alrightokay

Oh my goodness, I know people are sick of Moffat constantly calling back to previous series, but YES, bring Captain Jack back. He's my favorite part of the RTD era, and it'd be so funny to see Jack and "Frobisher" interacting in a new way.

(Just catching up on this thread.) YES--I love Martha; she's my favorite, too! I feel she's so underrated, when she did amazing things without using any special powers or "impossibleness" or being the Mother of the Doctor's Wife. Out of all of the companions, she also seemed to suffer the poorest treatment by the Doctor and by others (when I think of what she had to go through in "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood"--sigh). But her triumph over the Master in "Last of the Time Lords" was so awesome (as wobbly as the whole "Tinkerbell Jesus Doctor" plot was), and her walking away from the Doctor was (now, in hindsight) perhaps the bravest and most clear-eyed exit by any NewWho companion. I don't hate Clara, but by the end of S9 I definitely felt that she had overstayed her welcome, while Martha is someone I wish we had had a little more time with (more than just the guest appearances in S4 and Torchwood).

I really enjoyed it, too. I haven't been the biggest River Song fan--she was fantastic when we first met her, but with every appearance, she got less interesting. Here, she's dynamic and strong, and Alex Kingston and Peter Capaldi spark off each other beautifully. I believe this relationship much more than the River/Eleven one. The caper itself was fully of silly jokes, puns, and sight gags, but it was a relief to have such a light episode after the "heaviness" of much of S9. At the same time, I think Moffat did a good job obliquely acknowledging that the Doctor has suffered--and grown--from the loss of Clara. While Ten is the Doctor who regrets, and Eleven is the one who forgets, Twelve is the one who recollects (given all of the callbacks to previous Doctors in S9). Instead of running away, this Doctor now confronts his choices (good and bad) and learns from them.

Lots of fun moments in this one, but my favorite part was Louis' "jazz walk."

I loved S9; I know not everyone did. Despite the strange treatment of Clara (afterthought in some episodes, center of the universe in others), I thought every episode was well acted and directed, if not always well-written. Now that the series is over, here's how I'd rank the episodes: 1. Heaven Sent 2. The Woman Who Lived 3. Hell Bent 4. Under the Lake --gap-- 5. The Magician's Apprentice 6. Before the Flood 7. The Zygon Inversion 8. Face the Raven --gap-- 9. The Zygon Invasion--a lot of set up (and a missed opportunity with Rebecca Front!) 10. Sleep No More--silly in a lot of respects, but it was still an interesting experiment; loved all the POV shots 11. The Girl Who Lived--the Benny Hill stuff was cringe-worthy, but I liked the call-back to Ten/Pompeii. 12. Witch's Familiar--I enjoy Missy, but the whole "sewers revolting" thing was such a lame ending

I really think Moffat's been in a no-win situation with this issue. For years, some parts of fandom and the media have been hounding him for a female Doctor, railing at his sexism, and clamoring for more diversity on the show (which I'm totally excited to see, though I don't want Capaldi to go for a while!). On the other hand, you have longtime fans who become furious every time Moffat doesn't stay true to OldWho and takes things in a new direction. How can Moffat be a creative show runner implementing an overall vision, when he's got so many people to please? So I think he's trying to please everyone (and himself) by going "the long way round"--he's planting seeds to make it possible to bring in a female Doctor or a Doctor of color (or both!). At the same time, he's trying to give Clara agency here that people have complained that Donna and River didn't get in their stories. And all along, he's trying to move the Doctor (and Doctor Who) forward, by giving us new ways of looking at the Doctor and understanding him. If the Doctor weren't so complex, if there weren't still some mystery to delve into about him, would he be as compelling a character? I get that "all mystery, all angst, all the time!" gets tiring, and it's great to just have FUN (and the Christmas Special does look like fun). But I think I wouldn't care about the Doctor as much if he were simply the confident hero all the time. Yes, some of the stories could be better, but given how hard it is to please everyone--fans of OldWho, fans of NewWho, shippers, non-shippers, the BBC, the general public, the critics, himself, etc.-- I think Moffat's doing the best he can.

