#say what you will about Moffat this is still a great introduction to both his era and the show in general

[re-reclass]

Goddamn The Eleventh Hour still holds up.

[waitedforgarridebs]

Finally done waiting for Garridebs!

A rather self-indulgent retrospective of Tumblr fandom history

As many of you may know – or also already may have been looking forward to – another handful of Sherlock Holmes stories are about to enter the public domain in the United States, and therefore worldwide, on January 1, 2020:

The Illustrious Client

The Sussex Vampire

The Three Garridebs

This means that only six more stories still remain under copyright, with the last few finally falling into worldwide public domain on January 1, 2023.

Not quite unexpectedly, my focus in this little series of posts to celebrate the countdown to January 1 will lie on 3GAR – not only because the word "Garridebs" is literally part of my URL, and not even because of the quite literal cliffhanger we've been given in series 4, 

but – for anyone who doesn't know or needs reminding – because of the quote that started it all:

“Like most male friendships, everything is assumed, and nothing is spoken of. Oh, except for once. Just once, and that’s your lot. If you’re going to read it in order, like I did, you’ve got a long time to wait for The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, but patience, and keep reading in order - you’ll be blinking back the tears when the moment comes.” – Steven Moffat, Introduction to A Study in Scarlet (2011), BBC Books 

The fandom has expected the adaptation of 3GAR in BBC Sherlock for a very long time – given that the moment Watson gets shot is the "only" time he can truly see that Holmes is human after all.

In an instant he had whisked out a revolver from his breast and had fired two shots. I felt a sudden hot sear as if a red-hot iron had been pressed to my thigh. There was a crash as Holmes’s pistol came down on the man’s head. I had a vision of him sprawling upon the floor with blood running down his face while Holmes rummaged him for weapons. Then my friend’s wiry arms were round me, and he was leading me to a chair. “You’re not hurt, Watson? For God‘s sake, say that you are not hurt!” It was worth a wound — it was worth many wounds — to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation. “It’s nothing, Holmes. It‘s a mere scratch.” He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-knife. “You are right,” he cried with an immense sigh of relief. “It is quite superficial.” His face set like flint as he glared at our prisoner, who was sitting up with a dazed face. “By the Lord, it is as well for you. If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive. Now, sir, what have you to say for yourself?”

In short: It is the perfect setup for a love confession.

Unsurprisingly this scene inspired the fandom to come up with the most emotional, dramatic, and oftentimes angst-filled headcanons possible.

And, boy, did we all not only deliver on this trope, we created this trope.

There are so many fanworks including the Garridebs scenario on here, on AO3, and elsewhere that one can't even count them all properly – and believe me, I've tried: This blog contains a collection of more than 800 Garridebs-related posts so far (and still counting!).

Over the years, we've had them all: The angsty confrontations. The standoffs and life-and-death scenarios. 

Mary trying to shoot Sherlock, again, and John catching the bullet for him. Moriarty burning Sherlock's heart out by blowing up the building John is currently held hostage in. A burglar or murderer trying to get away, and knifing John in a struggle. Sherlock shooting John by accident. Sometimes, John deciding to end his own life after drowning in his own self-loathing and guilt (as well as a lot of alcohol).

We've had the reactions. The aftermaths. 

Sherlock frantically rushing to John's side. In lighter scenarios, the occasional banter, sometimes even giggling. If they weren't so lucky, Sherlock desperately trying to keep John awake, to stop the bleeding by pressing onto John's wound with his own scarf – just like John taught him that one time. The John in Sherlock's mind palace appearing in the moment of emotional turmoil to calm Sherlock down, to talk him through it, to guide, and to comfort him. Sherlock calling Mycroft to scream and cry into his phone, begging– no, commanding his big brother to just DO something. The sirens of the ambulance finally being within earshot. Lestrade silently putting a blanket over Sherlock's shoulders as John gets taken to the hospital, while Sherlock’s doomed to do nothing. To just wait for things to come.

Sherlock frantically pacing up and down in the waiting room of the hospital, afraid to lose John, paralised in shock and fear, losing himself in the darkness of his own mind palace, until the doctors finally come out of the surgery to give him the news.

Sherlock not leaving John's bedside, waiting for hours and hours, wanting to be there when John wakes up, until he falls asleep with his head on John's mattress, overcome with relief and exhaustion.

John finally waking up only to see Sherlock sleeping soundly next to him, their fingers still intertwined. Sherlock startling awake the second he notices the change in John's breathing pattern, and John is looking at him drowsily, and they smile, and they both don’t know what to say, but it is okay, because John will be okay, and if John is okay, then Sherlock is also going to be okay, and Sherlock didn't even realise he's been babbling this out loud, until John tells him that he did, with the hint of a smile on his face that is almost fond, and Sherlock doesn't understand what this expression on John’s face could possibly mean.

John absentmindedly continuing to stroke the back of Sherlock's hand with his own thumb and not wanting to stop doing so any time soon.

Sherlock taking John to Baker Street, bringing him home, and finally they're back to what they used to be, but something's changed, and it's something so heavy and light at the same time, it makes them both relish this anticipation of a different future – their future – and John continues to heal, and Sherlock keeps looking after him, keeps changing the bandages, keeps making the tea, keeps picking trashy movies for them to watch while eating the Chinese takeout they ordered, until someday they gaze at each other just a little too long, they touch each other just a little too frequently, they hesitate to break the emotional tension for just the right amount of time, and the inevitable finally happens.

At least that's the case for all the times they manage to not be completely all over each other the moment they close the door to the flat when John comes home from the hospital.

Sometimes, it doesn't go all that smoothly. There's the fighting. The guilt. The regret. The times when Mary or the baby had to suffer as well. Sometimes they confess their feelings in a rage, by accident, but that's okay, and they will be okay, and they fall into each other, and they pull at each other's clothes, almost as if clinging to life itself, and they will be okay just as long as they're Them, as long as there's This.

There are the unusual scenarios as well. The surprising ones.

Sometimes Sherlock's the one to get shot instead of John. Sometimes it happens in Victorian times and Holmes cries out Watson’s first name. Sometimes John doesn't get physically hurt at all, and sometimes he stays behind maimed, the eyepatch now permanently being part of his wardrobe.

Sometimes one of them actually dies.

And sometimes, you think of a smutty Garridebs scenario you would like to write, until you realise that Mark Gatiss already did it for you in an adaptation of Dracula on BBC Radio 4 – no joke! (x)

What I'm trying to say is … it was quite a ride. 

The best.

Honestly, I want to thank you all so much for these last few years. It was a blast, and I truly hope there's still many more fanfics, and fanart, and headcanons, and meta, and any other kind of fanwork to come.

However, this series is not going to be me rambling about what the fandom created here on Tumblr. I just had the need to recap, to reflect, and also to catch the new people up who've not been here while all of this unfolded.

But from here on we’re going back to when it all started:

Tomorrow we'll go into the history of the Holmesian side of things – and, lo and behold, of course the first post is going to be about the original canon story itself. After that, we'll dive deeper into all the other adaptations.

And I can’t wait to share all of this.

Update: Read the whole now completely published series of posts about the Garridebs adaptations here (x)!

[sulietsexual]

So, I finally saw the new Little Women on the weekend, and I have to say, I was ... really underwhelmed, especially given the extreme over-hype which has surrounded this film for months. 

Little Women is my favourite novel of all time and, yes, I am an avid fan of the 1994 movie. The book always fills me with warmth and emotion and I love the March girls so much, each of them in their own way. I went into this film with muted expectations, so I wasn’t disappointed per se but it definitely left me wanting more.

Let me start with the positives; the film definitely has a certain charm to it. I appreciated that they tried to include a lot of dialogue from the novel. The cinematography was very pretty in places. And I genuinely loved the actresses who portrayed the March sisters. Saoirse Ronan’s Jo was vivacious and fun and she imbued the character with Jo’s clumsiness, lack of propriety (a little too much sometimes, which I will talk about later) and overall likability. I don’t know why everyone’s complaining about Emma Watson, as I found her Meg to be lovely. I thought she perfectly captured Meg’s softness and her gentle stoicism, although I could have done with a little more fire to her character, people tend to forget that Meg has a bit of a feisty side. Florence Pugh was great as older Amy, and bless her, she tried her hardest as young Amy, but I still maintain that Younger Amy needs to be played by a younger actress, otherwise she comes across as far too bitchy, as opposed to just bratty. Eliza Scanlan was fine as Beth, but I wish they’d given her more to do (more on this later). 

As for the rest of the casting ... I was a bit underwhelmed. I was excited for Laura Dern as Marmee, but she disappointed me, which probably has more to do with the writing of the character. She felt far too modern and very under-developed. Timothee Chalamet (sp?) as Laurie was a total miscast, he was far too melancholy and kind of creepy? Laurie is supposed to be a cheeky and vivacious character, with the occasional fits of melancholy, not the other way around. Meryl Streep was wasted as Aunt March, but I knew she would be, given what a minor character Aunt March actually is in the book. None of the other actors made much of an impression on me, tbh.

Unfortunately, for me, the negatives are greater than the positives and one of the biggest complaints I have about this film is that it really seemed to lack soul and heart. Little Women is a novel which makes me cry every time I read it and I didn’t shed a single tear during this film. Scenes which I love from the novel left me cold during the film.

I appreciated that the film tried to include events from the novel which often aren’t portrayed onscreen, such as Meg buying the expensive silk knowing she couldn’t afford it, Beth and Mr Lawrence’s friendship, Amy telling Laurie off for his indolent ways and Marmee’s speech to Jo about how she is angry every day. But a combination of rushed dialogue, the weird back-and-forth jumps between past and present and a script which didn’t slow down to appreciate the emotions of the scenes meant that many of these scenes felt empty, as if everyone was simply going through the motions. The film is accurate to the book and captures many of the events, but it misses so many emotional beats. I want any adaptation of Little Women to fill me with warmth and emotion and this film just ... didn’t. A particularly egregious example is the fact that this movie didn’t film Beth’s death scene, opting instead to have Jo wake up to an empty bed, in a scene which is obviously supposed to mirror the previous scene and drive home how Jo “couldn’t save” Beth this time around, but all it does is undermine the emotion of Beth passing and the grief her family - particularly Jo - feel over watching her pass away.

And while we’re on the subject of Beth, can we talk about what a non-character she was? I know that Beth is the least developed of the sisters in the novel, and as such, adaptations sometimes tend to overlook her, but she was barely a character in this film. Even her illness - arguably the biggest component of her characterisation and arc - was overlooked and under-played. I didn’t feel any fear or trepidation for her when she first fell ill, and her entire sickness was so rushed and downplayed. Eliza Scanlan is an incredibly talented actress (just watch Sharp Objects for proof of this) and yet they gave her so little to do.

Laurie too became almost a non-character, and I feel that this was a result of the constant time jumps. There was no room for him to develop or grow and many of his Big Moments were omitted from the film (such as him sending for Mrs March when Beth is ill, the way he swears to keep their secrets and provides the PO Box for them, going to London to make himself worthy of Amy). Also that disgusting scene from the New Year’s Eve ball when he turns up half-dressed, drunk and with two women hanging off his arms; no where in the novel would Theodore Lawrence ever behave like that, and the fact that this scene was our second introduction to the character soured his entire characterisation. Laurie was such a pale shade of what he is in the novels, and because of this, his relationships with all the sisters is severely undermined and downplayed. You certainly won’t ship Jo/Laurie from this movie, but nor will you feel much semblance of friendship between the two, despite the fact that they’re such kindred spirits in the novel. He shares more scenes with Amy, but they’re devoid of feeling or emotion (and chemistry) and so his eventual marriage to her falls flat.

I think one of the reasons for Laurie’s lack of characterisation is the weird time jumps. I know that a lot of critics are praising this technique, but I hated it. For one, it was often confusing as to whether we were in the past or the present, given how quickly the scenes jumped between the two. Secondly, this style of storytelling severely undermined characterisation and character development, and it juxtaposed scenes in a very weird fashion, negating the original point of the scenes and the lessons the girls were supposed to learn from them. For example, Meg’s misbehaviour at the Moffats being directly juxtaposed with the scene in which she confesses to John that she bought the expensive silk makes Meg look like she hasn’t grown or changed in five years. We missed the beautiful scene where she confesses her “sins” to Marmee and the growth which came from that experience, and instead jumped straight into what looked like an unhappy marriage (and why in god’s name were we introduced to Meg and John’s marriage before they had even spoken to each other in the past? Once again, the development of this relationship was undermined by the fact that we saw their courtship in reverse - we didn’t get the impact of Meg promising to love John despite his poverty only to betray him by buying the expensive silk). And this is just one of many examples of this technique robbing us of the emotion of the scenes.

The film felt so rushed at times and because of this, it has a very modern feel to it which I really didn’t like. If you want to “modernize” the story, fine, but do so by placing it in a modern setting. Having a period setting while using modern dialogue and a modern sense of propriety didn’t work. A scene of Jo hiking her skirts up to her knees with her bloomers on display while in public was awful, as was the scene where she unabashedly started to strip down while Laurie was in the room, and both scenes just undermined the period setting and were extremely jarring. Again, because the film was so rushed and the dialogue so quick and rapid-fire, we lost the emotional impact of many scenes. Period pieces need to be slow, you need time to savour the dialogue and actions, to feel the emotions and take time to appreciate the depth of the events and relationships.

And speaking of relationships, I cannot get over how much this filmed missed the mark when it came to the sisters’ relationships. Such a huge part of the appeal of Little Women is the bonds between the sisters and this film just blew right past them! I didn’t feel any deep connection between the sisters, and this was particularly noticeable with Jo and Beth, who share such a deep bond in the book. I think part of this problem stemmed from the fact that it took five scenes for the sisters to actually share a scene together; our introduction to the girls happens in four separate scenes, with each of the girls by themselves, in their own setting. Compare (because I have to) with the 1994 movie, in which the first four scenes of the film focus on the girls together, only separating once Meg and Jo attend the Gardiners Christmas party. The sisters’ relationship is such a huge component of the novel, but this film spends little time or focus building it and it is definitely a big reason as to why the film feels so empty.

There is so much more I want to say (for example, the horrendous way in which the film somehow made Jo look like she’d regretted turning down Laurie and held onto said regret for five years and how they juxtaposed her sending him the letter saying she would marry him, which WTF, never happened in the novel, with Laurie returning, having married Amy, like, way to pit the two sisters directly against one another, which even the 1994 adaptation had sense enough not to do) but this post has already turned into a freakin’ essay and most of my grievances have been aired.

To end this (very long) rant on a positive note, I want to reiterate that this film was charming in many ways, and while I do have many complaints, it was still a decent adaptation of my favourite novel, which wasn’t so far removed from the source material that I couldn’t enjoy it. It will never match the emotional depth and warmth of the 1994 movie, but I can see myself coming around to it in the future and liking it for what it is. I just wish more care and effort had been put into it and it had concentrated more on the emotion of the novel rather than the events.

[tuaparadis]

Some Sherlock asks for you- Favorite ship? Least favorite ship? If we were to ever get S5, what do you think would happen? Did you like Eurus or Moriarty better as villains? What was you favorite scene? Favorite episode?

Hello oh my god bless your soul for this!

Favorite ship: It has got to be Johnlock. Seriously, the chemistry in that fucking ship. They're perfect and made for each other and they need one another like they need air to breathe.

Least favorite ship: I don't really know that many ships in the fandom, so I don't know which one would be my least favorite. Something cursed that shouldn't be a thing, you name it.

What would happen in S5: Honestly I'm not sure since they kind of fucked up with season 4 on some parts. But I'd love to see maybe a new threat come to light just like how Magnussen appeared for S3 (I'd love to see more of Moriarty but it would be a bit of a stretch to fit him in yet another season)

MI6 needs to send Sherlock on a mission somewhere or something. Or maybe some shit goes down and Sherlock and John need to become fugitives/go under the radar, while also taking care of Rosie. Also Steven Moffat better make Johnlock canon because come on at this point.

Eurus or Moriarty: Moriarty definitely. Eurus was kind of sudden and they could have executed the whole thing better, but Moriarty... He's such a good villain, I fell in love with him from the first season. Andrew Scott did a fantastic job portraying him the way he did. He gave him meaning and this feeling of danger and insanity and badassness that messed with Sherlock to the point of almost driving him mad and it was great. I really want to talk about Moriarty more but I've got a lot to say so I might make another post about it.

Favorite scene: I have two!

One is in S3 EP3 where Mary shoots Sherlock and we get a look at his mind palace, how fast his brain truly works and the characters in his head who help him figure it all out. It goes to show that Sherlock needs the people in his life more than he lets on. It's such a powerful and stressful scene, Molly, Anderson and Mycroft telling what to do so he doesn't die, and then Moriarty in a small room with Sherlock tearing him down even though he's chained up. We don't need toys to kill each other. Then realizing the danger he's left John in and that's truly the only thing that kept him alive. He literally came back to life for John and that's pretty fucking powerful.

The other one is S4 EP2 where John breaks down and he and Sherlock share a hug. I have the hug as my desktop background because I love it so much. They're both beyond broken at that point in the show, and nothing is okay and they know it. They've caused each other so much pain but at the end of the day they're all each other has left. It just is what it is and they need to deal with it together because there isn't anyone else.

Favorite episode: The Reichenbach Fall (S2 EP2)! I've watched it so many times, it's one of the most fun and epic episodes in the show. It pretty much had everything; the thrill of the chase, humor, and a lot of heartbreak at the end. Also Sherlock's battle with Moriarty that leaves them both dead (somewhat). Two honorable mentions are:

The Empty Hearse (S3 EP1) - Definitely one of the most fun episodes too. Sherlock and John reunite and John is still skeptical about forgiving him but their first meeting is so funny and in the end John somewhat forgives him because he can't possibly stay mad. Also the introduction of Mary! I know I'm repeating myself but this episode was just so much fun.

The Lying Detective (S4 EP2) - This has got to be one of the most depressing episodes. All of season 4 was, but this one just... Ugh. John is back on the 'hating Sherlock' train and Sherlock is trashing himself on drugs, and they just can't seem to communicate anymore. They've swept so much shit under the rug for so many years and it's coming to bite them back in the ass.

