Doctor Who: Flatline

The central premise of 'Flatline' is fascinating, between the Foretold and 'The Boneless' writer Jamie Matheson is the guy to call when it comes to inventive monster ideas. Apparently Matheson offered up four different story idea's with drawings of four different monsters. Moffat picked the 'Flatline' one and was so happy with Mathesons script he asked him to do another episode: 'Mummy On The Orient Express'. After this episode I really want to see his other ideas on screen! 

This week Clara has to tackle beings that exist in another dimension, ones that only perceive the world in 2D. Outside of the Futurama episode '2-D Blacktop' I don't think this idea has been explored before, so to extrapolate it into terrifying beings who suck us into the walls is a great premise. The Boneless start taking physical form by leeching off of the TARDIS's external dimensions, shrinking it's exterior to a size very similar to that of the toys you can currently find in Toy's R Us (this is an ingenious way to promote the merchandise, intentional or not). It also enables the director/writer to go crazy with the sight gags, hence Clara putting the mini-TARDIS in her handbag or the Doctor using his hands Thing style to get the TARDIS away from danger. These moments are either ludicrously silly or clever depending on your resistance to slightly out there sci-fi idea's but if you can buy the 'bigger on the inside than the outside' bit then why not extend your imagination a little further?

With the Doctor trapped inside the TARDIS Clara is on her own, but thanks to a handy neuro-uplink the Doctor can see what Clara sees, and for once take on the role of observer. This handy metaphor is a great role-reversal as it reveals just how much Clara and the Doctor are alike. I continue to be amazed at Clara's character growth this season, Clara's trajectory is the main drive of the show now. As for Jenna Coleman's and Capaldi's performances, they're predictably amazing and the highlight of every episode. Everyone moaning about this series being 'Clara-Who' are right, she literally becomes the Doctor in this episode. All the hallmarks are there: lying, excessive use of the sonic, the 'I'm the only one who can save you' speeches, turning people into soldiers, she even has her own companion in Rigsby, the only decent supporting character. She's good at it, but to quote the Doctor 'goodness' has nothing to do with it: she's very good at lying to people and being manipulative, particularly in the scene where Rigsby wants to sacrifice himself to become the hero. These past couple of episodes are really taken with the morality of behind the Doctor, past seasons have shown that the Doctor takes ordinary people and makes them better. Yes this has the unfortunate side effect of turning them into warriors willing to put themselves into harms way (Rigsby) but they're still better for it, a symbol for humanity. Clara, (while no where near to anything resembling a bad person) is the antithesis of this, her experience with this Doctor is making her worse, even if it is necessary in order to survive. The Doctor picks up on this, he doesn't seem proud by her actions at the end of 'Flatline' at all. She's no longer his 'carer', acting as his conscience, she now actively gets his way of thinking (thanks to the beach scene at the end of 'Mummy') and starts developing similar traits. All of this is a whirlwind away from the Clara at the end of 'Kill The Moon', angry at the Doctor for leaving her to make the tough decisions. Now she's a bit of an adrenaline junkie, addicted to making these kinds of choices. I wonder if this is how she leaves? Perhaps she becomes so much like him he can't stand the sight of her and leaves her behind? Maybe this was just an interesting detour for this episode, but with only three episodes left her excessive lying to Danny and the Doctor is going to come to a head soon. Also, what's up with Missy and her ipad? She chose Clara? In what way?

Only on Doctor Who!

Visually this episode is a bit bland (not counting the SFX). The story takes place on a council estate in Bristol, so there's no flashy recreations of the Orient Express or moon walking here. The dreary choice of environment is unfortunate because every episode of Series 8 so far has had a distinct location that sticks out whether it be Victorian London, the Bank of Karabraxos, Sherwood forest or the overgrown London we're going to see next week. Most of 'Flatline' is set inside a subway tunnel (creepy but generic) so the only thing that returning director Douglas Mackinnon can do is latch onto the idea idea behind the monsters i.e they can come from anywhere. He succeeds in making them visually interesting and scary, although you might want to credit the CGI team for that. They excelled at making a potentially laughable idea creepy, apart from their '3D' form. How to describe them? They look like a video game glitch that's been crossed with a zombie covered in clear gello, it's difficult to discern but the crappy CGI might just have made them look more unsettling, they definitely have a unique look at any rate. It's hard to feel anything towards them though when the characters they're chasing after for most of the episode are bland redshirts that exist solely to be picked off.

