Doctor Who Series 6 Episode 3: Curse of the Black Spot

Arrgggh and shiver me timbers! The TARDIS travels to a pirate ship in distress, an abrupt change of location and pace from the two-parter opening. Right off the bat, I could see why they wanted to film in the US. The sprawling, beautiful Utah landscape lent such a depth and vastness to the series, especially when compared to this week's cramped pirate ship. Although, I don't think many pirate ships are spacious to begin with.

This particular ship, led by Captain Avery, is severely undermanned, as most of the crew were seemingly killed by a mystical-looking siren. Anytime someone got injured, even from a minor cut, the siren came singing her song, and they were gone in a flash. Moffat set the bar for this series pretty high with the first two episodes, so coming into this week, I thought it would be rather lackluster. But lackluster DW is still pretty darn good compared to a lot of US stuff. Anyway, I was taken by surprise a bit when it was revealed that she siren was actually a nurse healing the wounded in a parallel spaceship.

I liked that we got a bit of continuity from last week's episode, with the weird eye patch lady. I have no idea why Amy's seeing her, or who she could be. But perhaps she's going to be the running theme for these first few episodes, just as the crack appeared in the start of last series's first few episodes. Also, Amy's pregnancy is still indecisive.

Overall, there's not much to say about this episode. It was a good standalone, probably ranking alongside "Vampires of Venice" from last series. Better than "The Lodger," though.

Next week: Neil Gaiman! And was that the "I killed hundreds" villain we heard in the promo? And an ood? Can't wait!