a good person, and that The Doctor doesn’t need to compromise their morality when entering this relationship.

This heart-to-heart is about Rogue not only winning over the Fifteenth Doctor by agreeing with his values of freedom but also winning over The Doctor overall by just genuinely being a good person. But of course, the moral duty of taking care of the Chuldur rears its head in the form of the TARDIS alerting that the trap is ready. The bubble has popped and we still have a long way to go. 

(Plus, Fifteen’s facial expression in this shot perfectly captures that trademark “Oh.” moment, realizing you’re in love with someone but then taping it down to focus back on the immediate problem. Love you Ncuti Gatwa, you do great work)

Alright, now we’re at the dance/fake proposal scene. Oh lord, so much happens here with both dialogue and production regarding character, so let’s take this one at a time. Fifteen, Rogue and now Ruby have figured out the big plot regarding the Chuldur, their obsession with cosplay and dressing up to create drama. In response, Fifteen comes up with the idea to essentially beat them at their own game: create a fake scandal to draw them out. 

Now on paper and in terms of beating the bad guys, this is a plan that could and does work, but in terms of his relationship with Rogue: THIS. WAS. A. BAD. IDEA. Why? The very idea of masks and faking not only was the leading cause of them not connecting in the beginning but specifically doesn’t work with Rogue. You can see it in how Rogue nervously looks at Ruby and Emily when Fifteen asks him to dance, and even questions the validity of the plan: 

(credit goes to @carricfisher for texted gif, you're awesome)

It’s not just that he doesn’t know about homophobia, he just doesn’t like the idea of pretending at all. But the reason why it doesn’t collapse right away is because it’s not entirely pretending. The dance may function on the surface to create a scene, but for Rogue (and Fifteen albeit to a smaller extent) it doubles as an intimate moment between them. This connects to the choice of dimming the lights in an unrealistic way (which btw, as a film student, had me going insane watching it live). We’re seeing a deliberate break in reality, a dishonest showcase of the story being told, that serves the purpose of highlighting an ultimately honest and sincere act of love. Both The Doctor and Rogue are warping the aesthetic of deception in terms of the narrative by fabricating a scandal, and in terms of the production by changing the lighting. 

But of course, things start going to hell right there. Fifteen tries to up the drama and Rogue can’t keep up. Rogue overcorrects and proposes to Fifteen, who freaks out and leaves the room. Now, I don’t want to get into the question of whether or not Rogue was playing along by proposing or being genuine (Personally speaking, I think it was both. 70% true, and 30% fake). Instead, I want to clear up why Fifteen freaked out here. I’m sure a lot of the long-time audience could already guess that it was parallel to River Song, The Doctor’s wife, but I think it’s more layered than that. Why would a reference to River scare the Doctor so much, aside from reminding them of a close person they lost? Because the last time the Doctor got married to someone they truly loved, it involved a 24-year stay on Darillium, which he knew would end in tragedy. Note the word choice here:

“Sorry I…I can’t.”

Not ‘I don’t want this’, it’s a void of agency (which connects to my piece on The Giggle’s ending and freedom). The Doctor can’t have that with Rogue, he was fine with them being casual to avoid the possibility of losing him. 

But on my first watch, I couldn’t help getting a little bit cross with Fifteen here, because the amount of ball fumbling on display is outright ridiculous; The Time Lord brings himself onto the dancefloor, with a guy he nearly made out with two minutes ago, gets all up in his face and starts shouting at him to “tell me what you heart wants!” and then completely freezes when said guy starts proposing to him. What in the fuck did you expect was going to happen, bud?! What made you think this would go off without a hitch?

I want to preface this by saying I had a completely different reading of this scene for a long time. My original thought was that Fifteen was trying to do multiple things simultaneously. He potentially was trying to lure out the Chuldur by creating scandal and at the same time, was trying to have a serious talk with Rogue about where he’s at emotionally. These lines in particular have fascinated me since my first watch: “You would ask me to give up my title, my fortune. But what future can you promise me?”. It did feel like these lines hinted at Fifteen’s thought process at this moment, he chose those specific lines to use for this moment. Was Fifteen trying to have an honest conversation with Rogue about their relationship while being fake to everyone else? But that doesn’t make sense considering the previous conversation in the TARDIS showed Fifteen comfortable with the idea of them being casual and Rogue respecting that, so it doesn’t make sense with where Fifteen is progression-wise. 

