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TV Review: ‘Doctor Who: Day of the Moon, The Curse of the Black Spot’
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Goodman   |  

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode 2 (Day of the Moon) and 3 (The Curse of the Black Spot)
Directed by Toby Haynes (Day of the Moon) and Jeremy Webb (The Curse of the Black Spot)
Written by Steven Moffat (Day of the Moon) and Steve Thompson (The Curse of the Black Spot)
Staring: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Mark Sheppard, Stuart Milligan, Chukwudi Iwuji, Hugh Bonneville, Lily Cole, and Frances Barber
BBC America
Air date: April 30, May 7, 2011

Exams put my review of the new Doctor Who episodes Day of the Moon behind a bit more than I’d like, so I figured I’d lump it in with my The Curse of the Black Spot review. This ended up being a good thing, cause I have lots to say about one of these episodes and not so much to say about the other. Hit the jump for the full review.

Day of the Moon suffers from a unique problem in that it raises more questions than it actually answers. There’s a lot to process here, much of which will continue to play out over this first half of the sixth series. However, even with this, the episode was able to accomplish a variety of different things. The Silence prove themselves to be more than scary threat, giving us one of the most terrifying episodes of Doctor Who I’ve seen. On top of that, we’re provided with an episode that shows the Doctor at his very best. Moffat’s handling of the Silence threat was brilliant writing, but I hope that we haven’t seen the last of them.

Then we have the ending.

If the first/last kiss between River and The Doctor wasn’t killer enough for you, we’re handed the situation with Amy’s baby and the fate of the little girl in the space suit. These plot points won’t be solved anytime soon, as our trio is off on some adventures before dealing with the matters at hand.

The Curse of the Black Spot, however, is just a standard outing for the show. There’s a lot to like from this episode, but I think it suffers a little from the fact that it’s in a between an episode that raised more questions than answered and an episode written by Neil Gaiman. Even though the narrative of the episode isn’t as engaging as previous episodes, it does boast some fantastic acting, particularly from Karen Gillan and Matt Smith.

Quick Thoughts:
– Smith and Gillan nailed that scene towards the end of Curse. Even though I knew Rory would make it out all right, these two brought a particularly powerful gravitas to it.
– Still no idea of the little girl at the end of Moon, although I’m confident it’s Amy’s daughter and that the TARDIS has affected her in some manner.
– “Oh Dickie. Tricky Dickie. They’ll never forget you. Say hello to David Frost for me.”
– “There’s a first time for everything.” “Or a last.”
– ” I’m confused.” “Yeah, well, it’s a big club. We should get t-shirts.”
– I don’t think we will, but I would love to see Canton show up again.
– I have a feeling it’s going to be a while before we find out about this woman in the eyepatch.
– I really like the fact that everyone is hiding something from one another. Amy and Rory are hiding The Doctor’s fate from him, River is hiding her true nature from everyone, and The Doctor is hiding details from Amy about her pregnancy.

Not much to talk about for these two episodes, but I’m sure I’ll have plenty to talk about next week. I can’t remember the last time I was as excited as I am for Neil Gaiman’s episode. Until we get The Doctor’s Wife on Saturday, sound off with your thoughts in the comments below.

5 Comments »

  1.  Of course Canton is showing up again! His appearance at the Doctor’s death, and his apparent calmness and knowing looks are going to be explained as part of the series arc, like most things in these first two episodes.

    Comment by Emagination24 — May 13, 2011 @ 2:02 pm

  2.  Very good but not much of a review is it.  Nothing about the plot just the unanswered questions.  

    Comment by Rounder — May 13, 2011 @ 3:33 pm

  3. Have to say, I strongly disliked ‘Curse’. It felt like a ‘Star Trek’ episode, where there are weird pseudo-mystical happenings which are all explained by some sci-fi happenings. It’s like someone came up with the idea of pirates and sirens (‘Wouldnt it be cool if…’), and only then came up with an explanation.

    And I just could not suspend my disbelief that the Doctor has no concept of human physiology, resuscitation techniques, and no equipment in the tardis to revive Rory – or that he couldn’t rig something up *before* taking Rory off life support. That whole scene completely undermined the character of the Doctor.

    Comment by Kell — May 14, 2011 @ 2:48 am

  4. Goldman,
     I must totally disagree with you my friend.
     Any Whovian will tell you, especially with this series, that all answers reveal themselves in time. (See last years 13 episodes about the cracks in space and time.)
     There are important clues as what is going on in both of these episodes. 
     Think mirrors, and the ability for the alien ship and the pirate ship to be in the same area of space and time. There is a lot going on here, two universes have collided after The Big Bang 2.
     Think about “The Lodger” last season, someone was trying to create a Tardis, and the very same control console was in Day of The Moon being operated by the Silence. So now we know someone has tried to create a Tardis, and with the little girl, someone has created a time lord.
     You’ve missed the big picture entirely. Doctor Who is supposed to keep us guessing, that’s part of it.
     To tell you the truth, the fact that the only way to look into the other universe is by reflections tells me there is something up with the person in the space suit. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out the Doctor kills himself, and he is the one in the space suit.
    Food for thought…

    Comment by Joe Fowler III — May 24, 2011 @ 6:03 pm

  5. Case in point, listen to the beginning of the trailer:

    http://youtu.be/bVAgyBOe84w

    Comment by Joe Fowler III — May 24, 2011 @ 1:08 pm

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