Seriously thank you so much for the questions! I usually spam my friends with things about Sherlock and I think it's getting a shade annoying so this gave me the chance to let some things out.

[willidleaway]

Doctor Who, series 12 as a whole

In short: [looks up if the last SW:TCW season will be out on Blu-ray]

Oh hi, didn’t see you come in. I was trying to distract myself from the fact that series 12 of Doctor Who went there.

I mean, the show’s gone up itself a bit, hasn’t it? And I do mean that quite literally. It’s gone upstream in canon and I just don’t know why Chibnall bothered. It’ll teach me to complain about Moffat’s new!Who for taking Doctor-lore so seriously, I suppose, given everything that’s happened now.

Things I liked about series 12: I do feel that with Chibnall as showrunner, each series feels more cohesive in a way that they did not with Moffat, and really not even necessarily with RTD. Plot elements get set up and paid off all throughout the series, and it’s a nice thing to see.

Sacha Dhawan was pretty great to watch, and I rather think maybe his introduction in this series brought out a bit more in Thirteen as well.

Things I can’t say I liked about series 12: just about everything else. This is not equivalent to saying I hated everything else about series 12. But this is me saying that at the end of the day, I found the plotting too exhausting with not enough heart to get me to care much about the story or the characters. The show’s starting to feel like a caricature of itself, in many ways.

In less short: again, I don’t mean to say I disliked everything about series 12 apart from the new Master and the improved cohesion, but I ended up pretty indifferent about much of it, and did start to get a bit irritated by the increasing defiance of ‘show, don’t tell’. But I’m really disheartened by the fact that series 11′s focus on the companions seems to have been just a passing whimsy in the overall picture of Chibnall’s master plan.

But what exactly was the godforsaken point of this master plan anyway? Why bother plotting this series so tightly and cohesively together if the message at its heart is ... basically nothing but a revelation about our protagonist, and one that ultimately (not at first, but ultimately) holds no emotional weight by the protagonist’s own admission? Great, you’ve woven this giant earth-shattering twist into the Doctor Who canon. But is that all that the show is good for? Editing its own lore?

Of course, part of this is that I’m old. (As far as you know.) The show that returned in 2005 is not the show that’s airing now in 2020, and as someone who was sold on new!Who based on the vision it had in RTD’s time, I’m bound to connect less strongly with Chibnall’s vision for the show. This sort of evolution is fine in principle—even necessary—if it’s actually still good television, competent storytelling, with its heart in the right place and an audience that it speaks to. I’ll admit that series 12 is spectacular television in the literal sense of it being a right flashy spectacle of a show—Spyfall should have convinced everyone of that—but is it good? And the serious doubt I have after watching this finale—I had an inkling of a doubt back in episode 3 but by god it’s a serious doubt now—is: is Doctor Who, under Chibnall’s supervision, actually a competent show?

I’ve seen multiple people across subreddits compare this finale to Episode IX of the increasingly incredulous Star Wars saga, and I can’t say I disagree. I’d honestly almost extend the comparison to all of series 12—you have to, in a sense, because the series just functions that cohesively.

And I’d make the comparison a tad favourable to The Rise of Skywalker, actually. There is a case to be made that JJ Abrams, for all his faults and overambitious gambits, was trying to say something beyond just ‘oh Palpatine never died and Snokes grow in jars’ or ‘oh here’s the skinny on Rey’s ridiculously dark past’. I genuinely saw attempts—gestures—at broader messages like ‘you are not alone’ and ‘together we can overcome anything’. I’m not saying these are particularly novel or insightful messages to try and convey, and I’m not saying they were even conveyed that competently. (Episode IX fell into the same more-tell-than-show pit of quicksand that series 12 has found itself in, for one.) But by god there was at least an attempt, whereas I don’t see that here.

If you want a study in contrast, look no further than Moffat’s series 9 finale in comparison to the finale we got tonight. There was an actual character arc! Twelve’s obsession with his ‘duty of care’ bit back on him! He was forced to recognise loss as part of events! Granted, Moffat still pulled his ‘everybody lives’ gambit so Clara only technically died and for all intents and purposes lives a fairly exciting life for many years after we say goodbye to her. But there was an actual emotional resonance that was there!

The point is that Moffat, for all his lovely diversions into past show lore and Time Lord social psychology, never forgot about human relationships and human emotions and how they drove the audience’s investment in new!Who. I mean, sometimes it was played up in a rom-com way (you can take Coupling out of the TV schedules, but never out of Moffat’s writing, I suspect), and there were times when it worked and times when it definitely didn’t work. But it was always there. You could find it. You could see yourself in it, sometimes.

This? What was the point of this? The Doctor is the Timeless Child. It turns out this was a carefully guarded secret known only to the highest echelons of Time Lord society and certainly to the ominously named Division. A large chunk of the Doctor’s life is basically missing, possibly forever.

From a lore point of view: sure, this has massive implications! And Chibnall is at least smart/restrained enough not to spell it all out, and at the end of the day there’s still some mystery—at least, for as long as Chibnall doesn’t proceed to smash that to bits as well in the remainder of his tenure.

But from a storytelling standpoint? Ruth!Doctor even spells it out: ‘have you ever been limited by who you were before?’ The Doctor’s past, ultimately, just doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to the companions. It doesn’t matter to the Doctor. It doesn’t matter to (I would wager) a large part of Doctor Who’s audience. Chibnall knew this and yet built the whole arc of series 12 around this revelation, which was totally irrelevant to the heart of the show by his own indirect admission.

It doesn’t feel like the sort of thing that you build a 10-episode run around. It feels like something you drop like a mic at the end of a two-parter, and then pick up the pieces of the next time around. In fact, you know, I think series 12 would have been better if we started off with this revelation, giving us time to have any meaningful emotional fallout, some space for it to breathe.

Series 1 had the revelation that Gallifrey was destroyed in the Last Great Time War, but we didn’t build to it. It was given to us near the outset, in episode 2. And new!Who was richer for it, for treating the Time War not as a culmination of some arc, but something that impacted so many subsequent events in the Doctor’s life and by extension in the companions’ lives. The big surprise in series 1 was the Bad Wolf, because it was Rose all along—basically your average Londoner whisked away into extraordinary circumstances and doing extraordinary things. There’s some value in seeing that sort of thing on screen. I don’t find any such value in seeing the Doctor’s past rewritten on screen.

Chibnall, I suspect, overestimates the level of patience everyone else in the world has for tedious lore unfolding, and sees this as only the first half of a grand multi-series plan for reinventing the show. I suspect we will learn that RTD and Moffat were both wiser to attempt no such thing.

[dalekofchaos]

What I love and hate About Moffat’s Doctor Who

Much like I did for RTD’s Era, I will be listing my What I love and hate about Moffat’s Doctor Who.

What I love

Eleven. Ten will forever be my Doctor but Eleven has a special place in my heart!  I will always remember him in my heart, I will cherish the memories I had that he was The Eleventh Doctor, I will always remember his epic sense of fashion, his triumphs and sad moments, his eccentric childishness both as him and as a way to trick you and then you realize Eleven is truly terrifying. I will always remember Eleven as The Doctor!

Twelve. I love Twelve. He may have had some poorly written episodes given to him, but Capaldi still handled it like the professional he is. Twelve brought back the sternness of One and the dark manipulator of SevenI Capaldi’s ability to portray the extremes of human emotion make him, perhaps, one of the most skilled and diversely talented actors to take on the role. One of the most joyously mesmerising facets of Capaldi's interpretation of the role is the level of sincerity and gravitas with which he approaches every scene - it doesn't matter if the Doctor is being funny, Capaldi plays the Doctor with a sense of naturalism and realism which has breathed new life into the part. While Smith and Tennant each had a wonderful sense of humour in the role, Peter has taken the opportunity to play the straight-man when it comes to scenes involving a degree of comedy, making the Doctor all the more funny for it. I also love Twelve because I liked the fact that his sheer introduction brought back the idea that older actors (and now actresses) can play the character. Having been a lifelong fan himself, Capaldi would have accepted the role knowing full well that his life would never be the same again. Aside from this willing acceptance of the renown that comes with the role, Peter seems to be one of the warmest and most genuine actors to adopt the guise of the Time Lord. He regularly speaks warmly and at length of the entire history of the programme, not just the series since he joined. His knowledge and passion for the shown and it's fans is truly moving as Capaldi is regularly warm and inviting to those fans that speak to him in the street. Some actors can be somewhat short with their fans, especially if they're having a tough day, but Peter seems to be welcoming and charming regardless of the circumstances. In short, he's nothing shy of the perfect ambassador for the show. The Doctor was indeed in safe hands and we will miss Peter dearly.

Moments like The end scene of Vincent And The Doctor and Twelve’s brilliant anti-war speech in The Zygon Inversion. 

Amy Pond and Rory Williams I loved Amy and Rory.  Amy Pond is an incredibly layered, wonderful, and flawed character. She is brave and independent, she is scared of abandonment and commitment, she is rude and yet compassionate. She has a knack for creative problem-solving and can make connections other people can’t, whether it is realising the truth about the star whale or figuring out how to defeat the Weeping Angel.She has had a difficult life, but Amy is always changing and growing, as she holds onto the contradictory pieces that make up her own histoy. We watch her learn to love and to trust. We see her struggling with keeping up with both her travels with the Doctor and the normal life she comes to value. She experiences joy and loss and she just lives, passionately.What is so exceptional about Amy’s ending isn’t that she chooses Rory; she likely would have made the same choice two seasons earlier. But for the first time it feels like a decision that she can be happy with. Because she no longer is “the girl who waited” - and the Doctor didn’t keep her from growing up, he just became part of her story to get there. Rory is awesome. He’s one of my favorite companions ever, despite being on and off at times because of small things like being dead. Rory is smart, cool, actual husband material, and he keeps The Doctor humble.  I adore their relationship. Amy and Rory loved each other. Their relationship is what made series 5 and 6 great. Beautiful soulmates and The Ponds are beautiful.  I think my favorite part about the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory’s time together was the fact that most of the other companions in New Who were always talked down to. Not that the Doctor didn’t respect them. He did, immensely. But he was always the one to explain something, always the one looking smart, always the leader, always the one saving the day. But in the case with the Doctor, Amy, and Rory, the Ponds were the ones figuring things out and saving the day while the Doctor tripped as he tried to simultaneously put on a bowtie and eat a fishstick. And that’s beautiful.

Clara Oswald Clara Oswald is a perfectly ordinary sweet natured girl, who’s compassionate and caring, who has shown herself to be quite independent on several occasions, who takes care of children simply because she knows perfectly well what they are going through, and saved the Doctor on so many occasions just out of the goodness of her heart. Clara Oswald is a scared but very clever girl, who becomes very good at playing the most dangerous of situations to get advantage and gets addicted to that thrill. From the beginning, she parallels the Doctor, with her whole era basically being a female Doctor origin story.

Bill Potts.  Bill was wonderful. Finally, a companion who is not a forced plot device, Bill is finally a companion who is special just because The Doctor considers her special cause she’s The Doctor’s friend. Bill is a proud gay woman of color. Her introduction is brilliant, hella adorkable, Has immense respect for the Doctor without ever defining herself around him like so many other companions, strong and stands up to him without ever seeming condescending or ‘you may be the Doctor but I know you better than you know yourself’ and all the slapping him. The Doctor and Bill have the healthiest Doctor/Companion dynamic. Has a clear inferiority complex but never takes it out on the people around her. Her first reaction to seeing depressed Heather is to sit down and ask her what’s wrong, because that’s what she feels is right. Basically so incredibly kind and selfless to everybody. I love Bill so much

The Paternoster Gang. Anytime Vastra, Jenny and Strax are on screen, it’s instantly gold. A  trio of associates to the Time Lord who didn't have hokey origins or contrived resurrections. They emerged fully formed and unexplained; Vastra was a lizard serial killer, Jenny was her servant/lover and Drax made some funny jokes about not being able to understand human biology.

Missy Michelle Gomez was so deliciously and hammy evil. I loved every moment she was on screen, it’s a shame The Doctor Falls ruins it. In her first two appearances she was firmly established herself as a force to be reckoned with. Suffice to say, you wouldn't want to meet this renegade Time Lord in a dark alley. She'd sing "Oh Missy you're so fine" and then obliterate you on sight. After taking a selfie with you, of course. Plus Missy always looks her best when she’s ready to destroy the world!  When she gets her lipstick out, you know that something rather unfavourable is about to hit the timey-wimey fan. Anyone can kill someone but it takes a special sort of person to do it with as much attitude as Missy. After all, if you're not going to zap someone to death looking your best, you might as well not do it at all. It's rule one, guys. Though I do wish they just called her The Master. If Moffat doesn’t think she couldn’t keep calling herself The Master, I’m pretty sure he’d rename Thirteen The Nurse.

Simm!Master’s glorious return! Simm!Master returned and it was perfect! It was both what the fans of Classic Master wanted and what Simm wanted. John Simm always wanted to play a dark and evil Master, it was RTD who wanted Simm to play a dancing and giggling lunatic who acted like Frank Gorshin’s Riddler on crack.  Pure and utter hatred for The Doctor and no regard for anyone but himself. Absolutely glorious. It’s just a shame that Simm!Master will not return and an even bigger shame that the surprise of Simm!Master’s return was spoiled by the trailer and bad make up and inability to hide Simm’s voice. 

The Guest episodes in RTD’s era and the new monsters. All the guest episodes are great. Moffat is good at writing monsters. Moffat is responsible for creating the best monsters in New Who. The Weeping Angels, The Empty Child, Vashtra Narada and The Silence were all good. The sad part is Moffat is good at writing guest episodes. 

What I hate

Plots that go nowhere and abandoning established ideas for his plots and just making up as he goes along. Moffat tends to introduce plots and either never intends to go back or explain them or abandons them altogether. In series 5, it’s introduced that Th Alliance, a group of The Doctor’s worst enemies all worked together to put The Doctor in the Pandorica, who brought them altogether, when and how are they joined together and when are they gonna return? Never brought up again....Okay? When we all heard “Silence Will Fall” it gave us a sense of wanting more. And in the series 5 when River went to Amy’s house in The Pandorica part 1 ending, I saw Omega symbols everywhere. This led me to believe that Omega is tied into the cracks in the universe and The Silence and maybe we would see Omega in series 6 and maybe The Silence were created by Omega. It never happens. The Silence are a religious order. It STILL could’ve worked because there were STILL Omega symbols all over in A Good Man Goes To War. And once again, nothing, I don’t know if Omega was ever planned to return but something was dropped. Moving on. I thought that the reason why The Doctor’s name was shown to be this terrible thing in New Who is because The Doctor used his real name to Timelock The Time War and saying it would unleash The Time War on the universe and...his name is dropped like it’s nothing. The Silence with a flip of a hat decide to join The Doctor despite it being their goal to kill him because...reasons. So glad that was resolved so easily. How did The Doctor and Clara escape The Doctor’s timestream? Never addressed. John Hurt’s character. I always thought he was gonna be The Other considering the 50th was coming up and it might be the Cartmel Masterplan. He’s a Doctor between 8 and 9 and was the one who fought in the Time War? Okay. Okay when Missy started appearing and when she talked about Clara “I chose you well” I got the hint that who this big bad was, that she created  Clara to use against The Doctor, this led me to believe that Missy was The Rani. “Oh she’s the Master, but instead of calling her The Master we call her Missy now”....kay? The Master chose their name like The Doctor, I’m pretty sure they would not change it because The Master changed genders, but whatever.  The Hybrid. Something so horrible that The Doctor left Gallifrey “it was The Doctor and Clara” are you fucking kidding me? Oh it gets better, The Doctor doesn’t even care that he found Gallifrey, all he wanted was Clara back despite Clara being content with dying. No seriously you fucking asshole, you wasted my fucking time with either dropped storylines or shit you made up cause we all fucking know you did not know what you were doing. 

