Doctor Who: Joy to the World

 "I don't usually live like this- one day, after another, in the right order..."

I love blogging Doctor Who.As far as this blog is concerned... well, that's how it all started with this blog. I was doing a Doctor Who marathon with a group of people on Outpost Gallifrey between 2008 and 2010, from An Unearthly Child to The Pandorica Opens, uploaded all my entries to this blog, and then... kept on going with new Doctor Who, along with soooo much other stuff. This blog has now been going for so long that Doctor Who comprises only a small part of it, but it will always be the beating heart of this blog.

This time I'm doing something different, though. Because yes, I watched this yesterday; yesI paid attention; but... I didn't take notes, as I almost always do, because I was with my family for Christmas. Also, while by no means further in that a couple of glasses of wine, I'd started on the booze. So this blog post is more of a memory test than usual, especially as I'm deliberately basing it on the one viewing and haven't read or seen any other reviews.

So... with one reservation, which I'll come too... i liked this a lot. It has all the wit we might by now expect from Steven Moffat, but also the brilliant concepts (the Time Hotel; using time and a suitcase to birth a star) and the very clever way it all fits together. It's standalone, funny, and the complexity is well explained and accessible for a slightly sozzled Christmas Day audience.There's Villengard, and a character who just simply happens to be a Silurian, but continuity does not loom large.

There's a heart tothis, though. Joy may seem in the surface to be nice and unthreatening, but her story is truly heartbreaking, and I loved Moffat's anger at the "one rule for me and one for thee" aspect of the lockdown parties. No doubt culture warring lockdown sceptics will decry this as "woke", whatever that is, but no one cares hat they think.

Nicola Coughlan is excellent.Yet, as ever, Ncuti Gatwa is simply superb. This is a very lonely Doctor who has just said goodbye to his companion and could do with a reminder that he needs a friend to travel with. Yes, I know; we've seen this before. But it's well handled here, with the Doctor taking the "slow path", as Reinette would have said, spending a year working in a hotel and making a good friend. and more than that... he learns again what friendship truly means. And the importance of chairs. That especially.

All this and a Mr Benn reference.

That said... the big reveal at the end that Joy and the others had become the Star of Bethlehem wasa bit much, one step too far. But it's Christmas, dammit. And this sort of episode is exactly what we need in this increasingly worrying world.

Dracula: Blood Vessel

“The sophistication of a gentleman, Agatha, is always a veneer...”

Ah. It's good to get another Moffat/Gatiss season to binge on, or savour, as one's lifestyle permits- these episodes are bloody ninety minutes long, you know.  But this is another good one. Not as good as the opening episode, granted, but it wouldn't be; middle episodes rarely are.

What this episode manages to do is take the somewhat claustrophobic premise of Dracula's long sea voyage from the Balkans to Whitby and construct a taut little thriller which, for those of you reading this who are Doctor Who fans (and I suspect many of you are), tends to evoke the mood of Horror of Fang Rock, except with more blood. Much more blood. I don't recall this aspect of Stoker's novel being so heavily focused on in any previous screen version, although the brief scenes in Nosferatu are certainly iconic.

It is, of course, a relatively cheap episode but one full of wit, incident,  scares, suspense and (thank whatever gods may happen to exist) Dolly Wells once more as the supremely quotable Sister Agatha. It's also full of a splendid cast which, as many of us are indeed Doctor Who fans, includes both Catherine Schell (still a beautiful woman, probably) and Sacha Dhawan, who is having quite the month.

The mystery of Cabin 9 is nicely handled, and the various passengers all have their little secrets and peccadilloes. The plot is awfully clever but, again, is restrained; this isn't Sherlock and there are more jump scares than narrative tricks. The narrative tricks are there nevertheless, though, and we get a superb twist at the end, as Sister Agatha manages to bury Dracula beneath the waves (shades of the Angel season four finale) for longer than he thought...

A rare vintage indeed. To be savoured.

The War of the Worlds: Part 3

"I should like a bacon sandwich."

Sigh. I've been procrastinating about watching this final episode and yes, like the series as a whole, it just isn't very good. Is there any way I can avoid this blog post just consisting of me metaphorically putting this 55 minutes of telly over my knee for a sound spanking?

Well, no one sets out to make bad telly. It's well shot, particularly the action sequences with the CGI Martian. The acting is not so much bad- everyone is competent- but, Robert Carlyle aside, lacking in charisma. And you can see glimpses at times of the fact that Peter Harness is the same writer who has done so much good stuff in the past- the coda of Amy describing to little George is rather lovely. So is the ambiguous note of hope as the clouds seem to clear at the end. Will George live? Will Amy's and Ogilvy's typhoid cure be rolled out? Will they manage to grow crops and survive the winter? Will Ogilvy ever get that bacon sandwich? We can just about imagine that they might. Or not.

