Iron Fist: Felling Tree with Roots

 "And it makes my hand light up..."

Wow. This series is bizarrely all over the place. Last episode was pretty awful. This episode is pretty damn good. Yes, we get a very sweet, heartwarming sex scene between Colleen and Danny, the sort that feel very real between two people who genuinely feel an intimate bond. Yes, Danny has the courage of his convictions and gives a defient speech to the board of Rand, showing himself to be media savvy in the process.

Yet it's a dark, dark world. Madame Gao visits Danny in Rand's offices, where she has a pass: "I've been in Rand a lot longer than you have." She's there to troll him, yes, to annoy and disorient him, but also to warn him off. As it turns out she uses the thirteentrh floor of the building for her heroin trade. The continues to goad Danny about his father. Yet, by the end, after Danny, Collen and the Hand's rivals have trashed the heroin factory, it turns out that the whole operation is now, like much Western industry, outsourced to China. And it seems Danny's own father may have had connections to heroin too. Wow. Quite the bombshell.

The opiatre addiction between Ward and a frustrated Joy is not quite working, but it certainly shows the stress Ward is under from the way he's exploited by his manipulative, amoral father, who has Danny eating out of the palm of his hand. Ward's sudden patricide i shocking, yes, But not foreshadowed. It's quite the ending to quite an episode. Oh, and who is Bakuto? And what happens now that the board have removed Danny and the Meachums? This really feels like a turning point. Unexpectedly good.

Daredevil: World on Fire

"Could be the machines plotting, but I don't speak computer overlord..."

At last. Five episodes in and Daredevil clicks for me. I get the programme, I get the characters and I'm enjoying the ride. And yes, the fact that this is a superb hour of television certainly helps. I knew I was right to have faith and stick with it.

The episode is structured around three budding relationships, all very different in terms of wealth and terms of the morals of the three men. Our first couple- and, indeed, the least dwelt on- is Matt and Claire. Here we have no date, but an admission both that she's falling in love with him and that she has grave concerns both about the ethics of what he dies and, of course, his safety. They kiss. She's living with him. But there's some discomfort there. That's to continue in future episodes, though: the rest of this episode consists of Karen slowly falling in love with Foggy because he is, simply, a good man with integrity beneath the self-deprecating quips. Vanessa, in direct contrast, consents to a relationship with Fisk (there is no talk of love here) in full knowledge that what he does is morally murky, to say the least, that he had hurt and killed before, and he will hurt and kill again. 

Fisk, incidentally, is not himself right at the top of the food chain by himself: he is, it seems, one of a consortium of four, all of which we will no doubt come to know further. He is powerful nonetheless, though: in the episodes most disturbing scene a criminal gives his name to the cops and is simply killed by them, making it look like self defence. That's how far Fisk's tentacles can cover.

Foggy, though, gets a contrasting scene where he gets the better of his opponent's lawyer, from a fancy law firm, utterly devoid of ethics and, if all that wasn't enough, his ex. I'm sure Karen thought he was awesome. I know I did.

The two respective dates are a blatant contrast- Karen and Foggy in the tiny, ruined apartment of a poor but grateful client; Fisk and Vanessa in the most opulent surroundings imaginable. But one is about real attraction and the blossoming of real love, whereas the other is all about the lure of the "bad boy" and the seductiveness of power. Still, the scenes with Vanessa and Fisk are truly electrifying.

This is a masterful exercise of structure, theme, characterisation and dialogue. Superb. Quite the cliffhanger too...

Doctor Who: The Rings of Akhaten

“What I would like to see….What I would like to see, is something AWESOME!”

Well, it had to happen. This episode wasn’t awful, or even close, but it was still sort of meh. The arc stuff was handled well and the relationship between the Doctor and Clara is simmering nicely. But the actual story this week seems rather light on plot, subtext and memorable guest characters. Still, the design was fantastic and the CGI looked spectacular.

The setting worked nicely: the old trick of basing an alien society on societies from Earth’s history allows the writer, newcomer and Luther scribe Neil Cross, to quickly sketch out an alien culture without having to explain too much. This is a family of worlds based around religious practices which echo both Egypt and pre-Columbian Mexico, both of them civilisations based around pyramids, mummies and the like. The name of the episode, vaguely Middle Eastern feel and costumes suggest Egypt, but the notion of human sacrifice to the gods to keep the Sun shining reflects meso-American civilisations such as the Aztecs, giving us a rich cultural mix.

Thing is, there isn’t much of a plot. Clara befriends a little girl, who happens to be the Queen of Years aka Merry. There are a lot of beautifully sung songs. There’s a pissed off god who feeds on soulful memories. That’s it. But then the real plot here revolves around Clara. This episode reminds me very much of The Beast Below, not only in its studio based appearance, or in the fact that it represents the first taste of an alien world for a new companion, but also in the fact that Clara’s personality, and her empathy for others, drives everything.

