beccaelizabeth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beccaelizabeth) wrote2011-09-08 08:50 am
beccaelizabeth) wrote2011-09-08 08:50 am
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DW 6-09 Night Terrors
It felt like it was all made of beginning and then it ended. Odd. I think that's because they found out the problem and immediately, on the first try, fixed it. It wasn't discover problem, try solutions, fail a bit, then find something that works. That feels like beginning middle end, this felt like beginning+end.
Nicely done though, making the everyday very DW. ie, scary. Monsters are real, is why we like the imaginary ones better.
Didn't give Amy and Rory much to do. They were brave and panicky, but they didn't say anything specific to Amy or Rory, say on the topics of children you really really want, the Doctor making house calls, and little kids with real monsters in the bedroom, or nurses with kids that are not quite human. They were generic companions.
That was pointed out in other people's reviews a lot. But someone also said this ep was moved in the schedule. Maybe it was meant to be Clues and instead turns into a lack of reaction.
I kind of liked it that the solution was the dad accepting his kid no matter what, but since I have a problem with anxiety and panic, and so does this kid, it seemed to me to be too trivial an answer to a real problem. Except most kids have a scared phase, and mostly their parents loving them is sufficient, so as a kid story it's real enough.
... I kept thinking of Fear Her, where the dad was the scary problem. I can't rewatch that episode. Stomping on my own buttons is a bad plan.
So stories where the dad sorts everything out? Never going to be my happy place.
And it scares me just a little, that this kid who is apparently an alien who responds to need and becomes whatever you want of him, became such a scared little kid. Follow the logic of that and wonder. Did his parents want him scared? The text didn't mean that, but it can be read that way. And it remains a creepy idea, that the kid will be fine because he'll be what his parents want. It's like when Angel rewrote Connor to be what he'd planned. Or that Next Gen episode with the lady who become whatever her beloved wanted. What does the kid want to be? How can he become someone he'd want to be? Episode doesn't go anywhere near that question.
Plus, they never told his mum. She's the one who presumably remembers having the baby, she's had her memory rewritten rather a lot, it's a bit personally relevant. She should be in the story. But no, because... well, because the writer felt like it. Other reviewers have commented on his recurring Issues. I really try not to notice. Still, there should be a scene where they tell his mum.
... no, wait, there should be a scene where she comes home and they tell her and she already knew but didn't think it was especially relevant. That's a better story.
She's the smart one. She should have knowing.
But the ending as it stands is rather lacking, because it looks like they're just not going to mention.
Also their lives will continue to be a bit bleak and nasty and scary, just without the Doctor level problem.
On the plus side, the Doctor helps everyone, not just big nice houses in pretty villages. But we knew that, with Rose. Still, good to see.
I don't think I'll rewatch this one much. If at all. I had to have my sonic screwdriver out for the scary bits. Though when the Doctor turns up and acknowledges that monsters are real it gets much less scary. That way you're not alone with it.
I think I like better when it's robots and spaceships. :eyeroll:
Nicely done though, making the everyday very DW. ie, scary. Monsters are real, is why we like the imaginary ones better.
Didn't give Amy and Rory much to do. They were brave and panicky, but they didn't say anything specific to Amy or Rory, say on the topics of children you really really want, the Doctor making house calls, and little kids with real monsters in the bedroom, or nurses with kids that are not quite human. They were generic companions.
That was pointed out in other people's reviews a lot. But someone also said this ep was moved in the schedule. Maybe it was meant to be Clues and instead turns into a lack of reaction.
I kind of liked it that the solution was the dad accepting his kid no matter what, but since I have a problem with anxiety and panic, and so does this kid, it seemed to me to be too trivial an answer to a real problem. Except most kids have a scared phase, and mostly their parents loving them is sufficient, so as a kid story it's real enough.
... I kept thinking of Fear Her, where the dad was the scary problem. I can't rewatch that episode. Stomping on my own buttons is a bad plan.
So stories where the dad sorts everything out? Never going to be my happy place.
And it scares me just a little, that this kid who is apparently an alien who responds to need and becomes whatever you want of him, became such a scared little kid. Follow the logic of that and wonder. Did his parents want him scared? The text didn't mean that, but it can be read that way. And it remains a creepy idea, that the kid will be fine because he'll be what his parents want. It's like when Angel rewrote Connor to be what he'd planned. Or that Next Gen episode with the lady who become whatever her beloved wanted. What does the kid want to be? How can he become someone he'd want to be? Episode doesn't go anywhere near that question.
Plus, they never told his mum. She's the one who presumably remembers having the baby, she's had her memory rewritten rather a lot, it's a bit personally relevant. She should be in the story. But no, because... well, because the writer felt like it. Other reviewers have commented on his recurring Issues. I really try not to notice. Still, there should be a scene where they tell his mum.
... no, wait, there should be a scene where she comes home and they tell her and she already knew but didn't think it was especially relevant. That's a better story.
She's the smart one. She should have knowing.
But the ending as it stands is rather lacking, because it looks like they're just not going to mention.
Also their lives will continue to be a bit bleak and nasty and scary, just without the Doctor level problem.
On the plus side, the Doctor helps everyone, not just big nice houses in pretty villages. But we knew that, with Rose. Still, good to see.
I don't think I'll rewatch this one much. If at all. I had to have my sonic screwdriver out for the scary bits. Though when the Doctor turns up and acknowledges that monsters are real it gets much less scary. That way you're not alone with it.
I think I like better when it's robots and spaceships. :eyeroll:
no subject
Important compare/contrast there: In both episodes the saving moment was to acknowledge a kid is yours. But in the Moffat one it's about biology, the biological connection saves everyone. In the latest ep it's just the emotional connection, to show you care saves everyone.