But it wasn’t until writing out this piece that I realized I had it all wrong and the truth was far simpler: this is a repeat of their meeting on the balcony, albeit with higher personal stakes. Let’s take a step back here: What is happening in this scene? Fifteen and Rogue are completely missing what the other is trying to say. Fifteen ignored Rogue being visibly uncomfortable over being back to playing with masks, and Rogue is not getting if Fifteen wants him to be genuine or not. Just like on the balcony and the garden, where both sides think they’re saying one thing when it’s the opposite. Before, both parties were wrong about who they were, now both parties are wrong about what they want. 

Fifteen is saying complete bullshit here, not true stuff to their situation but stuff that their audience would react to. He’s being over the top on purpose to elicit reactions. Meanwhile Rogue is thinking he’s being genuine. He thinks Fifteen is, through code speak, trying to genuinely ask him these questions. Which leads him to get down on one knee. And that’s a big problem because Rogue doesn’t know that proposing is wading into a gargantuan trauma pool for The Doctor. This scene is a magnified example of the duo’s problem with masks and not being completely honest with each other. 

However, while this scene may have been a cause for regression from The Doctor on the relationship part, Rogue on the other hand has an epiphany. In the scene following this one, we get the truly iconic callback of “Run.” and Rogue taking the Doctor’s hand. Why is this important? Well, there are three specific examples that this moment is calling back to: 

Nine meeting Rose ("Run!")

Victorian Clara and Eleven fleeing from the Ice Governess ("I do the handgrabbing! That's my job! That's always me!")

Twelve running with River ("Stop holding my hand! People don't do that to me!")

Nine meeting Rose establishes this idea of protection: The Doctor taking care of someone by leading them away from danger. The other two examples are subversions of that idea: Clara and River are now leading The Doctor out of danger. Same principle here, except here it has a bit more context behind it. Clara and River subverting that act of protection made sense given who they were: Clara as an echo across The Doctor’s time stream knew who The Doctor was and what they needed, even if she didn’t know it consciously when the moment happened. River as The Doctor’s wife also knew who they were and what they needed at the time. 

By connecting Rogue’s action of taking Fifteen’s hand and running to Clara and River, it not only again connects Fifteen and Rogue to previous romantic relationships, but it also shows Rogue learning from his mistake. Rogue’s mistake in the proposal scene was him not figuring out what Fifteen needed at that moment, it was a major miscommunication. Now, at this moment, Rogue is starting to figure out what he needs to do. He is, to use relationship lingo, "shelving his agenda" to help the Doctor. 

And that progression continues through the last leg of the episode, including the moment when Fifteen thinks Ruby is dead. I’ve always found this moment in particular so fascinating because of how loud it is metaphorically for both characters. Fifteen is taking off the mask of coolness and revealing that Doctor™ anger. This is a complete switch-up from what he’s been like throughout most of the episode. Yet when he lets out that chilling line, “Good. That’s a long time to suffer.” Rogue doesn’t look all that scared or mad at him. 

The face Rogue makes here looks far closer to a resigned sadness, almost like he knew that he would have that reaction. Keep in mind that Rogue knows nothing about The Doctor at their worst, all that he knows right now is that they lost “everyone”. Compare that with Donna, who was outright terrified of The Doctor when at their worst (for good reason though). 

Rogue isn’t surprised by this at all. He’s not asking “What happened to this person in front of me?”, he’s realizing “This is how much he cares about his best friend.” He’s seeing the depth of this person’s love that is inexorably linked to the depth of his grief, and is realizing he can’t allow that grief to corrupt this person he’s grown to love, even if it means endangering himself. Which is exactly what ends up happening.

