#moffat how dare you make me witness this parallel

[dontbelasagne]

"because every Christmas..."

"...is last Christmas"

Doctor Who (Christmas Specials 2013 / 2014)

"The Time of The Doctor" "Last Christmas"

[f0xeg1rl]

TAB: it’s all about the Fall

I have a bunch of meta thoughts in my head that have been there for oh, about a year now. Fortunately T6T didn’t do anything to render them redundant or obviously incorrect, but as TLD airs tomorrow (squee!!) I feel I should take advantage of this reprieve to get some of them out now! So here goes...

I’m sure I am not alone in pausing occasionally, in between the mad fan theorising, reblogging, fic reading, gif appreciation, etc, to wonder: “Wait, what IS this show actually about, again?” But of course we don’t need to wonder; we’ve been told (though did we listen?) that it’s about John and Sherlock, who they are as people and the relationship between them.

Mark Gatiss: “I think it is a show about a detective, not a detective show.”

Steven Moffat: “It’s just about that relationship.”

Sherlock: “[It’s] the story of two men and their frankly ridiculous adventures...”

TAB suggested to me, in particular, that the writers see the Reichenbach Fall(s) as one of the defining moments of that relationship. And really, how not? I mean, friends argue sometimes, they fall out, big things happen like marriage and children, but these things happen to most people in most relationships (by which I mean any connection between people, not necessarily capital-R Relationships). Faking your own death, lying to your best friend about it and making them bear witness to it (in person or via a note), on the other hand? That’s a bit beyond the norm.

So I think in many ways, the Fall is at the centre of this story: what led these two characters to the point where it happened, and how can their relationship ever recover? TAB, for me, is mostly about Sherlock working through that: beginning to understand himself, and John’s perception of him, and their relationship, and how the Fall could and should have been different. Only then will he be able to deal with the consequences. And it IS the consequences that (still) need to be dealt with: as Moriarty says, “It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the landing”; in other words, the impact.

The theme of Sherlock looking back over his and John’s relationship runs through the whole episode, textually and sub-textually -- from the episode itself recapitulating their story from the ACD-canon start, to Sherlock re-reading John’s blog entry about their first case. That they are specifically revisiting the Fall is also evident, from the explicit parallel of the Ricoletti case (though Sherlock still thinks he is solving a mystery rather than deducing himself); to the scene of “digging up the bodies”, where Sherlock explicitly makes reference to Molly finding a duplicate body for him; to the penultimate reimagined scene at ACD’s Reichenbach Falls. As for Sherlock coming to understand John’s view of him, that comes mostly through the stake-out dialogue, in which Sherlock realises that although dream!John has constructed for the Strand readers (i.e., Sherlock has constructed John’s view of him to be) an image of Sherlock as incapable of caring, without sentiment or emotion, John does not really believe this. John sees that it is a facade that Sherlock himself has put up, and Sherlock admits this, to dream!John and hence to himself: “No-one made me. I made me.”

(Incidentally, I refuse to accept that the stake-out scene is not straight-baiting of the highest order. “Murder on the knees”? We’re meant to understand immediately, and snigger at, the implications of Sally Donovan’s knees in ASiP; failing to grasp the same innuendo in this context is a pretty clear case of hetero-goggles.)

The digging-up scene is also significant in terms of John’s actions: we see Sherlock insistent on exhuming the grave, at which point John leaves with Mary -- or rather, Mary takes him away from Sherlock. ( “I’m taking Mary home.” “You’re what?” “Mary’s taking me home.”) We can read this on the surface as a henpecked-husband joke, but it has much greater significance when we think that this is Sherlock’s dream and that it represents the consequences of going to the Fall: yes, he lost John, but John didn’t leave him, Mary took John away.

After all this, then, what does Sherlock realise, when he arrives once again at the fateful scene at the top of the dream!Reichenbach -- where Holmes and Moriarty always meet in every story, where Sherlock must always confront his enemy alone, where the trust between him and John and thus their relationship may be shattered forever; where “alone protects [him]”, where, as Moriarty says, “At the end, it’s always just you and me”? Well, of course, he discovers, deep within himself, that it’s not true: alone isn’t what protects Sherlock, and “there’s always two of us”, it’s always Holmes AND Watson, together.

I have to say that this cliff scene, for all its corniness, is probably my favourite scene in the entire show. The chemistry between them is just beautiful, despite (or perhaps made possible by) the crackiness of the entire scenario. And seriously, can you imagine Sherlock, having thought himself alone for so long, finally realising that John is there for him -- would have, should have, been there for him? If your heartstrings aren’t in knots, you don’t have any.