The worst thing about 'Flatline' is it's supporting cast, which is surprising because Matheson's last episode had a pretty decent line-up of supporting characters that were fleshed out quickly with a few lines. Here it's perhaps to much to even call them characters, half of them barely get a line in. Christopher Fairbank's Fenton is a grade A arsehole. I know it's intentional but he doesn't evolve at all, he's quite simply a dick to ram home the fact that better people are dying while he's still walking, a message that NuWho has treaded on before (almost line for line) in 'The Voyage Of The Damned'. The other three community service workers have about five lines between them before they're gruesomely dispatched by being 'flattened'. Anyone else? Well the police woman was OK, and the train diver guy seemed....nice? They're given no real personality at all, Rigsby is only one who seemed half decent. Jiovian Wade does a really good job breathing life into a character who's only defining trait is 'graffiti artist'. Everyone else was pure cannon fodder. Considering this episode ran three minutes shorter than normal they had the time to put a bit more into the supporting characters, maybe a conversation or something? But no, they're too busy being chased to be given any backstory. This is probably why I felt uninvolved on my first viewing, if I don't feel anything for the characters being chased then why should I be scared?

Who are those two other guys again?

Another thing that bugged me was the Doctor's speech before wiping out The Boneless. It feels out of place with Capaldi's character, 12 doesn't seem one to boast and it's odd that he would blurt it out now, nine episodes into the series. Add to that the fact that we've seen this speech a dozen times by now (and better), I think we should call these 'I AM THE DOCTOR!' speeches a day for a while. It was also poorly written: 'I AM THE DOCTOR AND I FIGHT MONSTERS SO.....I WILL FIGHT YOU!' Really? The speech and the fact that he basically sonic-ed them away took the wind from the episodes sails a bit. 

'Flatline' leaves me in an unusual situation because I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. On the one hand we have another great monster idea coupled with further development for Clara and the Doctor's ever evolving relationship, but then it gets mired down by a weak supporting cast and the fact that it is essentially one long chase scene. I recognise there's some good stuff here but I felt slightly uninvolved while watching it. Maybe after a few re-watches my opinion of it may change, but it's certainly not the best of the Series like some are saying. Having said that, Jamie Matheson should still be brought back for Series 9, he seems like he gets the monster-side of Who at any rate. 

Positives:

+ Excellent monster idea
+ Clara-Who
+ Mini-TARDIS!
+ Addams family gag!
+ Rigsby was OK

Negatives:

- Supporting cast was barely there
- Fenton was a caricature
- One-note episode
- Painful 'I AM THE DOCTOR' speech we've heard a million times
- Did the 3D Boneless look silly or scary?

Overall Score: 7/10

Doctor Who: Mummy On The Orient Express

With a title like this do I really need to explain the plot? There's a mummy lurking about on a gorgeous recreation of the Orient Express, and it's picking people off one by one. The Doctor has to find a way to stop it before they all fall victim to the Foretold...

'Mummy On The Orient Express' is one of those episodes where everything just works. On the surface this episode looks like a light romp, which it still is, but it also deals with a lot of the leftover baggage from 'Kill The Moon' and turns an inventive premise into something rather special that feels fresh. The acting, direction, plot, set-design...everything is well executed and adds up to a satisfying whole. Jamie Matheson's script is no sloucher either, he manages to feature a lot of supporting characters that are given a surprising amount of characterisation in little screen time AND build upon the Doctor/Clara dynamic in the wake of last week (he's another 'fresh blood' writer that's been brought onto Doctor Who this season to shake things up and is penning next weeks episode 'Flatline' as well). I was surprised at how adept the guest cast was, they all deliver straight performances that imbue their character's with believability. David Bambers' Captain Quell comes off as your stereotypical 'NOTHING TO SEE HERE!' type of guy but backs down after the third death: 'Three, the amount of people that have to die before I stop looking the other way'. It's a small thing but it stops the character from being a caricature. Another neat moment was Professor Moorhouse's death, him breaking down after he realises the Doctor isn't going to save him was juicy as hell. Then we have Mrs. Pitt, an innocent that the episode uses to turn Clara against the Doctor again before he saves the day. And Perkins was a fun character that was again played surprisingly straight by comedian Frank Skinner. Skinner is a die hard Who fan so to finally see him feature in an episode of the show is a delight. I hope we see Perkins again someday because there was definitely something going on with the intelligent engineer in a boiler suit. I mean where does he come from? Who is he exactly? How come he knows so much about 'phasing' and doesn't seem to be fazed too much by the TARDIS? Interesting...    