This is where the theme of masks finally pays off. At the beginning of the episode, both Rogue and Fifteen are wearing their masks (cold, uncaring bounty hunter, and flirtatious partygoer). Those masks started to come down, but that got messed up thanks to miscommunication. Rogue didn’t understand what The Doctor needed from him, causing their trauma to resurface and The Doctor ran away from having to deal with that grief. This final scene is them being completely honest with each other. Rogue asks him “Can you lose your friend to save the world?”, and Fifteen tells him the truth. He can’t, he can’t let that happen again. And Rogue understands that, he finally knows what needs to be done. And so he kisses him. Why did Rogue kiss him? Again, it’s a repeat of a previous scene, this time the dance. Rogue is comfortable putting on a mask/doing something dishonest when there’s an aspect of truth to it. Even if they danced together to serve a lie, it still was a moment powered by romantic feelings. Same with the kiss. Rogue had wanted to kiss him, so he felt comfortable doing something with an ulterior motive (taking the button from him) because it was also something he would’ve wanted to do regardless of the situation. 

But why did Rogue do it? The one line that I kept thinking of in summing up the intent behind Rogue's sacrifice was, ironically, from Frozen: "Love is...putting someone else's needs before yours”. Essentially, shelving your agenda, like we’ve been saying. Back in the proposal scene, Rogue’s mess up was not figuring out what Fifteen needed out of him at that moment. Fifteen needed him to play along in faking and instead, Rogue heel turned into a lot of trauma for The Doctor. So now, after seeing how important Ruby was to Fifteen, so important that he was willing to torture The Chuldur out of grief, Rogue is putting The Doctor’s needs before his own and stopping him from having to choose between her and the world. It's also why Rogue wiping away his tears before the kiss was so crazy because that's normally the Doctor's job. The Doctor is normally the one who turns sadness into hope. This time, someone else is doing that for him.

(credit to ngatwa again)

The greatest act of love in the episode was not the proposal, it was the sacrifice.

To close our tale, let us circle back to talking about Fifteen’s character arc. I opened this essay by talking about Fifteen’s main character flaw being a contradiction: both valuing emotional intimacy and running from it. That doesn’t seem to change by the end of this episode, so much so that Ruby forces Fifteen to take a moment and mourn Rogue’s loss when he wants to steamroll forward. But there’s one little detail left: Fifteen kept the ring. Not only kept it but is wearing it in the season finale to the point of even playing with it like a nervous tick. 

That bond, that relationship was so important to him that he doesn’t allow himself to ignore it. It’s only after he has that hug with Ruby that he pulls out the ring and chooses to wear it. Rogue is the one thing Fifteen won’t run away from because what they had wasn’t fake. It was real. 

Rogue, the supposed bounty hunter who only cared about wealth, loved The Doctor so much that he was willing to give up his life for his friend. The Doctor, the supposed Time Lord who flees from attachment, loves Rogue enough to remember him every day.  

I ask you, gentle readers, how could one resist a love story like that?

NOTE: some extra bits I wanted to include that I couldn’t fit anywhere else: I’m such a sucker for color symbolism, and having Rogue wear blue in contrast to Fifteen’s normally warm color palette, as well as blue being the color of The TARDIS…it just makes me feel things, ya’ know? 

Also, by not gendering Rogue’s previous partner, only ever using they/them pronouns, it helps add to the relationship in a social commentary way. It subtly shows that Rogue already has experience/is attracted to people who on some level defy gender norms, which helps prime the audience to buy Rogue accepting/liking The Doctor being able to change gender when regenerating.

Essentially, I'm insane over these two, and I need them back on screen as soon as possible.

[silvereyedowl]

About Susan...

We all know by now that Susan Triad is not Susan Foreman.

But I think Susan is going to show up.

See, in the entire history of 21st-century Doctor Who as a TV show, before this season, she had been referenced a total of thrice:

In "The Rings of Akhaten" (2013), the Doctor mentions visiting Tiaanamaat with his granddaughter.