But such glimpses do not good telly make. Fundamentally, I think, the structure doesn't work. The first episode was ok, with its linear narrative and the fun of Edwardian Surrey facing an invasion from Mars, in spite of the charisma-free leads. But, for this episode and the last, the split narrative- the flashback to the invasion and the "present" day of the red weed and civilisation breaking down- not only makes the narrative actively less dramatic but adds nothing to the subtext or characters.

Yes, I can see that it would have been worse narratively to have an episode culminating in the Martians dying and another one on the later years of red weed and starvation. But why have the latter at all? If it's a crude metaphor for the climate crisis then it doesn't work; the red weed isn't man made, however much the subtext- in the original novel here and too didactically articulated by George here- may be that this is the British Empire getting its just desserts. Nor do I like how George's idealism is shown as naive and unrealistic. I'm no socialist- my heroes are John Lilburne, John Maynard Keynes and Henry George, not Keir Hardie or the Webbs-  but I don't like how socialism is caricatured here.

I suppose, then, that this is quite well made. But the whole thing is woefully misconceived and, in spite of some good work in paces, sadly a bad piece of television.

The War of the Worlds: Part 2

"This isn't our planet any more."

Oh dear. The first episode was flawed but had promise, and Peter Harness is a writer with a good track record. Yet this second episode is a load of turgid dross that bodes I’ll for a final episode which I will only be watching because of this blog. What went wrong?

There were issues with the first episode, certainly. Rafe Spall has no charisma. And the original novel is perhaps more justly famous for the barriers it become than for its quality. But there’s nothing in this first episode to suppose a mess like this may follow. Essentially we have two narratives- a main one in 1905 after the initial invasion as chaos ensues but, eventually, the Martians die for reasons which aren’t entirely clear unless you happen to have read the novel or, indeed, seen any of the numerous screen versions. The framing narrative is set a few years later, on a much redder Earth, with the Martians long gone but their terraforming has seeming to have turned Earth into a red planet which is slowly becoming less capable of supporting humans- and, one assumes, more hospitable for those of Martian extraction.

This is an attempt to insert the current climate crisis into the story, essentially wrapping up the invasion early on after a number of set pieces so that we can focus on a theme which obviously resonates for our age. But this is ill-conceived; we still don’t care about the characters, particularly not George, and the constant striving in both narratives for the couple to reunite just simply fails to be interesting. Instead we are left with the ideals and while, yes, the obvious subtext is laudable, it feels very much crowbarred in. And what exactly is this saying? The climate crisis here isn’t man made, as ours is. The parallel is crude.

So yes- the tripods look good. So does the reddened world a few years on. Eleanor Tomlinson and Robert Carlyle are good. But the whole thing just fails as a drama and that is down, I’m afraid, to the script.

The Night Manager: Episode 6

"You'd buy that girl for $300 million?"

Wow. I'll be honest: most final episodes of TV miniseries are mildly disappointing. This one is far from that- gripping, full of twist and turns, reversals of fortune and starring roles for everyone. Roper's comeuppance is perfect: yes, Angela and Jonathan get him bang to rights- but he will probably be released in days. But that brief moment of captivity makes him vulnerable and he is killed by a man he has offended with his racism and hubris. 

Hugh Laurie is great at the end and, indeed, throughout, but I have to admire the way the character of Roper has been written: it's a fine line between making him seem too gullible and allowing Pine to fulfil his plot function, a line that is straddled well. And Roper is made here to thoroughly deserve his comeuppance. His treatment of Jed is horrifying.

Angela, too, is a magnificent character, and Olivia Colman a superb actress, finally getting into real danger while heavily pregnant, giving all, probably including her career, to get Roper. And Tom Hiddleston's principled Pine is the still point at the centre of it all, even in his worst moments, a true hero. 

This is an extraordinary finale to asserted that may not have been great from the beginning but certainly became so by its end.

The Night Manager: Episode 4

"To the victor... and to the blind man who can’t see the human bloody hand grenade in front of his bloody eyes,”

This is where things really heat up. Jonathan and Jed finally shag, and about time, too- by this point your practically shouting at them to just get a room. Jonathan finds himself at the very centre of Roper's web and closely implicated in his dealings of not quite fully trusted. He's the coming man, at Corky's expense- and Corky is dangerous, knowing as he does that Jonathan is sleeping with Jed. He's playing a dangerous game.

And it gets more dangerous as Jonathan refuses to abort the mission in spite of the very real risk of being found out, even pointing out to Roper that they're being watched by "cops". All this plus Angela discovers that Roper is supported by corrupt elements within M16.