The main 'gimmick' here is that only the victim can see the Foretold and they only have 66 seconds left to live, played out in real time thanks to a handy timer on the corner of the screen that's ticking down til' their untimely demise. It's a genius twist on a classic movie monster and the Mummy itself is superbly realised, heaven knows how long it took for actor Jamie Bell to get done up in those bandages. Every encounter with him is a thrilling ride that captures a morbid fascination as the various victims succumb to their death. The episode isn't content to stop there however, something nefarious is going on, a neat little mystery other than the identity and motive of the Mummy itself which literally turns the rest of the story into set-dressing. There's no resolution to it, things have clearly been left dangling for another time, I wonder if this *GUS* will pop up again sometime soon?  

That's one creepy looking mummy alright.

Threatened with death unless he figures out the Mummy's secret places this Doctor in another situation that makes good use of his ability to completely detach himself from the situation emotionally. His seemingly callousness nature is justified for once though, which makes him even more compelling. He's a dick, but only so he can save you. That line at the end about how he might've just saved Clara and everyone else perished is wonderfully ambiguous, you genuinely get the sense that with Capaldi's Doctor anything can go. His unpredictable nature has been a big draw of this series so far. What's he going to do next?

My only disappointment with this episode is what's NOT in it: we skip ahead a few weeks from 'Kill The Moon' where Clara has softened up a little and is once again travelling with the Doctor. Interestingly ALL of the marketing materials for this episode have kept Clara's involvement in 'Mummy' a secret, giving off a false pretence that this was a companion-free episode. Notice her absence on the poster up above? That's just the BBC screwing with you! It's jarring to see her show up on relatively chummy terms with the Doctor again so soon after last week, it's seems that Danny's line about never being finished with someone whilst you're still mad at them is the only breadcrumb we're going to get about her total 180. This isn't to say the events of last week are ignored, Clara spends the entire episode pondering over whether or not she should leave the Doctor for good, the Mummy adventure supposedly being their 'last hurrah' together. 

New Who sure likes it's beach scenes...

Fans of the show are complaining that the show has recently become 'Clara-Who', putting Clara at the forefront of every adventure and leaving the Doctor on the side-lines. While I agree, the show is infinitely better for it. Jenna Coleman continues to be a revelation, every scene she has alone with the Doctor is complete dynamite thanks to an emphasis on a more 'talky' Who. Seriously, I got chills during that beach scene. Her decision to stay with the Doctor at the end (and blatantly lying to him) adds another interesting spin to their dynamic, that will probably have consequences with her relationship with Danny. The finale is just around the corner and Danny's words at the end of the Caretaker: 'Lie to me about your safety again and we're finished', has to lead to something because Clara has done exactly that. They might as well put up a sign saying *FORESHADOWING*. 'Is it like an addiction for you?' Clara asks. 'Well you can't really tell if something's an addiction until you try and give it up. Tell me how it goes'. Telling words indeed. 

Positives:

+ Thrilling Mummy encounters
+ Intriguing mysteries
+ A surprisingly good guest cast
+ Capaldi's Doctor is morally ambiguous 
+ Perkin's was a fun character
+ Great set-design

Negatives:

- Clara's departure at the end of 'Kill The Moon' is surprisingly muted
- A teasing loose end

Overall Score: 9,5/10

Doctor Who: Kill The Moon

The second half of Series 8 (Eps 7-10) is populated with a bunch a new writers/directors who are as of yet unproven when it comes to working for Doctor Who. It's an attempt from the show-runners to inject fresh blood into the show, giving new writers the reins to let themselves loose with the unlimited scope of the show. 'Kill The Moon' is the first of these episodes and newcomer Peter Harness has crafted a morally complex tale that will undoubtedly have major ramifications on the rest of the series.