A few episodes later in "The Time of the Doctor", Susan has an actual, out-of-focus cameo during the scene where one of Clara's echoes counteracts the Great Intelligence's meddling by directing the First Doctor to steal the correct TARDIS. But she only appears briefly and her face is not seen.

In 2017's series 10, the Doctor has a photo of Susan on his desk at the university.

That was it.

Then along comes series 14 (2024).

In episode 2, "The Devil's Chord", while visiting 1963, the Doctor casually points out to Ruby that his past self is living with Susan in Shoreditch right now. This is, significantly, the first time in the 21st century show that she has been identified by name.

Then, in "The Legend of Ruby Sunday", the fact that the head of the company that just recently renamed itself to an anagram of TARDIS is named Susan is brought up to possibly mean that she's the Susan, something that the episode's plot runs with until it's revealed to be a trap masterminded by Sutekh.

But the sheer amount of emphasis on Susan Foreman is new for the New Series.

In short... I think we can expect her to show up in the flesh soon. Maybe it won't be this season, but she's coming.

[bomikalover]

Did my yearly rewatch of Austin and Ally (all 4 seasons) and now I’m hyper fixated on it. So I decided to yap my head off on here so if you don’t care for anything A&A specific then just scroll and enjoy my other posts or edits of the stuff you do like 🫶🏾

Anywaysss, why I’m here.

AUSTIN AND ALLY’S PARENTS ARENT GOOD PARENTS!!

There i said it.

The only one I give slack is Ally’s mom as she mostly lives in Africa for work (I think?? I kinda black out the parents storyline since I’m here for any else but the parents) plus she wrote a book and when she was in Miami with Ally she spent all her time WITH HER DAUGHTER. She gave advice, presents, and even gave her an opportunity to sing at her event which was the event she overcame her greatest fear. She was polite and sweet to all the kids, put effort to talking to them, and getting to known them. We’ve seen her for maybe 2-3 episodes TOPS in the whole show but I never disliked her. Do I think she could have had a talk with her ex-husband and made him work at his own business?? Yes but they spilt for a reason and maybe she was just already mentally clocked out of anything dealing with him…cuz I know I am.

Her dad on the other hand I majorly dislike. He opened a business just to leave in the hands of his only daughter between ages 14-18 while she was already occupied with school and then her career as an artist. Plus she had friends and a young life that she wanted to live. Fortunately Ally was lucky her 3 friends stuck around all day in Sonic Boom helping out and hanging there instead of completely leaving Ally out since she was constantly busy with work.

He was also extremely cheap. Like being cheap with urself is fine but with ur daughter is a whole nother thing. Like when he gave her emergency funds for when she went to go on tour with Austin and she actually needed it as she was stranded in an unknown state. Just to find out that her dad only gave her $6 and an expired coupon. She once again was on her own and performed for her own well-being.

And he was also unsupportive of Ally sometimes. Like in the first episode when he said that she had one in a billion chance of making it into the music industry. (Austin’s dad said that as well, but we’ll get to him later) WHAT?! Is it so hard to be supportive of ur daughter. (He does support her in future episodes but for me it’s says a lot that the first impression we get of her father is that he’s unsupportive and only wants her to run the family store)

Speaking of no support and forcing their child to follow their footsteps…Mike and Mimi Moon.

They also came out the bat being unsupportive but seemed to care enough to not force Austin to work at the Mattress Kingdom. But they heavily offered the job every time something went slightly off course with Austin’s Career. (Him getting vocal nodes or when he chose loving Ally over his career that he’s been passionately working on for years)

Both of A&A’s parents were just letting their kids travel by themselves or go on tour by themselves. (It’s EXTREMELY common for parents to be MIA in kids tv but these rubbed me the wrong way) like we rarely saw Mr.Dawson at Ally’s performances Vice versa with Austin and his parents. It took Austin having to go the doctors or Ally moving away super far to accomplish her goals to get their attention.

