Doctor Who Series 5, Episode 9: "Cold Blood"

I was a bit worried about this season. Just a bit, after last week. Despite the fact that I thought The Hungry Earth was slow to set up today's second installment, I was wondering whether the novelty of the new doctor and the crack in time was only as strong as Steven Moffat's episodes, while the other episodes wouldn't be able to hold up. Of course, the River Song two-parter earlier this season was a high point as expected. And Amy's Choice was a refreshing breather from the relatively arc-heavy season. But I expected this Silurian two-parter to at least touch base with the main theme again, and that it certainly did. Beware, spoilers abound after here.

I was hoping Rory would be out of the picture somehow, and soon. I feel like having Rory aboard was tolerable, but not as fun as the doctor and Amy alone. I did not see them killing off Rory at all, however. That came as a complete and total shock. And not only that, but his memory itself got erased from time itself. And even from Amy's mind (or so it seems). This is sometihng I don't think would have happened in the RTD era, and it's just shocking that it happened here. I wonder if they plan on somehow bringing him back.... I'm still surprised they went that far, acutally killing him off.

The death and erasure of Rory totally eclipsed the other big mystery at the end of this episode: the broken TARDIS sign. So the doctor reaches his hand, and pulls out a broken piece of TARDIS? Does that mean that somehow, the TARDIS itself is the big bad this season? Is the TARDIS the cause of all this stuff, or is it Amy? And how does Rory's death affect Amy being the source of the crack? The questions abound, but unlike Lost, I really think all this will make sense by this series's end.

As for the Silurian storyline, boy did it take a real backseat after the ending of this episode. But I really liked the themes presented here. Instead of the Silurians just wanting to destroy us, as they did with the third doctor, we now see that there are cilivized people and uncivilized people on both sides. The idea of a human-silurian alliance was fascinating, because both sides could have benefited so much. But in order to do so, both sides also have to mature enough. And are we led to believe that 1000 years later, both sides do live together in peace?

I was very impressed with this episode, and it probably ranks as my fourth favorite this season, behing the Song two-parter and The Eleventh Hour. Of course, this is mostly due to the totally unexpected ending, but I feel like the series needed that at this point in time. The next two weeks seem relatively light, with some van Gogh and the doctor becoming a lodger. And then it's finally time for the pandorica to open. It's going to be sad when this series end, but I believe that a 13-episode season is ideal to fully tell a good, arc-based story without fluff, as we find in many American network shows.

Next week: van Gogh!

The End of "LOST": It Didn't Blow Me Away. It Just Blew.

So, Lost is done after six years. I spend the majority of my Sophie Davis years and all my time at Stony Brook years keeping up with this show, for this terrible payoff. First off, I loved last season. The sci-fi nature of last season really made it a standout. But the show also had other standout moments: Henry Gale, Michael shooting Libby and Ana Lucia, finding out that the Oceanic Six escaped the island, and even last season's finale. But I felt from the start that this season found its focus, but its focus was bad. It lacked any excitement, at least from me. Things were very vague, but I kept watching, hoping for a payoff. But it was not to be.

What was the light in the cave? What does drinking the special water do to you? How did the man in black die so fast? What did Juliet blowing up jughead actually do? How did those people from 1977 suddenly travel to present day? What's the point of that whole hatch storyline? Or pushing the button? Or the entire dharma intiative?

Apparently, there is no point. The island has a special light that should be protected. Two brothers, who are probably just human, live on the island. One protects the light, one turns into smoke. The good brother tries to find someone to replace him but dies. The replacement and his friends kill the smoke monster. Everyone goes about their own way and dies. They all meet up after they die. The end.

That's the entirety of Lost, summarized in a paragraph. I could probably summarize it in a sentence, but I'm too upset about losing 2.5 hours of my life to this garbage, so it's not worth the effort. Anyway, I leave with these explanations of the final scenes of Lost from the AICN talkback for the finale:

Everything except the "sideways flashes" were real, and really happened. The sideways shit was them after they died, whether we saw them die throughout the course of the show or not (like kate sawyer and everybody on the plane at the end).

Christian said it himself: everyone didn't die at the same time (so they didn't die in the plane crash), but just convened in the afterlife. I loved it. But he fact that the ending has to be explained to anyone (let alone a sizeable number of people, as it seems) is a major fail for the producers.