River Song The issue with River Song is she is simply an awful character. River stokes The Doctor’s PTSD really bad. She is a character forced upon both the audience and The Doctor. River is a character who kills at the drop of the hat and makes a Dalek scream for mercy. Yeah, call me old fashioned but showing mercy to a Dalek is more compelling. She encourages The Doctor to kill, and reveres him as some untouchable genocidal god, and constantly pushes herself onto him sexually, even though he pulls away. River Song is Steven Moffat’s Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. And there’s the fact that River is predatory. If it was a male character constantly coming on to the much physically younger female character, and being naked and doing so despite being asked not to do that like.... people would have freaked out and called River out for being a predator and had a fit, but because she's an older female and he's a younger bodied male this is... somehow badass and empowered? Oh and let’s not forget the fact that River is somehow part Time Lord? Being born in the fucking TARDIS does not make you part Time Lord. Jesus fucking christ, JENNY is more Time Lord, at least that makes more sense. And the revelation that River is Amy and Rory’s daughter makes no sense. Rory was erased from existence. How can River still be their daughter if Rory died at that point? But moving on.  I hate that she is used as a plot device. Oh, by the way she can fly the TARDIS, and oh by the way, she can flipping regenerate. I’m sorry, but River Song should, by NO means, be able to regenerate. She pops in to get the Doctor in and out of trouble and then disappears to who-knows-where/sometimes prison. And fixed points in time? Excuse me? No. I mean, really. That was absurd. Special rules do not apply to her. Moffat is just trying to make her look cool and I am not sacrificing good writing for image. River Song is a sociopath whose entire life revolves around The Doctor, there is not ONE SINGLE decision she has made for herself. She goes around with a gun, shooting things, causing genociide and we’re meant to believe the Doctor is actually ok with that? Giving her a gun does not make her a strong, independent woman. It makes her a sociopath with a gun. Her smugness annoys me to no end. Fucking spoilers. Fucking hello sweetie. Her sensuality is forced. She has no chemistry with Matt Smith. Her line in the wedding of River Song. I’ll suffer if I kill you-more than the entire universe-yes. How selfish can she get? She is constantly rubbing in her knowledge in not only the Doctor’s face but the companions. It’s like when Moffat took over he wanted to one up RTD so he made River who lets everyone know how awesome she is, how well she knows the doctor, how she can fly the Tardis so well (you turned the “handbrake” off, congratulations) She has no reactions to her parents dying. And finally she is meant to be this brainwashed sociopath who exists to kill the doctor and in the space of literally 30 seconds she changes her mind. A lifetime of brainwashing and trauma and pain and she gets over it in 30 seconds. Like I said, I shit you fucking not River Song is Moffat’s Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. And yes, the marriage. It was forced. The Doctor flat out states that he doesn’t want to marry her and she pressures him into it because it’s the only way she’ll let him touch her. If there is any kind of pressure, blackmail or abuse to get someone to marry another person, the marriage is forced. The Doctor was absolutely pressured into participating because not participating would’ve ended the universe. Here’s the difference between Rose Tyler and River Song.  Rose Tyler was a character who existed and had a romance with the Doctor. There was NO love at first sight. it was not Predestined, or anything like that; it was just some crazy old alien being like “oi, you wanna go and see all of time and space?” and rose was all, “yeah, why not!” and they were BEST MATES FIRST. they were just two best mates flying around in their stolen TARDIS, having a laugh, and then when the Stakes Were Raised rose kind of went - oh fuck. i love him. and the doctor went - oh fuck. i love her. it was just a natural, mutual caring and it was just two nerds, both of whom would raise HELL for the safety of the other while saving the universe together.  River Song was a character who existed TO have a romance with the Doctor. We are instantly told, not shown by the first meeting that River is important to The Doctor.  Someone The Doctor would give his screwdriver to and tells her his name. And eventually  they meet again and she kills and The Doctor is okay with it...for reasons. No one ever bats an eye that another genocide happens, but whatever. “Never be cruel or cowardly” apparently The Doctor overlooks why he chose his title when River is around. Honestly, The Doctor would never fall in love with someone who would risk THE ENTIRETY OF SPACE AND TIME because she didn’t want to kill him, i.e. river. he would NOT love someone like that, much less he would certainly not marry her because of it.  Okay. Why is River the only one who knows The Doctor’s name? You might say that River does have a life outside The Doctor cause she’s an archaeologist, yes, but that is barely shown. What do we really know about River? Even though she’s not consistently characterized, we do see that she’s violent, crazy, arrogant, overly sexual, sassy, and even bossy. Not much is known about her that makes us actually love her except that we are supposed to love her because of the Doctor.   If I could change River’s character, it would be this.  River should have been like a future companion who was mentored by The Doctor. Like Seven mentored Ace. In which he becomes like a father to River. She is hateful to him at first because of the conditioning done to her by The Silence. The Doctor saves her from herself and makes her a better person and slowly mentors her, I kind of got that impression when she told Rory about herself in The Impossible Astronaut.  I would have prefered a father/daughter relationship more than a romantic one. And River getting over trying to kill the doctor in just one episode (Let’s Kill Hitler) didn’t really take advantage of the weapon turned companion plot, and it was such a waste! It’s so frustrating how much potential there was there to really tell a story, and instead they just rushed it and made it into a nonsensical mess, rushed into a mystery and rushed into a forced romance. And we will never be free of River, as long as Moffat guest writes for Doctor Who, River will always be there. Even when she is being sent to her death, River Song’s presence is forced upon us in series 10 and no matter how much we want her to go away, River will never leave. Fuck Moffat for forcing River on us.

Moffat’s perception of The Doctor. Moffat sees The Doctor as this angsty vengeful authoritarian god. The Doctor is important because They are the one being trying to make a positive impact in the universe not because they’re a god/angel/cosmic authority/vengeful deity

The Doctor’s Name. Since when does the Doctor’s name matter so much? He chose his own name, Doctor, for a reason. It stands for everything he believes in.  and that’s what matters, not his birth name, they weren’t gonna do the Carmel Masterplan, so it really doesn’t matter. Furthermore, how could the Doctor’s name bring about the end of the universe? I just…I don’t understand? I’m really trying to and I can’t, because it makes no sense. Before Steven Moffat took over, The Doctor wasn’t this prophesied space messiah that all the evil beings in the universe were hell-bent on destroying because they knew that his name had catastrophic properties. Never explained why and all mentions of why his real name is important is thrown away, thus once making something built up entirely pointless.

The Silence Genocide. Here’s the difference between how genocide is presented with the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. The Ninth Doctor has the opportunity to destroy the Dalek Emperor’s fleet with the delta wave generator, but it would be at the cost of the humans and Jack on the game station. He couldn’t bring himself to commit genocide a second time, he would choose to be coward over a killer anyday. With Ten, he had no choice but to destroy the Racnoss and commit genocide, but he was ashamed of himself. The Silence had been on earth for thousands of years and had influenced human history and helped get humanity to the moon. One of them killed a human.  The Doctor sanctioned a genocide of an entire race with a smile on his face and turned on by his psychopathic future forced wife(jesus I wish I was making this up) and the humans just go along with it, The Doctor might as well have just told Cletus to burn a cross on The Silence’s yard. What was The Silence’s crime exactly? furthering Man's achievements? I can only assume that no one knows about the killing of Joy in the toilets, but if the Doctor did its a bit harsh to wipe out a whole race because of the actions of one. I mean, holy shit we have a jail that is capable of holding aliens established in the beginning of the episode and apparently killing them all instead of holding them all away is preferable. 

Apparently sexual assault is funny if a woman forces herself on a man. If someone forces themselves on you without your consent, it is assault. It happened with Amy(while she was on her way to being married), it happened with River, it happened with Clara, it happened with Tasha Lem,  and it happened with Missy. It was not funny in absolutely any time, yet this immature fucking jackass always plays assault for laughs. If this were an older man forcing himself on a younger woman, there would be outrage. and the creepery of women who meet fully grown men as little girls falling hopelessly in love with that same grown man, usually throwing themselves at him and forcibly advancing on him.  And him sexualizing them when they're adults when literally like 5 minutes ago for him they were children, it’s really vile.

Moffat’s inability to break the New Who companion formula with Clara. When we were first introduced to Oswin Oswald, I sincerely thought we were finally getting a new type of companion, FINALLY a companion from the future and not just another modern girl from the UK. Then Oswin was revealed to be a Dalek and she died. Sad but I thought she was a great character and I really wanted her to start traveling with The Doctor, Oswin and Eleven had great chemistry and unfortunately it was wasted potential. Next, we get Victorian Clara. Finally, a companion from the past. Her story was so great and once again good chemistry with Eleven and once again I wanted Victorian Clara to travel with The Doctor and she dies. What happens next? We are once again forced to have a “the companion must be special to travel with The Doctor plot device” and we have Clara Oswald from modern UK. Okay, fuck you. You complete and utter fucking moron. Not every goddamn companion needs to be from the modern UK. The Doctor has traveled with companions from the past, from the future and even aliens, hell, two of his companions were Cybermen. The Doctor traveling with a companion from the past or future works. 

Moffat believes companions should only be female. Gee, it’s not like Ian Chesterton, Steven Taylor, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Mike Yates, John Benton, Harry Sullivan  Adric, Vislor Turlough, Mickey Smith, Captain Jack Harkness, Rory Williams and Danny Pink don’t exist or are important. Seriously fuck you, the male companions are just as important as the female companions. 

Death always being teased but never executed upon and made ultimately pointless in the end. Rory has been dying in three fucking seasons until he actually dies in series 7. His death in series 5 was actually great. Then, when Amy and Rory ACTUALLY die in Series 7, it makes absolutely no sense and there are so many plot holes around it, it can be avoidable and The Doctor could simply just travel to a different part of the country in the TARDIS and just go back to New York on plane or car. Their death is completely avoidable and comes off as Moffat saying “He can’t save them because shut up” The Doctor let Amy and Rory go at the end of series 6. That is all you had to do. LET THEM GO, their deaths were avoidable and if you wanted to write them off, let them go. The most interesting Claras died and the last Clara died but was stupidly brought back despite the fact that Clara was content with dying. Ashildr had a great death protecting her people and of course deus ex machina technology makes her immortal. Even Heather, a girl from one episode had a good emotional death, is brought back in the finale. Bill Potts had possibly the worst possible fate. Bill was shot and everyone was shocked. Like damn, Bill is dying and the next thing we know is she is being converted into a Cybermen and who knows The Doctor is being forced to deal with the fact that he led his friend to a fate far worse than death. The emotional pain is there...and it’s ruined. Bill is fine and gets a happy ending like Clara and Ashildr. River is dead AND WE ARE STILL NOT FUCKING FREE FROM RIVER SONG! I don’t know why the fandom perceives Moffat as bad as George R.R. Martin, Moffat is a coward when it comes to death and never sticks with death, everyone HAS to come back and the deaths for every companion is undone and makes their deaths and sacrifice completely pointless. The reason Adric dying worked SO WELL is because he stayed dead and Adric’s death was a sacrifice and it worked. If Moffat was headwriter for Earthshock, I’m pretty damn sure he would find a way to undo Adric’s death. Death has no consequences in Moffat’s Who.

Until Bill Potts, every companion ALWAYS had to be special because the plot demanded it. Amy was “the girl who waited” River was River and Clara was “The Impossible Girl” no one could be special cause they are special to The Doctor, they had to be related to the plot

Day Of The Doctor was not celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who. It celebrated New Who and The Time War. It only celebrates The Time War and Moffat’s Who. It makes Not only that, it makes it black and white, it makes The Daleks the true evil of The Time War and erases the culpability of The Time Lords. Remember  it wasn’t just the Daleks who were the cause of The War, it was The Time Lords themselves who started The Time War when they convinced Four to try and stop the Dalek creation in Genesis Of The Daleks, it’s very important to understand that it wasn’t black and white and make the Time Lords the innocent party. And Day Of The Doctor ignores that and ignores that Rassilon wanted to erase all life and make The Time Lords beings of higher consciousness at the cost of all life in the universe.  

Mishandling The Time War itself. Throughout series 1-4 The Time War was built up as this horrible war that was so horrible that if it did not end, it would’ve destroyed life itself. The Time War NEEDED  to be more than a generic Sci-Fi battle. in the novelization of the episode Rose, 

The Time War was meant to be bigger and more horrifying.“this wasn’t a fight like laser guns and spaceships and explosions, this was a filthy, stinking war that changed reality itself.” Instead, it became a generic Sci-Fi action movie. Instead of the enormous time-traveling, inconceivable concept that was painted. The Time War prior to the 50th was something that we COULD NOT CONCEPTUALIZE because it was not fight like a normal war, it spanned galaxies and time. The true tragedy of it wasn’t that the Daleks were going to destroy Gallifrey or Arcadia, it was that THE DALEKS AND TIME LORDS BOTH WERE RIPPING THE UNIVERSE APART WITH THEIR WEAPONS. You cannot show that. So instead, we got shitty action movie explosions. When I got real interested about the Time War before series 6, a fan trailer showed a concept that The Daleks wanted to capture the Eye Of Harmony and insinuated that the Daleks went to war with the Time Lords to gain Gallifrey’s resources so they can gain mastery over space and time. That alone is more compelling than “Daleks just wanna exterminate the Time Lords” it was lazy writing, even more so by portraying the Time Lords as the innocent party. The Time Lords tried to get The Fourth Doctor to stop their creation and The Seventh Doctor manipulated Davros into destroying Skaro. There is no innocent Time Lords, retconning their actions throughout classic who and ignoring Rassilon and the High Council’s plans was complete and utter lazy writing. Rassilon and the High Council were as scary and menacing as the Time Lords from War Games and  Rassilon was a fearsome genocidal demigod. Choosing to ignore that was seriously dumb. Let’s go over Moffat’s depiction of children of Gallifrey and how he portrays the Time Lords waging War. Ignoring the concept of looming is dumb. “children of Gallifrey” I was just so mad when I heard about this. looming made Time Lords more alien and it is an interesting portrayal of Time Lords being asexual. Ignoring that, the concept of Time Lord Children is really dumb, Time Lord children carry stuffed rabbits. Because Time Lords children = Human children. Oh wait. Then Moffat’s concept of how The Time Lords would wage war.  Time Lord soldiers have helmets.  Time Lord soldiers have helmets to protect them from the rubble. There is rubble.  Things are burning. No, I mean things are literally burning.  Things are burning because the Daleks are shooting ray guns and the Time Lords are shooting back using their super advanced … ray MACHINE guns!!!!  Just to remind the audience, the Time Lords are a superior race with power over time itself.  The Time Lord soldiers have walky-talkies. No really, they do.  When Time Lords make art, they make it in 3 dimensions.  When Time Lords make war, they make it in 3 dimensions.  “Have you ever thought what it’s like to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension?” Masters of time and you decide to make them have ray-guns? This isn’t the fucking Terminator. And also, it ignores the fact that The Doctor witnessed Gallifrey burned. The way The Time Lords were portrayed in DOTD, was just lazy.     

Sonic Sunglasses. I believe that the sonic screwdriver needed a long break. It worked for Five-Seven so it would work for Twelve.  I like the sonic screwdriver but I hate how they constantly made Ten and Eleven dependent on it and turned it from a time lord device that can open any door to a magic wand that can perform a deus ex machina. What happens instead of Twelve relying on his intelligence and wit? He gets a downgrade and gets himself Sonic Shades. It worked like the screwdriver, with a few added bells and whistles to justify this downgrade.  One of the most noticeable problems with the glasses was that, unlike the screwdriver, their effects weren’t visible. Doctor Who is ordinarily a visual program that has always drawn attention to its colorful sci-fi/fantasy moments. Also, unlike the screwdriver they weren’t exclusive used by The Doctor, making them far less special. Clara, Ashildr and Osgood all donned the specs during the limited number of episodes in which they appeared. In series 10, the glasses committed their greatest sin. After the events in Oxygen rendered The Doctor blind, instead of having him deal with the extent of losing one’s vision, he popped on his magic glasses, thus cheapening the experience. While they didn’t restore his vision, the tech provided him with enough guidance to dramatically lessen the full extent of his blindness. Sadly, if the writers had allowed The Doctor to go 100% blind, the sheer vulnerability of such a powerful character could've made the Monk Trilogy a much stronger arc.

Hell Bent undid Clara’s sacrifice and made Day Of The Doctor completely pointless. Hell Bent STILL leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. All this mystery around The Hybrid and it was completely pointless. Gallifrey was completely wasted. We were given hope that The Doctor would see his home and his people again, but instead of The Doctor restoring Gallifrey, finding Susan, Romana, Leela and Ace again, Gallifrey is reduced to background noise and The Doctor doesn’t even care that he’s home. It was all just to bring back Clara. Clara was content on dying to save Rigsy. Clara paid for her mistakes by trying to emulate and be The Doctor. Heaven Sent was brilliant, it showed The Doctor trying to struggle without Clara, it was emotional and brilliant. Not only is her death undone and Gallifrey is reduced to background noises, Clara is rewarded by her actions by becoming a faux Doctor with a TARDIS and her own companion in Ashildr. This is the complete opposite of what should have happened. She gets rewarded for trying to become The Doctor when she shouldn’t be. She should be paying for it, that’s the whole point. Clara isn’t The Doctor, what makes her different is her primary strength and that’s why they need each other. Clara dying was the only good way to end this character and it ended up as a copout. It took her agency away and because Moffat could not let her go he had to bring her back, thus making Face The Raven and Day Of The Doctor completely pointless

Because Moffat STILL will not let River go, he has a portrait bigger than his own granddaughter’s Susan Foreman. There is no way within time and space that The Doctor will never believe River Song is more important than his own granddaughter. In my opinion, he should have picture frames of Rose, Jackie, Mickiem Jack, Martha and Donna, The Ponds and Clara along with Susan, but only River gets the big special picture. Fuck Moffat and his petty favoritism

Nardole For the majority of series 10, The Doctor was followed around by a cue-balled whiny crying cyborg known as Nardole. He first appeared in the 2015 Christmas episode with a purpose and then proceeded to just sort of hang out afterward with no discerning purpose. Then midway through series 10 in the episode Extremis, his purpose was explained. He was just a reminder that River Song is still there. We can’t be free of River no matter what and because of that we have to sit through this unbearable, annoying screaming robot. Kamelion is better than him and that should show you how bad Nardole is, but unlike Kamelion who had issues cause the robot malfunctioned and only lasted a few episodes,  we suffered through the entirety of series 10 because of Nardole.

Bad make up and giving away Simm!Master in the teaser ruined the reveal. The series 10 trailer spoiled that John Simm would return as The Master at some point. However, since he didn’t appear in the first ten episodes, it became a given that’s he’d appear sometime during the two-part series finale. And while they might have been saving him for part two, it was likely they’d want to utilize him for the entire story arc. So with all that in mind, a character that looked and sounded like John Simm in heavy makeup appeared about 15 minutes into the penultimate episode, The World Enough and Time. Some viewers may have been as shocked as The Doctor and Missy were by the reveal, but it could’ve been handled better. Simm did his part by disguising his voice and mannerisms. Yet it feels like a lost opportunity with an easy enough fix, if anybody had cared. The whole thing could’ve been avoided by either not including The Master in the trailer, or by disguising Simm in even more makeup and prosthetics.

Ignoring Simm!Master’s character arc in End Of Time. I don’t like End Of Time for a majority of reasons, but even I understand that Simm!Master had an arc in End Of Time. Sure, he mostly wanted revenge for what Rassilon’s done to him, but he still saved The Doctor, he considered The Doctor’s offer and had a realization that maybe he doesn’t have to be bad. Simm!Master had sane moments in his insanity which all had in some way the Doctor involved, showing him listening, with tears in his eyes. And in The Doctor Falls, he is completely unchanged. Acts as if the character arc never happened, Simm!Master is sexist for no reason.  Time Lords have no real concept of gender inequality. The Master had respect for Jo Grant, Nyssa, Tegan and Martha Jones and never harbored sexist attitude for them, he had ill feelings as an enemy, that’s it. Made to hate the Doctor so much he’d rather die than standing with him - Ignoring the fact that’s exactly what he did in The End of Time Part 2 and also the fact that the Master’s main goal over everything else was always his own survival. So he dies unredeemable, learns nothing, uncaring asshole, and completely disregards his character development in "The End of Time and all just to make Missy look good.