I’m not surprised Auslly has such a strong unbreakable bond when they’re two only children with neglectful parents who are unsupportive of their dreams. They have no one to relate to and share the passion with beside each other. They both have best friends that have been in their lives YEARS before each other yet Auslly talk of each other as if that’s all they have is each other. (Side note: the way Auslly write their songs make me question how much stuff they truly went through together. Like “You can come to me” lyrics are so sweet and intimate but also so deep but it’s extremely evident that they are singing these lyrics to each other and only each other. Like they surpassed hurdles that Dez and Trish weren’t there to surpass with them. I wonder how much of Auslly we haven’t seen and will never see.)

Dez and Trish aren’t only children like Austin & Ally. Dez has a (older?) sister and Trish has a little brother. Both their families seemed extremely happy, loving, and outwardly supportive of them…I can’t say the same for Austin and Ally.

I could go on and on about this topic alone but I’ll spare your eyes from all the reading and stop yapping. But I’ll gladly talk about all my other thoughts about certain A&A things. Like the Auslly dynamic in a whole, why Austin’s passion for music is so strong, or even why Trish can’t keep a job.

But that’s a yapper-sation for another time.

[stargazerlily7210]

Hello, and welcome to my TED Talk.

In this essay, I will demonstrate why I think Mrs. Flood is Susan Foreman (aka The Doctor's Granddaughter, aka The Unearthly Child, aka The Boss, aka The One Who Waits).

I know, I know. Not exactly the hottest take out there.

But buckle in, cause this goes deep.

Getting this out of the way first: I know this season has been billed as a bit of a fresh start (what with calling it Season 1, and all) and thus people are wary about assuming Mrs. Flood is a returning character. But let's be real. Just look at the 60th anniversary specials. Ya know, the massive 3 parter whose plot has set everything in motion for this next season.

They feature The 14th Doctor (aka The 10th Doctor revamped) with Donna Noble and her family (from the 2000's), Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (from the 2010's) who is both the current leader of UNIT (from Classic Who) and the daughter of The Brigadier: original leader of UNIT (throughout all of Classic Who), The Meep (from a Classic Who comic strip of all things) The Toymaker (Classic Who) and Mel (Classic Who).

And that's just the characters. Never mind the near constant references to both New and Classic Who.

They made it appealing and approachable to new viewers, sure. But they've already proven they're not actually interested in distancing themselves from the show's past.

So why do I think she's Susan, specifically?

Well, for starters, although the age of an actress doesn't really mean much in a 60 yr old time-travel show that's already had (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVENT SEEN THE 11TH DOCTOR'S EPISODES!!) a parent-child dynamic where the daughter is not just played by an actress who's noticably older than the parents, but also canonically met the doctor first, despite her parents being the primary companions, (and each of them are played by both adult and child actors). But Anita Dobson is 74. Which would have made her 14/15 when the show started in 1963. Around the same age Susan Foreman is supposed to be/appear.

But again, that doesn't really mean anything in this show. So why else would I think she's Susan? And why do I think this means she's also The Boss mentioned by the Meep, AND The One Who Waits mentioned by The Toymaker?

Well, because I think it all falls into place with some of the big themes they've been pushing in the episodes so far, if she's Susan.

I mean, from what I know of Susan, she was a refugee from Galifrey, with her grandfather, The Doctor. As far as we know, he's her only family. He'd basically been raising her until she caught feelings for a human guy, so The Doctor decided she'd be better off staying on Earth. Effectively abandoning his very traumatized teenage granddaughter in 1960's London. It wasn't malicious, he was trying to do what's best for her. But he still left her there against her will and never came back for her.

So she's an orphaned teenage refugee, raised in a high-tech alien culture, stuck in the 1960's, with her first major crush as her primary confidant and caregiver. Let's be real. She'd have been deemed a mentally unstable minor, and at best institutionalized, at worst dissected/studied, in a heartbeat (or rather, two heartbeats (a surprise tool that'll help us later)).

So here we have a woman who's likely been drugged and tortured ("psychotherapy" in the 1960s, am I right?), gaslit, and desperately isolated for a significant portion of her life. With a massive list of reasons to both deeply resent and have seriously dissociated from The Doctor and the TARDIS.