You are not alone! (Quoting the Face of Boe and "Utopia" there.) I still love this show, even though it can be frustrating. What I've come to accept is that Doctor Who the show is also constantly regenerating--there's no one way it has to be. There are Doctors and companions and stories you will love and some you will not, but all this time it's always been about figuring out what makes us "bigger on the inside." Sometimes that means characters doing things they would ordinarily never do. At one point in "Hell Bent," Twelve outright says that he's tired of being "The Doctor," tired of always doing the "right" thing--getting through the torture of the Confession Dial and going to the extremes he did to save Clara showed him (and us) what he's capable of. He's VERY capable of doing the wrong thing. But in the end, he learned that that uncharacteristic behavior wasn't just wrong, it was bad--bad for him, bad for Clara, bad for everyone, and he doesn't want to be that way. So now he can go back to being the Doctor, reaffirmed in what he believes in and stands for. Yes, there was a huge cost to this lesson (though I thought the regenerated General was pretty cool, myself), but now the Doctor knows himself better than before and won't go to such extremes again. (I hope!) Back in "Death in Heaven," he said that he was just an "idiot" who was constantly "learning." I think it's good for us to see this--he's not done learning and won't stop learning, and that might inspire us to keep learning as well.

Mixed feelings here--wish we didn't have to spend so much time on Clara, but the ending did touch me, with the Doctor having to forget her. I never hated her, but I got tired of her being the Most Important Companion EVER. She got the most elaborate send-off of any companion, so hopefully that's it and we won't see her again for LONG time. And it does seem that Moffat is finally ready to let her go, with the paint (from the flowers and Clara's image) flying off the TARDIS. Things I loved: The elaborate Time Lord outfits--they never fail to make me smile. The classic TARDIS (but NOT the diner template for it). When the General first comes to talk to the Doctor at the barn, Twelve just silently goes back into the barn. The Cloister Wraiths--so intriguing. Hope we explore those again. The shoutout to Rory and Amy. The final scene of Twelve putting on his coat, getting his new sonic screwdriver (YES!), and setting the TARDIS on a new course. I like how it changed from "Run you clever boy, and remember" to "Run you clever boy, and be a doctor." (Because he can't remember her anymore, but he can go back to what he used to be before he met her, before he became grief-stricken and vengeful.) And as always, Capaldi. He's the best. I'm excited for the Christmas Special and for S10. It seems like we'll get a fresh start with a re-energized Doctor--can't wait. ETA: And Missy's still out there; she came up with some sort of plan with the Daleks back in "The Witch's Familiar," so that thread will have to be picked up again sometime. Looking forward to that, too!

This is just the best! Evan is so adorable here. And I'm a huge Ang Lee fan--makes me happy to know the Huangs support him too! :)

Yes, I agree with this interpretation; his choosing to do things the hard way, causing himself so much suffering but willingly taking it on every time, is what makes this episode so beautiful to me.

I really hope that very last line was just a trick--please let it be a misdirect; otherwise, this was one of the very best episodes ever. The Doctor became Sisyphus and confronted the big existential fears that you wouldn't think a Time Lord would worry about (the realization that death is waiting for you; how and why to go on, when life seems absurd; how to make meaning of one's absurd existence). "That's one hell of a bird"--I can't imagine anyone else but Capaldi pulling that episode off.

Chiming in late on this one but wanted to say that I'm hopeful that Paula will stop pushing Rebecca and Josh together now. It seems like both Rebecca and Paula had a breakthrough this week (as did, Calvin, adorably), and maybe Paula will stop trying to live vicariously through her friend and will try to face the problems in her marriage head-on. It seems like it's too late for her marriage to be saved, but now she can at least be honest with her husband, get a divorce, and pursue Calvin without guilt (if he's still interested--it wasn't clear if he was just using Paula as a way to put off mourning for his wife). Or, she can at least enjoy being friends with Calvin and see where that goes. I'm happy Paula got her own song-fantasy--she sold it! I cringed when Rebecca accidentally mixed her vodka with the blue pen ink--for some reason, I remember tasting blue ink from a leaky Bic pen as a kid, and it was horrible (though I'm sure Rachel Bloom just used food coloring for this scene--whew!).