Missy had no reason for wanting to change and my annoyance at the name change. I don’t see or understand why Missy wanted to change. Obviously they are gonna give her a redemption story for...reasons. What are the reasons you might ask?...Shut up. Well, we obviously need her to fight her demons so why not give her absolutely no reason to want to change (except “I want my friend back” which apparently wasn’t enough reason for any other Master) I seriously do not understand why Missy would want to change. Missy/Master would want to fight a common foe with The Doctor and later betray The Doctor later and their game would go on as it always goes. Missy had no motivation, every chance The Doctor gave her, she always went back to her old ways. Missy’s “change” simply comes off as “let’s praise Missy She’s changed!! Why? Who cares. Motivation? Character development? Nuances? I can’t do that, I can only create a contrast between new and old so crass, everyone will see the change! Shut up and stop asking questions!” If Missy returns, I want  them to stop calling her Missy. Call her The Master. The Master chose their name like The Doctor, I’m pretty sure they would not change it because The Master changed genders. You don’t just change that name. She can very well still call herself The Master, there is no reason why, they cannot call her The Master. Changing gender is not a reason to change the title The Master chose to be called as such as they believe they can rule and subjugate the universe. But The Master should at the very least return as a villain, despite the forced change.

The Daleks and Cybermen are misused and overpowered. The problem with the Daleks is that Moffat has no idea what he wants to do with them. This video explains it perfectly. When the Daleks returned in series 5, they returned with an awful new look but they are still the biggest threat in the universe and the emotional trauma and hatred with the Doctor is there. Then, The Daleks go away and nothing is done with them. In series 7, Asylum Of The Daleks they return. They are not treated like the unstoppable force they were once in Classic Who or in Davies’ Who or even in Victory Of The Daleks. They are instead treated like another monster of the week. It’s not a big deal for The Doctor to face them anymore, he doesn’t seem to have any kind of reaction to them still operating or prospering in the universe. So now with no explanation Skaro is apart of the universe again despite the fact that it was destroyed in Remembrance of the Daleks,  there is a Dalek parliament, thousands of them exist, they have their own asylum(apparently the Daleks are too scared of their own malfunctioning Daleks) and they have death camps. Dalek death camps and The Doctor doesn’t care. Dalek death camps and The Doctor has no reaction to nor does he want to help anyone in the camps. While the execution of Evolution of The Daleks wasn’t very good, Dalek Sec was right that the purity of the Daleks would always destroy them in the end and must change if they are to survive, but that is no longer relevant. The tone of the Dalek appearances after Victory Of The Daleks shows their menace is no longer there. The Doctor goes from being enraged and consumed by grief by seeing The Daleks, to not feeling anything nor caring that the Daleks having death camps across the universe. The Rusty thing just didn’t work. The only thing that did work was the “you are a good Dalek” line. The Daleks have lost their menace and if The Doctor doesn’t care or show any fear or hatred towards them, then why should we as an audience care? As for the Cybermen. The problem is they are just the Cybus Cybermen with the symbol removed, the same monotone “DELETE” the only difference is they are too overpowered and well they are apparently Iron Man now thanks to the Nightmare In Silver all rocket boots and detachable limbs and superspeed. In  Dark Water/Death in Heaven they are nothing but Missy’s slaves with no autonomy of their own rather than a true force to be feared. It hasn’t helped that more often than not, modern Doctor Who has repeatedly decided the only way to beat the Cybermen is to overwhelm them with the power of love, a trope the show falls back on far too often. What made the Cybermen scary in Classic Who is when they were first envisioned, they were meant to be a chilling extrapolation of what creators Dr. Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis saw as the future of prosthetics and cosmetic surgery, humankind chopping bits of itself until what was left was more machine than man. Only their very first incarnation, the Mondasian Cybermen has ever tangibly captured the gruesome, tragic roots that sit at the heart of the concept behind them as monsters. Tomb Of The Cybermen also showed them as a true threatening monstrosities.  So when the Mondasian Cybermen do return, Bill is converted and what happens? Bill retains consciousness and apparently it’s not enough to have the Mondasian Cybermen, Moffat just HAS to bring back his overpowered Iron Man knock off Cybermen. No true and utterly terrifying new designs, just the overpowered Metallic Gary Stu Iron Man Cybus Cybermen. So as usual Moffat has a genius idea and manages to ruin it in the end.  

Moffat’’s sexist garbage ruined The First Doctor in Twice Upon A Time. I have seen EVERY First Doctor serial and One is not sexist at all. I get it, the sixties were a different time, Since the First Doctor was of that era, he wanted the audience to laugh at how different things were back then. Especially with the constantly horrified reactions of Twelve at his former’s self’s behavior. So what’s the problem? Short answer, it’s because the First Doctor wasn’t like that. Not even remotely.  And this is the story that takes place before One’s regeneration, apparently Moffat doesn’t care about all the character development One went through with Ian and Barbara, he just wanted bad humor that goes against One’s character just so he can appear as the better party “see? My Doctor is better than Classic Who” no, asshole, The First Doctor was not at all like that One wasn’t a walking ball of sexism, he was a curmudgeonly grumpy old space grandpa who lightened up with his first human contact, grew warmer and closer to them and learned to help rather than… eh.. smash people’s skulls with rocks.

The real problem with Moffat is that  Moffat is a good writer, capable of being a great one at times, but a terrible showrunner. Steven Moffat was a man who in the beginning had some marvelous ideas, and much like another BBC writer Terry Nation. When writing scripts once or twice a year were completely brilliant, but when stretched to almost write an entire series single handed, the outcome suffered. Doctor Who used to be a show full of heart, courage, emotion, character driven, cared more about the heart of the show and character than the concept of the over-complicated plot that will eventually be dropped at the end of the series. And honestly sometimes Moffat’s fans sound like Rick And Morty fans “To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Moffat’s Doctor Who." that’s what most of y'all sound like.  After watching the teaser for series 11, I am finally really excited for Doctor Who. It feels like everything it used to be, everything that made Classic and Davies’ Who great. 13 and her new friends I cannot wait and finally it feels like Doctor Who

[sophygurl]

WisCon 42 panel MCU’s Black Superheroes

The full title of this panel was Show Me My Respect: A Critical Look At The MCU’s Black Superheroes

The panel description:

Has the MCU done its black characters justice over the last 10 years? Did Disney allow Ryan Coogler to give Black Panther the respect and nuance it deserves? Did the Russo Brothers f*ck up everything in Avengers: Infinity War that the black and NBPOC writers and directors established in building complex characters and storylines? Let's explore this decade-long journey into Phase IV to see how the MCU has and will continue to treat us.

The moderator was Jennifer Cross, with panelists Aunterria Bollinger and K. Tempest Bradford.

Reminder that these panel notes are only my own recollections and the things I managed to write down - my notes are incomplete and likely faulty in places. Corrections and additions are always welcome. Especially please do correct me if I get names or pronouns wrong!

Also I name panelists as that’s publicly available information but not audience members unless requested by that person to have their named added.

[I came into the panel a little bit late, so missed intros and probably some other stuff.]

Tempest was talking about the black best friend trope and that DCTV does this a lot. Rhodey is very underused, and Civil War turned him into the disabled black best friend. 

Jennifer said Don Cheadle deserves better! Iron Man 2 gave complexity to Rhodey and Tony’s relationship and Civil War messed a lot of that up. It also made Rhodey disabled in a super questionable way [I missed some of this statement]. It was a literal cheap shot and felt like Joss Whedon saw him as an expendable character to use to elevate white man pain. Also the fact that Rhodey just automatically sides with Tony - what happened to the tension between them and Rhodey holding Tony accountable for his actions?

Jennifer made an aside to let the audience know that the panelists were going to be using a lot of code switching and AAVE references. She then went on to say “Fuck Infinity War - Russo brothers, take your white man pain to Ralph Lauren and buy some more polo shirts.” (lol)

Jennifer brought up that two black American men go to Wakanda for the first time and said nothing about it. Also they made Wakanda look “dank as shit.” 

Tempest said the amount of Cumberbatch she had to stare at in Infinity War was too much - she skipped a whole movie to avoid him! (me too) One problem with IW was that there were just too many people in it, so they couldn’t properly focus on anyone. 

Tempest added - why didn’t they just ask Shuri to fix things from the start? She was finally going to fix it, but she got interrupted by more man pain! Jennifer added that she loved the “you tried” moment with Shuri. 

Aunterria talked about IW’s short shifting of Wakanda as if they were saying “well we gave you a whole movie - what else do you want?” But also how much worse it might have been if that had been the first introduction to Wakanda instead of coming out after Black Panther. 

Jennifer brought up Winter Soldier and how Sam got to have a whole back story about his PTSD. In IW, we see him helping other people with their trauma but they never address how events are affecting him. She talked about how PTSD varies from person to person, and about how it can affect black people differently, especially.

Tempest brought up the gaybaiting of the series. Jennifer adds that she hates shipping, but she loves Sam and Bucky. 

Tempest said that Sam has more back story than Rhodey in terms of story that isn’t tied to a main white character. She will also never forgive Tony for shooting him in the face in Civil War. Marvel tries with regards to race, but their attempts are inadequate. 

She went on to talk about the character of M’Baku in Black Panther. She has a friend who was initially very upset about the inclusion of this character because in the comics the portrayal is very racist. Then he saw the movie and saw how great the character was. This is what happens when you give black people agency. Ryan Coogler had a lot of freedom in how he made BP.

Tempest added that white directors may try, but when trying to fix race in one area, they often make it racist in a whole other way. She brought up the Mandarin, for example. Why don’t you just ask an Asian person?

Jennifer said she wanted the panel to primarily focus on black people. The MCU fucks up all people of color, but the panel is specifically about black characters. 

She added that she loved watching Rhodey kick Tony’s ass. When he said “you don’t deserve to wear this suit” - it was a calling out of his privilege. She also found it suspect that Rhodey didn’t notice Tony’s PTSD in Iron Man 3. He’s a veteran and a general and would be trained to look for those signs. She said “we’re 10% of the population in LA - find one of us and pay us to fix this stuff.” Especially important to find a black veteran officer to inform Rhodey and Sam’s characters. She no longer trusts white people to write black people. 

Jennifer moved on to Valkyrie. She said she does love Thor because Chris Hemsworth. Also Taiki Watiti did surprisingly well. She loves Tessa Thompson. 

Aunterria talked about her love for Danai Gurira as both Michonne in The Walking Dead and Okoye in the MCU. However, she still falls under the trope of the exceptional black woman giving it all up for a man. 

Tempest countered that saying that Okoye fights for Wakanda over a man. She and T’Challa fight alongside one another and it’s clear that she would do the same for Shuri if she was queen. BP is not just about awesome black men, but black women too. There isn’t enough complexity in the other black characters in the MCU with the exceptions of Heimdall and Valkyrie. Asgard also had random Asian and black characters walking around that are never addressed or explained.

Jennifer loved Valkyrie drunkenly stepping off the ramp. Also the quietness of Heimdall’s character even when had more to do than just standing there. She talked about being a big Norse Scandanavian folklore nerd and said Asgard looks the way it’s supposed to look - it was actually diverse as shit. It took a man of color to finally make it look almost accurate representation-wise. She references the show The Almighty Johnsons as a show about Norse gods living in New Zealand. 

Jennifer wonders if it’s going to take only poc behind the scenes to give us proper treatment. Way down in her soul is an optimist that “no amount of beating with Lucille can shut up” that wants to know if it can happen any other way. 

Aunterria said she’s not optimistic about this. She can’t think of a poc character written by a white person that’s done anything meaningful or purposeful or accurate. 

There is much collective groaning about Iron Fist.

Aunterria talked about making Luke Cage bulletproof but not talking about police violence. Giving black characters powers without engaging in the social issues around them. 

Jennifer said she is mixed about Luke Cage. It’s the embodiment of respectability politics. But there is an effort to show Harlem and the gentrification of it. There’s this idea that poc don’t have any room to make mistakes. BP did so well that Kevin Feige is begging Coogler to come back. 

Jennifer said that she loves the women in LC - especially Misty. There are lots of women who are all different people, all unapologetically black but in different ways. She’s watching it for the women. Praises Alfre Woodard. 

Tempest uses headcanons to make movies better.

Jennifer addressed how Tessa Thompson was the one out of the women in the MCU cast to ask Kevin Feige about them wanting their own movie. Why did the black woman have to be the one to ask for what all these white women have been wanting? Why couldn’t ScarJo take her white appropriating ass up there and ask about it?

Tempest talked about the TV part of the MCU technically being in the same universe. TV shows have to include the big events of the movies but not the other way around. She said she stopped watching Shield when Daisy’s transformation killed the black male character (Trip) for one episode of white pain. Jennifer also stopped watching it in season one.

Aunterria is still watching Shield. She wondered if Trip had been killed because of the possibility of his entering into an interracial relationship. She said there is a new black male character (Mack), but his arc is all about suffering. Last season had a storyline about aliens enslaving white people, which was interesting. But the people of color come to save the white people. Jennifer interjects “Killmonger wasn’t wrong...”

Tempest adds “Joss is the most fuckassed fuckass to ever fuckass.” Jennifer asks what about Stephen Moffat? Tempest said - he’s second.

Aunterria said Shield did make the black man the team leader at the end of this season. Jennifer said - so he has to suffer for his reward now and his reward is to parent a group of white people? That’s even more fucked up!

Tempest said that BP gave her hope. Jennifer said - see, she’s not the only one with optimism. Tempest said that Coogler has some power right now - maybe he can bring in some friends and fix some more stuff.

Aunterria said that being a black writer right now is also hard because there is so much to fix. There is so much shit to work on before you can even focus on your craft - so it’s more work for them.

Tempest said her hopes are with the movies over the TV shows.

Jennifer said - “especially fuck babyvampJessica” (Karen from Daredevil). It’s like the paler you are, the more people will die for you. 

Tempest said - as far as cleaning up, BP didn’t have to do that work because they were starting from scratch. There must be other characters that can be brought into the MCU movies that can be written by black writers.

Aunterria said those do exist, but the funding isn’t there. Tempest - but Gods of Egypt somehow got funding!

An audience member asked about Heimdall and if he would come back. Jennifer said that Idris Elba has said no on that. 

Tempest talked about actors being semi-responsible to the narrative of their characters. RDJ even saying - maybe it’s time for me to go? Jennifer added - and then they throw more millions at him and I can’t be mad about that. Tempest said that we know all those people who were turned to dust are coming back. It was a bold decision to kill some of them - but we need to sunset one story in order to have a sunrise on another. Also - “fuck Thanos.” 

Tempest said that something that ruins a narrative almost as much as white supremacy is the irresponsible choices of actors going on and on - except for all of the cast of BP - they can stay as long as they want.

Jennifer said that with Disney owning Marvel, Deadpool is now officially a Disney Princess (lol).

Tempest said she sat through all of Wolverine Origins just to see Hugh Jackman naked and she is done with Deadpool now.

An audience member asked about the character Cottonmouth on LC. Jennifer talked about him as a complex character bridging socio-economic status’s. She added that if you put trauma in a black character’s history, you need to do it in a way that is not just for show. She said the opposite of the example would be Zoe Walsh.

A member of the audience asked about Lash’s purpose on Shield. Aunterria said he filled in May’s backstory and explains things to us about her that we weren’t getting just from her side. But he was mostly there for gratuitous pain and suffering of a black man and Asian woman. 

Jennifer said the MCU is allergic to black love. “Tweet that.” She wants to see a black male character saving a black female character - not just everyone else.

An audience member asked about Miles Morales. Jennifer said - we’ve had four Peter Parkers in fifteen years! Tempest said Tom Holland is at least finally a good one. Kevin Feige has said there is space for Miles, but she wonders who is going to write him? 

Jennifer closed the panel with a firm statement for the white members of the audience, especially. She said - you will take everything good from our culture and appropriate it, but not our pain. You’ve taken our stuff for fun value and for show, but you don’t address our pain. 

This panel was also livetweeted pretty extensively with #blackmcu if you want more/other perspectives from it. 

[For context, I’m white.]

[pebblysand]

On Children.

Last night, when I posted this - the last 15,000 of a 103,087 words journey - I promised myself I’d talk about it - write about it - later. After I’d slept, after I’d been to work, after I’d processed the thoughts in my head.

I barely slept. Shut the lights out at midnight, woke up at two, then at five and stayed awake after that. I’m usually a heavy sleeper. I think it was the adrenaline.

Today, I spent more time on tumblr and my personal email, anxiously refreshing pages for reviews and comments, than on actual work. I’ll admit it’s insecure and weak on my part, but I guess I am of a generation that is in constant need of validation.

I haven’t felt this happy and excited in a long time but let’s be real, I still haven’t processed shit. Who was I kidding? Maybe, it will help to write this out. I guess I am a writer, after all.

I write that (I’m a writer), and think that’s a weird word, all things considered. It refers to a profession but I’m not a professional, and it is still what I do - like to do - with the spare time that I have. You see, sometimes, I have ideas about things that could happen to people who aren’t real and when that happens, I type them out on a laptop and share them with strangers on the internet. It’s a bit of weird hobby, admittedly, but I like it. I’m okay at it. Sometimes, the thought even crosses my mind that I might be good. It mostly happens when I write things like this:

When she thinks about him, she thinks about them and all she sees is children. A boy and a girl and her pale skin against his cheek, pulling at each other’s hair, laughing, loud, like Nick and Niamh on court benches, school benches, and the autumn leaves scattered around their feet.

Or this:

It’s not homesickness, she thinks, it’s just moving on.

I look at those three sentences and I think (because yeah, let’s dive in, shall we? that’s enough of an introduction) that ultimately, this is what all this was about. Those 103,087 words. This fanfiction, as it is refered to, is called Children not because Martha gets pregnant at the end, but because it’s a coming of age story. A coming of age story that involves a couple of forty-somethings who have spent so much time over the last fifteen years working and helping other people grow that they’ve forgot to do it themselves. This fic is as much about the concept of home and career choices and Sean, than it is about Martha and Clive. And sure, it’s about me, too. Because let’s be real, maybe I was going through a bit of a similar thing, at the time I started writing this, and maybe I did Mary-Sue the heck out of it. Who knows?