Everybody dies. Every single person who has ever lived either already died, or will someday die. When that point comes when they've all passed away, those particular people found each other in the afterlife. The flashsideways was that afterlife. The regular timeline was their actual lives. We didn't get to see the entire rest of life of James, Kate, Hurley, Ben, etc...but when, at the end of those lives, they died, they found each other. Beautiful.

And here's the best one:

Michael, Walt and Ecko went to hell. Only black people married to a white person go to heaven according to the show.

Doctor Who Series 5, Episode 8: "The Hungry Earth"

Silurians! It's a blast from the past this week, as the doctor, Amy, and Rory encounter a foe from the doctor's past. Before talking about this episode, let's revisit the first time the doctor encountered the Silurians. The third doctor, with this UNIT colleages, went to visit a nuclear power research center, where some workers started dying. Some investigations led them to discover an ancient reptillian race living in some nearby caves. Turns out these humanoid reptiles lived on earth millions of years ago (in the Silurian age, hence the name), but went into hiding when they saw the moon approaching earth. They were now coming out of their hibernation, to find a new race spread over the earth. Not at all happy about this, they decided to try and wipe us out, rather unsuccessfully. Instead, UNIT wiped them out. Or so they thought....

Because now, they're back. And this new tribe was apparently thriving pretty well down below. The episode started off today with the doctor, as usual, misguiding everyone to 2020 London, instead of Rio de Janiero. As usual, the doctor sees a big fancy thing and goes investigating, but things go awry when Amy falls underground. I wonder what exactly the Silurians want with humans. They are apparently dissecting them, but for what purpose? Last time around, they were able to create a virus to destroy humanity, but the doctor (apparently a whiz at microbiology) was able to create a cure. I wonder what their plan for human eradication is this time.

Rory is growing on me a bit more now. It's not annoying having him around, but he also wouldn't be terribly missed if he left. And what's up with future Amy and Rory saying hi to their past selves? It seemed rather out of place to me.... I wonder if this has something to do with that whole crack in space and time thing. Matt Smith continues to own the role of the doctor, with the awkward sense of charm and fascination that makes him so interesting to watch.

Overall, I would say this episode feels rather like The Time of Angels. That episode also left me rather ambivalent at the end, as it should. Because, as a two-part episode, it's not quite fair to rate this episode until we see next week's. I feel this was a solid first part of a bigger story, but it obviously cannot stand alone. I'm excited for next week, and we're getting closer and closer to that pandorica opening!

Next week: Humans vs. Silurians

Doctor Who Series 5, Episode 7: "Amy's Choice"

This marks the first episode of the series where the silence wasn't mentioned. And it was refreshing. I'm a fan of the heavy arc-based storytelling this season, but it's nice to have a bit of a breather episode. And unlike last week's episode, I felt the storytelling here was actually very interesting, it kept you engaged throughout, and it felt unique right till the very end.

The doctor, Amy, and Rory find themselves switching between the dream world and reality. One is set five years in the future, with Amy pregnant and Rory a medical doctor. The other finds the TARDIS hurling towards a freezing sun. And there's a short little menace who's pulling the strings. It all comes down to Amy's choice in the end, and she chooses not to live in a reality without Rory. And then, in a surprise move, the doctor blows up the TARDIS! Turns out it was all a dream, and the reality was somewhat darker.

Who was the short little menace? The dark side of the doctor. After living for over 900 years, the doctor has accrued his fair share of darkness. Thanks to some trippy seeds, this darkness took control and sent everyone spiralling into a dream world.

The fact that the doctor himself was the menace was fascinating. We see the doctor get angry, we see him have to make difficult choices. But, as far as the new 2005 series is concerned, we haven't seen his inner darkness. I really hope this is just a taste of more, because his dark side would make for a fun recurring character.

The episode also addressed the lingering question of who Amy truly chooses. It was an interesting way of addressing the question, and I figure her choosing Rory has something to do with the silence that's apparently coming. In the end, it didn't quite match Flesh and Stone, but it was a very solid, very enjoyable entry to this series. And, for me at least, more entertaining than last week's vampire fish story.

I still like Amy and the doctor a lot. And the doctor remains just as interesting to watch. However, I was concerned that Rory would be somewhat lame. So far, he's decent. I wouldn't say he's really adding anything to the show right now, aside from his significance in Amy's life. However, unlike Mickey Smith, I don't think he's detracting from anything either. Then again, Mickey himself was fine, but it was Rose that totally bogged the first two series down. Good riddance, Rose.