I agree that the memorial was beautiful and a nice way to bring back Rigsy's street art. However, I unfortunately wasn't moved by Clara's death itself, as hard as the writer and director tried to pull my heartstrings. It was weird that the Doctor would just stand there in the doorway, watching Clara die. While it's good to be reminded that the Doctor doesn't always win and that Companions do die, the whole farewell scene fell flat for me. Yes, Clara's sacrifice was noble; she died with dignity, owning that she did this to herself, but it just didn't feel tragic because Rigsy wasn't a strong enough character for me to feel worth saving (even with the baby). On the other hand, I loved the Doctor's words to Ashildr after Clara's death--his quiet rage was chilling. The other part of the episode I liked was the short interactions with the Janus-faced alien. It was intriguing how she couldn't "read" the Doctor because his "past" and "future" were so scrambled. I hope we meet that character again. I'm really looking forward to the next episode, which will be all Capaldi.

I just realized how sweet it was that Greg brought tacos over to Rebecca's place--it was if he was continuing or "rebooting" their failed date, which started at the taco festival.

I still love this show. I think the Connie-Jessica dynamic is hilarious. (I still love their "discount-off" from last season.) And there were some delightful moments in this episode: --"Louis Huang's Huangsgiving, with Louis Huang and the Huangs" --Eddie and Justin talking about downloading pics of hot women from the Internet: "Janet Jackson!" "Janeane Garafalo!" "Tracy Chapman!" --"Sensible vest." --Heathcliff showing up at the Thanksgiving Parade when Grandma Huang was hoping for Garfield. --That Glenn's commercial actually paying off. --"Turn around, Connie." --Emery and Evan getting all stressed out by the table decorations (those overalls on the squash!). So while this episode wasn't perfect (there was a weird derogatory moment when Marvin called Oscar "Dorothy," though Oscar stood up for himself), I still found the Huangs themselves endearing.

I'm kind of worried by Paula's dismayed reaction to seeing Rebecca and Greg enjoying a fun evening together. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that Paula's going to sabotage Rebecca and Greg's friendship so that she (Paula) can see her dream pairing of Rebecca and Josh come true. It's almost as if she wants it more than Rebecca does. Her husband's assumption that Paula was watching her favorite soap during Thanksgiving dinner was fitting: Paula "ships" Rebecca and Josh as if they're characters she writes fanfic about, and she's doing everything she can to make her ship/fanfic come true. I like Greg's relationship with his dad--it feels real in that there's a history of pain and sacrifice and some bitterness, but also lots of love. And I'm intrigued by the night school idea--seems like another good way to meet new characters (classmates, professors) and a chance to see what kind of student Greg is. Oh wait--what if Greg ends up in a class with Heather? ETA: How could I forget the hilarious tag this week? Rebecca's story about the Obama bobble-head and the Brown improv actor was perfectly delivered in that faux upper-class accent. And then having the little girl scream and run away--the perfect antithesis to the library book story!

(Somewhat random) Santino news: He contributed to an audiobook of Stephen King short stories.