And now we finally get to the new episodes:

The Meep says that creatures with two hearts are so rare that it can't wait to tell The Boss about The Doctor. So we have The Meep, who just happened to pick Earth to "crash land" on, answering to a nameless Boss who's on the lookout for 2 hearted creatures. Thus, we're looking for someone with both a connection to Earth and intimate knowledge of Timelord biology.

The Toymaker says even he didn't dare face The One Who Waits. Which says a lot, considering the importance and prevalence of people described as Waiting with a capitol W.

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE 10TH and 11TH DOCTOR'S EPISODES!!) Off the top of my head, I can think of Jack Harkness aka The Face of Boe who waited billions of years to see The Doctor again. We have Amy Pond aka The Girl Who Waited, and Rory Williams aka The Boy Who Waited. We even have Sara Jane Smith, who's first real conversation with the The Doctor after finding him again had her admitting she'd spent her whole adult life waiting for him to come back. So to be The One Who Waited, above and beyond all others? You'd have to have somehow waited more than the rest. And when you're already talking about Waiting upwards of 5 Billion years, that's tough to do. Unless you're looking at it from The Doctor's perspective. And the Granddaughter he'd abandoned 15 lifetimes ago would absolutely fit that bill.

So we have an individual who is intelligent/knowledgeable enough to be called The Boss by an alien kapable of mind control and space flight, who's searching for creatures with 2 hearts. Who's earned the title of The One Who Waits, above so many other candidates.

And we just so happen to meet a character who's being played by an actress the same age Susan should be.

Speaking of, we can finally look at Mrs. Flood herself. When I first watched the episode, it struck me just how angry she was at seeing the TARDIS. When it's far more normal to see people ignoring the thing. So her reaction is weird, both in general, and for a character the actress herself described as a friendly neighbor lady.

It's only after she's utterly shocked by the TARDIS disappearing in front of her that she starts acting different. As if seeing that unlocked her memories. From there on out, she's a different person who knows exactly what's going on. She even addresses the audience at the end and knows to call it a TARDIS. Which Susan of all people would know, as Susan claimed to have come up with the acronym herself, during her time with the 1st Doctor (whether that's technically canon or not, idk).

It's also worthy to note, that if you look at the houses during the scene where she's complaining about the TARDIS, you'll see that on the outside, her house, while the most extravagantly decorated outside, is noticably stark and empty inside, unlike each of the other houses where you can clearly see decorations through the windows. Not to mention, her door is the only one that looks like the TARDIS. The other doors are either the wrong shade, or style, or both. And her's is the only one that doesn't have stairs going to the second level. I don't know how much of this is just working within the confines of the location, and how much is intentional, or what it would mean, but we see enough wide shots of the house fronts, it seems potentially relevant.

So if Mrs. Flood is, in fact, Susan Foreman, she's exactly the right age, she'd have had more than enough reason to be triggered by the sight of the TARDIS, more than enough intelligence/knowledge to reach Boss status in her search for a rare two-hearted creature and being The Doctor's Granddaughter, could absolutely intimidate The Toymaker, and have more than enough claim to the title of The One Who Waited.

And if she turned out to be a future Big Bad, she would have the trauma, reasoning, skillset, and intelligence to truly challenge The Doctor and force him to deal with the repercussions of his habit of never stopping or looking back at his actions or mistakes.

We've never seen if Susan can regenerate as far as I'm aware, but we know she's a Timelord and significantly younger than The Doctor. So if she can, the actress has already suggested that Mrs. Flood will go through quite a transformation throughout future episodes. We might be seeing the birth of a new antagonist for a new generation of the show.

Honorable Mention: I feel like The Boss is right up there with The Doctor and The Master. And RTD would absolutely make The Boss a bada** boss babe.