But the emotional centrepiece of the episode, with an extraordinary performance by Olivia Colman, sees Angela recounting a school sports day in Iran where the children were horribly killed by chemical weapons- and that Roper, psychopath that he is, responded to this by adding said chemical weapons to his stock for sale. For him, this atrocity was just business.

Things are getting serious. Not only is Roper playing with fire by getting involved with Jed but corrupt elements in M16 are getting dangerously close to discovering that there's a mole in Roper's organisation. This is gripping telly and Hugh Laurie continues to be amazing.

The Night Manager: Episode 3

"Becoming a man is realising it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness – that’s freedom."

This is where it really gets interesting. High Laurie's extraordinary and revelatory performance as psychopath Richard Roper continues to enthrall as Tom Hiddleston's Jonathan Pine cunningly inveigled his way into Roper's organisation at the expense of his rival Corky, whose fondness for the bottle and nubile (is that the right word?) young men is ruthlessly used against him.

Incidentally, Tom Hollander is also superb as Corky, by far the most quotable character and likeable in spite of both his cynical amorality and his right wing proclivities. But this episode is the best so far. Shockingly, it begins with the suicide of an apparently spoiled rich girl on her 16th birthday- raped by Roper?- but it builds into a fascinating game of cat and mouth in which Pine uncovers secrets of, yes, dastardly arms dealing, but also of secrets abounding. Jed and Roper are not getting on and, indeed, I suspect the two of them will grow closer in future episodes. Jed is a sympathetic character, not without a conscience and with a deepening realisation of what a monster her paramour has become: witness the hair that Jonathan finds in Roper's secret study.

But what's this? Dastardly dealings at MI6? Again, a brilliant piece of television.

The Night Manager: Episode 2

"Just remember one thing, honey; you're nothing but a dirty whore."

So this is where it gets good.

Stuff is finally happening and Jonathan gets to be undercover, badass and, at last, likeable. Hugh Laurie is simply amazing as Richard Roper; we've sadly missed out on all the great villains he could have been playing all these years. We also get action, excitement, a bizarre serious role as MI6 top brass for Neil Morrissey of all people, and David Harewood with a decent American accent. This has suddenly become bloody good telly.

We see just how much Jonathan mourns his lost love- prepared not to risk just his own life but to accept frequent violence and the need to abandon his old identity forever. He is magnificent, and I suppose the contrast with the old, obsequious Jonathan is the point.

Olivia Colman is just as electrifying as the tenacious Angela, just likeable enough while having a very hard edge.

That cliffhanger looks ominous, and this serial looks as though it's going to be fun. What a difference a week makes.

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

"I fear she has branched into literary criticism by means of satire. It is a distressing trend in the modern landlady."

Well, wasn't that superlatively brilliant? Oh, the present day scenes were a little pointless in terms of content (I hate Sherlock's "mind palace", too) but I suppose they had to be there to justify this episode happening. Everything else was awesome.

There's a lot here for fans of Conan Doyle's original stories by delightfully mashing A Study in Scarlet with A Study in Pink, introducing us to Sherlock with Victorian trappings. It's a real treat; all of the characters as portrayed by the actors we know work just as well in a Victorian setting, as well they should, and we have lots of fun with all of them, including Mrs Hudson. Even Mycroft (Mark Gatiss in a fat suit) and Molly Hooper (er, in a moustache, but nicely illustrating the episode's themes) make appearances.

The central image is delightfully grotesque, too- a gun totin' and bloodied bride, reminding me of the character from Kill Bill. So too is the use of Watson's stories for the Strand magazine, and the suggestion that there's a distinction between the "real" Holmes and the one who appears in the stories.

It's well directed, as everything by Douglas Mackinnon invariably is, with plenty of Sherlock's trademark visual storytelling tricks, a magnificent escape from dull realism as well as being extraordinarily clever.

There are plenty of nods to the canon, from the acknowledgement that The Blue Carbuncle is a bit pants to the five orange pips (and the use of Klan like hoods at the end ties into this, if I may spoil a century old short story). The ghostly figure haunting Sir Eustace through the mist even calls to mind The Hound of the Baskervilles. Most intriguing is the mention of Itene Adler, and the hint that the "real" Holmes has a more complicated reason for lack of interest in women than the canon version. And then there's the cocaine. And Reichenbach. Yes, even Moriarty works in this context.

The big reveal- that behind all this are a protocol-female just secret society out to get votes for women and punish abusive men- is both wonderful and a satisfying payoff to the wry commentary on gender politics as seen throughout the episode.

And then it's the present day. And Moriarty's back. Not that he isn't dead or anything, but he's back anyway. And we probably have years until the next episode...

The World's End (2013)

"What the fuck does WTF mean?"

