New Who Review for The Pandorica Opens

[puppetmaker]

This was hard to write because I had to be so careful not to go into the Big Bang so I caution y’all with your comments. I almost skipped this week and said that I was going to combine the last two episodes because they are so of a piece.

And speaking of pieces, it is obvious that there was a lot of extra filming while they were doing the earlier episodes for this one. I liked how it tied the entire season together in less than 5 minutes.

I enjoyed this episode and desperately wanted to know what was going to happen next because I had no idea how Moffat was going to tie this all up. I did have a few niggling concerns but I won’t address those until next week because a lot of them went away with the Big Bang.

More spoilers in the cut and in the comments.

I am grateful for crackerjack storytelling that impresses while confusing me.



Ok that painting that travels through time to give a message to the Doctor. That was a nice touch. River stealing the Painting was alright but I wanted to see more of the Queen. I really hope that she is back next year.

River seems to almost have more control of the TARDIS than anyone else except Romana which makes me think more and more that she has some sort of Time Lord background. We are still working backwards in River’s timeline. Maybe she is like Merlin and lives backwards. I am sorry to say that I am hoping for a little less River next year. Love the actress but the character is starting to wear on me.

Yet again the Doctor manages to pick up THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE aka Amy. Did we do something like this with Donna? The fact that the whole trap is based on Amy’s memories doesn’t bother me. The fact that she still remembered Rory after a fashion is sweet. Auton Rory and his conflict was well played by Arthur Darvill who is just proving how good an actor he is. But I felt like I have seen this before where the human companion is pushed into almost g-d-like status.

Matt Smith did a great job with how Doctor acts and reacts to all that is happening around him. I am liking his Doctor more and more but then I always did have a soft spot for Troughton.

So we leave the Doctor trapped in a prison made for the most dangerous individual in the universe and in trapping him the universe starts to end. But then the next episode is entitled the Big Bang…..

Comments

[tiggerallyn.livejournal.com]

Ok that painting that travels through time to give a message to the Doctor. That was a nice touch.

I am so disappointed that the BBC hasn't made Van Gogh's "The Pandorica Opens" available for download as a desktop background. That was an awesome painting, what we saw of it. :)

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I agree and you know that they made a complete version.

[althenesanguis.livejournal.com]

I really wanted to like this season, but this episode brought together just about all the reasons why I can't.

Now, I was never Tenant's biggest fan (Nine was my Doctor), but he did definitely bring something special to the role. I've heard people say that they like Smith because you could put any of the Doctors in his performances and it would work fine. I'm not sure how this is a good thing. I don't see anything wrong with Smith, but neither do I see anything unique about him or his performance that summons any kind of emotional interest in me.

Maybe that's in part due to Amy Pond. I love her. I think the actress is great and fun - and steals pretty much every scene she's in, especially with the Doctor. But this isn't supposed to be the Companion show. So far this season, she's seems to have done a lot more stuff than the Doctor, whether it's figuring out the Answer or just driving the plots. Then, when Amy isn't available, River Song arrives and likewise renders the Doctor as background.

Also, for at least the second time this season, the Doctor scares all his enemies by drawing on all the stuff he (or his past incarnations) have done to each of them in the past. I didn't like the first use of this device, but drawing on it again frustrates me.

One thing I did enjoy, though, was Rory's return. I was so angry with the episode where he died -not necessarily over his actual death, but the whole never-having-existed piece made me furious. But that's a very personal hatred of those sorts of plotlines. The Donna-memory-erasure resolution still leaves me gritting my teeth. I did, however, love how Rory came back and was fighting what he'd become. I haven't seen this episode's conclusion yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this subplot works out.

Sorry if I've gone on and on, but I so want to love this show! Regardless of what happens, I'll still be watching and hoping that I can get hooked once more.