The first half is chock full of atmosphere and verging more on the scary side of Doctor Who. The thing that becomes immediately apparent to the viewer right away is how good this episode looks. The moon actually looks like the moon! This is a result of some great location shooting in Lanzarote, it's volcanic wastelands seem perfectly suited for the moons surface and give the show that cinematic edge. Newcomer Who director Paul Wilmshurst has a great visual eye, he perfectly captures the eerie, cobweb infested moonbase as well. The moon spiders are quite terrifying for arachnophobes such as myself, largely due to some spectacular sound work of them scuttling in the shadows. Inspiration has definitely been taken from 'Alien', they even have a small second mouth! They're also unusually vicious for Doctor Who, the episode quite clearly shows a shot of a redshirt's spacesuit lashed open, ribcage bones exposed. Unfortunately the spider threat gets diminished somewhat by their embarrassing weakness: dettol bacteria removal. It's a fun joke but immediately diminishes their scare-factor for me. It's a shame but like most episodes of Moffat Who they're not the focus here.

Courtney was another addition to the episode, even if she didn't really contribute much outside comic relief, admittedly something this episode needed. She's a nice addition who doesn't come off as annoying (thank god) and I liked all of her scenes. 

It's almost impossible to talk about this episode without discussing the somewhat amazing second half, but the main jist of it is this: in the year 2069 the moon has suddenly got a LOT heavier causing widespread natural disasters and chaos on earth. Commander Lundvik (played by Hermione Norris) and her team of ageing astronauts are sent up with 100 nuclear bombs to basically blow up the moon, because science. The Doctor, Clara and Courtney (the 'disruptive influence' from last episode) stumble upon them just before they land on the moon. There they find a deserted moon base filled with corpses and creepy moon spiders crawling around. Yes you heard that right: giant spiders, on the moon. God help us all. However all of this is merely set-up for what's really going on, thus the spoiler filled second half. What starts out as a typical base under siege story quickly evolves into a complicated debate: would you end an innocent life for the sake of mankind or suffer the unknown consequences? Doctor Who is rarely morally complex, I don't think we've seen a thorough exploration of an ethical dilemma in a episode of Doctor Who for quite a while, or at least not one that's being mined to this degree. The Matt Smith story 'Cold War' had a similar debate about the survival of the Silurians. One of my favourite Who episode ever, 'The Waters Of Mars' has David Tennants Doctor confronting an equally impossible situation and suffers the consequences of his actions as a result. 'Kill The Moon' is just as complex as any of these stories and comes off as the antithesis of 'The Waters Of Mars'. I can't discuss further without serious spoilers, so make sure you watch the episode before scrolling down...

Moon walking.

Based on the first 20 minutes alone I would've called 'Kill The Moon' a horror-tastic base under siege story but the episode takes a stark turn when it reveals what is causing the moon to become unnaturally heavy lately: 'The moon...is an egg!' explains the Doctor. 'And it's hatching...' Science be damned, eh? So they have two options: blow up the moon, destroying the alien baby inside or let it hatch and see what happens. Both options are potentially catastrophic for the human race, so what to do? Clara turns to the Doctor for help but he's having none of it. 'This is humanity's decision' he claims, and then buggers off in the TARDIS, leaving Clara, Courtney and Lundvik stranded on the moon with an impossible choice to make. This is a brilliant twist, in 'The Waters Of Mars' the Doctor tries to leave the members of Bowie Base alone but eventually recedes, changing history in the process. Here the Doctor DOES leave the humans to their own devices, in both cases you can argue he goes to far. Interestingly now the Doctor is out of the picture you have no idea what's going to happen, either choice could change the future of humankind forever. Hermione Norris is pretty compelling here, Lundvik has some really great points to counteract Clara's arguments.

So what does Clara do? She tries to do it democratically, sending a message to earth asking them to vote via lights on/off whether they want to destroy the creature or let it live. This is a pretty dumb idea, what about the side of the earth that's in the daytime? And everyone on the dark side should be asleep by now so how could they 'vote' if all this is happening while they're in bed? Also the entire planet earth managed to coordinate together in under half an hour? BULLSH*T! *SIGH* let's just let that go, okay?

The result is unanimous, mankind wants to blow the motherf*cker up (or at least the people controlling the electricity grids). But Clara overrules humanity's decision and presses the abort button at the last possible second, so....f*ck democracy? The Doctor shows up again and takes them back to earth to see the outcome. Clara made the might choice, the creature bursts out of its eggshell (handily disintegrating so no moon chunks come flying at earth) and flies away unscathed. In fact everybody wins, the baby somehow laid another egg that looked exactly like the moon it had just burst out of. HOW MIRACULOUS. Look, again that's kinda bullsh*t. Aside from the fact that your enjoyment of this episode largely rests on your suspension of disbelief there's no consequences here. Saving the baby is indisputably the right choice. The baby dragon pulls another moon out of it's ass, everyone is saved horaay! This is even good for the future of mankind, according to the Doctor:

'The mid 21st century. Humankind starts creeping off into the stars. It spreads its way through the galaxy to the very edges of the universe and it endures to the end of time. And it does all that because one day in the year 2049, when it had stopped thinking about going to the stars, something occurred that made it look up, not down. It looked out there into the blackness and it saw something beautiful, something wonderful that, for once, it didn’t want to destroy. And in that one moment the whole course of history was changed.'

