Cold Blood
Jun. 1st, 2010 01:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leafGrr. Am very depressed by that, after really enjoying the first part, and not merely because of the un-fate of poor Rory (but perhaps we'll get him back at the end of the season?)
Do not know whether to be gloomier about the crashing and racist stupidity of an offer to give away the Outback and the Sahara because "we can't live there" or the misogyny of an episode which suggests strongly that teh wimminz are too emotional and bloodthirsty to be able to co-exist with People Who Aren't Them; on both sides, the voice of reason, forgiveness and openness to change was always male. Admittedly the grandfather made some bad choices too, but that was mostly through being too weak not to listen to his daughter. Where women aren't evil, they are simply too weak to do what has to be done (Amy, who fails in her rescue attempt and forgets Rory because it's too painful - she's saying "I can't do this" and not trying to co-operate with the Doctor even before she's knocked to the ground). Not so much "humans are the bad guys" as "women are the bad (or at least worse) guys.
Honourable exception: Nasreen, who while horribly under-used this episode is a decent character who is able to make the necessary sacrifices to salvage something from the ruins - and in justice to Chibnall, since I have been moaning about them killing off all the black and Asian characters, I ought to note that she lived.
Other things I liked apart from Nasreen (more or less): Malokeh was a likeable character,* as was Eldane - and I loved his costume design, though it's curious that he looked so much like a chancellor of a university ;) - though the misogynistic subtext of the male Silurians being more reasonable and decent than the females rather leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The Silurians' city looked brilliant. Little Elliot was lovely, and Samuel Davies is a good little actor.
Random observations: wow, the Doctor's really getting very pro-religion, isn't he (or at least less anti) - and it looks from the trailer as if we're going to have yet more churches next time, albeit this time ones which are harbouring the aliens rather than keeping them out.
The body-horror element was weirdly under-used; I guessed early on that Tony was mutating, but they didn't do anything with it other than to use it as an excuse to have him decide to stay (and they didn't go anywhere with that, either - it's a pity Eldane's monologue-history lesson didn't somehow reflect at the end on the fact that they're got two (or one and one-and-three-quarters) humans waking up along with them... I don't see why the decision to have Tony stay couldn't have been done using, say, an antidote that would take too long to administer; raising the idea of Tony becoming a Silurian and not doing anything with it is exceedingly unsatisfying, especially as it seems implausible that the anti-ape sentiments of the Silurians would lead them to want even ex-humans. (Assuming, I suppose, he is turning into a Silurian proper and not, say, a small green pet lizard. Again, unsatisfying).
And how on earth does Eldane know about the Doctor's losses anyway, if Rory's un-existed? I'd like to think this is a Cunning Clue, rather than a plot-hole, but...
In conclusion: not really satisfied by that. A pity, as I really did enjoy the first part.
* ETA: as Nineveh pointed out on LJ, Malokeh carries out non-consensual live dissections while the subject is fully conscious, which is just as much torture as tasering someone repeatedly, and it's arguably just luck that his subject didn't die under the knife (Ambrose, apparently, didn't intend to kill Aleya either). Ambrose is shamed repeatedly for her terrible moral choices - but Malokeh is portrayed as decent and likeable despite very dubious actions indeed, and with much less of a motivation. Yes, he's urbane, civillised, and motivated by scientific interest rather than hatred or fear. I dare say you could have said the same thing about some of Mengele's medical staff. The episode doesn't seem to notice there's a problem here (and in fact succeeded in getting this viewer at least to overlook it - too my shame). But this does rather underline the unpleasant subtext of Rational (mostly) Males Good, Emotional (mostly) Females Bad. Unpleasant because it's misogynist, and unpleasant because it leads to other kinds of moral blindness, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 02:30 pm (UTC)They murder beautiful boys like you and cut their hearts out wasn't supposed to be the moral of Gaudy Night, but the way Chibnall writes it certainly appears as if he thought so.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 02:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 04:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 04:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 04:23 pm (UTC)Actually, Series 1 is pretty patchy but I did enjoy Small Worlds, They Keep Killing Suzie and Captain Jack Harkness in particular*
*Many people who know less history than they think they do made all sorts of silly comments about the ahistoricity of the kiss in KJH. I was more worried about the ahistoricity of the curtains (failure to keep closed during raids thereof). If you read Berube Coming out Under Fire there's plenty of evidence for same sex kissing in WWII, but no-one ever did that with a window in the blackout.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 05:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 05:36 pm (UTC)Though obviously I adored TEC/TDD, but the blackout scenes still gave me earache*
*My most vivid memory of Classic Who is of lying on the sofa suffering truly horrid earache - I wasn't prone to anything of that sort as a child - and it still colours watching Pertwee in the role.