But I also love it for another, very important reason. I don’t think Moffat and Gatiss are alone in thinking of Reichenbach as one of the defining moments of the Sherlock Holmes story: it is evidenced by Moriarty’s established role as one of the arch-villains of literature and the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, even though of the many stories and novels, he only appears in this and a couple of other places. The writers have always made it clear that they are re-interpreting, re-imagining ACD: John’s almost word-for-word narration from A Study in Scarlet at the start of TAB serves to point up the debts owed and tributes paid to the original texts throughout the entire show, right from the beginning of ASiP. In this scene, though, they are doing something more. They are rewriting. They are daring to tell one of the most famous stories differently at last, after so many adaptations: they are saying, John should have been there with him; John WAS there.

Likewise, the numerous “unreliable narrator” references in TAB suggest a deliberate decision to rewrite history; to state that this may have been the story as Watson represented it in ACD’s time, but that they are writing a new story, for our time, that is every bit as legitimate. There’s plenty of commentary in there on characters performing their roles for the audience, from the hilarious first scene with Mrs Hudson (“I’m your landlady, not a plot device”) and John’s comments about having to grow the moustache, to “You’re Sherlock Holmes, wear the damn hat” (a callback of course to TEH).

So what does it represent, then, at the end of the Reichenbach scene, when Sherlock takes off his hat and flings it over the cliff before jumping himself? I like to think that it means he is no longer performing the character that (Victorian) audiences expected; he is throwing off the persona that ACD!Watson had to write for ACD!Holmes, “grit in the lens” and all that nonsense. And having done that, having accepted that John is by his side, is with him always, he can jump, knowing this time that he’s going to survive.

[briefboutsofmadness-blog]

Thoughts on Doctor Who’s Season 10 finale

Hi guys,

Now, the season finale of Doctor Who was last week, and I’m still very much in two minds as to whether I liked it or not and, more importantly, whether or not it was a fitting, suitably epic episode for Peter Capaldi’s doctor. Here are some of my thoughts on it. (Spoilers, obviously).

To begin with, let me clarify: whilst I am a BIG fan of Capaldi’s doctor, I feel his legacy and impact has been somewhat dampened by Steven Moffat’s hugely hit-and-miss writing. His stand-alone episodes in the earlier series of the revival were outstanding, yet somehow after being given free reign on every episode, the quality has quite dramatically slipped. Though I haven’t brought myself to watch every episode in the latest series yet, I happened to catch ‘The Lie of the Land’, and I don’t think I’ve ever had such a strongly negative reaction to a Doctor Who episode (it’s usually just disappointed indifference). To put it simply, Moffat can be both a wonderful and an awful writer, it’s just the luck of the draw as to which one it is.

Having said that, the penultimate episode of the series, ‘World Enough and Time’, was genuinely incredible. The Master’s role in the episode was genius, as was his reveal (though can you imagine if the news that John Simm was returning hadn’t been leaked, and we had fully managed to experience that mind-blowing moment when he reveals himself? The Doctor Who fanbase, myself included, would have most likely imploded), and though I was sceptical at first about bringing John Simm back and potentially sullying his legacy, I was pleasantly surprised. The concept of the episode was truly original, it was funny, sad, and most importantly SCARY. Ever since Tennant’s episodes in the parallel universe, I have been terrified of the Cybermen, and this episode both justified and rejuvenated that childhood nightmare for me. It was suspenseful, disturbing (the patient pressing the ‘pain’ button still haunts me, as does the grotesque gradual change in the masks), and echoed episodes like ‘The Empty Child’ which, in my opinion certainly, is how Doctor Who should be. Truly one of my favourite episodes to date.

Following on from this masterpiece, I had high hopes for the finale and, indeed, it did start off promising. Well, sort of. The first section was a little bit tired and clichéd, down to the rousing “everything’s sorted” music, the ‘resolution-that’s-not-really-a-resolution’ trope that’s so overused within the show, and the unusually common location of a rooftop. However, it did get better. Again, sort of. The use of the “sort of” Cybermen as scarecrows who regularly attack the cluster of human survivors was scary, though it both blatantly copied the Scarecrows in Tennant’s ‘Family of Blood’ episodes, and was never really explained fully as to why they were there, so it seemed a bit lazy (though please do correct me if they did explain it and I missed it).

“Borrowing” plot points from other episodes, even other writers, seems to be an unfortunate recurrence for Moffat (honestly, don’t even get me started) and, sadly, this episode was no exception. One can’t help but wonder how much “inspiration” he took from Matt Smith’s last episodes which, as I recall, also contained a defeated Doctor essentially sacrificing himself to save a group of humans from Cybermen (though I could be wrong). In this sense, the episode truly was disappointing, as is what you would expect from borrowing from an episode that was a disappointment in the first place. Capaldi truly has been an iconic doctor, despite unfortunate writing, and so to have his penultimate episode dare I say ruined by Moffat’s sloppy writing is such a shame.