The episode opens with the pervy old Doctor stalking Clara throughout her entire life. His point, of course, is to try and work out the connection with the other two Claras he has met and lost. Pleasingly, the leaf which was referred to last episode turns out to be both important in connecting Clara to her late mother and integral to the plot. It is Clara’s more personal memories, not those of the ancient, alien Doctor, which save the day. Nevertheless, the Doctor’s passionate monologue refers to all sorts of dark secrets which are obviously part of the season’s arc.

It’s the fiftieth anniversary season. This being so, we get references to the series’ past. There is a reference to the Doctor’s granddaughter, reminding us of the shows very first year, and even the Vigil evoke both the Silence in robot form and the robot mummies from Pyramids of Mars. Away from the series’ past, I love the way 1981 is invoked by the cars, fashions and The Specials Ghost Town. I also love the nice little cultural touches to an alien society in which objects of sentimental value are used as currency, the character of the Queen of Years hints at a rich literary history, and songs are of vital importance. This may be an average episode of Doctor Who, but even an average episode is a cut above most television.

Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

“Cyril! What have I told you about opening your presents early? Something like this was bound to happen!”

This is the seventh Christmas special since Doctor Who came back in 2005; it’s become quite the seasonal institution. And it’s established itself as something quite distinct from a regular episode; Doctor Who should always primarily be aimed at a general family audience rather than us fans, but never is this truer than on Christmas Day, when most people all bunged up with food and on at least their second glass of wine. What’s needed is a nice, uplifting blockbuster movie type thing that’s easy to follow for the semi-inebriated, of which I was definitely one; re-watching it with pen, paper and no wine was a very different experience.

(Incidentally, we actually live paused this for thirty minutes while we finished our game of Scrabble. The last two nights have been epic, alcohol-fuelled sessions of Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit until the wee small hours. This is my first alcohol-free night since December 23^rd and will probably be my last alcohol-free day of 2011. What a time of year, eh?)

There’s another Christmas tradition that seems to have established itself over the years, too: the Doctor, travelling alone, has a one-off adventure with a guest star in which he discovers the importance of family and friends. It really ought to get tired, but good writing from RTD and now the Moff has generally ensured that it doesn’t. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves; we begin with some rather good CGI, some music from Murray Gold that clearly signifies this as a blockbuster family movie, and some nice comic scenes. We’re introduced to guest star Claire Skinner of Outnumbered (which I’d seen for the first time earlier that day- rather good!) as the terribly British yet resourceful Madge, Alexander Armstrong in a surprisingly small role (as are Bill Bailey and Arabella Weir), and the two children, Lily and Cyril. The family dynamic is quickly and very wittily established in some superb dialogue from the Moff, and we like these characters immediately. But Christmas seems set to be ruined; Madge has received a telegram, stating that her husband is missing, presumed dead.

Just as entertaining are the scenes in which the Doctor introduces the three of them to the fantastic alterations he’s made to all the rooms. One might perhaps quibble at how the Doctor has the resources to do all this but that would be churlish, I think; it’s Christmas and it’s cool. And Matt Smith is amazing in these scenes. Yet he’s just as good in a more serious context, as he gently comforts Madge about her husband’s death and the terrible responsibility of informing her children.

The concept of a wardrobe leading to another room is, er, not entirely original, and tends to give rise to the temptation to see Christian subtexts which aren’t there. There’s a real temptation to the alien forest of real Christmas teams, even if this is a curiously benign alien world, devoid of any real threat at this point, in which it’s safe for a child to wonder. One might pause to tut at the Doctor allowing a child to wander somewhere dangerous through his own negligence but, again, it’s Christmas and it’s cool.

Fanwank alert: this planet is Androzani Major, in spite of the lack of obvious references to The Caves of Androzani, and the year is 5345, although how this fits into the other story’s timeline is anyone’s guess. The people who impart this information are, of course, quickly outsmarted by Madge, who is easily the coolest character in this. Serves them right; they want to “melt” this forest with acid rain to make “battery fluid”.

The ending, with females and particularly mothers being “strong”, is cool, and Madge quite simply rules, but I suppose I ought to say something about the sexual politics of this, as a brief glance at Gallifrey Base (and I really do mean just a glance at thread titles) indicates that it’s being discussed. Personally, although it’s obvious that the role of mother is being celebrated, I don’t see any wider indication that women are being defined only in relation to this, or that patriarchal structures are being reinforced in any way. It’s just a tribute to motherhood, and quite a cool one.

That Madge’s husband hasn’t in fact died is a little soppy, but also inevitable and satisfying, and it’s good to see Amy and Rory again. Also cool is that this is one of those Christmases where the Doctor does stay for Christmas dinner.

I liked that. It’s Christmas and it’s cool.