what if you do something it hasn't dealt with before? like reverse the polarity or something?

[chicafrom3]

I can't believe this season is almost over.

And we've found the winner of the Worst Dad Award! Seriously, Erik, I understand you were dealing with grief and being seduced by a sentient universe and blah blah blah but what were you thinking.

I really liked this episode. It's weird and unsettling and the genre shifts (it's a horror movie in an abandoned house with a monster in the woods! no it's not, it's a sci-fi/fantasy thriller sent in the world between worlds! no it's not, it's a fairy tale about being tempted to the other world by what you desire most! no it's not, it's a love story between the Doctor and a sentient universe!) (actually it's a story about how Erik is the worst dad) work really well.

Definite shades of Coraline, but I'm a big fan of Coraline, that's not a complaint -- and while "the threat is actually not evil" has been the twist of most episodes this season, I thought it worked particularly well here. Did anyone else feel bad for the Solitract by the end? I did!

Graham's reunion with not!Grace was the heart of this episode, and it could've felt lazy or cheap but it didn't, it was heartbreaking -- and the fact that her lack of concern for Ryan was the tipoff for him was a beautiful moment. (Followed up by "Grandad", which I honestly wasn't expecting until one of them was dying/in danger of dying. BEAUTIFUL.) And I can't mention Graham without mentioning the fact that he's started carrying sandwiches around with him because you can't count on getting regular meals when you're with the Doctor. ♥

Ryan and Yaz both get great moments too -- the different ways they interact with Hanne, and how Ryan's relationship with her evolves over the episode; Yaz utilizing her police training and suggesting reversing the polarity; Ryan's "we'd know if we were vampires, right?" and his upset at realizing just how terrible a dad Erik is (WORST DAD) (Ryan's got his own dad issues that he's obviously projecting on the situation, but that doesn't change the fact that Erik is the WORST).

And the Doctor.

Every moment of this episode, from tasting the soil to figure out where they are (complete with Trip Advisor reviews and suspicions about the Woolly Rebellion) all the way through to her melancholy over having to say goodbye to her new girlfriend the Solitract. (Apparently the frog is divisive, so you can put me down as being in favor. As a fan of fanservice I would've been delighted with a previous companion or other important figure, but it would've sparked endless fanwars, and I think in the end it wouldn't've worked out nearly as well. It's important that the Solitract isn't offering temptation in the form of someone the Doctor's already loved. It's important that the Solitract is trying to offer temptation as itself -- even if it's borrowing from Grace to do it.)

I just really liked this episode a lot.

Even Erik.

Comments

[kaffy-r.livejournal.com]

I loved it as well, and my love for it went upupUP with the frog.

[chicafrom3.livejournal.com]

The frog is DELIGHTFUL. Made even better by the fact that it's a not-very-convincing puppet. ♥

[kaffy-r.livejournal.com]

Heh - and here I thought it was pretty convincing ... possibly because I don't actually look at real frogs that closely ....

(I, too, am thrown for a loop by the fact that the series was so short and is now, at the time I'm posting, over. Sigh.)