I didn't love this episode but I didn't hate it as much as others do. I think it's better than "In the Forest of the Night" (my least favorite from S8) and better than a bunch of episodes from S7 (for instance, I thought it was better than "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS," which had a similarly convoluted plot and ashy monsters). The scary ending to this one made up for some of the nonsensical stuff from earlier in the episode. I wonder if the Doctor's theory about the Sandmen was wrong (and that's why he kept saying things weren't making sense at the end): Rasmussen implies in his final speech that all of us watching the footage will turn into Sandmen because of the electronic signal embedded into the video. So maybe the crew of Le Verrier weren't actually eaten by Sandmen created from sleep dust. Maybe they were exposed to the electronic signal and turned into the Sandmen that were chasing the rescue crew around. So the whole Morpheus pod/"sleep dust in your eye" explanation (which was so ridiculous) was a distraction to keep the Doctor, Clara, and the rescue team running around while keeping us watching the video. (I know, there are still a lot of issues with the plot, but that's my attempt to make sense of it!) I'm not sure why Gatiss included the "Grunt" character here--that would have been an interesting idea for another episode. Maybe he was trying to show how callous 38th century humans would become: getting people to sleep less to work more, creating "grunts" just to fight in wars. I was getting a Frankenstein vibe from some of the Doctor's comments about Rasmussen messing with Nature for his own gain; maybe that was the point of 474, to show how the humans of this time (and not just the Sandmen) are cruel/arrogant as well: they created this individual with feelings and desires who would only exist to fight and die. I did like seeing from various characters' perspectives--it was kind of fun seeing the Doctor/Capaldi looking right at the camera. And it was lovely hearing the Doctor recite lines from Macbeth (not only were those lines relevant to the plot, it was fitting that the very Scottish Twelve got to reference the "Scottish play").

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but since there's been a discussion of interracial dating here, here's an article about Master of None's love interests and the lack of minority women.

I would also love to see more women of color depicted as viable love interests, but I don't mind that Aziz started with Dev and Rachel. I don't know that much about Aziz's own life, except that he grew up in South Carolina, but I know that growing up as an Asian kid in the 80's and 90's, I only saw white characters presented as romantic interests in the media. TV shows, movies, cartoons--everyone was white (with a few black characters/families), and so It's understandable that a child of immigrants, growing up in America and immersed in pop culture, would be attracted to what the American media has, up until recently, shown as "attractive." So I think it's honest, in a way, that Dev (the character; I don't know anything about the romantic history of Aziz the real person) would be attracted to white women. And I think the show did a good job portraying the cultural conflicts that come up with this pairing (Dev waited a year to tell his parents about Rachel). As he works through his own identity, Dev might become more open to women of color in the future, and given how vivid Rachel is, I'm sure Dev's future serious loves will also be interesting, fully fleshed-out characters.

I did the same exact thing! (I don't know if his regular diet is sugary cereal, soda, and ice cream, or if that was just a special sleepover thing, but Dave's teeth must be FULL of cavities!)

I've always liked Dave the best out of Eddie's friends, and it was great to get some more insight to his home life. We learned last year that his dad is mostly absent, and I wonder if his mom is overly nice/lenient to make up for that (except for the part where they yell angrily at each other to say "goodnight"). It was nice that Eddie could see that as fun as Dave's mom was, he needed--and actually liked--the structure (and healthy food!) his own family provided. And I really like Honey and Marvin. There was something so poignant about Marvin coming in and admitting that he'd had too many vodka lemons and then getting hit with the news of his brother's death.

Aww! Aziz wrote a wonderful letter to his parents.

Yes! I've been watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and definitely see the resemblance to FOTC! The songs/videos definitely echo those that Bret and Jemaine created; Rebecca's much more competent at her job, though, than the FOTC guys were at theirs! (While FOTC were much calmer--maybe too calm!) Back to Master of None--the more I think about it, the more I love it. I can't think of a better word for it, but I keep thinking it's such a generous show. It allows voices/stories to be heard that usually aren't--not just Asians' and Asian-Americans', but also people from a variety of ages and backgrounds. Even the jerk-y husband of Claire Danes was allowed to be sympathetic in the end. I'm also floored that they gave the guy masturbating on the subway a chance to explain himself. Not that it made what he did okay, but he was given the chance to be human being and not just a "monster." It's amazing.

I kept getting a sense of deja vu while watching this episode, and it hit me (now, I know this is a stretch) that this episode gave me flashbacks to Clueless, with Greg dressed like Paul Rudd (whose character was named Josh), sporting a close-cropped haircut and being snarky/dismissive, and with Rebecca desperately trying to prove that she's a good person (the way Cher/Alicia Silverstone wanted to improve herself to impress her Josh). It was as if Clueless, which was set in Beverly Hills, got transplanted to West Covina. (See pic of Paul Rudd at bottom of this page.)