Doctor Who Pubcast 2....

Here's the second podcast from Nick and myself...

 http://dwpubcast.podomatic.com/entry/2013-05-01T07_44_02-07_00

Angel: The Thin Dead Line

“Is this morphine?... Well it’s bloody lovely!”

It had to happen: zombie cops. This is an excellent episode, full of social commentary and character development. Wesley takes a bullet while trying to help Gunn and his friends, thus creating a much stronger bond between these unlikely friends from such different backgrounds.

The staff of Angel Investigations (not including Angel these days) deal with two cases. It is initially Gunn, who is working class and black, who deals with the zombie cops and their attacks on homeless kids, while Wesley and Cordelia, both from much more affluent backgrounds, work for a rich client sourced from Wesley’s rich girlfriend. There’s very much a class divide. But Wesley, significantly, makes a personal sacrifice while helping those less fortunate than himself. He shows that, although he’s a klutz, he is nevertheless a hero with integrity.

We meet Anne again, after only a couple of episodes, it is significant that Gunn seems to know her well. Gunn knows a lot of people well throughout the shelter. There is a nice scene between Gunn and thuggish and menacing Jackson. Gunn’s line- “a thug with a gun, keeping the cycle going” is a telling and eloquent piece of social commentary. Gunn, in fact, is promoted to the main character for this episode, and fills the role well.

Angel is also investigating this case, but on the margins. It is he who investigates the police and de-voodoos the precinct in question. Still, when he finally turns up at the hospital, Cordy is dead right that “it takes a gunshot wound to make (him) give a crap.” Angel seems to have repented his behaviour a little, but it’s too late. It now seems to be time for the story arc to take a new turn. There aren’t many episodes left this season. Something big is going to happen, I know it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Crush

“I feel safe with you.”

“Take that back!!!”

I’m tempted to start this review by saying “ooooooooh! Is that the Bronze? It’s been ages”, but I don’t think that’s really what this episode is about. What we have here is Spike and his rather complicated relationships with Buffy, Drusilla, and Harmony. It’s not so much a love triangle as a love square. Life is complicated if you’re a vampire with a chip in your head.

Not that it seems as though Spike has any chance whatsoever with Buffy. Yes, he may be smoking and stalking a lot, and he may get on well with Buffy’s sister and, indeed, her mother, but she gives him about the biggest rejection in the entire history of humanity. Harmony does want him, but, well, she’s Harmony. Unsurprisingly, he dumps her as soon as Drusilla’s back on the scene.

Ah yes, Drusilla. I’ve always liked her, but I’ve been liking her all the more since she started appearing in Angel and, conveniently, she goes and explains the plot of Angel season two for the benefit of Spike and any viewers who haven’t been following the sister show! Drusilla seems to believe that Spike has not lost his killer instincts, chip or no chip. Indeed, it seems as though he does actually kill someone in that rather erotic killing scene in the Bronze with Drusilla’s help, of course. But the real fun comes when he ties up both his women and opens his heart to them, threatening to kill Drusilla for Buffy. This is both romantic and kinky. Of course, the best thing about the whole scene is Drusilla’s reactions.

The best thing about the whole episode, though, is that Xander is jealous of Spike for taking his place as Dawn’s crush! The whole thing is pretty cool. I’m enjoying this season. I can’t believe it’s nearly over.

Doctor Who: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

“Don’t get in a spaceship with a madman!”

Interesting one, this. It seems to have divided opinion. No one thinks it’s awful and, to be clear, it certainly isn’t. But people are either enthusiastic or relatively lukewarm. I’m afraid I’m one of the latter.

It isn’t that the story itself is anything less than excellent. Much as I dislike reset buttons, this time it is earned and I liked the twist that the strange lava-like creatures were possible future version of everyone on board, consumed by the Eye of Harmony in the heart of the TARDIS. The reset button was used well, allowing Clara not only to learn about the time war but also the Doctor’s name (story arc alert!), while the Doctor gets to ask Clara the question he’s been longing to ask only to be told that she’s just Clara! She has no idea that she has ever lived before. Steve Thompson gets to have his cake and eat it, as all this is said without consequences for anyone but the viewer.

