I’m almost sure I’ve seen the monster, or some close likeness, in some video game before—something blue and vaguely cat-like, with glowing tendrils; I think it was some Diablo-like game. Ring any bells?
Other than that, I didn’t quite get the resolution of this one. So first, the Doctor is all in noble save the world and sacrifice himself mode, because humans don’t live long enough to hold back the monsters, even with the time dilation, until the humans go, no, we got this, and then it’s alright somehow.
I did think the thing with the crows was a nice touch, though, even if the Romans and Picts guarding the breach with Caw (?) get short shrift.
I think they bollixed the explanation in-show. The rough dilation estimation is 1 sec = 1 day external (the Doctor was gone for two days, and said “I was only in there for a couple of seconds”). 2000 years for us is about 8 days for them. It isn’t that humans don’t live long enough - it’s that one human can’t do squat against one of the creatures (the 70 years between replacements is just over 5 hours). The squad is able to hold the door.
Now, of course an entire Roman legion couldn’t do squat either, but I’ll let someone else hand wave that one. Maybe they’ve got a narrow door way on their side, maybe the current darkness on that side of the portal means the creatures are all fairly weak. And they certainly attack per kung fu movie rules (aka one at a time).
Whew! Finally caught up, so I can participate in this thread without spoilers!
You know what I would love to see? Genuinely-trying-to-reform!Missy vs Nasty-evil-bad-Simm!Master.
And is it just me or was the chemistry between the Doctor and Missy straight through the roof in that last interaction of theirs? I know people have shipped Doctor/Master forever, but that’s the first time I’ve actually seen it. And I generally don’t ship het!*
I’m loving this season so far, I’m loving Bill, I’m loving Twelve, I’m even loving Nardole, and I hated him in The Husbands of River Song. Of course I’m loving Missy, because I have always loved Missy.
*The last major het OTP I had was 9/Rose, and that was more of a side effect of my 9/Rose/Jack OT3.
In fairness, he spent most of Husbands as a spare head for a megalomaniacal robot. And River may not have deputized him to kick the Doctor’s ass yet at that point.
Maybe it will be Missy? Why not? Her redemption story as The new Doctor could be very compelling. Might even give the show a fresh feel. Missy would tackle problems differently. But she’d have to do it without slaughtering everyone.
They strongly hinted at that possibility in this episode.
It’s a bit of a shame that they finally put together a good cast and Capaldi decides to quit.
I never thought he jelled with Clara. It was always strained. I quit watching regularly.
The casting this season seems very natural. I can see these people traveling together.
Gibberish good enough for Doctor Who. It is correct that time moves slower closer to a black hole. Not sure which way they said the ship was pointing but hey. Yeah exaggerated and would also come with gravity acting differentially on one end compared to the other end of their bodies … but for Doctor Who standards that’s pretty good science.
But halfway decent science does not help the crime of Moffatoid irrational excess complexity. And it’s the first time I’m just annoyed with Missy rather than thrilled to see her. The whole bit with the name was just dumb poking the fans in the eyes.
I had started out really liking Moffat. Now I just can’t wait for a new showrunner.