Spot the odd one out.

It's too tightly wrapped up, to neat. And the science holding this thing together is wafer thin at best. In 'The Waters Of Mars' the Doctor suffered for his actions, his arrogance directly causing Adelaide Brooks to commit suicide. That had real emotional weight, and could hardly be considered a happy ending. That episode had balls. The consequences here is Clara abandoning the Doctor but that would have happened regardless of her decision. Anyway point being: Clara made the right choice while the rest of humanity chose poorly. This is all down to the Doctor's influence (if he's to be believed) but he has gone too far to prove his point. So Clara flips out at him: 'It was cheap, pretentious and bloody ignorant' she sobs, threatening to slap him so hard he'll regenerate. This entire scene was amazing, echoing Martha standing up to Doc No 10 in Series 3 only on a much larger scale. Clara is outright furious with him, and the Doctor doesn't seem to register why. You can see where he's coming from but he knew the 'correct' choice and knew that she would choose correctly, he just didn't tell her that. So Clara is 100% justified in telling him to f*ck off and leaving, a first for a Who companion. She'll obviously be coming back at some point but if the trailer for 'Mummy On The Orient Express' is any indication it won't be any time soon. 

Look, this episode has holes. The science is wonky at points, the outcome is wrapped up too nicely and the Earth voting via lights was a dumb idea even if it resulted in another cool slo-mo-let's-run-down-the-corridor explosion scene. But the social debate, acting, direction and Clara confronting the Doctor are elements to good to ignore, it looks and feels like hard sci-fi even if it creaks around the borders, and it's something that TV needs more of. So for that alone I commend Peter Harness, it's a ballsy début and his eagerness to push the boundaries of the show has me eager to see him again next season. 

Positives:

+ Intriguing moral dilemma
+ Excellent location work
+ Creepy spiders
+ Courtney was fun
+ Unpredictable
+ Clara's outburst
+ The Doctor's dickery
+ Cold Lundvik
+ Like 'Listen' it's trying to do something different, pushes the boundaries of the show

Negatives:

- The moon dragon laid another egg, REALLY?
- The whole 'turn your lights off/on' made no logistical sense
- Painfully bad 'science'

Overall Score: 8,5/10

Doctor Who: The Caretaker

Gareth Robert's previous Who stories 'The Lodger' and 'Closing Time' don't really have a plot. His episodes are perfectly content to plop the Doctor into everyday human life and watch the sparks fly with a poorly developed monster sneaking around on the outskirts. 'The Caretaker' is no different, this time around he's undercover in Coal Hill school, the same school from Doctor Who's very first episode way back in 1963. Why? He's looking for the Skovox Blitzer, a supposedly deadly killing machine that's attracted to the numerous deposits of artron energy scattered around the area. Hijinks ensue but the main crux of the episode is Clara dealing with two parts of her life that have collided with one another, aka Danny and the Doctor. 

I'm going to start off with listing my the only negative of this episode: the Skovox Blitzler. The bad guys are always the weakest link in any Gareth Roberts story, they barely register as a threat. The Blitzer isn't a sin to humanity unlike the way he treated the Cyberman in 'Closing Time' but the machine's design is incredibly weak and is dispatched with little to no effort from the Doctor, who's plan boils down to imitating the Blitzers superior so he can shut him down. And that cringe-inducing Olympic grade somersault from Danny? *SHUDDERS* He jumped higher than his body height! The Blitzer is barely a threat and despite dispersing flashy pyrotechnics he comes across as a giant remote controlled toy, another robot amongst a sea of robots in this series with barely any personality other than the standard 'SEEK. LOCATE. DESTROY!'. I recognise that the monster isn't the focal point of the story (it's simply an excuse for the Doctor to go undercover) but come on man, you can do better than this! You're clearly not interested in crafting a decent threat so why not have one at all? Isn't the Doctor checking up on Clara's everyday life reason enough? 