Phew. That was a whole essay. If you've made it this far, congrats!! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[moonsharky]

buddie ∘⁠˚⁠˳⁠° 911 abc + others assuming they have nobody in their lives requested by anonymous

[Image Description:

4 gifs of Evan "Buck" Buckley and Eddie Diaz from 9-1-1 season 6 episodes 11 and 14.

Gif 1: Season 6 episode 11, Buck wakes up inside his coma dream in a hospital bed. He wears a green hospital gown, and a confused look upon his face as he listens to the doctor (his dead brother; Daniel). Daniel says; "Maybe next time you decide to go up on a ladder, you should have someone there to spot you."

Gif 2: Buck frowns lightly, a minute smile on his face as he moves his head downward in thought and responds with; "I did."

Gif 3: From season 6 episode 14 when Eddie is talking to his Tia Pepa (Josephina), the two of them sitting in her kitchen. Josephina wears a black turtleneck with a few gold chains hanging loosely from her neck, and a dark pink almost red cardigan. She looks softly at Eddie as she says; "The longer that you're alone, the easier it is. I don't want that for you." The camera moves to Eddie, who has his head ducked as he swallows and nods along to her words.

Gif 4: Eddie wears a grey button down shirt, and his eyebrows are raised ever so slightly. He replies with; "Me either." and turns his head to look at Josephina.

/end ID]

[autisticstevenuniverse]

Rating Every Nu Who Episode: Season 14

The Star Beast: 9/10 DONNA'S BACK!! And I love Rose, and I love that they found a way for it to be ok after all, and I love that the cute sweet innocent beastie was evil. Loses one point though because Rose should not be named Rose because (1) that's confusing and (2) after all the deal with the Doctor needing to move on to current companions, really?

Wild Blue Yonder: 10/10 creepy af and I love that Donna immediately broke everything through coffee. Thought about taking off a point for making me watch through my fingers, but I think that is actually a testament to how good it is.

The Giggle: 9/10 so weird and funny and horrifying and silly! Love that they seem to have realized that if they pile any more trauma on this character he won't be able to function, so he needs to heal a bit. Just a point off because the original Toymaker episode is lost to time.

The Church on Ruby Road: 9/10 I love everything about this episode, especially the impromptu musical number, but it does lose a point for the literal baby-eating goblins because come on guys, really?

Space Babies: 8/10 I'm not as obsessed with this episode as the others this season but I thought it was so, so sweet.

The Devil's Chord: 9/10 loved everything about the plot but it didn't feel like they did enough with the 60's setting. Did enjoy the Maestro SO much and the musical number at the end was great.

Boom: 10/10 perfect use of plot and characters without changing setting hardly at all. Great commentary on war and capitalism etc.

73 Yards: 7/10 because it was a Blink-level setup that I didn't feel paid off very well, with no answers or hints of answers in the end.

Dot and Bubble: 15/10 holy shit. The racism commentary in a way talking about young people on social media instead of old white guys in charge or a distant, historical context. The layers to it. The way you realize after the fact some of the things that could be dismissed definitely having to do with the Doctor's race. The bright and poppy aesthetic. Them literally preferring to die than to let a Black man save them. His confusing mix of anger and pain at this new experience. Instant favorite episode.

Rogue: 10/10 NOW the Doctor has it in him to be gay. He just had to go to therapy first lol. Too bad Rogue immediately vanished. Can't wait for him to come back. Also the cosplay theme was so clever and fun.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday: 7/10 it was fine. Just fine. I liked a lot of it, but it was much less exciting than the previous several.

Empire of Death: 9/10 I really loved it, from Fifteen screaming at the death of the universe to falling back into patterns of blaming himself to the peek at the emptiness it all caused. It loses a point because I wanted a lot more answers about Ruby, the 4th wall breaks, etc, but only one because I trust we'll get those next season.

Bonus Character Rating

Fourteen: 10/10 I love that he's like Ten but not the same, and that he finally gets some recovery time.

Fifteen: 10/10 he is NEW and DIFFERENT but still definitively the Doctor. He is so expressive and so much fun and clearly still traumatized but better than he was.