The end section was not great either. Bill’s ending was heartbreaking, and her collapsing next to the doctor, both truly defeated, was a powerful image. However, then Moffat pulled something that had a vaguely ‘deus ex machina’ feel to it. Though we had already been introduced to Heather (or rather, the form of Heather taken by the episode’s monster) in the first episode of the series, her reappearance in the form of a solution for Bill’s apparently inevitable death felt clumsy and forced, which is so disappointing. Let me tell you, I have absolutely loved Bill’s character (despite, as with Capaldi, the subpar writing), as she almost acted as a detox to Clara’s intense characterisation with her refreshing attitude to life and the situations she found herself in. Bill being gay, too, also added a completely new dimension to her character which both brought the show into the present, but also eliminated any chance of the wonderful friendship between herself and the doctor to be distorted by romantic notions (not that I’m against that trope being used at all, it was just a seldom used, interesting perspective on the doctor/companion relationship). And as much as I’m happy Bill ended up happy (and alive) with Heather, it just felt so forced and an unlikely, ridiculous solution to her situation. It’s not even that it was terrible, it’s that Bill was such a wonderful character (and should have stayed for more than one series), and her transformation into a primitive Cyberman was so heartwrenching and painful to watch, for it to be resolved in a matter of minutes was anti-climatic. All I’m saying is: Bill deserved better.

(Quick side-note: Bill would NEVER have left the Doctor’s dying body by itself in the Tardis. She just wouldn’t have, it’s entirely out of character.)

All the negative aspects aside, there were some good, even great, parts of the episode, Bill being one of them. Pearl Mackie has done just such an incredible job of playing Bill, and I will be sad to see her go. This episode, along with the previous one, was certainly stand-out for her, with the heartbreaking revelation that Bill did not see herself as a Cyberman, and so could not understand why people were scared of her. This may have been the most cruel and disturbing twist of the story arc, and I LOVE it. This puts everything we thought we knew about the Cybermen into question, and for once among multiple instances of Moffat attempting and failing at this, it works! It adds a whole new perspective on their behaviour; does every Cyberman see itself as pre-transformation? Regardless, aside from the hiccup that was her ending, Bill was excellent this episode and one of its saving aspects.

As with Mackie, Capaldi was excellent once again in this episode. Regardless of your opinion on him, it cannot be denied that Capaldi puts everything into the character; he has been consistently intense and dark with brilliant sparks of insanity and wit, and his character will be sorely missed by myself and so many others. This episode was no exception. By being characterised as beaten down and defeated, ready to accept his fate even, he almost brought me to tears a few times, as it is such a tragic end for a doctor already plagued with the questionable actions of his past selves. Not much more to say about his performance really, except that it was excellent and tragic at the same time.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the episode, as was expected, was Missy and the Master. Michelle Gomez has had a tough act to follow in terms of succeeding John Simm’s practically flawless Master, yet she managed to not only exceed everyone’s expectations as a character in her own right, but also had believable, exhilarating onscreen chemistry with Capaldi’s Doctor. Her insanity offsets his solemnity, and it’s been an absolute joy seeing the two of them share a screen. Another character who will be sorely missed. John Simm was predictably excellent, playing the Master as smug and cruel as ever. The interactions between the two of them was a standout, their conversations being wonderfully eccentric and evil. The Master attempting to hit on Missy was hilarious, and their taunting of the Doctor, as well as Missy’s internal struggle as to who to side with, was excellently carried out by Simm and Gomez.

That’s not to say, however, that there weren’t any problems with the masters. For one, there wasn’t nearly enough screentime of them, and I feel as though the opportunity to bring John Simm back has been wasted in this way. To really optimise the two appearing onscreen together, one can’t help but wonder whether the two-parter finale should have been a three episode saga, so as to create a full episode in the middle in which Gomez and Simm could have made the most of, as well as properly had fun with, their characters. The ending, too, in which they destroyed each other makes for a rather unsatisfying resolution to their roles, and for the Doctor to never know Missy’s decision to be on his side in the end is honestly quite cruel. Essentially, the two masters were brilliant, but there wasn’t nearly enough of htem.

So to summarise, despite all my moaning I did enjoy it. I can’t say that it was a great episode, or that it was a fully fitting ending for someone as incredible as Capaldi’s Doctor, but it was enjoyable to watch and had some excellent aspects, balancing out the negative aspects.

If you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said or would like to comment, I would love to hear from you, and I  hope you’ve enjoyed my little (!) ramble about the episode.

-P