amberfocus | So Finally Watched Whatever DW episode Cold War Is

This is not a particularly coherent review.

So...um...well, it wasn't bad. Wasn't outstanding. Enjoyed it more than many, many Eleven episodes though. Had some elements that I felt the ball was dropped on and really could have been kind of fantastic if they'd carried through on even one of them.

All in all though it was just a good old-fashioned romp. I still like Clara although the new penny shine is night quite as shiny. Probably lackluster writing, because Jenna is just as cute and likeable as ever. And I'm still really liking Eleven since the second half of season 7 began. He seems more himself or more who I recognize the Doctor to be. Matt Smith is really stepping it up a notch. I mean I've always liked him. Loved him in the Sally Lockhart movies. And he's always had potential as the Doctor, but it feels more like he's meeting that potential now.

I was irritated with them using guns on a submarine. Naval officers would never risk it.

Hungry Like the Wolf...well, it was big in 1982. And my kids do know the words to it now. Bad Wolf reference? Possibly? I did it several years ago in a fic as one. Seems weird if it is one for Clara. SM is probably just yanking the ship chain. Or the words have something to do with Clara herself being lost and found, though Gatiss is usually not so subtle. SM may have stuck it in.

I think it would have been far better if the TARDIS had gone to retrieve the Ice Warrior ship and bring it back to pick up the Ice Warrior guy...was it Sheldak? Felt like the whole TARDIS taking off was irrelevant to this episode at all other than to set up the joke at the end. Probably a set up for something in the future.

The Ice Warrior suit opening felt very much like the Dalek opening in Dalek. Plus it even had the chains on it. Last of his kind, too, just like that Dalek (only not really). And no parallels were drawn with the Doctor being last of his kind. Well, maybe he's over that now. He does seem happier most of the time. Glimpses of darkness are still there, but it seems like he's not so depressed over everything awful that ever happened to him.

Also, why no Russian accents? If Nine had a Mancunian accent speaking English, why didn't the Russians have Russian accents speaking English? The TARDIS translates American accents. But if we are supposed to buy that Clara was speaking Russian and not that the others were being translated into English that accent would have helped. Also, how was the TARDIS translating from the opposite side of the planet? Pretty sure they were no longer in the telepathic field... They've botched the whole translating thing anyway. Seems it hasn't worked well since the Judoon.

Hope the upcoming ep is better. Kind of looks like a bit of ripoff of The Unquiet Dead from the previews. There are such things as new plots. Can someone tell SM so? Recycling may be good for the Earth, but it's going to be the death of the series if he doesn't start putting up fresh stories. All these tunnels look the same to me, Doctor...