Ruby: 8/10 not the best companion ever, but she is sweet and fun and I like her.

[yahoo201027]

The Season (Broadcast) Premiere of Doctor Who (double billing)...

...on @bbcone ((available now on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ in the US and internationally).

[glennk56]

Gerard Horan. British actor who often plays detectives on TV. These photos range from 2002-2013. I like to see wearing something other than the typical detective suit and tie and playing roles other than that.

Gerard Horan Photo Page.

Nicholas Nickelby (period adventure romance adapted from Charles Dickens noval), 12/2002. pictured with Timothy Spall.

2-4. My Family 5;9. (tv Family sitcom starring Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker that ran for 11 seasons, 2000-2011) 5/2004.

5-6. Marple 1;4. 1/2005 (tv mystery based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novels set in the 1950s)

7. Timewatch 4;2. 3/2005. (investigative documentary series on historical events-This particular episode follows the life of Cicero.

8. Oliver Twist 9/2005. (Apapted from the Charles Dickens Novel) Gerard played a small role as a Farmer.

9-10. Doc Martin 2;1, 11/2005. (from very long running Comedy/drama TV series) I posted photos from this episode earlier.

11-13. Dalziel and Pascoe 10;7 4/2006. (Long-running personality driven whodunnit crime drama.) Gerard plays a suspect in this episode.)

14. The Royal 5;10, 5/2006. (Hospital drama) Gerard has only a small role in this episode.)

15. As You Like It, 9/2006. (adapted from Shakespeare's play)

16-19. Doctor Who 3;8, 5/2007. (from the 2 part episode Human Nature and The Family of Blood during David Tennant's turn as the Doctor)

20-21. Kingdom 1;4, 5/2007. (Crime comedy/drama starring Stephen Fry) Gerard played a recurring character D.C. Yelland.

22. Lark Rise to Candleford 1;3, 1/2008. (short-lived Romance Drama set in the Victorian Era) Gerard appeared in all 6 episodes.)

23. Kingdom 3;3, 4/2009.

24. DCI Banks 1;6, 10/2011. (Crime/Mystery Drama)

25. My Week With Marilyn. 10/2011. (A film of the making of the film The Prince and The Showgirl)

26. Appropriate Adult (miniseries) 12/2011.

27. Dancing On the Edge. (award-winning miniseries) 2/2013. John Goodman plays a prominent role. Gerard has a small role.

[heyclickadee]

So, I’ve been texting my dad (mostly) spoiler free summaries of The Bad Batch all season, each with a different theme (bad batch episodes as Disney park rides, bad batch episodes so far as out of context Wrecker lines, etc), and the last one was just me trying to make the episodes as mundane as possible. Which basically went like:

1. The Spoils of War: A questionable middle-manager tempts her employees with the sizeable performance bonus.

2. The Ruins of War: Mom horrified to learn that their daughter took him literally while their brother refuses to acknowledge a medical emergency.

3. The Solitary Clone: Depressed man who hates his job and never gets a lunch break is forced to deal with the woman who keeps ignoring all the “under new management” signs.

4. Faster: Gifted pilot reveals that he is no more responsible than either the man child or the literal child he was left to supervise.

5. Entombed: Child convinces her aunt to take her to a high tech corn maze; exhausted dad reluctantly tags along.

6. Tribe: Dad Squad steps in to help with a carpool.

7. The Clone Conspiracy: Career soldiers contemplate retirement.

8. Truth and Consequences: Wanted criminals break in to the world’s most dangerous Blockbuster to find a rare video.

9. The Crossing: Family goes spelunking in Space Moab.

10. Retrieval: Demolitions expert is so hangry he accidentally stumbled into a Dickens novel.

11. Metamorphosis: Four idiots go out of their way to prove that they have never seen a horror movie.

12. The Outpost: New transfer goes birdwatching in the snow.

13. Pabu: Broke ne’erdowells eat sushi.

14. Tipping Point: Responsible big brother teaches little sister how to drive the family car while one brother grabs dinner and the other has a doctor’s appointment.