What I do know, though, is that I love this story. So much. It feels important, and cool, and smart, and funny and the kind of tale that I like to tell. I also know that although I won’t bore you with the details, I wasn’t in great place, this time last year, when I started writing it. Thankfully, I am in a much, much better place now. I frankly thank Peter Moffat, Silk, and Martha and Clive for that. I think this story gave me room to grow, and focus, and believe in myself more than I ever had before. When I started writing it, it was a 10,000 words one-shot that involved Clive breaking into Martha’s flat through the window and a very early version of that last scene in chapter vii. It was cool, too, but not the story I needed to tell.

Then, chapter i came. Chapter i is crap, I know that. I made it a bit less crap by editing it sometime after I posted chapter ii but really, not by much. In its defense, it was written at a time when a) I hadn’t written a word in three years and b) I had no idea what this would all become. I think that when I first published it, I still thought the fic was going to be fifteen to twenty thousand words, two or three chapters at most.

For a very long time, I was terrified of not finishing this fic, actually. I had a lot of comments about that - understandable considering the sad amount of abandoned works on the Silk fandom - and it just made me more anxious very time. That fear did start to go away over time, but surprisingly late, probably around when I was writing chapter ix. Still, I think I still had remnants of that panic up until I actually wrote the words the end at 3 a.m. last Friday. It felt almost surprising that I had, indeed, finished. All the long projects that I’d started before, I’d abandoned, or gotten tired of. At the time, I held it against myself, but coming back to my earlier point, I’ve now realised that they just weren’t my story to tell.

Then, chapter ii came. I like chapter ii. It’s not perfect and would need to be worked on in a future edit, but I like its plot. I like what it says about the show, about Martha as a character and how she breaks down, how we all do, sometimes. It also says something about what often happens to women, sadly, when they do. 

I think this show is important and matters because to me, it talks about something that happens all the time in the legal world and that no show ever touches on. We show the courtrooms and the decorums and the ships, but not happens behind the scenes. Not what I’ve seen. The truth is that when you spend all your waking hours fighting other people’s fights, sometimes, you lose yourself. You breakdown. You burn-out. It’s sort of a premonition but Clive warns Martha about it in the first series, jokingly, sure, but he turns out to be right. That’s what I see in the last episode of series three. As much as I hated the whole courtroom and Micky Joy debacle there, I loved that storyline. I love that she just fucks off. That my ultimate head canon is that she moves to a beach somewhere and opens a café on the coast, pours expressos and chats up tourists all day. Maybe, there, she meets someone. Maybe, she even has a family. But in my head, Children is and always will be a very long AU.

In that AU, of course, she has to stay. And that’s what chapter ii is about, ultimately, about staying when you don’t want to, breaking down and dealing with the consequences. When you’re a woman and you fuck up a bit, the price to pay is sometimes, sadly, very high. So, I tried to show that to the best of my ability. I hope I did a decent job of it. Frankly, I’m not quite sure about how I dealt with the aftermath. I think if I went back and edited, I would probably allow the assault to be more of a recurrent theme in the following chapters. I sometimes wonder if I didn’t deal with it a bit too quickly. But then again, I guess every survivor is different, and there was also a lot to talk about in those next chapters, with Billy and Clive, and Chambers, so I’ll cut myself some slack.

Chapter iii is to me the moment when this fic found its tone and its voice. When Martha and Clive found their voices in my head, too. It was a very difficult chapter to write, I remember, but I think that’s when the fic went from being an extended one-shot to a full blown story, with a plot and character development, and thousands of words, and eleven chapters. That scene at Billy’s grave is one of my favourites.

The one that follows, chapter iv, wrote itself. I barely touched it. I love chapter iv. It’s funny and quirky, and everything I loved about writing those characters I was lucky enough to be able to borrow. I was very insecure about the explicit sex scene in it, but then I felt like that scene was necessary. Again, I didn’t want the only sex in this to be non-consensual. Most often, sex is pleasurable and fun, thank God.

I think when I look back, chapter v is the most personal of them all. Chapter v is what I meant when I said that this fic was about me. Jokes aside, I remember being very nervous about it, wondering if I wasn’t turning a wonderful fic into a horrible, Mary-Sue-d attempt at a diary of my own problems. But then, well, it’s also fiction. My fiction. Because in chapter v, aside from Martha and Bethany’s very short stint, all of the characters are OCs. There’s Martha’s mum (Maureen), and Jo, and Evershed, and Roy. Boy, do I love Roy. Roy is the amalgamation of every man every sixty-something woman in my life has remarried to. He’s not a bad person, he’s just very, very out of tune with current times. Evershed, I don’t have many feelings about. Martha just needed a sounding board. Martha’s mum was probably the hardest to write. She loves her, I think, but I also think they’re very different people. I think they’re linked by what happened to her dad and that sometimes, that gets a bit heavy. And Jo. God, I love Jo. She makes me laugh and sometimes, I wish she was my friend, too.

Again, I was nervous about chapter v and my characters, wondering if people would like them, would like what they said about Martha, about the concept of home, until someone said: "It's like you're writing my life and all the feelings I've had about home and the bar and superimposed Martha Costello on top". I think that’s one of the best comments I’ve ever had on anything I’ve ever written. So, I’m not naming you, you know who you are, and thank you.

Chapter vi was originally very, very long and was then split into vi and vii for readability purposes (I will split xi too, one day, I promise). Yet, in my head, they will always be paired up. 

As I’ve mentioned before, the contents of chapter vii, and especially that last scene with Clive when they decide to “try again”, had been in my head ever since I’d started writing this fic. It was always where this story was going to go and when I published it, it felt good to finally release that, to have it out in the world that yeah, this was going to be that kind of fic, with an argumentative, blond, blue-eyed baby being born the end. Although these two are probably the most important chapters in this fic, I oddly don’t have much to say about them. I guess everything is pretty spelled out in there. Clive and Martha are in love. And they’re going to try for a baby. When I split both chapters, I took the opportunity to put back into chapter vii a bit that I’d taken out in the original editing phase. It’s a scene in which Clive and Martha talk about her father’s disease and she mentions that she took a test, once upon a time (i.e. when she got pregnant), to know if she had it, but never read the results. It’s a letter in her handbag that she doesn’t want to open, but that he wants to read. I think more than the topic itself, it shows how much they love each other, and yet how different they are. Martha got to know about Billy’s health when, in fairness, I don’t think she ever wanted to know. I think she’s the kind of person who only likes to know about things she can deal with or solve. If not, she wants to know late enough so that she won’t have to think about it too much. She’s the kind of person who wouldn’t want to know if she had cancer. Clive does, though. He would have liked to know about Billy; I think it hurt him not to. He would have liked to be prepared.

In my canon, Clive reads that letter and never tells her what was in it. He vouches to keep it to himself, and he does. He likes that he knows, respects her decision not to. He would tell her, if she asked, but she never does. As the writer of this story, I personally don’t know what was on that letter, either. I’ve gone back and forth on it a few times and I really don’t know if she has it. She definitely thinks she does. I think that’s kind of where the smoking comes from. I think she sort of hopes it will kill her before she forgets that it will.

I kind of wish I had found a way to use all of that in later chapters but somehow, after that one, it just didn’t fit within the plot. Maybe it will upon further edits. I don’t know.

Now, chapter viii is cute. Like iv. Still, I wanted it to be mostly about her career and going back to work, rather than about her getting pregnant. I hope that it was. Chapter viii is also where the character of Charlotte makes her entrance and I really like her, I like that she both fits in (through her education, her parents) and doesn’t (through how odd and quirky she is). I think if Martha were to ever go back to work after everything that happened, it would be for someone like that. I like that she’s not Billy, too.

And of course, then, Martha gets pregnant, when she leasts expects it. Because, she had to. As a side note, I love the scene where she "tells" Billy. It feels like a full circle to me.

Circles are not necessarily good, though, are they? ix, oh ix. That, also, unfortunately had to happen. I think Martha and Clive had been very nicely playing house for a while but it just couldn’t go on forever. Mostly, I had to deal with Sean, though. Because Sean, oh, Sean, do I love Sean. Again, this fic, frankly, is almost as much about him and about what he represents (young love, home) than it is about Clive and what he represents. When I wrote chapter iii, I thought I was done with him but then again, when I wrote chapter iii, I didn’t know there would be nine chapters, did I? So, Martha, she couldn’t let go, could she? She had to close that door in order to open another one.  

ix was so hard to write. Mostly because I’m terrible at writing arguments. I had turn it all around for it to make more sense but I feel that somehow, it more or less worked. I guess, you tell me, though.

(As a side note, I kind of like CW’s role in it. She’s not a friend, but she’s not a stranger either. I think that ultimately, she kind of cares about Martha, for some reason. And I love that conversation between Martha and her mum at the end, almost teared up when I wrote it. Again, part of moving on and growing up.)

And then, comes x. It’s a bit of a filler, I’ll admit. A 10,000 words filler. I couldn’t see Clive and her get back together that easily, so things needed to happen in between. I decided those things were court scenes. I was so nervous about those. I’ll be honest and say I have no fucking clue about the UK’s appeals process and probably got it all wrong. I guess that’s the difference between me back when I was still in law school and me now. At the time, I would have done the research. Now, I just don’t care, as long as the drama’s good. If you’re from the UK and thought it was all wrong, my most sincere apologies.

Finally. xi. As I said in my A/N yesterday, there was supposed to be a xii, until two evenings ago, when I realized that there wasn’t. In fairness, I think I’d suspected it for a while. In my head, I’d always thought of xii as some sort of epilogue, with a mix of cute pregnant-Martha scenes and a bunch of more serious ones (the baby’s name, Clive’s priorities shifting). Then, at 3 a.m. on Friday, I understood that a bunch of scenes stuck together do not necessarily make for a coherent chapter. And that I hate epilogues anyway. Finish your bloody story and stick with it, I say. So, the important stuff made it into xi (Clive’s priorities shifting, the baby’s name) and the rest just went to trash. I’m happy with that. In an earlier draft of an outline for xii, I also had a scene about CW prosecuting Brown Hair in an assault case on someone else, but that felt a bit cheap and would have kind of taken away the point I wanted to make with ii, the fact that most of the time, sadly, there is no resolution to these things. So, yeah, I’m happy I didn’t write that in.

I guess I don’t know what I thought would happen when I wrote the words the end after of all this. I think I thought fireworks would be in order, and champagne. Instead, I was alone in my flat on a Friday night, drinking beer and thinking holy shit. I didn’t cry - still haven’t - but I’m not sure all of this has really sunk in, yet, so.

So, what does this all mean? Well, it means that I’ve written a story and finished it. Not a novel, sure, but a story nonetheless, with some characters that were mine and some that I borrowed and it had a beginning, a middle and an end. That feels great. Amazing, in fact, like the top of the world. And yes, in a few years, months maybe, even, I’ll probably look back at this post and think I was full of shit and full of myself. Right now, though, it feels good. I’ve motherfucking done this, you know?

And I acknowledge the fact that there’s still a lot of work to do. Because everything I’ve mentioned I want to make better, want to rewrite (like chapter i, ugh), I’ll do. I’ll let the fic sit, for a while, but I’ve planned to go back to it in a few months (August or September, give or take) and edit. Because frankly, although I love this story to bits, I also know it has flaws. For better or for worse, I’m a perfectionist at heart, so I want to make it the best it can be. That being said, I am very proud of this, nonetheless.

So, yeah, if you’re interested, maybe click again and go back to reading Children this time next year, it’ll probably have changed a bit. If not, that’s alright, please, just don’t hold chapter i against me.

Lastly, again, I’d like to repeat my thanks. To @missmarthacostello for early-fic chats. To @asummerevening for later-fic chats. To everyone who’s read, commented and PM-ed me over the last months and to everyone who will hopefully read and comment and message me in the future. I owe you many. Again, if you have prompts, requests, feel free to PM me, I’m happy to try my best. And lastly, again, thanks to the wonderful @cursedandcharmed without whom, honestly, this would not have seen the light of day. As I said in my A/N, you listened to me rant for a year about something you were not reading and that took place within the universe of a show you were not watching. I can’t thank you enough for that.

So, there. I hope this was somewhat coherent. I honestly tried, to the best of my ability. This fic has taken up so many weekends and hours of my life these past few months that I am unsure as to what comes next, and what one does with so much time on their hands. Again, though, I’ll probably look back at this in a bit and think I was full of shit, so, there’s that.

Thanks again and whoever you are, if you’ve stuck around this long, you have all my love and admiration.

Best,

pebblysand.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

(in response to @mirrorfalls question on my favourite Moriarty, which I answered... then deleted. Because I’m good at tumblr.)

To answer the question of what my favourite versions of Moriarty is, we need to figure out what, imo, makes a ‘good’ Moriarty. For my money, there are three aspects that make Canon Moriarty interesting:

Intellect: probably obvious, but Moriarty is an opposite to the World’s Greatest Detective, so his intellect, like Holmes’, is key to his character.

Familiarity: the phrase ‘everything I have to say has already crossed your mind/then possibly my answer’s crossed yours’ is a cliche of Holmes/Moriarty interactions, but it’s a damn good cliche for a reason. Holmes and Moriarty should have a healthy respect for each other, that’s true, but more importantly they should have this sense of, as Neil Gaiman once said about him and Terry Pratchett: ‘You’re another one of me! I didn’t realize they made another one!’

Savagery: Seems weird given the other two points, but a good Moriarty should always have this point that, if pushed off, attempts to, say, push a guy off a waterfall. If my favourite Holmes is a bleeding heart barely pretending to be an unfeeling machine, Moriarty is barely hiding his inner savage behind the mask of congeniality.

So, with that out of the way, my most interesting (not objectively worse/best, just the ones I feel deserve attention) Moriarty’s from worst to best.

10: BBC Sherlock (Andrew Scott)

Let’s break this down: he’s not 1 because no-one in Sherlock is smart, it’s just Moffat trying to trick the audience with lack of explanation. He’s not 2 because Moffat is so obsessed with twists that Sherlock and Moriarty spend most of their time twisting each other so much that there is no time given to their familiarity between them. He’s not 3 because he’s not savage - he’s a poor man’s Heath Ledger’s Joker, but boring and with more homoerotic subtext. He’s not Moriarty. He’s just boring.

9: Elementary Moriarty (Natalie Dormer)

I really wanted to place her higher because I honestly love Natalie Dormer’s version, but whilst she covers the first two points the focus is more on her torrid romance with Watson Holmes, which is all well and good but does rather detract from her Moriarty-ness.

8: Young Sherlock Holmes (Anthony Higgins)

This version of Moriarty, like this version of Sherlock, is... interesting. We don’t really see his savagery, but the entire movie works to build up his relationship with Holmes. I could have done with a little less racism, though. And a little more actual Egyptian Moriarty in a movie that makes him Egyptian.

7: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

1 and 3, mostly - as interesting as the idea that he’s a former British agent turned actual bad guy is, that’s the disadvantage of removing Holmes from the story - it’s like a Joker story without Batman, Moriarty doesn’t really have anyone to contrast with, and the two people who can contrast with him - Mycroft and Fu Manchu - never share a second of pagetime with him. And yet you can only do Holmes v Moriarty so many times, so how do you make Moriarty interesting without Holmes? Well...

6: Newman’s Moriarty

...You make them the contrast of another character, that’s what. In all seriousness, Newman’s version of Moriarty might not get much to do, but man does he feel good.

The premise of Hound of the D’Urbervilles, i.e. Sherlock Holmes but Moriarty instead, is brilliant at giving us not just how similar Holmes and Moriarty are, but how different - a personal highlight being Moriarty telling Moran that of course he didn’t figure out Moran’s backstory using deductive reasoning, why would he waste his time, he researched everything about him before he entered the room. 

I’m not entirely sure if Newman’s Moriarty is savage as opposed to increasingly petty, but his relationship with Moran hints that whilst Holmes looks at people and sees problems to be fixed, Moriarty looks at people and sees tools to be exploited, and that is a pretty sweet contrast that isn’t really explored in other versions.

5: Brett Moriarty (Eric Porter) + Merrison Moriarty (Michael Pennington)

Moving on to a classic Moriarty, whilst I don’t really think Porter adds anything the same way Brett does, he is still a really engaging portrayal. The bit where Holmes and Moriarty exchange a look on the Reichenbach Falls? Brilliant, and it wouldn’t be half as good without his particular portrayal, which stems far closer to the canon than previous ones on this list.

The BBC Radio adaptation is practically tied with this because they’re extremely similar - both attempt to follow canon as closely as possible, whilst adding their own twists. I do prefer the radio version, though, because we get some hint as to how Moriarty’s organization works and how much of a threat Moriarty is. This is actually enhanced by it being radio - whereas Brett’s version has to have Moriarty enter the room because it’s a visual medium, the radio adaptation can just have Holmes playing the violin, suddenly stopping and then revealing Moriarty’s been in the room this whole time. It’s really good, is what I’m getting at. But speaking of canon...

4: Canon

@mirrorfalls said in their original question that no version of Moriarty since the canon has ever actualized the reptilian qualities of Moriarty, and I can’t help but agree. It’s really interesting that Moriarty is linked to an animal whilst Holmes compares his body in another story to ‘a mere appendix’ - something intrinsically human even as it is superficially worthless. The idea of Moriarty in this version - calm, cold, but liable to snap at any point - is quite simply perfect, and the only thing that doesn’t rank him higher is that, in the same way William Hartnell doesn’t rank as one of my favourite Doctors, what it means to be Moriarty has changed so much since his inception. I don’t think Conan Doyle ever intended Moriarty to have the staying power that he did - he’s a plot device, pure and simple. Other authors added to that, and so we’ve got the version of Moriarty which lasts today.

3: Light Yagami

...Hear me out.