I like Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost, I really do. I loved Hot Fuzz and Paul and said so. I loved Shaun of the Dead and must blog that one day. It all amounts to a fine back catalogue. But this film... isn't really all that great. And there's not really all that much to say about it.

I mean, the plot's ok and the acting is as superb as you expect but, well, this is a film about middle age disappointment, with Gary a drunken failure wanting to relive the glories of his youth while his mates all have at least something to show for their lives at the halfway point. And... that's all this film is about. Dull and patronising themes of middle age and growing up. Even the threat- a load of robot invaders who want to enforce conformity, all naturally for our own good- is a bit meh, a kind of intergalactic parent, the man trying to hassle us. It all falls a bit flat for me. Perhaps it's because I'm a couple of years short of forty but don't really identify with any of this. As I approach middle age I've neither gone off the rails, failed to grow up not stopped being the person I've always been, and as such I don't really identify with the film's somewhat cliched message.

Mind you, it has a nice little subtext about the distressing decline of the modern pub. But that's about it.

Sherlock: A Study in Pink

“Why can’t people just think?”

We begin with Watson’s… no, John’s flashback to the war in Afghanistan, so beginning with a very neat parallel to Conan Doyle’s original stories, of which we’ll be seeing many. Martin Freeman is perfect casting; he may be more or less typecast as an “everyman” character, but there are worse kinds of typecasting, and he’s a very, very good everyman.

The direction from Paul McGuigan, more usually encountered in films, is superb from the outset. I particularly love the way the screen briefly divides in two as we shift scenes, the use of focus, and of course the creative use of text. Together with Steven Moffat’s first class script and the first-rate cast, this makes for a breathtakingly good but of telly, marred only by a few of Moffat’s old tricks turning up again- the public phone ringing, the line about arch enemies, Sherlock’s jibe about “telly”- but that’s a very minor criticism.

Interesting that the title sequence should focus on speed and the modern icons of London; that’s a statement of intent about the kind of series we’re getting- modern, stylish and fast-paced. Interesting, too (SPOILERS- this is a Whodunnit, remember!) that the first line is “Get a cab.” Cheeky, Moffat, cheeky…

Pacey this certainly is; we get the basic shape of the mystery in the first few minutes and it isn’t much longer that Sherlock and John, whom we’ve only just met, have become flatmates and firmly established themselves as great characters. That’s the excellent script but also, of course, great performances from Freeman and the magnetic Benedict Cumberbatch. He’s Wanda Ventham’s son, you know!

I love Sherlock’s deductions about John, but especially his mistake about Harry. It’s a nice character moment, but also foreshadows his similar deductions regarding the crime. We also meet Una Stubbs as Mrs “Not a Housekeeper” Hudson, whose main purpose is clearly to make the inevitable comments about Sherlock’s and John’s (it’s hard not to type Holmes’ and Watson’s!) sexuality.

There’s such a wit to the script. I love the treatment of Lestrade- resigned to needing Sherlock and honest about it in spite of everything. And, of course, Sherlock is overjoyed to see him, as this means a juicy little murder and a postponement of boredom. It’s played for laughs, but this is recognisably the character we know from Conan Doyle.

Again, the first thing Sherlock and John do upon leaving 221B Baker Street is to hail a cab!!! Their conversation in the cab is great, though, as is John’s meeting with Sergeant Sally Donovan, who’s convinced Sherlock is a dangerous psychopath. The ultimate subtext of all this is, of course, that John himself is a danger junkie, with psychosomatic injuries which reflect the fact that he misses war. If Sherlock is a disturbed individual, then John is no better.

The scene where Sherlock examines Jennifer Wilson’s body is amazing, and so it should be: it’s the most important scene in the episode. McGuigan’s pioneering device of superimposing bits of text over the screen, as earlier with the phones, is genius. As, of course, is Sherlock.

I love the fun Moffat has with “Rache”; this rather undercuts the confidence of those of us who assume we know what’s going on because we’ve read A Study in Scarlet. As will become very clear, we don’t.

Sherlock buggers off, leaving John to meet (SPOILERS!) Mycroft. Mark Gatiss puts on the archest performance I’ve ever seen, even from him. And that’s saying something.

The final indication that knowledge of the novel won’t help us is when the American in the cab turns out to be a red herring. So, after the drugs bust (ha!), and a bit more coolness from Sherlock, we reach the endgame. It’s a satisfying one, using Sherlock’s genius and personality against him; not only is it an exciting climax but it tells us a lot about our eponymous protagonist. It’s fitting that he never chooses a pill; it would damage the character for us to see him as either definitively fallible (and dead!) or definitively infallible.

We get a great ending, with John saving the day, Mycroft revealing himself in a hilarious scene, and “Moriarty”…