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