No, Light isn’t exactly a traditional Moriarty. For one thing, I’m fairly certain Moriarty doesn’t have a god complex, or a magic notebook that kills people, or a snarky apple loving Death God as a sidekick (Though, who knows, give Moran an apple fixation...) But, there’s a reason I recommend at least the first half of Death Note for anyone wanting a great Holmes/Moriarty story... It’s really good at outlining exactly what makes Moriarty and Holmes so interesting: Mind Games. Mind Games galore.

Watch, say, L’s introduction. Now imagine Holmes challenging Moriarty in the same manner. Hell, Light definitely ticks all of the points of a good Moriarty in this scene alone: he anticipates the police noticing him, he builds such a good rapport with L without either of them actually meeting that I remember losing my shit when I first watched Death Note and realized that this episode would feature the two of them actually meeting face to face, and despite his apparently calm demeanor at first, he immediately kills Lind L Tailor the instant he says something he doesn’t like. Just... he might not be a ‘true’ Moriarty, but he’s a damn good interpretation even if that wasn’t the goal. Speaking of not exactly ‘true’ interpretations...

2: Professor Ratigan (Vincent Fucking Price)

No objections, I trust?

Really, though, I wasn’t someone who watched Great Mouse Detective as a kid - I first watched it about two years ago, and god damn is this a good movie. True Story, when thinking about which Moriarty’s belong on this list, I immediately jumped to Ratigan, because he’s brilliant. He ticks all the boxes and then some - His intellect may not be his primary trait, but it’s still there, and his rapport with Basil is the stuff of legend at this point. And, to be brutally honest, Ratigan is the reason savagery is on this list in the first place. That fight on Big Ben? No version of Reichenbach has yet surpassed it, and it is everything great about this version of that core concept. Really, everything about Ratigan is a summation of how to do a brilliant Moriarty.

So, who can top the World’s Greatest Criminal Mind? Well...

1: RDJ Moriarty (Jared Harris)

Yes, I know, I was surprised to.

I was around during the Sherlock/RDJ films strife. I remember how much these films were lambasted for being ‘too action-packed’ and ‘not cerebral enough’, in stark contrast to the majesty of Sherlock and it’s twerpish plot twists. But when I think of a great Moriarty? Oh, boy, this one kicks Sherlock’s ass.

It’s also irritating, because it’s really hard to point out what makes him better than Ratigan or even Light. His plan is convoluted at best (not that the other two are any better - a good Moriarty does not a decent plan make), not helped by it being exactly the same as his plan in that godawful League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie (which, btw, would still be bad even if it didn’t drive Sean Connery away from the film industry, but is far worse on those grounds) but, still, look at this scene. Or this one. Or that fight scene.

Tell me that’s not Moriarty.

That first scene especially runs through all three establishing Moriarty traits, yet perfectly utilizes all of them. We see how smart he is, we see his and Holmes’ respect for one another, but at the same time we see how much Holmes wants to see him behind bars and we have the perfectly paced reveal of his murder of Irene and that he intends to do the same to Watson and Mary. Everything about this scene is brilliant despite it being just the two of them talking. There’s even a bit later in the movie where Moriarty outsmarts Holmes and they communicate the gamut of emotions both characters are feeling through them exchanging a single glance.

So, yes, these films may be a bit too action packed. Yes, they may exaggerate character’s abilities, their plots may be inconsequential for the most part. But goddamn is their Moriarty a classic.

[beccaland]

Re: 10 & Martha. How would you say your perception of 10 has changed in light of S3 and his treatment of Martha, in comparison to 12 and Bill?

Hmm, that’s an interesting question! And because this is not my usual mode of fandom meta (I prefer talking about stuff I like more than stuff I don’t like, and I will try to do so, to the degree I can, in the rest of this post too), I’m going to preface my answer by saying that I’m a big fan of the Tenth Doctor, I like most of what RTD has done in Doctor Who, and my feelings about how Martha was handled in series 3 have little to do with Ten/Rose and everything to do with how the writers portrayed Ten (not) coping with the loss of Rose. Also gonna link to this other post, because I’m pretty sure that’s what prompted the ask, and that context is important. And with that upfront disclaimer, here goes:

I haven’t rewatched series 3 since watching series 10, and my perspective really changed the most around the break between series 7 or 8, or else 8 and 9. I decided to do a rewatch, but as I’d seen series 1 and 2 so many times, I decided to skip them this time and go straight to “Smith and Jones.” As a result of not having just gone through the emotional turmoil of seeing the Doctor’s grief at losing Rose in Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, I found myself unable to muster any sympathy at all for him in terms of how he treated Martha. Because like, she does literally everything right *except* have an unfortunate crush on him, which she’s actually super cool about anyway. Martha’s a great companion, and the show wasted their chance with her in a lot of ways (though we did get a lot of really good stuff with her, too).

I’m not sure my opinion of Ten’s treatment of Martha could get any lower, but certainly Twelve’s relationship with Bill can’t put it in a better light, can it? Sarah Dollard treated Bill’s first trip into the past so very much better than Gareth Roberts did Martha’s.

That’s the short answer. The rest of my answer is under the cut, because I’m apparently incapable of giving short answers to anything, and I should really have learned how to use this feature sooner.

Like Martha, Bill asks all the smart questions–in fact she specifically asks about her safety as a POC, asks for the rules, and even brings up the butterfly effect, just like Martha did. But this time the Doctor doesn’t brush these questions aside; he answers them (OK, he does make the joke about “Pete,” but his jesting is calculated to put her at ease, not make her feel dumb for asking). They address race both by pointing out the historical presence of POC in Britain (as Gareth Roberts also did in “The Shakespeare Code”), and by genuinely acknowledging the historical presence–and personal danger to Bill–of slavery and racism. But the Doctor doesn’t just admit to Bill that he’s crap at risk management; he gives her the best defense he can in the circumstances: period-appropriate posh clothes that signify social power despite her “melanin”–and then instead of hearing a tired joke about political correctness, we get to see a racist get punched in the face!

Plus, there was no romantic baggage between them, which was such a huge relief for so many reasons. There could have been baggage, of course. We could have picked up in “The Pilot” straight after Return of Doctor Mysterio, when Twelve was still clearly though quietly mourning River (he’s still not over her by “The Pilot;” her portrait as well as Susan’s is on his desk). Bill could have been not a lesbian, and developed a crush on the Doctor (instead she fell “low-key in love” with the TARDIS, because “she has dresses and likes a bit of trouble”). In a cut scene, in fact, the Doctor does bring up River, but not to throw her in Bill’s face or make her feel inadequate. And I know it’s not fair to the Doctor to draw this comparison, because he’d had, what? A couple of days to process losing Rose, but at least fifty years to process losing River. But that’s kind of the point–both of those facts are choices that RTD and Moffat made, respectively. Moffat deliberately did not saddle Bill with the burden of the Doctor’s grief just to make a point about how important River was to the Doctor (he made that point in other ways, but not at the expense of other characters–if anything, Moffat did it at the expense of River herself).

Now, arguably, Twelve’s much healthier relationship with Bill is made possible in part because Ten did, in the end, realize what a jerk he’d been to Martha (though the textual evidence for that in-universe explanation is rather flimsy), leading to some important character growth that did not begin with Moffat’s takeover. And arguably, highlighting Ten’s tendency to fixate on his own feelings to the exclusion of other people’ agency is an important dimension of his character and the arc that RTD ultimately told about him. Certainly, I would never argue that the Doctor should have no significant character flaws, and Ten is certainly not the first one to display this kind of casual lack of concern for his traveling companions (cf. The Daleks). But Martha’s blackness and the specific nature of his dismissiveness toward her, especially in “The Shakespeare Code,” and in light of the fact that he displays no such behavior toward Donna in “The Runaway Bride,” makes this particular character flaw especially problematic. The companion is co-lead of the show; Martha’s character and the audience’s opportunity to bond with her should not be sacrificed on the altar of the Doctor’s character development.

The Doctor treated Martha like crap because RTD and his writers treated Martha like crap. I don’t know all the reasons; I’m sure it was not due to racism alone. And I don’t claim that Moffat’s treatment of Bill, or indeed his era as a whole, was faultless in terms of representation–far from it. But the more I think about it, the more Bill’s introduction to the past seems like a direct narrative critique of Martha’s, just as Clara’s departure was a critique of Donna’s.

RTD and Moffat are good friends, and huge fans of each other’s work–as well they should be, because they’re both brilliant. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to agree about everything Who. Thank goodness.

By way of postscript, I must say that I eagerly look forward to the day we get a Ten & Martha box set from Big Finish, because I really wanted so much more, and so much better, from that TARDIS team. The folks at BF have proven themselves masters at heaping great stories on undervalued characters. If anyone can rehabilitate the Tenth Doctor’s dynamic with Martha, it’s Big Finish.

[the-desolated-quill]

Day Of The Moon - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

I usually watch episodes twice before writing a review in order to absorb every detail. With Day Of The Moon, I actually watched this a grand total of five times for the purposes of this, and that’s because I couldn’t make up my mind as to whether or not I liked this episode or not. Every time I thought I was enjoying it, I suddenly remembered something that’s inconsistent or doesn’t make sense and that kind of dampened the mood a bit.

It’s certainly not a bad idea for a story. As I mentioned in my review of The Impossible Astronaut, I find the premise to be both intriguing and suspenseful. Day Of The Moon is equally engaging. The opening certainly got my attention with the action taking place three months later, the Doctor chained up and his companions on the run. Later we realise this was just a ruse to fool the Silence while they investigate what’s going on. Then it’s off to an abandoned orphanage, which was so damn creepy. It’s all very dark and atmospheric with the confused warden guy who has been under the influence of the Silence for two years, and the scribblings on the walls warning trespassers to get out while they still can. Then it gets even creepier when Amy starts wandering around upstairs on her own. The door locks behind her and you hear all these creaks and rattles all over the place, then all these tally marks appear on her face and HOLY SHIT, THERE ARE MILLIONS OF THE FUCKERS ON THE CEILING!!!!!

The Silence are unbelievably cool and have so much potential. I love how the Doctor manages to outwit them in the end, using the moon landing and their post hypnotic suggestion to order humanity to turn against the Silence. It’s all very clever... provided you don’t think about it too much.

I suppose that’s what it all boils down to in the end. Day Of The Moon only really works if you don’t apply logic to it. The minute you switch your brain on, the whole thing begins to... not fall apart as such, but deflate ever so slightly.

Let’s start with the Silence themselves. Conceptually they’re great, but there are quite a few logic holes. They have the ability to make you forget you ever saw them, including pictures and videos and stuff like that. The minute we can’t see a Silent, we forget about them. So... how can the Doctor and co plan their little rebellion with this in mind? Think about it. It doesn’t add up. I’m assuming what starts all this off is Amy seeing the photo of a Silent on her phone and telling the Doctor. But surely the minute they stop looking at the photo, they immediately forget there’s a photo in the first place, right?  If they can’t remember the Silence, how do they know what to look for? They can’t even remember what they look like.

Okay, so the Doctor and co somehow manage to retain some knowledge of the Silence’s existence and the Doctor assumes that the Silence must be in control of the whole world. That seems quite a bit of a stretch to me, but whatever. Let’s go with it. So he sends Amy, Rory and River off on a Silent hunt for three months. Every time they see a Silent, they mark a tally on their body. But... wait a minute. That doesn’t make any sense. They don’t remember what the Silence look like, so what are they looking for exactly? Are they just hoping to come across something that looks slightly alien and then just assume it’s a Silent? And if they can’t remember Silent encounters, how do they know what the tally marks are supposed to signify? And how were they able to obtain a vast body of knowledge about the Silence when they can’t remember them? Surely one sighting forgotten is the same as many sightings forgotten, knowledge-wise, right?

The nanorecorders implanted in their hands don’t help neither. It’s not as if hearing a Silent encounter brings any memories back. Also, why nanorecorders? I get that it’s sci-fi, but wouldn’t a camera be better? In fact has nobody on Earth, upon seeing a Silent, ever whipped out a camera to record one?

Maybe I’m overthinking this a bit too much, but it was really bugging me all this. It feels like Moffat is just changing the rules again like he did with the Weeping Angels. Initially the characters couldn’t remember the Silence, and now apparently they can remember a bit of them for the purposes of the plot. It’s just really inconsistent.

Also Moffat seems to have forgotten a few teeny, tiny things about writing villains. Like plots and motivations. As creepy as the Silence are, what’s their plan exactly? Why have they been influencing humanity for so long? What’s their goal? (Yes I know their main goal is to kill the Doctor, but why not just kill him? They don’t need to manipulate human society to achieve that, do they?) In fact there isn’t even that much evidence to suggest that they’re actually evil. We know they’ve been manipulating humanity, but we don’t know why. And neither does the Doctor for that matter. He seems a bit too quick to jump to conclusions, doesn’t he? What if the Silence are actually benevolent and have been trying to help humanity? It’s unlikely, but it’s a distinct possibility. The Doctor talks about the death and suffering they’ve caused, but there’s no actual onscreen evidence supporting this. The only truly evil thing they do is kill that woman in the previous episode, which is obviously not a very nice thing to do, but for all we know they could have had a good reason for it. Hardly justifies genocide, does it? It just seems strange that the Doctor wouldn’t be asking these kinds of questions. He just immediately jumps to the worst case scenario, that the Silence are invaders, when there’s no real evidence to support this.

And if that’s not enough, the Doctor’s plan to kill them is a bit dodgy too. Yes it’s cool how he uses the Silence’s abilities against them, but it’s not exactly a watertight plan, is it? So humans have now been conditioned to kill any Silence on sight. The episode makes this look so easy as we see President Nixon’s security guards gunning a couple down, but how many people are going to be packing heat at any given moment? What about the people who don’t have guns? Are they just going to throw heavy objects at the Silence? And let’s not forget the Silence have countermeasures of their own. This hardly seems like a slam-dunk for humanity.

Other things annoyed me too, like how the pregnancy subplot is handled. After its extremely clunky introduction in the previous episode, it’s reversed just as awkwardly at the beginning of this one. Then it turns out her pregnancy is rapidly fluctuating between positive and negative (blimey, I’d hate to have her uterus). Surely there must have been a more subtle way we could have introduced this subplot other than just belching it out at random.

Then there’s the forced love triangle, which I really could have done without. For fuck sake Moffat, it wasn’t very good the first time. Can we drop it now? It doesn’t even make sense. Why would Amy refer to Rory as someone who has ‘dropped from the sky?’ Who talks about their boyfriend like that?

And then there’s the girl in the spacesuit. Still don’t know anything about her and her inclusion in this episode is largely pointless other than to propel the series arc. if she’s not going to become relevant until later, why include her in the first place? All she does is distract from the Silence who could have used the screen time to get some much needed development. And once again I’m looking at the Doctor in disbelief when he says he could find the little girl or just go off and have adventures. What the actual fuck?! Has Steven Moffat ever actually watched this show before? The Doctor wouldn’t abandon a little girl like that without making sure she’s okay!

So who is this little girl? This little girl in the spacesuit. This little girl in the spacesuit that kills the Doctor. This little girl in the spacesuit that kills the Doctor and who only ever seems to show up when Amy’s pregnancy is mentioned.

I mean it could literally be anybody, couldn’t it? No, but seriously, it’s DEFINITELY the Rani.

Overall I feel pretty ambivalent about this two parter. Perhaps if this wasn’t tied into some convoluted series arc and was given the time and development to be its own standalone adventure, it could have been truly amazing. While there are definitely things to like about The Impossible Astronaut/Day of The Moon, it just doesn’t work as a cohesive whole.

[timeagainreviews]

Those are excellent nose hairs

Hello friends! It's been a long weekend for yours truly, as I was in Nottingham for a convention. My hooves are very tired. This review is going up a bit later than I would like as the hotel I was staying at's TV's volume only went up to fifteen, which made it hard for me to watch the episode properly. Now that I'm home and have watched the episode with the sound full blast, I can give it a proper review.

When we last left the Doctor and her crew, they were suspended in space. Of course, none of us were actually worried, after all, they showed the shot of them being picked up in the series trailer! Also, come on, they're not gonna kill our friends. In true Doctor Who fashion, the cliffhanger was resolved in seconds. Graham and Ryan find themselves aboard a spaceship with a standoffish captain named Angstrom. She doesn't trust them, despite saving their lives. Yaz awakens aboard a different ship in a sort of stasis capsule to the sound of the Doctor and the ship's captain Epzo bickering. Neither one of them can agree on the best way to crash-land Epzo's ship- "Cerebos."

Upon landing on the planet, Ryan, Graham, and Angstrom begin walking toward a still unknown destination. From above comes Cerebos, like a comet falling from the sky, directly at them. Having never seen a science fiction movie, the three of them run in the direction of the ship's trajectory, as opposed to, you know, left or right. The ship skids through a ravine and it's not until the Doctor yells "Brakes!" does the ship stop, due to previously unseen wheels.

Happy to see each other alive, the Doctor and her new friends take a moment to appreciate the fact that they're on their first alien planet. They also learn that Epzo and Angstrom are familiar with one another as competitors. Suddenly, an alarm sounds, beckoning them toward a mysterious destination, which turns out to be a tent in the middle of a desert where the hologram of a callous wealthy man named Ilin sits like a king. Opulence drips from him despite his shabby digs.

We learn that Ilin is the facilitator of the last "Rally of the 12 Galaxies," or as the Doctor put it, "Paris-Dakar in space.” The prize is an exorbitant amount of money, enough to set the winner for life. Out of 4,000 entrants, Epzo and Angstrom are the only two left. The name of the planet on which everyone has found themselves is most closely translated to "Desolation," and it's the final leg of the race.

The racers final task is to navigate Desolation, a planet "made cruel," toward the titular "Ghost Monument." The Doctor being who she is, asks to know the appearance of the Ghost Monument. Ilin, annoyed by the request, reluctantly presents a holographic image of the monument. The Ghost Monument, much to the Doctor's delight, is none other than her TARDIS, which has been phasing into existence every 1000 cycles. Due to the nature of the time machine, it appears to have been doing so for a very long time. It's a moment in the episode that feels genuinely gratifying, as the pieces for our new Doctor are beginning to fall into place.