Next week: The Hungry Earth, featuring.... Silurians!

Doctor Who Series 5, Episode 6: "The Vampires of Venice"

Another week, another adventure with the eleventh doctor and Ms. Pond! This time, forgotten fiancé Rory joins the group. The pretitles scene was a bit odd. Usually there's a semi-cliffhanger before the titles, but this time, it ended with the doctor in a somewhat awkward position. Basically, we left off last week with the doctor realizing that Amy's wedding day is the day the big event involving all those cracks happened. So, being the nice guy he is, he goes to take Rory and Amy on a vacation in 16th century Venice. Little did he know, Venice was infested with vampires, as you can tell by the cryptic episode title.

This being Doctor Who, there's more to the story. Now, I don't envy writer Toby Whithouse's placement in this series's order. How can one effectively follow the stunning two-parter with the weeping angels and River Song? Yet a series like Doctor Who can't just have a heavy arc-centric episode after episode without some nice, rather standlone episode. Some of the best episodes in past series, such as Blink or The Shakespeare Code, were standalones.

This week's episode was enjoyable, but is probably the weakest episode of the series so far, although it has some competition with The Beast Below. I liked how the story of the fish aliens tied in with the arc, but didn't heavily focus on it. We did get that bit of silence at the end, which was interesting. And there was that whole part about someone forgetting Isabella's name that I didn't quite follow. The doctor and everyone else sometimes just speak too fast, with that British accent, to understand. We need some subtitles.

The idea of the doctor dooming this race to save the other people in Venice, according to the fish queen, was intriguing. As was Rory's accusation that being around the doctor makes people dangerous. I usually don't like the boyfriend accompanying the doctor (basically Mickey Smith). But Rory seems alright, not as overtly whiny or clingy or whatever Mickey was. I still hope he doesn't stick around for a long time.

I wonder if other species in the galaxy are suffering from the same plight. Time is being rewritten, and who knows what's going on elsewhere in the universe. The silence at the end of this episode was weird though. Suddenly everything became silent. Was this due to Amy being there? We need more hints, but I'm glad this episode took a bit of a break from the arc. And, despite the fact that I don't really like vampire stories, this one was handled well.

So overall, this was an enjoyable episode, with a solid, if not overly creative plot. I'm still confused as to why Amy was all over the doctor last week, but I suppose it's really because she had such a near-death experience. I'm still waiting for that darned pandorica to open.

Next week: Dreams? Reality? What's going on?

Iron Man Returns (Spoilers!)

Iron Man 2 had a lot to live up to. The first movie had humor, style, an unexpected ending, and an even more unexpected surprise ending. Many superhero movies have a stellar second installment: Spider-Man, X-Men, and the new Batman movies. Does Iron Man 2 follow the pattern?

Unfortunately, I don't think so. The film had many really good moments, and a lot of potential, but ultimately it felt unsatisfying. I think this was primarily due to its pace. There are two or three basic storylines in the movie. One is Tony Stark and his fatal palladium poisoning from his arc reactor chestpiece, leading to his own personal crisis. The second storyline follows the US government's quest to obtain Stark's suit, which gets Rhodes involved. And the third storyline is sort of like two similar storylines. Ivan Vanko hates the fact that Howard Stark didn't give his father his due credit with developing the arc reactor, and decides to take revenge on Tony Stark, with the assistance of Justin Hammer, Stark's competitor in the weapons industry. There are other developments as well, but the story focuses around these three main things.

The problem was with the pacing. The first two-thirds was more dialogue-based, and the action was mostly packed into the end. Also, the action wasn't as developed as it could have been, especially that final battle with Vanko, aka Whiplash. It started, and soon afterwards, it just randomly ended. Also, the big action scene with Black Widow felt poorly edited and just too frenetic.

The dialogue was on point, and Stark was as funny as usual. Don Cheadle was fine as Rhodes, and the other cast members did a good job. I liked how the two villains here foiled Tony Stark. Hammer was the foil to Stark, and Whiplash the foil to Iron Man. Seeing War Machine in action was also very nice.

