Closing Time

[neadods]

How in *hell* are they going to wrap up so many threads in a single episode next week?

I liked it well enough - as a parental love episode, I think it's a lot stronger than Night Terrors or Good Man Goes to War. Night Terrors had a guy stay awfully invested even after he knew that his kid was not just a bit off, but frankly a defective alien who was killing people. And as parents I know have said, they could never, never have given a baby over like Amy did in Goes To War; not even with a pep talk. Ripping apart anything with the force of sheer determination to get to their own child? THAT'S more like it.

I also liked Amy and Rory's cameo. First of all, I'm ready to dance at the death of the notion that traveling with the Doctor ruins a woman forever 'n' ever emotionally. Obviously Amy and Rory are still together, and as woman who never really thought beyond a future traveling with the Doctor Amy has synthesized her experiences into decent success. (And if the perfume actually smells like dust after rain, that's not necessarily a bad thing... after all, Old Spice smells like old books, but it sold by the gallon when they stripped Isaiah Mustafa down to a towel and had the right marketing campaign.)

Not as thrilled by the arc, though, especially as I hear that next season is supposed to be arc-less. Everything but the kitchen sink has been thrown at River's character - the child in an astronaut suit, the adult in the astronaut suit, the justice people wanting to judge her for something she may or may not have already done, the Silence (who, after only one story of their own are hardly making me hide behind the couch), the headless monks and all that jazz of Demon's Run, and Eyepatch Lady who we know little about and won't have time to learn much more about. (I'm not convinced that a nanosecond view of River in said eyepatch means that she's meant to turn into Eyepatch Lady. After all, we *already know* how River's story ends.)

It's simply not going to be possible to wrap all of that up satisfactorily in a mere 45 minutes. All the more reason for me to welcome next season; I tend to prefer the one-off eps anyway.

In other news, have spent almost all day in bed with a cold. I freakin' Cannot. Win. For. Losing.

Comments

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm worried about that too: we don't even know who these people are and why they're at war with the Doctor yet, let alone how the Doctor is going to avoid dying (or be brought back, or whatever it is that's going to happen)!

I really liked this episode, though, and the Doctor's weariness in it, which makes me even more puzzled about how the season is going to end: he doesn't seem to be planning on saving himself. (I mean, we already know that he didn't save himself, but back then I wondered what he knew that we didn't. Now I just think he's tired and not trying.)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

No one died in Night Terrors.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Would they have, though, if the damage wasn't undone? Wouldn't Amy have stayed a doll, the lanlord still be sucked into the carpet, etc?

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I don't know - I didn't write it. But they all survived.

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

I liked this episode for the running dialog between the Doctor and the baby. "He prefers 'Stormaggedon, Dark Lord of All'" Hee. And the Doctor's discussion of whether 'Partner' sounded better than 'Companion' was a riot (so much caring from someone who thinks he's ready to die. Pffft.)

I despise River and her smug face, so I'm overjoyed to be seeing the back of her after this episode. I'm still aggravated about Amy and Rory, though. Though I might be soothed if the Doctor goes back and gets grown-up baby Alfie to be a companion.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Eleven is good with a kid. He's a very kid-friendly Doctor. I'm just not convinced by his angry side.

I love River, or more accurately, did until about three episodes ago. I *really* preferred her as a wise and experienced companion from the future, a sort of Bennie ripoff as opposed to the female in jeopardy.

[tiggerallyn.livejournal.com]

I don't have a clue what Moffat's going to do next week. Last year, after "The Pandorica Opens," I had a pretty good idea of how "The Big Bang" was going to go because Moffat left us enough pieces to figure out the puzzle. This year, there just aren't that many pieces. Or, maybe more accurately, that many obvious pieces.

What bugs me is that the Doctor seems to be going meekly to his death at the end of "Closing Time," and I think that speaks to an endemic problem with this season as a whole — there's no developing narrative arc like in seasons four or five. Promising arcs — like the Doctor discovering the details of his own death, or Kovarian running off with the baby Pond — either get ignored or get quick resolutions. There was the whole "What's wrong with Amy?" in the first half, but that fizzled to a close in "A Good Man." There was the "Let's prevent the Doctor's death," but even though the Doctor knows when and where he's going to die (and has for several weeks), no one seems to care and no one's done anything about it since the lip service by Amy back in the Ganger two-parter. I think what this year needed was for some of the resolutions in "Let's Kill Hitler" (mainly, the Doctor's discovery of the details of his own death) moved up into "A Good Man Goes to War," then an episode in the second half (perhaps in place of "LKH") where the Doctor learns more about Kovarian, the Silence, and their plan.

In short, I've no idea what to expect from next week, except that it involves an alternate timeline of some sort (thanks to the Today show many moons ago). And in a way that bothers me that I don't know what to expect, because I know that means that I just haven't been as engaged by this year's stories.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

And in a way that bothers me that I don't know what to expect, because I know that means that I just haven't been as engaged

Yeah. By now we should all be wrapped up trying to figure out the meaning of Bad Wolf or coming up with theories of how the Doctor will get out of this. And yet we already more or less know how the stories will end - the Doctor will not die; River will someday be free mentally and emotionally in order to meet many other Doctors.

Which makes me rather not be convinced by the study that people like stories more when they know the ending.

[lyricwrites.livejournal.com]

(I'm not convinced that a nanosecond view of River in said eyepatch means that she's meant to turn into Eyepatch Lady. After all, we *already know* how River's story ends.)

Now that we've seen more than one person wearing the eyepatch, I think I know what it is. It shows a picture of a Silent at all times, so that the people wearing them can interact with them without memory problems. River's may or may not come with a mind control attachment.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I like that theory!

[belovedwarrior.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! That does explain a lot and I hope your theory is correct.

[lyricwrites.livejournal.com]

Someone bonk me on the head if this is a breach of protocol, commenting on an old post, but I just have to say, "Called it!" (Well, maybe not totally, it's more high-tech than I envisioned, but still.)

*does the "called it" dance*