Ilin and his tent disappear instantly, leaving everyone at the mercy of this cruel planet. Strewn about are what looks like the remnants of a society. Structures are tangled with strange gauzy strips of fabric. Buildings are in ruin. The Doctor can't make heads or tails what happened to this civilisation. The water is full of carnivorous bacteria, the air is poison, and there are sniper robots. In a scene that evoked strong "Keys of Marinus," vibes, they must travel across a deadly body of water, aboard an abandoned boat.

In these moments, we're given a further glimpse into the motivations of both Epzo and Angstrom. Angstrom wants to win the race so she can save what's left of her family from tyranny, while Epzo is simply a very lonely man with a painful past ripped straight out of the movie Wetlands (of all places). On the other hand, we don't get much more of a glimpse into the Doctor's new companions. We learn that Yaz's family is a bit irritating, and incomplete, as she doesn't mention a mother. Ryan and Graham are still basically where we left off- Ryan won't call Graham granddad, and Graham still doesn't know how to reach him. Ryan still struggles with ladder-related dyspraxia, but it seems to disappear when he takes out a group of sniper bots with one of their own weapons. There seems to be a sort of fluctuation in characterisation present in this, and last week's scripts.

The Doctor is presented in a way that is meant to illustrate not only her competence but also her philosophy. This is where Chris Chibnall's writing has continually stuck in my craw. As with last week, where the Doctor denounced knives, despite having travelled with two knife-wielding companions in the past, she goes on about guns once more. We all know the Doctor is against guns, but why is it not okay to kill lifeless sniper robots with a gun, but okay to kill all of them with an electromagnetic pulse? The Doctor does these kinds of things all the time, but Chibnall has brought our attention to it.

The Doctor helps the racers and her friends through what looks like a dilapidated parking garage filled with sniper bots into an underground network of tunnels and chambers. While underground, the Doctor learns that our baddies from last week, the Stenza, had forced the scientists of the world above to create weapons of death to the point that it killed their planet. We also learn that both Graham in Angstrom lost their wives to the Stenza.

After the race is over, only the Doctor and her new friends remain, stuck on the surface of Desolation. The Doctor is at one of her lowest points, as even she is beginning to doubt herself. In a very sweet show of camaraderie, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham reinforce their belief in the Doctor. It is at this moment when a glimmer of hope is heard in a familiar sound. Last week I voiced my concern that the Doctor might have to "earn," her TARDIS back. Much to my relief, this was not the case. Evidently, it was a case that the TARDIS saw the Doctor was now a woman, and her whole “bachelor pad,” with candle wax dribble and books on the stairs was suddenly unsuitable. “Out you go, while I spruce up!” And I’m glad for it. Not only would a Doctor without her TARDIS story have been tedious, it would have also been a rather incomplete feeling series. With a new Doctor, it's good to have a bit of the familiar around, even if it looks a bit different!

In a line that is probably now my new sexuality, the Doctor pleads with the TARDIS and says "Come to daddy... er mummy." Our trusty blue box finally manages to materialise, and like something out of a Lassie movie, or even a love story, the Doctor runs to it. It's a truly beautiful moment that left me in tears. In my review for "An Unearthly Child," I talked about the first TARDIS reveal. It's seldom, however, that we get to see the Doctor have the same reaction to seeing the inside of her TARDIS, which is why this one is so great. Having been apart from what is possibly her oldest friend, she gets to rediscover her new interior alongside her companions. And like that, the show feels like it can truly move forward.

Now then, let’s talk about what worked, and what didn't. First of all, how about that introduction? Yet another one of my fears was that Doctor Who had gone the way of many modern television series, and dumped the intro, which would have been a crime! Thankfully, this was not an issue. I mentioned earlier the "Keys to Marinus vibe," I got from this episode. That intro is pure Hartnell era, through and through. After getting a better listen to Segun Akinola's theme tune, I must say I like it. Though I feel that some of the effects placed upon the sound seem to cancel out certain notes. While it lacks the high energy of some of the previous themes of the "new Who" era, it gains a level of creepiness and danger we've not seen since the 70's.

The story itself is pretty simple, but that's not any kind of judgement on my behalf. Simple can be a welcome break after Moffat's long-winded, and often unfulfilling story arcs. Though the bit about "The Timeless Child," was so Easter eggy, that I thought Moffat may have snuck into the writing room with a Chris Chibnall mask and monkeyed with the script. I'll be honest, I have zero interest in that storyline. It's called Doctor Who, not Doctor Who was Once a Little Kid Known as the Timeless Child. IDGAF.

One of the interesting elements of these past two episodes has been Chibnall's characterisation of the Doctor. In some ways, it's evident how well he knows the character. Simply in the manner by which the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver, do we see her character come out. The sonic is often criticised as a plot-convenient deus ex machina, but in many ways, it is the Doctor condensed into an object. It fixes things and opens the doors to new possibilities. The Doctor tries to teach her companions her philosophy, not with weapons, but with hope.

I said earlier how Chibnall has also, a somewhat muddied philosophy of the Doctor. His sophisticated ideas, don't really stand up to their own scrutiny. When the Doctor and her companions have their backs against the wall, it's suddenly ok to destroy the Remnants (killer strips of fabric now animated under the night sky), with a blaze of fire. What was different between these and the sniper robots? The Remnants could actually speak, yet it's less ok to shoot the mindless robots because...guns? These aren't massive sins, but they are worrisome. As I've said, Chris Chibnall is the one element of the new series that has worried me. Even his one-off jokes can serve as tiny red flags.

In the previous episode, we learn that the Doctor has empty pockets, something that had come up more than once in "The Woman Who Fell to Earth." However, in this episode, it turns out that she has filled her pockets. It would make sense if the object she pulls out of her coat were merely a simple pair of sunglasses. But these weren't just any sunglasses, these once belonged to either Pythagoras or Audrey Hepburn. Which is fine, it's cute, right? But where did they come from? Her coat from her days as a white haired Scotsman was empty, and her new coat came from a charity shop. With no TARDIS, how does she get a pair of sunglasses from one of two dead people? Perhaps it's as River says- the Doctor lies. Or perhaps Chibnall just wanted a cute joke. Either way, Graham looks fabulous in those shades.

Evidently, Chris Chibnall's true talent lies in being able to recognise talent. He's found a wonderful group of actors and directors. Jodie Whittaker is a genius pick for the Doctor. Segun Akinola is brilliant in his musical direction. Even his vision for what the series should look like is inspired. The retro vibe suits not only the Thirteenth Doctor but also the concept of the first female Doctor. Something I had hoped they wouldn't ignore. While some of the cinematography has been frustrating, with close-ups cropping off 20% of actor's faces, and points of focus not always being properly framed, it's also kinetic and gorgeous. The new TARDIS control room is beautiful. I'm hoping the little spinning crystal TARDIS serves a function of some sort, as well as the hourglass, which was perplexing in its function (as well the TARDIS should be). My favourite bit was the little custard cream biscuit dispenser. Pure cuteness, that.

This episode has been particularly hard to review, as I didn't hate it, not by far. But it was also disjointed and frustrating at points as well. I'm still giving a lot of leeway to everyone involved, as it's early days. Neither Stephen Moffat or Russell T. Davies wrote a homerun within their first two episodes. Chris Chibnall has managed to breathe new life into the series again, which is a feat unto itself. The TARDIS has done herself up, and so has the show. And as the Doctor said, "I really like it."

[nellie-elizabeth]

Doctor Who: World Enough and Time (10x11)

Oh, gosh. Sometimes this show makes it very difficult for me to pick a score out of ten. I liked watching this episode quite a bit, but my brain kept interjecting with complaints all the same. Let's take a closer look.

Cons:

In brief, this plot thread tells us the origins of one of the Doctor's most fearsome foes: The Cybermen. Cool. It does so with a twist about a black hole, and time moving more swiftly at one end of a large ship than it does the other. Also cool. Then there's the additional twist that the kindly yet strange old man who has been caring for Bill during most of the episode is actually the Master. C...c-cool? I mean, seeing John Simm back in that role is absolutely thrilling, don't get me wrong. And the idea of watching Missy and the Master riff off of each other is just delightful. I suppose my problem with this is that it seems like a twist for the sake of a twist. You could say that this older, even more evil version of the Master showing up is a chance for Missy to decide where her allegiances lie, and all of that. But for my money, Missy is plenty interesting on her own. There's so much to untangle with her character, and now that we're adding Simm to the mix, I worry that Missy's development will be halted or ignored. This is the first episode where Missy has had anything to do beyond an extended cameo, basically, and she's being overshadowed by the return of a sinister face from the past. Just a little bit hard to swallow.

I rather loved the conceit of Bill being separated from Nardole, the Doctor, and Missy, even though we just saw that happen in last week's episode. But I couldn't help but notice that in last week's episode, Bill had a lot of agency and tried to figure out what was going on. In this episode, however, Bill is taken in by the Master (albeit unbeknownst to her and us) and she sits around waiting for the Doctor to rescue her. Literally. It's a significant plot point. Bill hasn't suddenly become "the girl who waited" or the "mystery girl" or any of the other pithy and sexist epithets given to Moffat's companions in the past. But Bill starts off this episode getting shot, and ends it crying to the Doctor that she waited for him, apparently turned in to a Cyberman. I'm not going to rant and rave and get all angry about this, because I'm waiting for the finale to see how this all shakes out. But if things stand as they are, it's a little annoying, is it not? Bill sits around and waits, and then she ends up being one of the Doctor's most fearsome foes. Sound familiar? Did we not meet Clara originally in the form of a Dalek, and then see her again as a Dalek in a later episode? And now Bill has succumbed to a strangely similar fate.

So, those two massive paragraphs above are both sort of tentative complaints. I always feel a responsibility to critically analyze the way that female characters are treated on this show, especially when Moffat picks up the pen. And even though Bill and Missy both had some incredible dialogue and some great moments, and even though I like them both quite a lot as character... I can't help but notice that they both did a great deal of reacting instead of acting. Bill waited around, and Missy was overshadowed by her male counterpart. Sigh.

Pros:

The origin story of the Cybermen is the kind of thing I never knew I wanted to learn about, but I'm happy to see it now that it's here. The story is actually really chilling - those people at the bottom of the spaceship near to the black hole are moving along so much faster than the people further away, meaning that centuries are passing in the space of days. Everything is falling apart, and this ramshackle civilization, made up of the descendants of the original crew, is dying. The only way to save them is to "upgrade" and make them more resilient to unforgiving conditions. Thus, the Cybermen. The reveal is drawn out superbly, so even as you start to piece things together, you're not entirely sure what the end result will be until you see it.

Bill and the Doctor have such a sweet, pure friendship. When Bill is shot and killed at the start of the episode, we cut between this moment of horror and a scene of the two of them sharing dinner and talking about the vulnerability of human bodies. It might have been a bit cheesy, but the chemistry between these two carries it off. The Doctor is in such denial that he never really lets the grief sink in. By the time Bill has been carried off to be "repaired," the Doctor is already ten steps ahead, trying to think of how to get back to her and move forward. His fierce determination to save her overshadows everything else in his mind. Excellent.

This episode starts off as a way to give Missy a "test run." The Doctor sits back in the TARDIS and lets Missy take point during a distress call. I liked this focus on Missy, and was briefly disappointed when the focus shifted so radically to Bill's journey. However, it was then brought back around, as Missy tries to learn more about the ship they're on. The reveals keep growing and growing, and when the Master shows up you almost feel like you should have known it from the word go. I like the fact that we end not knowing where Missy lies. Is she going to partner up with the Master, or is her dedication to self-improvement strong enough to overcome such an alluring idea? We don't know, and that's a good thing.

Steven Moffat does have a way with the witty dialogue, I'm willing to admit. This episode had so many funny moments. There's a whole exchange at the beginning where Missy informs Bill and Nardole that the Doctor's real name is "Doctor Who" which leads to lots of hilarity. There was also the moment when the blue alien on the ship asks Missy: "Are you human?" And she replies: "Now, don't be a bitch." Nardole takes a selfie with the Doctor when he notices him "doing emotions," which was great. On a slightly more poignant note, I loved the Doctor's description of his early friendship with Missy. He tells Bill that gender is sort of a non-issue to Time Lords, and Bill points out that they do still call themselves "Time Lords." The best line is when the Doctor says that the Master always wanted to see the stars, but... "he was too busy burning them. I don't think she ever saw anything." That casual switch between pronouns was really lovely and subtle.

I think that's where I'll stop for now. Next week is the finale, and I'm feeling very mixed emotions about that. In my opinion, I still feel like we're in the introduction phase for Bill as a companion. She's wonderful, but there's just so much more I want to know about her. My hope is that she can transition to the new Doctor. We need somebody to cross over. Next year there will be a new Doctor and a new show-runner. I think Bill is the bridge we need to keep us consistent. I hope there's a way to keep her around!

9/10

[ethelindawrites]

TV Review: BBC Sherlock, Season 4

Heads up, this one is long and chock full of spoilers below the cut. TL;DR – As a long-time BBC Sherlock fan, I am disappointed with Season 4.

I will say upfront that I was able to largely enjoy each episode of Season 4 as I was watching it. The acting was still excellent, and there were certainly scenes and parts of episodes that were fantastic. But once I had seen them all and had a chance to step back and look at the season as a whole, I had more and more problems with it. Ultimately, I am disappointed in the writers for not really living up to their own standards, which they set quite high during the first three seasons.

To be honest, I was worried about this season from the moment that Moffat and Gatiss started making public comments that season 4 was going to be especially “dark.” My worries were not unfounded. Let me see if I can articulate what I mean.

Some stories (whether books, movies, or TV shows) are dark stories. By this, I would generally mean a story where the plot or overall context of the world the story is set in necessitate that bad things are going to happen to many of the characters: some of them may die or be killed; many will suffer violence, possibly very brutal violence, either physical or mental; they may have to make choices or do things that go against their beliefs; a happy ending is not guaranteed.

Season 4 of Sherlock certainly fits this definition. The problem is that, at least for me, the previous three seasons do not set this up. There is nothing in the first nine episodes of the series which necessitates the events of the last three, which is very problematic for the story as a whole.

I would contrast this with a story that is and is meant to be a dark story. I may not have a lot of really good examples here, since I do not myself prefer dark stories and don’t tend to watch/read many of them. From what I know of it, Game of Thrones probably falls into this category. I would categorize much of Anne Bishop’s writing (the Black Jewels series, the Ephemera trilogy) as darker stories, albeit set up so that any happy endings which do occur are earned and make sense in the context of the story. For both of those series, the characters are fighting civilization- or world-destroying levels of evil, and so the fact that a great deal of suffering occurs is expected and makes sense in the context of the story. In the realm of movies, V for Vendetta comes to mind. The characters are fighting a brutal dictatorship, and must become brutal themselves in many ways, in order to survive and accomplish their goals. Here again, the darkness of the story is expected, and fitting.

The Sherlock Holmes stories do not fall into this category.

There are dark moments, and dark things that sometimes happen, in any incarnation of the Sherlock Holmes stories – obviously, since they are detective stories often centered around trying to solve murders. But as a whole, the Sherlock Holmes universe is not a brutally dark universe, and that is not the tone that the stories take.

BBC Sherlock has been, from the beginning, probably a bit darker take on the series than the original stories were (although not by much, from my memory of reading them some years back). It is more realistic, in a way, being set in modern times, and there were certainly dark parts in the first three seasons (again, murders, plus a crazy criminal mastermind). None of that was a problem, because they still felt like Sherlock Holmes stories.

For whatever reason, Moffat and Gatiss decided that that was no longer good enough, and that season 4 needed to be “darker.” I strongly believe that this was a mistake, and indeed will always be a mistake for any story that is not already set up in a darker world or universe.

In order to achieve their goal of “darker,” the writers seem to have decided that the plot of season 4 should be “make John and Sherlock suffer as much as possible, in every way, conceivable or not.” This goal then trumped all other considerations, including (in my opinion): plot, characterization in general, meaningful character interaction in many cases, and proper closure of various storylines. (Here come the spoilers.)

As best I can tell, Mary Watson is killed (in this manner and at this point in the story) for the sole purpose of making John suffer, so that Sherlock has to suffer in order to get John back. John is (in a manner that struck me as extremely out of character) “unfaithful” to Mary by text-flirting with a random lady on the bus (which turns out to be a setup, of course, but that doesn’t change John’s choices). This out-of-character-ness seems to have been done mainly so that John can feel guiltier when Mary dies so that he can be angrier at Sherlock. John has to be angry at Sherlock so that Sherlock is forced to “go to hell” in order to convince John that he needs John’s help and John should come back to save him.

The character of Eurus, similarly, is introduced solely for the purpose of putting Sherlock, John, and Mycroft through hell in the last episode. She has no other presence in the story prior to this season (that I can recall, someone feel free to correct me if I missed something in the earlier seasons, which is possible), and no other purpose in the story at all.

(I should say that I don’t fundamentally have a problem with the introduction of a third Holmes sibling; the original stories do include a brief mention of a third brother, Sherrinford. Since we don’t actually know anything about Sherrinford, obviously the writers have some leeway in making up this third sibling character, and the gender-switch doesn’t particularly matter. ETA: Apparently, I am incorrect about Sherrinford being canon! My mistake. I'm now trying to remember why I did think it was canon.)

But to make her be a complete psychopath that Sherlock has utterly forgotten about? Whom Mycroft is idiotic enough to keep alive for years after it becomes clear that she is a danger to everyone around her? Who was somehow able to set up this twisted game for them to play, resulting in the deaths of yet more people, which Sherlock and Mycroft between them are not smart enough to get out of?

I’m sorry, but my suspension of disbelief only goes so high.

The first two episodes mostly make sense, inasmuch as they are predicated on what I consider to be the unnecessary event of Mary’s death. There are some continuity issues, specifically from the end of the first episode: Molly gives Sherlock a letter that John wrote him, and Sherlock goes to see John’s old therapist. Presumably these events have some kind of importance, but they are never mentioned again, and do not appear to have impacted the story at all. What was the point of those scenes? Still, the immediate plots of each episode can be followed, and the main mysteries are explained.