Thanfully the Skovox Blitzer is barely in the episode so it's horribleness is immediately side lined by everything else, particularly the excellent character work on display. It's impossible to deny how entertaining the rest of the episode is, Roberts has a fantastic grasp on the relationship between the trio of leads. I've been saying this for weeks now but the Capaldi/Coleman dynamic is getting better every episode. Capaldi continues to be an amazing screen-presence giving us what we've all wanted from his Doctor: Malcolm Tucker-lite, seething with grumpiness and general disdain for the people around him but somehow keeping intact the core values of his character. He does want to save the school from the Blitzer and clearly cares for Clara, 12 is a Doctor that pretends to hate everything but doesn't really. A perfect example of this is with a sup-plot involving disruptive influence number 1 in Coal Hill school: Courtney Woods. The Doctor pretends to brush off this smart alec but (surprisingly) ends up spilling the beans and takes her on a quick trip into space, despite never showing any affection towards her over than 'GET LOST!' I love this Doctor so much.

'GET OUT. Just....there's the door. Leave.'

Meanwhile this is Jenna Coleman's best episode yet, Clara once again proving to be the perfect foil to Capaldi's simmering grumpiness, bursting with enthusiasm and wit that used to be given to Matt Smith's Doctor. Together they're the perfect odd couple which is why the episode is so smart at pairing them off one another without a pesky plot to get in the way. That amazing restaurant scene in 'Deep Breath'? This episode fulfils the potential of that scene with the intro alone. They're so good together I'm hoping the rumours of Series 8 being Clara's last are fake, we've struck gold here.

And then we have Danny Pink, an ex-soldier who for the most part seems like a nice bloke. Unfortunately this new Doctor HATES soldiers with a passion so when the two of them meet sparks inevitably fly. 12 is incredibly nasty to Danny, refusing to believe a soldier could ever become a maths teacher and brandishing him as an idiot. Danny throws one back at him though, he's smart to compare the Doctor to a general barking out orders, essentially branding him as a hypocrite. Previous boyfriends (Mickey and Rory) started off as wimps who over time grew into bigger shoes, Danny comes pre-packed with baggage and his alpha male qualities makes him another great match for Capaldi's Doctor. I especially loved the scene where Clara tries to convince him that her and the Doctor are just putting on 'a play' and he completely sees through it. Mr. Pink is clearly no fool. Samuel Anderson is also given a lot more to work with this time around and delivers a solid performance. He's very good at portraying an average joe, a very naturalistic performance.

'The Caretakers' ace in the hole are the scenes with Danny and Clara discussing their relationship now that Clara's second life has unearthed itself. They're short but both scenes are extremely well written because in a short amount of time you buy their relationship: Danny is hurt about the lies Clara has told him and wants to know what Clara is really like around the Doctor because if you found out your girlfriend was going on space adventures with an older man inside a police box wouldn't you be concerned? He's also troubled by the danger the Doctor puts her in. If Clara lies again, their relationship is over. It might come off as controlling but Danny is concerned for her well-being like pretty much any person would be in that situation. 

Missterious goings on...

'The Caretaker' also advances the series arc, introducing a new gatekeeper to heaven called Seb played by Chis Addison. The arc is extremely confusing at this point, I mean what the F*CK is going on in this weird depiction of heaven and how can the Doctor possibly be aware of it? Right now my theory is that none of these people have actually died and were instead teleported away a split second before their death, thus making them think they did die or something convoluted like that. I don't think Doctor Who would go so far as to represent the true afterlife at any rate, this 'Nethersphere' has to fake somehow. Something is going on but no clues have been given, guess we'll just have to wait for the finale then...

'The Caretaker' is probably my second favourite of the season so far, it's hilariously constructed, brilliantly acted and all around a fun episode. It edges out on being a classic simply because once again we have a poorly conceived monster that adds nothing of value to the story but writer Gareth Roberts is clearly a master at these fish out of water stories.

Positives:

+ Fantastic comedy
+ Great dialogue
+ Back to Coal Hill school!
+ The Clara/Danny/Doctor relationship dynamics
+ Courtney Woods
+ The Doctor's fish out of water escapades
+ Danny's bullsh*t detector
+ Heavenly goings on

Negatives:

- The Skovox Blitzer
- The cring inducing somersault at the end

Overall Score: 9/10