Also impressive is that the chief antagonist in this episode is not some dastardly, moustache- twirling baddie but simply three soulless brothers just out for a profit. They have so little poetry in their souls that they take sibling bullying to a new level, making the younger brother think he’s an android

What makes me question the episode a little, and it’s a tendency much seen of late, is that there’s an awful lot of fanwank here. I know it’s the fiftieth anniversary year, but is the general viewer really going to be interested in lines spoken by original companions Susan and Ian in the very first episode, or in sequences which are clearly a remake of the last episode of The Invasion of Time? Still, it’s good to see the library and the swimming pool. I was also impressed with the clever trick of allowing the same section of corridor to look different by the judicious use of lighting to tint the scenes in red or blue. Arguably, the fact that the corridors recall the Daleks' city from way back when is intentional.

Aside from the obvious arc stuff, it’s tempting to see the stuff with the star in The Rings of Akhaten as foreshadowing the climax of this episode. One thing I’m not sure of is whether the dislike the TARDIS holds towards Clara is explained; surely it was not only Clara who was fated to turn in to a lava beast? Another little niggle concerns the book detailing the history of the time war: if both the Daleks and the Time Lords were made extinct, or near as, who exactly was left to write it?!

I enjoyed it, I really did. And I’m enjoying this half of the season. I’m just beginning to worry a little that things are angled slightly to far towards the fans and not enough towards the general viewer.

Angel: Happy Anniversary

“What’s today, Thursday? Tomorrow night the world’s going to end. Thought you might like to know”.

This is a story of the week and a very unusual episode, being essentially a piece of sci-fi in a supernatural series. It somehow works, partly because there are some demon cultists to tie the episode to the show’s natural genre and partly because the theme is so affecting: Gene is so distraught at overhearing that his girlfriend is going to dump him on their one year anniversary that he freezes time around them while they fornicate rather boringly. I mean, Gene doesn’t even let her have her orgasm before freezing them!!!

The plot is rather neat, perhaps, but it’s rather nifty in a Twilight Zone sort of way, and a two hander between Angel and the Host allows us to develop the relationship between them. The Host, being a natural judge of character, is the perfect person to diagnose Angel. His point is that Angel has stopped caring, stopped helping the helpless and started to punish the guilty instead. He no longer cares about the consequences, including those for his friends.

Meanwhile, Angel’s former friends get themselves a case, courtesy of Wesley’s rich girlfriend Virginia, which nabs them a lot of money and allows Wesley to look cool by doing that Hercule Poirot thing where he gets all the suspects together and reveals who did it. I wanna do that one day!

Angel’s case concludes with a philosophical conversation with the Host and a contrite Gene, a positive move as Angel seems to be connecting to someone. His former friends’ case concludes with loads of cash and a massive party. Interestingly, though, they are still using the name Angel Investigations.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Blood Ties

“I wasn’t lurkin’, I was standing about… Whole different vibe!”

It’s Buffy’s twentieth birthday, and we all know nothing bad ever happens on Buffy’s birthday! Also, Dawn is wearing a t-shirt with “little miss drama” on it, which in no way implies any major explosions! Oh, and the Scoobies are currently digesting the news that Glory is a god. All is clearly going to be sweetness and light.

The core of the episode consists of Dawn, a hormone-ridden fourteen year old girl, having a major teenage existential crisis, involving the destruction of her entire bedroom, tears, tantrums and all that. While there’s a certain amount of metaphor here, most teenage girls do not suddenly realise that they are a kind of mystical key which has only been in existence for six months and around which reality has shifted to give her a real existence and history. That’s a lot to deal with at fourteen.

This is a very arcy episode indeed, culminating in a very brave Dawn having a long and dangerous conversation with Glory. Oh Yeah…… BEN IS GLORY!!!!! WTF?!?!?!??!!?

Spike is continuing with his habit of standing outside of Buffy’s house smoking and stalking. The dynamic between him and Dawn is fascinating: he’s the only one who doesn’t speak to her as an authority figure, and Buffy doesn’t like this at all. Interestingly, Spike is the only person whose attitude to Dawn does not change. Typically of this show, it is only extreme peril that reconciles Dawn with Buffy and everybody.

Aside from the obvious revelations, we learn some more things in this episode. Glory has limited powers while in human form, and only retains what sanity she has by taking it from others, as we have constantly seen throughout the season. She’s only defeated by being teleported (another example of Willow becoming worryingly dependent on magic), and it’s hard to see how the Scoobies can possibly win at this point.