For me, at least (and I know I am not alone in this), the last episode does not make any sense.

The whole point of the Sherlock Holmes stories is that we are meant to get an explanation at the end; the mystery is meant to be solved. The Final Problem does none of that. How has Sherlock recovered from his addiction so quickly? How do he and Mycroft and John get out of the explosion at Baker Street without any serious injuries? Why does Sherlock (also rather out of character, in my opinion) ignore John’s “Vatican Cameos” warning? If the airplane is a metaphor/fantasy in Eurus’ head, then who is the little girl that Sherlock is actually talking to throughout her “game”? (Obviously there could be an explanation for this, but that explanation is not given to us, the viewers.) When Victor Trevor went missing, why on earth was a proper search not conducted for him, and why did no adult think to check the well? (Sherlock obviously knows where the well is when he goes to rescue John, so it doesn’t seem to have been a secret.) Why the hell is Eurus still being kept alive after all of this?

None of these things are explained, and we are simply meant to accept at the end that Sherlock starts spending time with his sister in spite of all the evil things she has done, and that everything between Sherlock and John is back to business as usual, with no discussion of what has happened between them, or apologies, or anything. We can, perhaps, assume that they had those conversations, but we are not shown them.

Personally, I liked that Sherlock was more emotional during this season (and to a certain extent in season 3). He is older, wiser, and more understanding that emotion is not the handicap that he once believed it was. Since I’m a firm believer that the rationality-emotion dichotomy is a false one, it was gratifying to see a character learn and grow and move away from that. But given that growth in Sherlock’s character, and after everything they have been through both separately and together, I believe we deserved to see an honest conversation between John and Sherlock about how much they care about each other, and what they wanted from life together going forward. We did not get that conversation, and that is deeply disappointing to me.

Overall, I think it is always a mistake to try and make a story “dark” just for the sake of making it dark. When you do that with a story that doesn’t need it, then you are likely to fall back on making your characters suffer just for the hell of it, and in order to make that happen, the rest of your story will necessarily suffer too. Unfortunately, Season 4 of Sherlock turned out to be a clear example of this.

Okay, I will stop there. I’ve been obsessing about this in my head for several weeks now, so I thought it was probably better to get it written down. Some will undoubtedly disagree with me about much of this, and that’s fine, but I needed to get my own thoughts out. I am still a fan of the series, and would certainly recommend the first three seasons and the Christmas special. I will probably watch season 4 again, just to make sure that I wasn’t missing things that would help to explain some of these issues, but after that, I don’t know how much I will be rewatching season 4.

~Ethelinda

[childofthefireandthestorm]

My thoughts on Doctor Who S10E1 - “The Pilot”

aka. why this episode is literally a fairy story. 

Warning: this review is long, and assumes you’ve seen the episode in question. Spoilers ahead :)

Let's have a look at a scene that, I'd say, is a microcosm of the episode as a whole - the climax, where the truth about Heather is revealed, and where the episode gives up all pretense and make it explicit what kind of story it is: a Fairy Seduction story, of a type that goes as far back as… well, within the Western tradition, as far back as Hylas the Argonaut, stolen by the nymphs of the spring of Pegae while fetching water there (a link that was implicitly acknowledged 5 minutes earlier on the alien planet on the other side of the universe, where the cinematography basically recreated the Waterhouse painting of Hylas' abduction).

Overall, this idea here is good: one Fairy Seduction story to highlight another Fairy Seduction story, that of the Doctor meeting the new companion. The heart of such contrast would be on why accepting to be the Doctor's companion & all the dangers that entails is a good thing and allowing yourself to be stolen by the Fair Folks is bad - and I'd say the post-climax bit at the Doctor's office is a reasonably good demonstration of that. Yes, the Doctor is still an alien man who thinks mindwiping people is an acceptable thing to do, but it's shown that he has a moral and a benevolence - his first choice is to try and protect Bill rather than play his story-assigned role as the seducer.

But look at that climactic scene - Bill reaching out to touch Heather's hand. My sister burst out laughing at this. "Oh no she's so stupid doesn't she hear what the Doctor's saying? Also why doesn’t the Doctor just reach out and slap her hand away?" She was laughing earlier, too, at the bit where Bill reached out for the puddle on the alien planet, instead of appreciating the Waterhouse reference like I was.

And… she was completely right. Why exactly is Heather’s pull such an irresistible force? If we take away the weight of the expectations of the Fairy Seduction tradition, what answer do we have left? After all, it's no good for a story to explain its main plot point with just "oh, other stories did the same".

The climax we have wants to play itself out as a seduction, and there are a couple of snags with that. First, Bill’s introduction includes a bit where she talks about having a crush on this other girl who eats at the canteen where she works, so she gave her extra chips every time and now the other girl's accidentally gained some weight (and that's fine, Bill doesn't mind, but she thinks it’s kinda hilarious). This is, from what I’ve heard so far, a rather well-received moment of cuteness (and even to those who don’t like it, it’ll at least be memorable, being the point where Bill’s orientation is first established in the story). Which has the unfortunate consequence of Heather's introduction, about 5 minutes later, having to jostle with the prior memory of the Canteen Story - not that I’m in any position to say it’s unrealistic to have a lot of crushes, but storytelling-wise this is not very tidy.

A hypothetical version of this script with Heather being the Canteen Girl (with all the off-screen interactions with Bill that implies) would also helps with the second problem of, well, as far as we can tell Bill and her have only had 2 two proper conversations in their entire life, both of which are more about the alien puddle than anything that justifies the literal “follow you across the universe” seen later. Some better romantic dialogues would be neat, too.

(I know there were a couple of shots of Bill and Heather in the crowd at some party, but the dialogue of the first puddle scene clearly indicates that this is the first time they talk to one another).

At the same time, we shouldn’t forget that for the majority of its running-time this story doesn’t play itself as a Seduction Story. No, it presents itself as a Ghost Story - Heather’s pale, drowned appearance makes this clear enough. She is one of the Restless Dead, the drowned girl from under the lake, crawling back to haunt the living. Traditionally, this sort of story has been about guilt - the living has failed the dead in some way, so the dead is back to settle that karma (for some examples of guilt as a driving logic of horror stories, see here).

So, imagine a version of this episode that follows the Ghost Story logic all the way through, where Bill feels guilty about Heather's fate. Maybe have it so that Bill had to run off for the tutorial with the Doctor and thus leaving Heather alone to be abducted by the alien water? Wouldn’t this justify Bill's later behaviour a lot? It's not that she's "stupid" for reaching out to the puddle on the alien planet, or for ignoring the Doctor's warning on Skaro, it’s that there’s this guilt in her heart, making her desperate for this to be a Tam Lin story instead - one where she can reach out and rescue a beloved one from the Fair Folks' clutches.

(Side note: Bill is set up as the Tvtropes-character, the one who knows how narratives work. It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch if she actually invokes that knowledge and refers to Tam Lin in the climax - maybe as something the Doctor brought up in his lectures? - which would add a nice wrinkle in that characterisation. What will happen when her skill is pitted against a story that is ambiguous in what kind of story it is? Is it a Tam Lin where reaching out means she can pull her friend back, or is it like the Doctor said, a Fairy Seduction where to touch Faerie means to be lost in it with no return?)

And here is the central tragedy of The Pilot - it aimed for great heights, and all the elements are there, but the end result fell a bit short. Normally I wouldn’t ask a story to do much more beyond entertaining me and having reasonably decent ratio between enjoyable moments and stupid moments, but when 10/10 is this close, being 8/10 feels like a real disappointment.

Anyway, Serious Literary Analysis(tm) is over, time for some silly speculations instead. I mean, I know it’s virtually impossible, but wouldn’t it be fun for Faction Paradox to be what’s in the Vault? It certainly can’t be another thing to do with the Time Lords or Daleks, and having the big cliffhanger of the Moffat-Chibnall transition be “and so Faction Paradox & all the other “forgotten” elements of the Wilderness Years burst out with a vengeance” would be a good way to keep the fandom excited throughout the whole thing (if only with endless debates about Canonicity), no? 

[asherlockstudy]

THE SIX THATCHERS: the deliberate flaw of an otherwise brilliant episode

This post is:

an explanation of the episode from my viewpoint

a review

an analysis of Mary’s character and its point in the narrative

a comparison with previous episodes

an analysis of the dynamics of the third series

my eternal faith in Moftiss being restored again

basically a lot of things

There are only two problems in the Six Thatchers or, better, two categories of problems. The first could be avoided and unfortunately caused frustration to both avid fans and more neutral viewers. The second is deliberate, not because Gatiss wanted necessarily to confuse the fandom, but simply because it couldn’t be avoided and it would longterm serve the main plot. Allow me to explain:

The first problem is the direction. To be completely fair, direction is not always bad and I certainly do not mean the imagery (the shark scene after Mary’s death is a piece of art). It certainly improves after the middle of the episode. But the first half of TST is a crazily paced, exhausting editing or perhaps butchering of various different scenes that the viewer would probably wish to enjoy for a little longer. I understand that the episode had to deal with a lot of different threads of the plot (the present and the past) but perhaps it would be a wiser choice to get a few extra minutes like they did with the Final Problem. The fast pacing doesn’t allow us to feel engaged in what is going on or get once again properly attached to the characters. It also complicates our earnest efforts to understand the plot, especially since TST is in no way one of the easiest Sherlock stories to grasp. I include in this category a slight fall I might have noticed in the chemistry amongst all the actors - hopefully it’s because of the lack of undisturbed screentime together. 

The second flaw is the cause of all the chaos in the fandom and beyond, the cause of all the vastly different theories and the cause of all the contradictory reviews. I think I might have never seen another movie or TV episode get so many 2 star and 10 star ratings at the same time! 

Well, without taking into consideration personal tastes (i.e. how much someone invests in Mary being a villain) the main objective problem that has caused all the mess is this one:  TST does not follow the plotline of His Last Vow. It does not bind well or even barely fits in the concept of HLV. It does not answer the questions His Last Vow raised. But you know what? No first episode of any Sherlock series ever did. 

A Scandal In Belgravia ended the pool scene of The Great Game in a rushed messy way and continued without ever bringing this issue back or analyzing Moriarty’s behaviour at the pool. 

The Empty Hearse joked around and frustrated the fans by completely avoiding to explain what truly happened in The Reichenbach Fall.

The Six Thatchers focused on Mary’s ambiguous character. Offered insight into her past and the ghosts haunting her, the inevitable conclusion of the life she chose and completed her story arc (?) with a, honestly, beautiful redemption scene. But, as ever, remained silent as to why really Mary shot Sherlock, why she was so terrified of Magnussen’s blackmails if she truly believed the rest of the agents had died, why she always looked so alarmed every time Moriarty’s name was mentioned. Basically remained silent about everything that truly confuses and intrigues the fandom - Why?

Could it be that Moftiss are so bad at creating decent first episodes? Nah.

I have made a post about it: The decompression of the Sherlock cliffhangers has not started yet. It’s the same old thing happening once again with The Six Thatchers.

What I think must be accepted is that Mary was never meant to be a main character. She was never meant to be a main villain either. She’s technically not even the main villain in her villain episode where the official Big Baddie is Magnussen and, then, both of them get beaten in a battle of impressions by an MP and a bad video of Jim Moriarty.

In my opinion, there is a nuance that is almost never discussed: Mary’s character is not as important for the story as Mary’s involvement to what maybe is what we call the main plot. What I mean is that Mary as a character couldn’t stay longer, she shouldn’t stay longer, because this would inescapably lead to an imbalance of the successful concept BBC Sherlock’s showrunners had and A.C. Doyle had before them. Even if Mary was meant to be a Big Villain, this would be a rather quaint twist of the story. In case the show ends in a romance, this suggests that Gatiss and Moffat couldn’t think of anything else but make every woman or romantic antagonist a villain just to desperately defend that Sherlock and John’s relationship is a good concept. I’m fully aware Mary being a villain is one of the most popular and beloved theories but excuse me for saying that this kind of plot twist seems a bit childish to me. In my opinion, they have already made villains (canonically established villains) romantic antagonists but if they also made a romantic antagonist obligatorily villain by default, this would be laughable at the least and would expose Moftiss’ panic to prove that this gay relationship is good and ideal. And that’s my problem. You should never need to prove such a thing, let alone make a (female) character look bad so that your love story can look better. In whatever way I look at it, it’s a bad idea.

So why did they introduce Mary in the first place?

 Mary’s introduction was the best (or least bad) idea for Series 3. You need to have in mind that there is an ongoing basic plot. If the plot is heavily dependent on characters such as Jim Moriarty, Mycroft Holmes or even Sherrinford, then Gatiss and Moffat couldn’t proceed with it in the third series. If Jim Moriarty returned back from the dead at the same time with Sherlock, the plot would end up ludicrous. If Mycroft Holmes revealed his ulterior motives in Series 3 or if there was the main villain introduced for the first time at this point, the character development of Sherlock and John wouldn’t be able to catch up on time. In other words, if the Main Villain appeared in, say, The Sign of Three, the viewers wouldn’t be able to buy the importance of the character or understand what makes this villain comparatively more impactful on Sherlock and John’s lives than Jim Moriarty was in seven episodes. Whether Moriarty is alive and the main villain or not, Moftiss needed the time to build up the expectations of the viewers and also develop Sherlock and John’s relationship accordingly for a next level of drama. In short, they needed a break in which they would focus on Sherlock and John and refresh the need and the interest of the audience for a specific, consistent plot. They want to top their own game.

But the plot shouldn’t go back to what Series 1 was because then Series 4 would give the impression that it jumped out of nowhere. Moftiss didn’t wish lack of plot for Series 3 - they wanted it to be subtle and eventually build the expectations for the very dramatic and plot-wise specific Series 4. So they still had to move on and change the data between Sherlock and John. That’s where Mary got in. Mary is the most important feature of the most understated part of the plot. Admittedly, this means something that some people hate; Mary’s character was used for the sake of Sherlock and John’s relationship. True, but it’s unfair to call Gatiss and Moffat misogynists for that. Technically, 95% of the characters and plot points in BBC Sherlock first and foremost affect Sherlock and John’s relationship. Since the core of this show has always been the relationship between Sherlock and John, it is absolutely normal that most parts of the plot orbit around them and there is no need to wave fingers and call everything misogynistic. In my opinion, Moffat and Gatiss tried to exactly avoid such connotations by making Mary a very interesting, flawed, complex, shady, ambiguous, intelligent and competent character that after all brought a lot of dramatic changes in Sherlock and John’s lives. Moftiss upped the game very much compared to the original Mary Morstan of A.C.D canon. If they made her an one-dimensional character that suddenly died in childbirth to leave Sherlock and John go on with their lives, then yes, that would be misogynistic. 

Gatiss even darkened John’s character a lot in order to give Mary a very bold redemption arc in an episode where both Gatiss and Abbington play with the viewers’ impressions about Mary’s allegiances until the very end (and beyond...). The episode was focused on Mary and brought out the complexity of her character exactly in order to show the appropriate respect for her contribution to the whole story - but she was never meant to be one of the three - four characters that actually are the foundations of this story. In this way, Gatiss kept everything balanced. 

The Six Thatchers was a beatiful tribute to Mary but didn’t address the links of her character to the basic plot as this would reveal the story and its climax before its time. 

The Six Thatchers purposefully ignored: 

Why Mary tried to kill Sherlock although she genuinely looked regretful in TST

Why Mary was so terrified of Magnussen’s blackmails

Why Mary looked so alarmed every time Moriarty was mentioned

Why Sherlock decided to help her after realising she did try to kill him

Why after that incident, Magnussen started blackmailing an incapacitated Sherlock instead of Mary

Janine’s role

Why Sherlock came up with lies to support Mary in front of John

John’s ambiguous behaviour when he forgave her

Why Sherlock remains so adamantly protective of her 

However the Six Thatchers still hinted at:

John never truly trusting her anymore

Mary always fearing that Sherlock would eventually confront her for something other than her Tbilisi past (meeting him with drugs)

Mary again looking worried at the mention of Moriarty’s name

Mycroft admitting that he controlled AGRA in the past

Mycroft implying that he knows about Mary’s enemies and problems

Mycroft looking amused by it

Mycroft lowkey indirectly threatening her in front of Sherlock

So there are many things that I hope and think they remain intentionally untold.  Whatever is untold is what perhaps links Mary to characters like Mycroft, Magnussen and Moriarty (and Sherrinford maybe), so all these couldn’t possibly be addressed in the first episode because they would expose the core of the plot they keep so carefully secret for The Final Problem. Yet Mary as a secondary character with a predetermined end couldn’t stay as long as TFP and Gatiss dealt with this problem by giving the viewers a lot of insight into her character without answering the burning questions. 

Whoever Mary worked for, it doesn’t matter enough to change the validity of her redemption arc though. Think of it this way; it doesn’t matter who is a villain. What matters is whose pressure point Sherlock is. Whether Mary worked for Moriarty or Mycroft, by shooting Sherlock, both of them would eventually turn against her. Neither Mycroft NOR MORIARTY would want Sherlock dead, especially at this point. That’s why Mycroft looks almost amused at the thought of Mary having a permanent retirement and Sherlock darkly responds this will never happen while he is around. In a sense, Mycroft expresses his hate for what Mary has done but Sherlock keeps protecting and defending her. Whomever Mary was working for, she tried to weaken her boss by killng Sherlock. So perhaps she tried to destroy Moriarty or protect John from Moriarty that night. If Moriarty is alive, John is in constant danger as long as Sherlock is close to him and this fact doesn’t change, no matter if Mary worked for Moriarty or Mycroft. That’s the only way it makes sense to me but who knows. 

What’s important is that we will certainly learn more about her and how she was connected to the great scheme of things. This doesn’t mean that she’ll come back alive and I strongly doubt that the next episodes will make us change our mind once again about her allegiances. 

If this is the case, the plot of Six Thatchers couldn’t be better than it is. It is the evolution of The Empty Hearse for both episodes turn a blind eye to the requests for an explanation until the time comes for it.