And the secret ending? It was pretty cool, but I did read a while ago about a scene in Thor set in New Mexico, and when SHIELD kept mentioning New Mexico, I had a strong feeling we were going to see that. I just wish we actually saw the character. And I also wish they hinted towards the mandarin in the movie, as they did in the first.

I really feel this movie would have been better with better pacing, and more action with the villains. Especially that final battle, you would think Stark could've developed some special armor so he wouldn't get super caught in Whiplash's whips so easily. This movie is a decent prequel to The Avengers, but as a standalone Iron Man sequel, things could've been better. I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars, but things may change on a rewatching.

Doctor Who Series 5, Episode 5: "Flesh and Stone"

Pandorica! If there's one major problem with this episode, it's that it leaves us hanging for the next few weeks, until we can see the return of River Song once again. Steven Moffat has written the best episode of the season, and one of the best in the current series of Doctor Who. At the end of last week, we figured this two-parter is a story about the weeping angels and River Song. However, this was turned around completely with Flesh and Stone.

So, when we left off last week, the doctor, Amy, River, and the rest were being trapped by the angels. Now, I don't usually get scared by things in sci-fi movies, and I wasn't scared of the weeping angels.
But rarely do I really see why the enemies in sci-fi are scary. Like the Borgs. Sure, they can assimilate you and stuff, but I just didn't feel that they were too terrifying. Same for the daleks. I finally get now that they're mostly dangerous because they have no conscience, no morals. But they just look rather silly. But the weeping angels, they're probably so freaky because they're based on something in real life. I feel like they're such a creative villain, they would've done very well in their own hollywood franchise, but I'm glad they're here with Doctor Who. And seeing them actually move was a treat!

Back to the episode. So that menacing crack in the wall finally returned. I didn't say this previously, but I thought that the crack had something to do with Amy. It seemed somewhat silly to have that crack appear at the end of the 2nd and 3rd episodes, but I feel the reason is because Amy (or the doctor) was there. Plus, the crack originated in Amy's room, at least from the viewer's perspective. Today, the doctor also seemed to think something was up with Amy. And that scene at the end? Kind of odd, although I'd say the doctor's missing out.

And River Song. Who did she kill? We're meant to think she killed the doctor. But I'm starting to think there's someone else we don't know about yet. First off, her truly killing the doctor doesn't make sense, because it's the presumably older version of the doctor who gave River his screwdriver in Silence in the Library. Also, River said in The Time of Angels that she learned to pilot the TARDIS from the best, and the implication was that it wasn't the doctor. So is there someone else in the picture? And why did she kill him? Who and what is she? And even more important, how long do we have to wait to find out?

We know River is returning in the season finale. But I have a feeling Moffat doesn't want this River Song storyline to just end quickly. I was hoping that we wouldn't get any new information about the River-Doctor story in Flesh and Blood, so I was pleased that we did. But this only serves to make things more mysterious! Can the doctor really trust River?

And what's behind this time thing? It served as a nifty way to end the weeping angels (for now). But, this episode wasn't really about them anyway, was it? Again, I feel like Amy is linked to the time thing, which was basically confirmed. But why?

I really like how Moffat is shaping this arc throughout the entire season, instead of having each episode more of a standalone. Even the episodes that were more standalone-ish tie into the arc. Like in Victory of the Daleks, we see that Amy doesn't remember the dalek invasion of Earth. Or in The Beast Below, we focused a little bit on Amy's marriage, not realizing at the time the implications it could have with this whole time crack.

While I'm still excited about the upcoming episodes a bit, I really want to fast forward to the finale and the return of River Song (again). Moffat's season is shaping into what I hoped it would be, and more. And as for Matt Smith, I really find his doctor fascinating to watch. I don't know if he'll ever be my favorite doctor, but he may very well be my favorite one to watch.

On the AICN talkback for the episode, I saw a very interesting theory. At around 17:30 in the episode, the doctor leaves Amy in the forest and goes with River. Of course, his jacket was left behind when the angels caught him. However, a few seconds later the doctor's back, with a jacket, telling Amy to remember what he told her when she was seven. Continuity error? Given how odd that scene suddenly felt, and what the doctor was saying, I really doubt it. I think that's intentional, and there's something very nifty going on with time!

And lastly, remember Sally Sparrow? Throughout Blink, I really feel like she must have looked into the eyes of one of the weeping angels. So either she didn't, or right now she's dead.



Next week: Vampires! In Venice!